
BY YANNIC RACK
Community Board 1 will soon be shaken up by contested leadership races, as longtime board members scramble to fill the power vacuum left by Catherine McVay Hughes’ resignation as head of the board.
Hughes, who has helmed CB1 since 2012, surprised colleagues by announcing last week that she would not seek re-election for a third and final term next month. She will continue to serve as chair until June and has already been appointed for another two-year term as a regular board member.
But the loss of Lower Manhattan’s most ardent advocate on issues ranging from flood protection to construction safety also means the top reaches of Downtown’s local authority are now up for grabs — and prospective candidates came out of the woodwork last week.
So far, Anthony Notaro, the current vice-chair of the board and head of its Battery Park City committee, and Paul Hovitz, who co-chairs the Youth and Education Committee, are facing off to replace her at the top.
Hovitz threw his hat in the ring this week after Notaro had already handed in his application a few weeks ago. Both of them have unsuccessfully run for chair in recent years.
In addition, Tribeca Committee chairwoman Elizabeth Lewinsohn is aiming to replace Notaro as vice-chair of CB1 — but she is already facing a challenge from current board secretary Adam Malitz, ensuring there will be more than one contested race this election season.
Malitz had originally asked to be reappointed to his current post as secretary, but changed his application this week, according to CB1’s Nominating Committee, which solicits applications for community board positions.
Hovitz, a retired teacher who has been on the board for more than two decades, said he welcomed the competition — but added that he felt he could devote more time to the job since he was retired, while Notaro still works as a principal at a small software company.
“I think that nobody should really run unopposed unless they’re John F. Kennedy or someone like that,” Hovitz said. “[But] Anthony runs a business and has commitments, and I’m retired. It’s simply a matter of how much time you have to devote and what it takes. I don’t think anyone has to devote the amount of time Catherine devoted, but you have to be available.”
Notaro, who has also served in several leadership positions in his 16 years on the board, countered that he has the experience to lead the community — and wouldn’t be impaired by his business because he wouldn’t want to micromanage the board anyway.
“I’ve served as secretary, vice-chair and committee chair, and I think that experience will help me in terms of creating a new leadership team on the board. I think it’s time for new members emerging and contributing,” he told Downtown Express. “A chair should be a leader and a facilitator, who can make sure that everyone contributes,” he added. “We’ve gotten the idea that this needs to be a full-time job and, while it is a major effort, I think that one can still manage it [with other commitments].”
Current board treasurer Joel Kopel is seeking reelection, and Tammy Meltzer is running for board secretary, while incumbent assistant secretary Dennis Gault is facing a challenge from Reggie Thomas, according to district manager Noah Pfefferblit.
Other applicants can still come forward to apply for any position before the full board meeting on May 24, where a final slate of applicants will be presented. Officers will then be elected by written ballot at the board’s June meeting.
All CB1 officers are elected for two-year terms, with a maximum of three consecutive terms.
While the board does not schedule a special debate before the vote for any contested positions, all applicants will have the chance to pitch their candidacies in three-minute statements at the full board meeting in June.

Although the leadership is losing its most recognizable face in Hughes, CB1 is also gaining some new ones — in the form of five members that signed on for their first terms this year.
The new appointees are Manuel Romero, Elizabeth Goody, Laura Starr, Vikram Lulla and Charlotte Soehner — a high schooler who will be the youngest member on the board, after Susan Wu, another high school student, decided not to renew her application this year.
Hughes served as vice-chair for six years before she replaced Julie Menin — now the commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment — when the former chairwoman stepped down in 2012 at the end of her third term.
Hughes didn’t comment on her decision to step down this week, but said before her announcement that she would not exactly miss the time-commitment the top position entails.
“I’ll have so much free time,” she quipped.
Hughes has lived with her family one block from the World Trade Center since 1988. She has fought fervently on many Downtown issues, from the James Zadroga Act and the reconstruction of the World Trade Center, to working with the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center and city agencies for many years on construction safety and noise mitigation in the area.