‘Ballotgate’ intrigue How does a minor community board election that isn’t even close make UnderCover’s lead item? How about when the board’s chairperson, who’s eyeing a run for City Council, breaks a promise to support one candidate, and then her ballot — a public record — mysteriously goes missing?
That’s what happened last week at Community Board 1’ full board meeting.
Julie Menin, the board’s chairperson, had pledged to support Marc Ameruso for the not so powerful post of assistant secretary, but when it came to the vote, she changed her mind and backed Chelsea-Lyn Rudder, who lost anyway, 26 –16.
Menin, who’s planning to run for Councilmember Alan Gerson’s open seat next year, did not let Ameruso look at the signed ballots the night of the election, but when he went to the board office the next day to see if all of his supporters were true to their word, Menin’s ballot was the only one missing. She then admitted to supporting Rudder.
Ameruso did not accuse Menin of making the ballot disappear to cover up her change, but another source sounded convinced that’s what happened.
Menin scoffed at the idea that she would tamper with ballots.
“There’s nothing nefarious,” she said. “For people to spend time on this, it’s not germane.”
“It’s about the integrity of the system,” said the normally chatty Ameruso, who only spoke to us about this after we called him several times. “If an honest mistake was made, let’s figure out how to fix it so it doesn’t happen again.”
Menin says she changed her mind when Ameruso, the incumbent secretarial assistant, sent out a typo-filled campaign statement. Ameruso said he accidentally e-mailed a draft statement and everyone he mentioned it to was forgiving of the accident.
He only heard about Menin’s reason after he discovered her broken promise. He said he e-mailed her the day of the election thanking her for her support and Menin never replied.
Menin was initially evasive with us too as she avoided telling us whether she had pledged to support Ameruso. Only when we finally spoke with Ameruso, did she admit to the old switcheroo.
Menin was chairing the meeting during the vote, so she did not put her ballot in the box herself. Rather, Pat Moore, a member of the Nominating Committee, took the ballot — it was folded, and Moore didn’t peek — and put it in a pile with the other ballots, where it was counted but then somehow disappeared.
“This is so ridiculous, I cannot believe it,” Moore exasperatedly told UnderCover. “It’s not like [Menin’s ballot] changes the vote. I don’t understand why this is an issue. Is someone accusing me that I stuffed it in my bra?”
Losing power Mayor Mike Bloomberg is already looking at some angry constituents Downtown — ignoring school children protesting overcrowding wasn’t his smartest move — but his latest plan would make him exponentially more unpopular.
UnderCover hears that Bloomberg is thinking about doing away with the one of the few powers community boards actually have: examining ULURP (uniform land use review procedure) applications.
John Fratta, a Community Board 1 member who also works as district manager for Board 11 up in the Bronx, heard from three people, including a councilmember, that Bloomberg wants to cut community boards out of ULURP when he proposes revisions to the city charter this fall.
Without community board review, “developers would run amok,” Fratta said. “I’m sure the community boards citywide will be unified to pounce on it.”
Fratta also tells us that the mayor is weighing other changes that would consolidate his power and that are bound to be equally unpopular, including getting rid of the borough presidents or the public advocate.
Pier peek The partnership between the Pier 40 Partnership and Urban Dove/CampGroup presented their plans to the Pier 40 Working Group Wednesday and got a good reception, a source tells UnderCover.
The community-based developers plan to present their final plan in about a week to Diana Taylor, the Trust’s chairperson, and the rest of the board.
Our source says the revised plan includes space for three schools – a public and private high school, and the New School, while keeping the pier’s beloved large donut field intact. The plan may turn out to be $40 million cheaper than the developers feared since it no longer looks they will have to pay for seismic shock protection. We hear the city Dept. of Buildings has indicated it agrees on that point.
