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Feuer departs Board 11

By Ben Muessig
The Brooklyn Paper

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The city’s longest serving community board district manager called it quits in Bensonhurst last week.

Howard Feuer, who oversaw the panel since community boards were created in 1976, retired from Community Board 11 on Sept. 11 — and he promptly took credit for the neighborhood’s improvement.

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“It’s a better place than when I took office,” said Feuer, 56, who served Bensonhurst, Gravesend and Bath Beach as the neighborhoods underwent a tumultuous period including the 1989 murder of Yousef Hawkins and the 1991 stabbing of Rev. Al Sharpton.

“Things are very different today,” said Feuer. “Back then, it was an Italian and Jewish neighborhood, now it is a multi-ethnic, multicultural community.”

In an interview, he said he considers his greatest achievement to be his work spearheading a policy for construction contracts that gives companies incentives for finishing early and penalties for finishing late — a strategy he implemented while finding a contractor to repair the Bay Eighth Street overpass.

Many city agencies now issue contracts using Feuer’s incentive and penalty plan.

At the meeting last Thursday, Feuer handed over the reigns to Marnee Elias-Pavia, his assistant of four years. She said residents should expect a “smooth transition” because “Howard and I have the same outlook and feelings about the community.”

©2008 The Brooklyn Paper

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