Help make West 55th Street a block to be reckoned with. Go to the polls next Tuesday.
A phone call to the New York City Board of Elections shows that 12% of the eligible registered voters on our block voted in the primary on September 15. In non-Presidential general elections, our turnout has usually been about 25% of registered voters. We can do better.
Politicians pay attention to regular voters. If more of us vote, we will have a stronger voice in the many decisions that come up after the election.
The mayor’s race is not the only contest that will be decided on Nov. 3. We are also being asked to vote on two amendments to the constitution of the State of New York—one has to do with building a power line in a forest preserve and the other would allow prisoners to work voluntarily for non-profit organizations.
If you live on the south side of the block, you will be voting on in the race for the 3rd City Council District with candidates Christine Quinn and Brian C. Merritt.
If you live on the north side of the block, you will be voting in the race for 6th City Council District with candidates Gale Brewer and Joshua Goldberg
We will also be voting for Borough President, Public Advocate, City Comptroller, District Attorney, a Supreme Court judge and two judges for the 3rd municipal court district. You can download a pdf listing all the candidates and proposed amendments by going to this url: http://www.vote.nyc.ny.us/pdf/documents/boe/2009GeneralElection/CandidacyList.pdf
So no matter who you want to see as mayor of New York City, please vote on Tuesday!
The polling booth for the south side of the block (ED 006) is PS 111 at 440 West 53rd. The polling booth for the north side of the block (ED 007) is the High School for Environment Studies at 444 W. 56th. The Board of Elections has a handy poll finder on the web if you have any doubts.
And for those of you who are curious about the actual numbers . . .
West 55th between Eighth and Ninth Avenues is split between two election districts.
ED 006 is made up of the south side of West 55th, the west side of Eighth Avenue from West 54th to West 55th, the north side of West 54th and the East side of Ninth Avenue from West 54th to West 55th.
ED 007 is made up of the north side of West 55th, the west side of Eighth from West 55th to West 56th, the south side of West 56th and the East side of Ninth Avenue from West 55th to West 56th.
Go to http://www.vote.nyc.ny.us/maps.html and click on Assembly District 67 to see a map of Election Districts for our neighborhood.
ED 006 had 1211 registered voters as of April 2009—of whom 725 were registered as Democrats and 160 were registered as Republicans.
ED 007 had 1205 registered voters as of April 2009—of whom 768 were registered as Democrats and 172 were registered as Republicans.
If you want to double-check these numbers or get the numbers for your own Election District, call the Candidate Records Unit at 212-487-5418 for the number of people who voted and 212-487-5315 for the number of registered voters.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
Holiday Lights XXXI!!
Thank you to all residents of West 55th who have donated so far to maintain our 31-year tradition of having lights in the trees to brighten the dark winter nights. As of Oct. 14, we have raised nearly $4,500 from 80 residents. Our goal is $20,000. We need about $12,000 to put up and take down the lights in half the trees on the block. The rest of the money will be used to pay for tree bed improvements, to plant flowers and for other projects that have been discussed at the general meetings. We are reaching out to co-ops and businesses in the neighbhorhood for donations as well.
Please make checks payable to THE WEST 55TH STREET BLOCK ASSOCIATION and send to Jack Herlihy (Treasurer), 340 West 55th Street, New York, NY 10019. Or checks may be left with the doorman at 340 W. 55th, attention Mr. Jack Herlihy.
(We are working on getting a Paypal account so that we can get online donations in the future. A few details with the 501(c)(3) status need to be worked out first.)
Please make checks payable to THE WEST 55TH STREET BLOCK ASSOCIATION and send to Jack Herlihy (Treasurer), 340 West 55th Street, New York, NY 10019. Or checks may be left with the doorman at 340 W. 55th, attention Mr. Jack Herlihy.
(We are working on getting a Paypal account so that we can get online donations in the future. A few details with the 501(c)(3) status need to be worked out first.)
Hounds of Hell’s Kitchen Pet Parade
Be sure and come to the Hounds of Hell's Kitchen Pet Parade on West 55th at 6:30 PM on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009. Jen and Mitch J. are organizing a great event and are looking for judges to hand out prizes for the best Halloween costumes.
Several volunteers came forward at the Oct. 8 general meeting to help out, but they can always use more help. They are especially looking for anyone who can lend them a portable stage. Contact them at jen[AT]houndsofhellskitchen[DOT]com
Several volunteers came forward at the Oct. 8 general meeting to help out, but they can always use more help. They are especially looking for anyone who can lend them a portable stage. Contact them at jen[AT]houndsofhellskitchen[DOT]com
Friday, October 9, 2009
General Meeting Notes -- Oct. 8, 2009
Notes from General Meeting: Oct. 8, 2009
West 55 Street Block Association
28 people attended
The meeting began at 7 PM and adjourned at 8:03 PM. Christine G moderated.
1. Treasurer’s Report (Jack H.):
$4891.59 – amount in bank
$3650.21 – amount raised since Sept. 23, 2009
$ 75.33 – petty cash
=======
$8617.13 – total
The donations so far are just over 18% of our $20,000 goal. We are going to do another solicitation wave in the hopes they pick up.
We also talked about transferring the Association bank account to Chase or Capitol One. The consensus was in favor of Capitol One.
2. Tree Lights – Nov. 16
Carl B. reported that we received the permit for hanging the lights and we have a proposal from SavATree with pricing for 18, 20 and 36 trees. 36 trees is probably too expensive.The idea behind lighting 20 trees is to be able to light both trees at either entrance to the block.
3. Hounds of Hells Kitchen Pet Parade. Jen and Mitch talked about plans for the Pet Parade on Oct. 29. Festivities start at 6:30 PM. They are planning for 45 pet contestants.
A couple of people had ideas for celebrity judges.
One person offered to lend some electrical equipment.
Jena and Mitch are still looking for a stage and volunteers to help.
They will make flyers available to building captains to put up in buildings.
Also, they invited the Block Association to have a table at the event.
Mitch wondered if maybe next year we might turn the HKK Halloween pet parade into a block party.
4. We gave Christy R a certificate of appreciation and a round of applause for all her work in filing for 501c(3) non profit status. The application has been filed with the IRS and we’re just waiting to hear back from them.
5. The general consensus was that we needed more information before weighing in on the issue 1291 B and B at 337 West 55th. The question was raised whether the building was certified for furnished rooms and if that allowed it to operate as a B and B.
6. We reviewed the latest developments about the MTA site at W 54th and Ninth. [See September 25 post on CB4 meeting for more detail or click on "MTA site" tag for all postsl.] The basic message from our 9/21 meeting with Community Board 4 members and others was that we may have more input on the type of building that gets put there but if we hold out for a park, we will get nothing. In response to this overview, residents said there were two things we should insist on: the building should be faced with Clinton red brick and not white brick or glass. The consensus was that there were already enough supermarkets in the area. Declan O, Steve L, Charlie K, Christy R all volunteered to help attend official meetings to keep us informed on this issue.
7. Christy R. met Borough President Scott Stringer, who said he would be happy to come to the tree lighting ceremony. Everyone agreed that was a good idea but we should also reach out to other elected officials and/or their representatives to come to meetings, e.g. Council member Gale Brewer, Speaker Christine Quinn, Sen. Tom Duane and Assembly member Linda Rosenthal.
8. Excessive honking on Ninth Avenue in spite of $350 fine. We will bring this up at the next meeting of the Midtown North Community Affairs meeting (every third Tuesday of the month) at Fountain House, 425 W 47th.
9. Jen J. and Stephanie S. volunteered to lead efforts to plan the holiday party on Dec. 9. We will also have non-religious caroling beforehand. Antonio C has the songbooks that were used in past years.
10. Andrew S. reported on the business flyers that he is developing. Steve L agreed to help with the layout and Carol P will provide feedback as a business owner. We might also consider having some events at local restaurants. If everyone has a special relationship with any of the businesses in the neighborhood, please let us know at west55ba@gmail.com if you would be willing to contact those businesses about possible donations.
West 55 Street Block Association
28 people attended
The meeting began at 7 PM and adjourned at 8:03 PM. Christine G moderated.
1. Treasurer’s Report (Jack H.):
$4891.59 – amount in bank
$3650.21 – amount raised since Sept. 23, 2009
$ 75.33 – petty cash
=======
$8617.13 – total
The donations so far are just over 18% of our $20,000 goal. We are going to do another solicitation wave in the hopes they pick up.
We also talked about transferring the Association bank account to Chase or Capitol One. The consensus was in favor of Capitol One.
2. Tree Lights – Nov. 16
Carl B. reported that we received the permit for hanging the lights and we have a proposal from SavATree with pricing for 18, 20 and 36 trees. 36 trees is probably too expensive.The idea behind lighting 20 trees is to be able to light both trees at either entrance to the block.
3. Hounds of Hells Kitchen Pet Parade. Jen and Mitch talked about plans for the Pet Parade on Oct. 29. Festivities start at 6:30 PM. They are planning for 45 pet contestants.
A couple of people had ideas for celebrity judges.
One person offered to lend some electrical equipment.
Jena and Mitch are still looking for a stage and volunteers to help.
They will make flyers available to building captains to put up in buildings.
Also, they invited the Block Association to have a table at the event.
Mitch wondered if maybe next year we might turn the HKK Halloween pet parade into a block party.
4. We gave Christy R a certificate of appreciation and a round of applause for all her work in filing for 501c(3) non profit status. The application has been filed with the IRS and we’re just waiting to hear back from them.
5. The general consensus was that we needed more information before weighing in on the issue 1291 B and B at 337 West 55th. The question was raised whether the building was certified for furnished rooms and if that allowed it to operate as a B and B.
6. We reviewed the latest developments about the MTA site at W 54th and Ninth. [See September 25 post on CB4 meeting for more detail or click on "MTA site" tag for all postsl.] The basic message from our 9/21 meeting with Community Board 4 members and others was that we may have more input on the type of building that gets put there but if we hold out for a park, we will get nothing. In response to this overview, residents said there were two things we should insist on: the building should be faced with Clinton red brick and not white brick or glass. The consensus was that there were already enough supermarkets in the area. Declan O, Steve L, Charlie K, Christy R all volunteered to help attend official meetings to keep us informed on this issue.
7. Christy R. met Borough President Scott Stringer, who said he would be happy to come to the tree lighting ceremony. Everyone agreed that was a good idea but we should also reach out to other elected officials and/or their representatives to come to meetings, e.g. Council member Gale Brewer, Speaker Christine Quinn, Sen. Tom Duane and Assembly member Linda Rosenthal.
8. Excessive honking on Ninth Avenue in spite of $350 fine. We will bring this up at the next meeting of the Midtown North Community Affairs meeting (every third Tuesday of the month) at Fountain House, 425 W 47th.
9. Jen J. and Stephanie S. volunteered to lead efforts to plan the holiday party on Dec. 9. We will also have non-religious caroling beforehand. Antonio C has the songbooks that were used in past years.
10. Andrew S. reported on the business flyers that he is developing. Steve L agreed to help with the layout and Carol P will provide feedback as a business owner. We might also consider having some events at local restaurants. If everyone has a special relationship with any of the businesses in the neighborhood, please let us know at west55ba@gmail.com if you would be willing to contact those businesses about possible donations.
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