News on Proposed City Council Redistricting

As we reported in recent newsletters, a preliminary plan for the decennial redrawing of city council districts was released by the New York City Districting Commission. The preliminary plan had several changes in city council district boundaries that affect residents of Manhattan Community District 6, the most notable of them being that the Sutton Place neighborhood would be redrawn into Council District 26 (a Queens City Council district!).

CB6 passed a resolution at an emergency Full Board meeting on August 10th opposing the proposed redistricting and testified at the Districting Commission’s August 22nd hearing.

Proposed revisions to the maps, which you can find here, put Sutton Place back into an all-Manhattan Council District–exactly what the community board and local residents have advocated for. However, the Districting Commission voted down the revised maps, apparently due to part of a Staten Island district spilling over into Brooklyn in said maps.

More recent revisions have kept Sutton Place in an all-Manhattan Council District. These recent revisions will be voted on by the Districting Commission in a public session tomorrow, October 6th. If the recently revised maps are approved tomorrow, they will go to the City Council for review.

We will continue to keep an eye out for further developments in the redistricting process and advocate for keeping Sutton Place in a Manhattan council district.

Upcoming Meetings

Thursday, October 6th at 6:30 PM, the Budget & Governmental Affairs Committee will meet to discuss Manhattan Community Board Six’s Fiscal Year 2024 budget priorities and the economic impacts of the Central Business District Tolling Program.

You can join the meeting by registering via the link below.

Register for the Meeting

Thursday, October 20th at 6:30 PM, the Public Safety Committee will hold a Bystander Intervention Training with the City Commission on Human Rights.

This training will provide us with the tools and strategies to safely respond when we witness bias incidents and discrimination. Participants leave Bystander Intervention Trainings equipped with verbal and behavioral de-escalation strategies to non-violently intervene to disrupt hate-violence or hate speech. The training will explore the meaning of safety, of being an effective ally, and how identity plays a role in the ways we choose to intervene.

You can join the meeting by registering via the link below.

You can view information on these and other upcoming meetings on our website’s meetings calendar page.

Changes to City Services on Columbus Day

The CB6 office will be closed on Monday, October 10th in observance of Columbus Day. Even though the CB6 office is closed on that day, 311 will still be available. Additionally, if you have a service request issue, you can still reach out to help@cbsix.org and we will follow up with you upon our reopening the following day.

Alternate Side Parking (street cleaning) and parking meter regulations will also be suspended on Columbus Day, as well as Succoth, Tuesday, October 11th. For a complete list of days when Alternate Side Parking will not be in effect in 2022, please view the suspension calendar here.

Finally, please note that there will be no garbage or recycling collection on Columbus Day. If your trash day is a Monday, please check the Department of Sanitation’s social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram), their press release page, or 311 for updated direction.

Earlier last month, a school in Manhattan Community District 6 contacted CB6 about their inability to obtain the permits needed to use the soccer field at Robert Moses Playground for their physical education classes. The school wasn’t able to obtain permits for a period of their school day because another school in the area reserved permits with the Parks Department for the same time of day at the same soccer field. This situation presented a challenge, as there were two schools hoping to use the same field at the same time, yet the permits were issued upon a first come, first served basis.

To help, CB6 explored a variety of options to make sure the needs of both schools’ physical education programs were met. And, upon looking into the situation, CB6 found that the permittee at the Robert Moses Playground soccer field might be able to have the same needs met by instead reserving a permit for a soccer field closer to their school–at St. Vartan Park. CB6 worked with the Parks Department to see if the permittee at Robert Moses Playground could get permits at St. Vartan Park instead, therefore resolving the issue. Thankfully, this intervention was successful and now both schools have their physical education needs met, through permits at the soccer fields closest to the respective schools! Most of all, it is a win for kids in this district who need exercise as part of a well-rounded curriculum.

CB6 is here to help. If you need help with a service request issue, please fill out our Get Help form, email help@cbsix.org, or call (212) 319-3750.

MTA Launches Weekender Newsletter

Are you tired of learning, only upon hopping on a train, that your subway line won’t take you to where you thought it would go thanks to weekend construction?

If so, consider signing up for the new “MTA Weekender” newsletter! This weekly newsletter will be sent out every Friday to inform customers of major weekend service changes throughout the MTA network on subways, LIRR and Metro-North. The MTA Weekender newsletter supplements information already available to customers via the MYmta App and the MTA’s Planned Work webpage, and MTA Planned Service Changes.

Sign up for the “MTA Weekender” newsletter here!

Important Dates for the November Election

Election Day is Tuesday, November 8th! Here are some important dates to keep in mind leading up to Election Day, in order to make sure that you vote:

• If you aren’t registered to vote, you must do so by October 14th. Register to vote here.
• If you need to submit an absentee ballot for the election, you need to request it online by October 24th or request it in person by the day before the election (November 7th). Request your absentee ballot here.
• For your absentee ballot from the November 8th election to be counted, it must be received by the Board of Elections by November 15th. However, your ballot must also be postmarked by Election Day in order to be valid.
• Early Voting will take place from Saturday, October 29th until Sunday, November 6th. Find your early voting site and hours, your Election Day poll site, and the candidates on your ballot, here.

Community Updates

• Upcoming It’s My Park Days in Community District 6 Parks: Over the next several weeks, numerous parks in our district will be holding It’s My Park Days, which are days that volunteers come together to clean, maintain, and beautify their local park! Parks in our district holding It’s My Park Days in October include Stuyvesant Square Park, Ralph Bunche Park, East River Esplanade, St. Vartan Park, and Dag Hammarskjold Plaza. To find an It’s My Park Day near you, visit the Parks Department website.
• Pedestrian Ramp Project at East 48th Street and 3rd Avenue: There are plans for a project to install new pedestrian ramps at the four corners of the intersection of East 48th Street and 3rd Avenue. In order to give room for the new ramps, which will be in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, some traffic signals will also be moved. If you have any questions or comments about this project, email info@cbsix.org
• Inspection of First Avenue Tunnel at the United Nations: The NYC Department of Transportation Division of Bridges will conduct an inspection of the First Avenue Tunnel at the United Nations. As a result, one tube of the tunnel at a time will be closed weekdays from 8:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. (ending the following morning) until October 7, 2022. For more information, please visit the CB6 Work Notices Page here.
• Construction at 540 First Avenue: An exterior construction hoist will be erected at 540 First Avenue between the building and Schwartz Health Care Center, which once installed, will support construction work inside the building. Per the schedule for the project, there will be hoist construction, testing, and inspections from now until November 5th. The work is expected to generate periods of moderate noise. Any activity affecting campus and street foot traffic on First Avenue will be coordinated in advance, with safety personnel directing safe passage for pedestrians.
• 53rd Street and Lexington Avenue Subway Station Escalator Replacement: Beginning October 2022, New York City Transit (NYCT) will begin a multi-phase project to fully replace four escalators at the 53rd Street-Lexington Avenue station on the E and M lines. This work will have significant impacts on passengers’ access to the station as NYCT removes and replaces the 25-year-old escalators which span 54 feet from platform level to mezzanine level. For more information about the phases of this project, please visit the CB6 Work Notices page.
• Tudor Grove Playground Closure (East 42nd Street between 1st Avenue and 2nd Avenue): Due to an unfortunate problem with the adjacent property next to Tudor Grove Playground, starting Friday, September 30th, the playground will be closed until further notice. 

Visit our community events page regularly!

Department of Sanitation Adopt-a-Basket Program

A number of our constituents have expressed concerns to our office about overflowing litter baskets in our district.

If you share those concerns, you can help! The Department of Sanitation (DSNY) has an Adopt-a-Basket program. In the program, DSNY provides a regular supply of free plastic liners, a collection schedule, work gloves, a dust bin and broom. Then, to help, monitor your litter baskets; when they’re three-quarters full, remove the used plastic liners, tie them, leave them next to the basket, and insert a new liner. If you run out of plastic liners before your next delivery, just contact 311 to request more.

Learn more about the program here.

Information on E-Cigarettes and Your Respiratory Health

• E-cigarettes are sometimes referred to “e-cigs”, “vapes, or “e-hookahs.”
• The use of e-cigarettes is unsafe for all. Most e-cigarettes contain nicotine. Nicotine is highly addictive and can harm adolescent brain development, which continues into the early to mid-20s.
• There is no safe level of secondhand smoke exposure. Smoke exhaled from e-cigarettes contain cancer-causing agents, ultrafine particles that can be inhaled deep into the lungs, aerosols that can cause eye and respiratory irritation and airway constriction. There is also flavoring such as Diacetyl, a chemical linked to serious lung disease and when heated, one inhales heavy metals such as nickel, tin, and lead.
• According to the American Cancer Society, about 34 million American adults still smoke cigarettes, and smoking remains the single largest preventable cause of death and illness in the world. Smoking causes an estimated 480,000 deaths every year, or about 1 in 5 deaths.