Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer promised to create a Nightife Taskforce at the last Community Board 12 Public Safety meeting and now he is reaching out to interested residents to work together on bettering the area. I received a call on Friday, but could not call until after business hours. I'll report back of the conversation yields more than the following post from a member of the Fort Tryon East Neighborhood Association, an online community group focusing on quality of life issues in Washington Heights:
"While I was out of town this past week, I had the pleasure of receiving
a phone call from Manhattan Borough President's assistant, Jaritza. She
was following up with me (and others) about the meeting we attended last
week.
I came away from this conversation very encouraged about Stringer's
sincere desire to help our community improve the quality of life issues
that have been plaguing us for quite some time.
She informed me that the first meeting of the Night Life Committee (that
I referenced in my previous post about the CB 12 meeting) will most
likely be sometime the week of June 22; I will keep you posted but
encourage you to be proactive and call CB 12 to be placed on their
e-mailing list. 212-568-8500
I also was very glad to hear her say that they "want individual
complaints about noise" so that they can be specific when they address
the problems as they become aware. Stringer wants to work with other
agencies outside of the economically strapped NYPD to look for
solutions.
She was also very interested to get more details about the noise
complaints that originate from Our Lady Queen of Martyrs on the weekends
(parties, etc).
So, this is your chance to be heard. This is your chance to make a
difference by getting on the phone and talking with her, one on one.
She is a delightful woman and is genuinely concerned about the goings-on
in this area. She was very supportive of our efforts, and our group,
and I expect that she will be joining our group soon, so as to stay
informed about our concerns.
You should call Jaritza at 212-531-2277. I cannot stress enough how
much she stressed that she wanted to hear from us; she wants to get a
log of individual complaints. If you have 311 issues, let her know. If
you've had problems with police interactions, let her know. If you deal
with noise, let her know.
I asked at the last CB 12 meeting, 'what can we do to be part of the
solution?' And here is one step towards being part of the solution.
Please take a moment this week and call her."
