Community Board 7 saw a shift in civic power, as Jean Hill, who presided as chair of the northwest Bronx board, was voted out in favor of 31-year-old Norwood resident Emmanuel Martinez, a relative newcomer to the board. Several familiar faces have stayed on the executive dais, likely adding a mix of fresh ideas and institutional knowledge. 

Martinez currently serves as chair of CB7’s Veterans’ Committee, having recently hosted the annual Veterans’ Day Brunch, now in its third year. It’s unclear what the vote tally was as CB7 continues to ensure the proper vote count was met but 33 board members attended the meeting and cast their votes. However, some left before the results were announced. 

Speaking to the Norwood News a day after the vote at the general board meeting on June 25, Martinez said there’ll be a shift in the tonal focus for the board. 

“My tone is energetic, energy, really progressiveness, and action,” said Martinez. “My view is I want to be out in the community and speaking directly to people. And when they come to community board meetings it’s not oh, it’s going to be a couple of hours of just talking over very mundane information, but it’s more inclusive. Let’s not be afraid to make a mistake, or let’s not be afraid of not knowing the rules directly. We’ll learn as we go.”

His other mantra is inclusivity and he wants to bring the community together around things like health and fitness, nutrition, and awareness of quality of life, citing the high rates of obesity in the Bronx as a concern along with a lack of access to natural food stores. 

Born and raised in the U.S., his parents are from the Dominican Republic. He attended the now former John F. Kennedy High School in Kingsbridge, graduating in 2006, and later attended SUNY Cortlandt, where he majored in Finance and Economics minored in Political Science. 

He currently works as a premier banker for Wells Fargo bank, and believes his experience and skills in the financial services sector, such as time management, focus, and building long-lasting relationships, will serve him well as chair, and in interacting with the community. 

The election effectively ends the one-year run for Hill, a seven-year member of the board who had served on the ever-busy Housing, Land Use & Zoning Committee, presiding over a multitude of projects impacting the neighborhoods of CB7. 

“I have worked really, really hard to bring this board back together,” Hill said in her address before the vote was cast. “This was a very fractured board when I came into it and we also had [a lot of] not too good a reputation with a lot of the agencies that the chair has to work with. I have learned to, and worked very hard with our elected officials, to get things done, to push forward the agenda of the board.”

Hill, who has lived in Norwood since the ‘70s, said she had heard a lot of good ideas during the course of the evening and lamented that they had not been brought to her attention during her time as chair. Nonetheless, she said she believed the board would benefit from a mix of both new and experienced community members.

Among the more shocking moments came when Nora Feury, a lifelong Bronx resident who serves CB7’s current secretary, and who once served as chair, decided to recant her run, leaving her opponent, Gloribel Vega, the default winner. 

“I am dropping my name from the nomination and I’m going to step aside for Gloribel to take over,” said Feury, drawing warm applause from both the board and the crowd.  

Other winners of the board included Kevin Davis, a city employee working for the 311 call system, who beat longtime board member Lowell Green for second vice chair. Davis promised he’d ensure site meetings are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act and that more meetings would be held in the southern part of the community district, which currently hosts very few general board meetings. 

Meantime, Andrew Laioisa and Edgar Ramos will remain on the executive board, as third vice chair and treasurer respectively, since they ran unopposed. 

Barbara Stronczer will continue as first vice chair, after a further runoff vote was needed as a result of a tie with William Francis, her opponent. Not all 33 members voted in the runoff vote as some had already left the meeting. 

Before votes were cast, candidates had the chance to make their case before the voting board members. In her address, Stronczer cited her resume as a former teacher, president of the Bedford Mosholu Community Association, serving on the board of the West Bronx Housing & Community Resource Center, on the board of the Bedford Park Senior Center as well as serving on her tenant association on Bedford Park and Mosholu Parkway on Webster Avenue.

As a board member, she said, “I certainly can say that the last five years has brought tremendous changes to the neighborhood with all these buildings coming to be. However, I feel that we often throw the term ‘infrastructure improvements’ around but do very little to see them take place.” 

She said that, if elected, one of her goals would be to encourage the chair of the board to try to obtain community improvements like a new middle school, additional bus lines and additional runs on the subways to meet the ever-growing population. 

Stronczer also referenced the closure of a supermarket on Jerome Avenue and Fordham Road and the fact that the community is losing two banks on East 204th Street in Norwood at the end of the summer as examples of issues that need to be addressed. 

With a mix of old and new blood, members can now leverage institutional knowledge of the district with a fresher look at ongoing issues. The board, representing Norwood, Bedford Park, Kingsbridge Heights, Fordham, and University Heights, has seen dramatic changes in the way of development over the last few years, much of which arrived “as of right,” a term that allows builders to construct buildings without board approval, giving the board little recourse. Boards are traditionally advisory, issuing recommendations that can either be rejected or given deference by city agencies, and even the sitting New York City Council members whose districts overlap with the board. 

Each board has a district manager, who, unlike the volunteer board members, is a paid administrator for the city that carries out the board’s wishes, generally acting as a go-between for members and city agencies. 

For all members, this election stands as the first since voters changed the New York City Charter last year to include term limits for community board members. Previously, members could run an unlimited number of times. The change now mandates members to serve a maximum of four two-year terms before resigning. Term-limited members will have to spend a minimum of a year off the board before they can rejoin.