Linda Belfer began fighting to make Battery Park City a better place when she moved to the neighborhood 20 years ago, and last weekend she received B.P.C.’s first Community Service Award.
“This is Eden,” a teary-eyed Belfer said at the second annual Battery Park City Block Party, organized by the Battery Park City Neighbors’ and Parents’ Association “I love this area. I loved it from day one. I’ll be dammed if I’ll let anyone push me out of here.”
Belfer is a longtime member of Community Board 1 and the president of the Gateway Plaza Tenants Association. “When I moved in, there was nothing here except Gateway,” she said. “The World Financial Center was built around us.”
Although she is a Democratic District Leader, Belfer nevertheless had high praise for a Republican on stage with her — Tim Carey, president and C.E.O. of the Battery Park City Authority. Recalling she had dealings and disagreements with every authority president, Belfer said Carey was the best of the bunch. “We don’t always get exactly what we want, but he listens,” she said.
Tammy Meltzer, one of the block party organizers, reading the plaque, said Belfer was the “best resident in the best small town in the Big Apple.”
The mild weather drew big crowds to the event, which featured children’s events, dancing, a pie-baking contest and Battery Dog City – a parade of four-legged neighbors.
