After years of anticipation, Community Board 10 could at last be in its new home by this September.
The city has leased new digs for the board – which has been operating out of a cramped, dark office at 621 86th Street – at 8119 Fifth Avenue. Currently, according to Josephine Beckmann, the board’s district manager, renovations of the space are underway.
The sign, she pointed out enthusiastically, is already up, heralding a long-awaited move that the board hopes will provide it with more space and modernized facilities that will be more welcoming to neighborhood residents seeking assistance.
“Hello, sunlight,” Beckmann quipped, referencing the “large front window” in the new office.
Indeed, the news that the board could be settled in its new office this fall was greeted with a round of applause by board members during CB 10’s June meeting, though one, board Secretary Eleanor Petty did ask, “This year?”
“Yes, Eleanor, this year,” Beckmann had responded, to laughter from the crowd filling the community room at Shore Hill, 9000 Shore Road.
It’s been a long haul to get to this point. The board began the process of looking for new office space back in 2005. Its current office is in a city-owned building that is under the auspices of the Department of Sanitation (DOS). In fact, DOS had a local headquarters in the building until the new garage was built at 51st Street and First Avenue. The board has been at the location since the 1970s. There have been previous efforts at relocation; those, however, had proved fruitless.
Beckmann had other good news for board members and residents. The board has also made its mark in cyberspace, with a new website, www.bkcb10.org, now up and running.
“I love it,” she noted in a subsequent interview. “It’s simple but nice. It has a lot of general information, frequently asked questions, census data and a profile of the board. There will be a community calendar and a page for local announcements, so I hope it will be a good information source.”
The website also has notices of service disruptions and street closures, and staffers are scanning in documents that residents and board members will be able to access on line, said Beckmann.
The board also hopes to add links to the websites of community organizations to make navigating community resources easier for everyone, Beckmann said.
“If any community group wants its meetings posed, they should contact the office,” Beckmann added
The board can be reached at 718-745-6827 or via email, at communitybd10@nyc.rr. com.
The website had 2,562 hits by early July, from 1,000 unique visitors.
