By Maria Simmons
Reporter

There is tension and dissension at Community Board # 4.

The October 24 general board meeting was characterized by  frequent arguing between   chairperson D. Lee Ezell and many  board members, as well as arguments  between Ezell and  community members in attendance.

Anita Antonetty, Community Board 4’s former recording secretary and current board member, said  micromanagement of the board by Ezell is interfering with the completion of board business.  Antonetty stated she was forced to resign as recording secretary at the October 2006 meeting after an dispute with Ezell over the minutes of a June board meeting. Antonetty said that Ezell asked her to remove public commentary, including on the topic of the new Yankee Stadium, from the minutes. “This has never happened since I have been the recording secretary” said Ms. Antonetty, who has served on the board for two years. Antonetty said Ezell censured her after accusing her of having a political agenda .

Ezell declined to comment for this story.

“The whole tone and direction of the board has changed,” stated Mary Blassingame, former chair of the Housing & Land Use Committee for 23 years. Blassingame was critical of Ezell’s recent proposal to institute prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance at community board meetings (see page 1) and said residents who attended often had trouble finding seating or getting their concerns answered. “There is no community in the community board,” Blassingame said. A retired teacher, Blassingame said she would grade the community board a “D.”  

Board member Rev. Dr. Timothy Birkett, the Pastor of Church Alive Community Church on Findlay Avenue, strongly disagreed with criticisms of Ezell’s management of the board. Birkett suggested dissatisfaction was due not to problems in Ezell’s leadership but rather the loyalty of board members to former chairperson Ade Rasul, and the fact that Ezell was one of the few community board members who voted in favor of the new Yankee Stadium proposal. “If she didn’t support them [the Yankees], she would be loved,” Birkett said. “All this clamoring is just a way to get back.”

Birkett said Ezell was uncompromising, was trying to bring order to the board, and had the community’s best interests at  heart. “If she doesn’t give in,” Birkett said, “she’ll be a blessing to us.” 

Birkett said he would resign if Ezell did.

One problem facing the community board lately has been difficulty achieving a quorum—the minimum number of members required to conduct board business. At the October general meeting, voting related to city budget request items, letters of support, and meeting minutes could not be conducted because of a lack of quorum. As a result, a separate emergency meeting was held on November 2, 2006 to address the concerns.

Board member Lukas Herbert can be counted amongst those not surprised by the poor turnout at meetings. “Why the hell would anyone want to give up their evening to sit in this room,” Herbert wondered, “when people get all negative on each other for four hours?”

Tony Richards contributed to this report.