We call our civic awards the Westys, which stands for West Side Spirit Thanks You.

The requirements to be considered for a Westy are simple. The awards go to New Yorkers who live or work in the area and whose accomplishments help improve the neighborhood. Nominations are made by prominent West Siders, by other Spirit readers and by our editorial staff. The editors and I narrow the lists in each category and select a handful of nominees to honor in person and in the pages of this newspaper.

We hope you enjoy reading about these accomplished neighbors in the following pages, and we look forward to hearing more about their achievements in the coming year.

Sincerely,
Tom Allon
President & CEO

The Honorable Westy Advisory Board

Barbara Adler
Barbara Adler, executive director of the Columbus Avenue Business Improvement District (BID), has lived on the Upper West Side for more than 45 years and raised her three grown children there. She worked as an art director in publishing for years before becoming a freelance illustrator and graphic artist, but was inspired to go back to work full-time when the Columbus Avenue BID formed more than 10 years ago. As a member of Community Board 7 for more than 20 years, Adler was able to apply her skills and knowledge of the neighborhood to her job, which she still loves. As sponsors of the very successful New Taste of the Upper West Side event, her job is always challenging, but very rewarding.

Mort Berkowitz
Behind every politician is a campaign button. And on the West Side, behind every campaign button is Mort Berkowitz, president of Bold Concepts Unlimited.

Berkowitz also heads up Mort and Ray Productions, which helps nonprofit organizations sponsor and produce street festivals. Between April and October, Mort and Ray Productions will oversee at least 13 festivals, many on Broadway and the Upper West Side, as well as the Feast of San Gennaro.

Since 1970, Berkowitz has helped organize dozens of block associations on the West Side and he is co-founder of the Federation of West Side Block Associations. He was community affairs director of the Citizens Committee for New York City from 1975 to 1983. Berkowitz is also on the board of directors of the Westside Crime Prevention Program and is a member of his co-op board.

Kathleen McGovern Kearns
Kathleen McGovern Kearns is the public face of some of the best hospitals in the world. As senior vice president of development and external affairs for Continuum Health Partners, McGovern Kearns is responsible for all external relations and fundraising for the hospital system. The sixth largest employer in New York, Continuum is the parent company of Beth Israel Medical Center, St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Medical Center, Long Island College Hospital and the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary.

McGovern Kearns was appointed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg to the Workforce Investment Board of the City of New York, and she chairs its strategic planning committee.

Lisa Linden
Lisa Linden is one of the top public relations professionals in the field, having helped scores of clients to define themselves, communicate effectively, build their brands and identities, and develop strategies that yield high-profile, high-impact publicity.

With more than 25 years of experience in the private and public sectors, she has advised high-profile political figures, having held key consulting and staff positions on presidential, congressional and statewide campaigns. As CEO of Linden Alschuler & Kaplan, Inc., she has developed and implemented results-oriented public relations programs for a diverse group of clients, including top celebrities and entrepreneurs, prominent public and private companies and non-profits.

Prior to becoming CEO of her firm, she was a senior vice president at Howard J. Rubenstein Associates, Inc. Prior to that, she was deputy chief of staff and press secretary to State Sen. Roy Goodman.

Howard J. Rubenstein
Howard J. Rubenstein devotes his life to providing communications advice and wise counsel to his many clients. That’s how it is when you’re a world-famous public relations executive.

In 1954, he founded Rubenstein Associates, which has built a reputation for a “strategic, results-oriented” approach to media relations.

The group, with a strong record of achievement in public relations, has more than 450 clients served by a staff of more than 200. The firm manages everything from crises to financial relations and serves as a counselor when it comes to image management and corporate citizenship.

The client list includes global corporations, media and entertainment companies, sports teams, financial services organizations, real estate concerns, educational and cultural institutions, law firms, healthcare providers, not-for-profit organizations, business executives and public figures.

Some of Rubenstein’s signature accounts include Rupert Murdoch and News Corp., the New York Yankees, Tribeca Film Festival, Larry Silverstein and the rebuilding of the World Trade Center, BMW, New York Presbyterian Hospital, Late Night with David Letterman and Time Inc.

Westsider of the Year: Betsy Gotbaum

Bravest & Finest: Kathleen O’Reilly

Bravest & Finest: Police Officer Clark Tiger

The Charity List: Colleen Jackson

The Clergy: Dr. James F. Karpen and Rabbi J. Rolando Matalon

Community Builders: Paul S. Bunten

Community Builders: Batya Lewton

Community Builders: Richard Emery and Erika Petersen

The Culture Club: Thomas Mellins

The Educators: Dr. Virginia Pepe

The Educators: Teresa Arboleda

The Educators: Brian Greene

Entrepreneurs: James Weeks and Dr. Ina Obernesser

Entrepreneurs: Zachary Rubin

HealthCare Pros: Dr. Brenda Matti

HealthCare Pros: Jed Levine

Real Estate Royalty: Leonard Litwin

Real Estate Royalty: David L. Picket

Real Estate Royalty: Joe O. Brusco

Restaurateurs: Bill Telepan

Restaurateurs: Chander Malik

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Decades later, she can take credit for a wide-ranging and impressive list of accomplishments, including being one of just a handful of women who have held citywide office—in Gotbaums’ case, public advocate.

An early job, for instance, was serving as deputy director of the precinct receptionist program for the New York City Police Department. There, she implemented a program that staffed local police precincts with people, mostly women, who had been on public assistance. The goal was to provide employment to those who needed it and make the precinct headquarters more friendly and welcoming. This kind of innovation mixed with a genuine desire to help others marks Gotbaum’s time as a public servant.

“I’m in a rare group in public life in that I don’t consider myself a politician,” says Gotbaum, who’s lived on the Upper West Side, near Central Park, for 14 years. “I don’t need to have that power base.”

Betsy Gotbaum, Public Advocate

She certainly has a base in Victor Gotbaum, her husband of 30-plus years and the former president of the city’s municipal workers union, District Council 37. The two connected, they told sister publication City Hall News, after she chastised him about a poorly run campaign.

“I said, ‘That kid’s smart,’” Victor recalled. “I ask her out for dinner, and that was it.”

Gotbaum has a daughter and three grandchildren, as well as four stepchildren and eight stepgrandchildren with her husband.

Professionally, her life has been a mix of public- and private-sector work. Gotbaum served as an education and women’s issues point person under Mayors John W. Lindsay and Abraham Beame, worked for the New York City Police Department, ran an anti-violence program and has even been involved with venture capital.

In 1990, then-Mayor David Dinkins tapped her to be first female Commissioner of the Department of Parks & Recreation. Gotbaum accepted, but was forced to work with a drastically reduced budget.

“Although the budget cuts made it very, very hard, it was wonderful because I got to oversee all the parks and I was out and about all the time,” she said.

To deal with the budget crunch, Gotbaum established the City Parks Foundation, a nonprofit that raises money for park restoration projects. She fought to change city policy so that the Gay Men’s Health Crisis and other organizations could hold fundraising events in Central Park. This led to the expansion of the AIDS Walk, now one of the city’s most popular annual events.

After her work as parks commissioner, Gotbaum took on another daunting project: The New-York Historical Society, a proud institution that was in dire financial straits, its extensive library and archives closed to the public. Gotbaum pulled the institution’s finances back into shape and fixed up the building, turning the museum back into a must-see destination on Central Park West. When she resigned from her position as president to run for public advocate, the museum had a $33 million endowment. Today, it remains a hugely beloved attraction.

Gotbaum says she was moved to run for public office after spearheading a stark and memorable exhibit at the historical society, “Without Sanctuary,” which covered the history of lynching in America.

“It was an extraordinary exhibition and I felt after that, what can I do?” she said.

Gotbaum won the 2001 race handily, becoming only the third woman to win citywide elected office New York City history. She was re-elected in 2005.

As public advocate, she has focused on the same issues that have long mattered to her: standing up for the disenfranchised, whether it’s victims of domestic violence, special education students or those who can’t get enough to eat. Many of her reforms started with a phone call from New Yorkers who needed information, had trouble navigating government agencies or wanted to file a complaint.

When a 2003 reorganization at the Department of Education threatened resources for special education students, Gotbaum stepped in.

“People were calling the office like crazy because they didn’t understand,” she said. “We forced the DOE not only to provide and upgrade service for these kids, but we also got a summer program instituted for kids who hadn’t gotten what they were supposed to get.”

Gotbaum also has a special interest in women’s health and rights. She re-commissioned a report on domestic violence in the city, following up 10 years after a similar report was made under Borough President Ruth Messinger. She also expanded the city’s food stamp program by changing the application process, allowing more than 70,000 additional New Yorkers to receive the benefit.

“It started when one man called and said he was denied food stamps,” she said. “The program really benefits the whole city, because whenever you get a food stamp, you don’t take it out of town, you spend it locally. It does stimulate the economy.”

Gotbaum also took a public stand against Mayor Michael Bloomberg when he requested a term-limit extension in 2008. This was not because she believed in term limits, but because she felt it should be up for the public to decide, not the City Council, who would benefit from the extension as well.

When the limits were nonetheless lifted, she decided to be true to her word and not run again.

Meanwhile, the mayor’s 2009 budget, presented in June, included a 40 percent cut to her office’s resources, a move that many say was political retribution. Budget cuts, Gotbaum jokes, are a “theme that has followed me throughout my career.”

When the next public advocate takes office in January, Gotbaum will move on again. To what, she’s not sure yet.

“But I can assure you,” she said, “I’m not going away.”

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But during the last three years, she has been in the 24th precinct, which covers the West Side from West 86th to 110th streets, an eclectic, vibrant neighborhood.

“The Upper West Side is a wonderful place to work,” said O’Reilly, who is deputy inspector. “In a policing sense, it incorporates all three aspects: transit, housing developments and a large business community.”

As commanding officer of the precinct, O’Reilly is in charge of 200 personnel. Her team has made improving residents’ quality of life a priority. That requires constant contact with community groups and elected officials.

Kathleen O’Reilly, 24th Precinct. Photo by Andrew Schwartz

“My phone is on 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” she said. “I actually give out my cell phone number and email address at every single meeting I attend. But people don’t abuse it.”

Her most consistent complaint is noise. O’Reilly has collaborated with bar owners and the Columbus-Amsterdam Business Improvement District to strike a balance between having a vibrant nightlife scene and a livable residential area.

She says that most of the questions and complaints she receives, such as landlord-tenant fights, are not police matters. But she nonetheless gets involved.

“I act as a facilitator,” she said.

With so many residents who care about the neighborhood, O’Reilly knows she has to be responsive to any quality-of-life complaint.

“Obviously, if I don’t take care of that concern, there’s going to be 10 more people at the next meeting holding me to task,” she said.

O’Reilly, who is 39, cannot pinpoint the moment she decided to be a police officer—she just always wanted to be one. While her father had friends in the New York City Police Department, O’Reilly’s main inspiration came from the 1980s television show Cagney & Lacey, a cop-drama about two female NYPD detectives. O’Reilly said she always wanted to be Christine Cagney, the single, career-oriented detective.

“All my school buddies always knew that this was the only job I wanted to do,” she said.

The daughter of Irish immigrants, O’Reilly was born in Queens but spent her years going to school in England, where her mother had family. She’d return to New York during the summer and holidays.

“My grandmother was a big believer in traveling,” she said.

She came back to the states permanently in 1989 and decided to join the police force.

Now living in Orange County in the Hudson Valley, O’Reilly says she appreciates the people she serves in the Upper West Side, who are active in their community.

“They want their concerns to be addressed,” she said. “They’re willing to work with us.”

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Growing up on the West Side, he was fortunate to be placed in the 20th precinct, which covers West 59th Street to 86th streets.

“I knew the neighborhood very well, and was very excited to be working here,” Tiger said.

Tiger, 42, has spent his entire 18 years on the police force in the 20th precinct, building important connections with neighborhood organizations. When he became a community affairs officer in 2001, these relationships became valuable in handling the precinct’s many demonstrations, street fairs and block parties.

“As time goes on, your knowledge of the area and familiarity with the area grows,” he said. “It’s easier for people to deal with someone they’ve known for a long time.”

Police Officer Clark Tiger, 20th Precinct. Photo by Andrew Schwartz

Tiger, who lives on the East Side with his wife and 2-year-old son, decided to become an officer after he received his master’s degree in international relations from Florida State. With the Cold War having just ended, jobs in that field dried up.

“I didn’t know if there would be any job opportunity in that field,” he said. “I started looking elsewhere. One of my ideas was police work.”

After returning to his hometown and joining the New York City Police Department, he patrolled the streets for more than nine years until he moved into community affairs. In that role, he acts as a liaison to the neighborhood, elected officials and organizations, fielding a deluge of quality-of-life complaints. Noise concerns are the most common, followed by complaints about illegal street vendors and bicyclists who ride on the sidewalk. Staying on top of these problems helps Tiger keep track of growing quality of life problems or criminal activity.

“We’ll act on a tip immediately,” he said.

Special events also pose a challenge when police presence is needed. Even if the demonstration gets people “hot under the collar”—such as the Westboro Baptist Church, a Kansas group known for making anti-Semitic and homophobic comments—Tiger said he must protect pedestrians and residents while allowing the group to safely demonstrate like they did earlier this summer.

“That’s the balance we have to maintain,” he said.

Sam Katz, president of the precinct’s community council, called the Upper West Side a “showcase precinct,” with its public institutions, museums, high profile events and a highly demanding constituency.

“We have everything,” she said. “The precinct has a high quality of life and it has to be maintained 24/7.”

Katz called Tiger accommodating and always available to assist with the council’s regular monthly meetings and large events, like National Night Out, an anti-crime rally.

“We have a lot of activities. With all these public events, our community affairs officers are a critical aspect of that,” Katz said.

While crime fighting may be the most glamorous aspect of policing, Katz said, community affairs officers are integral to community outreach and maintaining order at public events.

“We’re all volunteers, so we have limited time,” she said of the council. “So you need someone who’s going to listen and follow up on requests.”

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The nonprofit, located on West End Avenue near West 83rd Street, provides housing, education and support for homeless families and senior citizens. Its 12-story building houses both populations together, an arrangement, Jackson said, that benefits both.

“For many of the elderly, the connection with younger people means a lot,” she said. “Some have lost or didn’t have families, and the young families become surrogates to them.”

One woman who has lived at the residence almost since it opened in 1989 made friends with one of the mothers there. When the younger woman left to become a stylist, she promised

Colleen Jackson, West End Intergenera-tional Residence. Photo by Karl Crutchfield

to visit and has since returned to the residence every Mother’s Day to bring the elderly lady flowers and to style her hair.

“I thought about whether or not this type of program could exist anywhere but the West Side,” Jackson said. “I don’t think it could.”

“People here are interested in looking at providing services and helping others,” she added. “It’s just conducive to what we do here.”

Jackson’s organization serves residents in a variety of ways. It provides G.E.D. training, has an onsite medical clinic and geriatrician, and hosts recreational events for both populations. A women’s empowerment program is designed to boost young mothers’ self esteem, which, Jackson said, helps them to keep permanent housing and jobs.

Jackson remembered hearing about one of these women who lived in the residence more than a decade ago and who ended up becoming a social worker. She had contacted her former caseworker and said, “Now that I have a great job and permanent housing, I want to help people.” The woman told the employee that she now sent families to various shelters and would tell them about West End. They would ask her how she knew so much, and she told them she had lived there.

“The most you can do with anyone is plant a seed and hope it grows,” Jackson said. “When we get stories like that, it makes us realize we are doing a good job.”

Former residents of West End are not the only ones who recognize Jackson’s contributions.

“Colleen Jackson has provided invaluable community service to the Upper West Side,” said Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer. “With Colleen’s great leadership, the residence has helped over 2,000 young families secure housing stability.”

Jackson, a former caseworker in a child welfare agency, moved to the city from Upstate New York in 1982. She now lives in Nassau County with her husband and dog (“Who doesn’t think he is a dog”).

Next on her list of charitable projects: The True Colors Residence, which she is building with Cyndi Lauper for homeless and troubled LGBT young adults. But this won’t be the last thing she does.

“I can’t imagine working anywhere else,” she said. “This is where I am going to be until I retire.”

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“They worship on Friday night and Saturday and we worship on Sunday, so we thought that might work out well,” said Reverend Dr. James F. Karpen, the church’s pastor.

Since then, the leaders of the two congregations, Karpen (known to most as “K”) and Rabbi J. Rolando Matalon (known as “Roly”) have worked together not only to share the space but also to share their beliefs and traditions.

Matalon identifies the late Marshall T. Meyer, formerly a rabbi at B’Nai Jeshurun, as a strong influence in his life.

Dr. James F. Karpen, Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew. Photo by Daniel S. Burnstein

“He showed me how you can combine a traditional Jewish study with activism,” Matalon said. “And that’s really what attracted me—that you could both study and form a Jewish community, and find some way to transform your life and transform the world.”

Karpen also sees the value of global activism through religion.

“If you look around the world you can see the cost of not trying to understand each other,” he said. “I think we do what we can to listen and learn about different faith traditions, and maybe we’ll be a little bit closer to being able to live together in peace.”

The services are kept separate, but Karpen and Matalon organize various interfaith activities, including formal lectures, community dinners and panel discussions, to encourage conversations about different religions. These activities are open not only to the Christian and Jewish congregations, but also to people of Muslim, Buddhist and Sikh religions.

“It was very inspiring and both communities have gained a lot from the exchange of ideas,” said Jacob Bender, a member of Matalon’s congregation since 1990. “I’ve learned a lot about Christianity and they’ve learned a lot about Judaism.”

Peter Arndtsen, district manager of the Columbus Amsterdam Business Improvement District, is another member of Karpen’s congregation.

“Instead of it just being a sharing of space, they’ve really tried to make it into a positive thing for both congregations,” he said. “They opened up both congregations to the possibilities that sharing the space provides.”

Of course, not everything always runs smoothly, like when the two leaders hosted a program about the idea of messiah in Judaism and Christianity.

“That pointed out some sharp differences in the two religions,” Karpen said.

Rabbi J. Rolando Matalon, B’Nai Jeshurun

But by uncovering differences, Karpen and Matalon have created opportunities to build understanding.

“In order to have a real conversation you have to know your own traditions better,” said Ken Guest, an active member of Karpen’s congregation. “Interactions with other religions pushed me to deepen my own understanding.”

Another change of understanding occurred with a member of Matalon’s congregation, a Holocaust survivor who expressed distaste for the sharing of space.

“He said he never wanted to walk into the church. He was disappointed and frustrated and angry,” Matalon said. “But then he walked into this church, this congregation, and he has embraced this space. He one day walked to the pastor and embraced him. He said, ‘You have restored my faith in humanity.’”

According to Matalon, the interfaith actions have created new bonds within the community.

“Many people in both congregations see each other in the neighborhood—they didn’t know each other before but now there’s a strong feeling of friendliness,” he said. “It became an example for people who are not with us—it has spilled out.”

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“There is no substitute for complete understanding,” he said, “and a neighborhood can only be profoundly understood when the citizens who have created it over many decades of daily life are personally consulted.”

Bunten, 56, lives in Park West Village, a group of buildings encompassed by West 97th to 100th streets between Central Park West and Amsterdam Avenue.

“Park West Village is an exceptional neighborhood with a distinct legacy of community activism unlike anything I have ever known,” he said.

A recent source of contention has been a new development, Columbus Village, consisting of five new market-rate apartment buildings on Columbus Avenue and 320,000 square feet of tri-level retail space.

Paul S. Bunten, Westsiders for Public Participation. Photo by Daniel S. Burnstein

When construction began in 2007, Bunten was the first to take action. He founded Westsiders for Public Participation, a nonprofit community organization that demands community participation in development plans that affect Park West Village.

He started the group, he said, out of “a fundamental personal belief in the value of public participation in community-based planning.”

“From nothing, he created a new community action organization, raised funds, and successfully engaged constituents, legal and political resources,” said Gloria Kurant, a community advocate and president of Kurant Direct teleservices consulting.

In its first month, Bunten led the group in filing a lawsuit against the New York City Department of Buildings. The neighbors argued that the community should be able to formally review the impact that proposed development would have on the surrounding environment, such as such as traffic and pedestrian safety.

In a second lawsuit, the group alleged that the new building at 808 Columbus Ave. had been approved without a community-based environmental review, and that the new building, along with three other existing buildings, did not leave enough open space in the west block of Park West Village. The matter has since been settled outside of court, with the first lawsuit being discontinued as an outcome of the second suit.

Throughout it all, Bunten has proved himself a devoted champion of the community, netting praise from high-profile officials like Rep. Charles Rangel

“The recently settled lawsuit brought by Westsiders for Public Participation against the developer of Park West Village and the Department of Buildings represented a vital crossroads for the area in terms of community participation and input on development,” Rangel said. “Without people like Paul leading the way in this tough fight, Park West Village would be a lesser place.”

Fellow community advocate Linda Edgerly, managing director of the Winthrop Group consulting firm, said that Bunten stood up for the Park West Village community at a time of urgency.

“He has dedicated his time and intelligence to helping a community of concerned Upper West Side residents address serious problems associated with poorly considered and unreviewed development in a neighborhood that has thrived in large part because of its diversity,” she said.

Practically anyone who has ever worked with Bunten or heard him speak passionately at about community issues praises him for his unrelenting devotion to the community.

“Paul has a lot of old-fashioned integrity,” said Jean Green Dorsey, owner of ManagementMatters.org, who worked alongside Bunten at Westsiders for Public Participation. “He is willing to put his time and money to work for his beliefs—he’s a person to have on your team.”

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In 1986, a negligent landlord didn’t stop her from enjoying her home: she was dubbed “Landlord Buster of the Year” by building residents after she led a successful 20-month rent strike against him.

Even the latest technology doesn’t daunt this independent 78-year-old, as she hunts for a photo to send to a reporter.

“Where it could be…in iPhoto? iTunes? When I find it, I will attach it.” (And so she does.)

Batya Lewton, Coalition for a Livable West Side

A lifelong resident of the Upper West Side, Lewton currently serves as vice president for the Coalition for a Livable West Side (“That’s L-i-v-a-b-l-e,” said the former school librarian, who taught in Harlem for 31 years). The coalition keeps tabs on local development and its impact on the environment, among other things. The group hired a consultant to analyze Extell’s Riverside South project, five glass towers proposed for an eight-acre site between West 59th and 61st streets along the West Side Highway. The consultant examined the impact on traffic, sewage and pedestrian safety.

Lewton’s responsibilities include community outreach, maintaining databases and writing the coalition’s “excellent and informative” newsletters, “if I may say so myself,” she said. “Listen, it takes me two days to get all the information into these small paragraphs because no one wants to read anymore.”

“She must be what, 5-foot-1? At most,” said Mort Berkowitz, who handles the coalition’s street fairs. “She has a shopping cart. When she comes through, people move. No kidding! She’s done so much, especially in the area of preservation.”

A defining period in Lewton’s life was the year she spent in Israel, on Kibbutz Kfar Blum, in 1952.

“The vibrancy, intellectualism and dedication of the kibbutz members had a profound influence on me,” she wrote in a short biography. “I decided I had to make a difference in children’s lives and in my community.”

Her students still stay in touch, a testament to her work as an educator. And by all reports she has made a difference in her neighborhood with her strong, vocal stance against over-development. She mourns the loss of “wonderful” former businesses on Broadway, including Kresge’s at West 80th Street, where you could buy simple notions—a spool of thread and a needle—and the old Woolworth’s with its cafeteria at West 79th Street.

“We do not need one more bank or nail parlor or Duane Reade,” she said.

She also misses the mom-and-pop stores that can no longer afford the high rents.

“You can’t go into business simply to pay a landlord rent.”

She says her greatest accomplishment as a teacher was to get children to “think and question.” But she decries the fact that West Side adults don’t wake up to negative change until it’s too late.

“Years ago, nine out of 10 people would take your flyer. Now you’re lucky if one takes it. Try to tell people what’s coming down the pike, but until it’s a reality they don’t listen. Then it’s, ‘How come no one told me?’”

For all of the negatives, she remains firmly dedicated to people and her neighborhood.

“We need to revive a strong sense of community in the area,” she said. “I love the West Side, its people and its diversity. We’ve lost a lot of diversity, but not all of it. It’s still unique.”

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“There are a lot of families, and it’s great in the afternoon when they’re out,” Petersen said. “The feel of community is consistent up and down the avenue, which is why we want it to stay this way.”

Emery and Petersen have both been residents of the Upper West Side for more than 30 years. Emery, a partner at Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady LLP, grew up in the Village and moved uptown to attend Columbia Law School. Petersen came to New York City as an aspiring actress in the 1970s and found a rent-controlled apartment on the Upper West Side. When her child was born, she went back to school and earned a teaching degree at Hunter College.

Richard Emery, West End Preservation Society

The two neighbors formed the preservation group in 2007 after the townhouses they lived next door to were threatened by demolition. They called together a meeting in one of their apartments and were surprised that about 50 people showed up.

“We started organizing, first against that one decimation of the two brownstones with rent-controlled tenants in them, and we realized there would be others,” Emery said.

Since then, the group has grown to more than 300, with several members, including Emery and Petersen, making the preservation work their second job.

“When you look at the main avenues, such as Park Avenue, Central Park West and Riverside Drive, you see all of them have been tortured and desecrated by modern architecture that replaced brownstones or pre-war buildings,” Emery said.

The grassroots organization has also worked closely with elected officials and Community Board 7.

“Their targeted efforts to protect and preserve the character of West End Avenue in the face of encroaching development exemplify the kind of inspiring community organizing for which the West Side of Manhattan is famous,” State Sen. Tom Duane said.

Rather than sit and wait for the Landmarks Preservation Commission to do the research, the group retained Columbia University professor Andrew S. Dolkart to conduct a study of the architecture on West End Avenue, between West 70th and 107th streets.

Erika Petersen, West End Preservation Society

“We said, ‘Here is the research, here is the study for you to judge,’” Petersen said.

The group formally submitted its request for evaluation to Landmarks in March and hopes the area will be given landmark status by next spring.

“Their efforts, through the West End Preservation Society, have raised awareness of our neighborhood’s precious and irreplaceable architectural heritage,” Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal said. “Their tenacity will ensure that neighborhoods retain their historic character for future generations to marvel at and enjoy.”

But the group has no plans to disband after West End Avenue wins landmark status. Instead, Emery and Peterson hope to continue teaching others about the neighborhood’s rich history by installing plaques highlighting information about area buildings.

“It’ll be a place where people could walk, read and immerse themselves in the history of the West End,” Emery said.

Like other Upper West Side residents, Emery and Petersen will continue to enjoy the relative peace of West End Avenue and all it has to offer, which, Emery said, is more than most places.

“I don’t think there’s any other place in New York or the world that has so much to offer on one block.”

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“There’s a huge amount of material documenting the center,” he said. “So the question is, how do you organize and select the material, and what kind of framework or filter can you devise to help you make selections and then organize all the material in a coherent fashion?”

Thomas Mellins, Curator. Photo by Andrew Schwartz

He ultimately devised seven key themes that encompassed and illuminated Lincoln Center’s rich contributions during a half-century: urban renewal, commerce and media, architecture and the visual arts program, the use of technology, education, performers and performances. The exhibit is eclectic, but its themes bridge decades.

Eileen McMahon, senior director of publicity and publications at Lincoln Center, praised Mellins for shepherding the project since 2007.

“We feel he has done such a superb job of organizing the history of Lincoln Center into seven different categories of focus,” she said. “And we really feel that people who come to the exhibit and go through the exhibit will come away with a much better understanding of Lincoln Center and its contribution, not just to the West Side, but to New York and the performing arts all over the world.”

Mellins has a commanding knowledge of New York City history (he co-authored New York 1880, New York 1930 and New York 1960), and he fused his erudition and experience with characteristic panache in orchestrating Lincoln Center’s first major exhibition. The exhibit will include the actual construction hard hats used during Lincoln Center’s original construction, correspondence, photographs, props, costumes and a giant 15-foot-high set piece of “a cook’s head” from Maurice Sendak’s design for Prokofiev’s The Love of Three Oranges.

Because the performing arts are at the core of Lincoln Center’s mission, Mellins made video recordings a central component. Continuous loops showcase major productions, while other footage focuses on history, including footage of President Dwight Eisenhower breaking ground with a shovel on May 14, 1959.

An Upper West Sider for about 30 years, Mellins and his wife, Judy Weinstein, live with their son in the neighborhood. He said that curating the Lincoln Center exhibition was a sentimental experience.

“I have been coming to Lincoln Center since I was a small child,” he said. “I have a childhood memory of seeing a production of The Merry Widow at the New York State Theater shortly after it was constructed and completed. My history doesn’t encompass the entire history that I am documenting, but it does embrace the lion’s share of it.”

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