At its monthly meeting last Thursday, the Park Slope Civic Council awarded its annual Lovgren Awards, honoring two people who have served the community in a professional and volunteer capacity, respectively.
A longstanding tradition in the Civic Council, the awards are named after George Lovgren, a Park Slope activist who led the campaign to save the Union Street firehouse when the city threatened to close it in the 1960s.
Recipients are voted on by the Council’s Board of Trustees, based on recommendations from Award Committee Chair Bernard J. Graham.
The winner of the Lovgren Professional Award was Sean Andrews, Vice President of Operations at the Prospect Park YMCA (357 9th Street).
Andrews came to this YMCA in 2000 and has since built it into perhaps the premier YMCA in the city: It serves the greatest number of people in the city.
Under Andrews’ stewardship, the Y now has a membership of 10,000, an 85 percent increase since he took over.
One thousand children are enrolled in its free after school programs, and 400 children partake of it’s free second grade swim association, launched two years ago.
In addition, Andrews is helping oversee construction of a state-of-the-art aquatic center located in what is currently a parking lot adjacent to the building.
“This YMCA has a strong, rich tradition. We’ve been able to build on that and expand our outreach to become a real community building organization,” said Andrews, who also oversees the Flatbush Y and is helping guide the planning for the proposed Coney Island Y.
“One thing that’s very critical about this YMCA is that we’re a meeting ground for people from different cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds,” he said.
Receiving the Lovgren Volunteer Award was Jerry Armer, the longtime chair of Community Board 6 who was instrumental in the 2003 downzoning of the neighborhood.
Under the downzoning, buildings in Park Slope were capped at 50 feet. The exception was 4th Avenue, on which 120-foot high buildings were allowed.
The downzoning was the first of its kind in New York City. It has become a model for other neighborhoods that have followed suit in trying to protect their communities from high-density development.
“It was a totally novel thing back then – we basically had to educate the Department of City Planning on how to do it,” Civic Council President Ken Freeman said.
“Jerry worked literally 13 years on that project,” he added.
Interestingly, Borough President Marty Markowtiz showed up at the meeting to present a proclamation to Armer honoring the occasion. The two men had a much-publicized falling out over Armer’s opposition to the Atlantic Yards project, which Markowitz supports.
The rift led to Markowtiz removing Armer from the Board.
But he had kind wards for Armer last Thursday.
“He has remained as active on the Board now as he was when he was a member. That is the sign of a true community advocate,” Markowitz said.
