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Read the press release here.

SoHo Gets Stronger Voice on Local Community Board

By Andrea Swalec | April 10, 2012 10:54am
SoHo resident Susan Wittenberg said she wants to address the concerns of her neighbors as a member of Community Board 2 in Manhattan.
SoHo resident Susan Wittenberg said she wants to address the concerns of her neighbors as a member of Community Board 2 in Manhattan.
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Susan Wittenberg

MANHATTAN — SoHo resident Pier Consagra applied to become one of the newest members of Community Board 2 because he was fed up with street vendors, garbage and noise in his neighborhood and felt no one was listening to him. 

"I wanted to join the community board because I'm a SoHo resident and I think SoHo is underrepresented," he said. 

Consagra, an artist and professor who has lived in the neighborhood since 1979, is one of six newly appointed members of CB2, some of whom are SoHo residents who say they want to give a stronger voice to the concerns of residents of the historic district turned retail hot spot. 

Consagra, 55, said he hopes to help clear SoHo sidewalks of trash and illegal vending in his role on the sidewalks and environment committees of CB2 — which covers the area bordered by 14th Street, the Bowery, Canal Street and the Hudson River. 

West Village resident Cristy Dwyer is among the round of Community Board 2 members appointed in April 2012.
West Village resident Cristy Dwyer is among the round of Community Board 2 members appointed in April 2012.
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CristyDwyer.com

New board member Coral Dawson, a SoHo resident who is a full-time mother of a 3-year-old, said she applied to be a CB2 member with the hope that she could represent SoHo families. 

"This community hasn't traditionally been profiled as a family neighborhood," she said, adding that parents there have the same needs as those anywhere else. 

Dawson, a 15-year SoHo resident who has worked in finance, was a public member of CB2's parks committee and will serve on the environment and landmarks committees. 

She said she hopes to work to create additional park space in SoHo, a concern she shares with other locals.

Documentary filmmaker Susan Wittenberg, a SoHo resident since 1978, said she also applied to be a CB2 member to give her neighborhood a stronger voice. 

"SoHo seemed underrepresented, so it seemed like a good time to put my name in," she said. 

Wittenberg said she seeks to address quality-of-life issues like how to calm heavy traffic on Broome Street. 

CB2 chair Brad Hoylman said the board has likely had stronger representation by Village residents because the area is larger than SoHo. 

"It's important for board members to have local expertise on issues that affect their immediate neighborhoods," he said. "But members also have to get up to speed on the entire district, which is extremely diverse and also includes NoHo, Little Italy, Hudson Square and part of Chinatown." 

New CB2 member Jeannine Kiely, who previously worked in finance and has been involved with local educational groups, is also a SoHo resident, according to information released by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer's office. 

New member Cristy Dwyer, 58, is a West Village resident and alcoholism and substance abuse counselor who is earning a masters degree in social policy. She will serve on CB2's environment and social services committees. 

The sixth CB2 appointee, Frederica Siegel, a former chief operating officer of a landscape architecture firm, also lives in the West Village. 

Community boards play an advisory role in city issues including proposed development projects, the approval of new liquor licenses and events in city parks.

Neighborhood-level accomplishments like getting broken cobblestones fixed may seem like small potatoes, but they feel meaningful, Wittenberg said. 

"Small things are really gratifying when you can get the city to pay attention to them," she said.