Community Board 10 has a new chairman whose heart is into volunteering for his community.
Peter Sullivan was elected CB 10 chairman in a 19 to 11 vote on Thursday, June 15 after a decade of volunteer board service.
He replaces Martin Prince, the chairman for past three years on July 1.
Sullivan, who has chaired CB 10’s Housing and Zoning Committee for nine years, has lived in or just outside the boundaries of the current board service area his entire life.
He grew up on Frisby Avenue and lived on Silver Street, before moving to Waterbury-LaSalle three decades ago and raising three daughters there with Helena, his wife of 31 years.
He is the equivalent of a foreman with Local 3 International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and said he has done volunteer work with his union, much of it in the local community.
The new chairman said he is delighted to be working with the new district manager, Matthew Cruz, because he has experience working at the NYC Department of Buildings and is getting a graduate degree in City Planning.
“I am excited we have a new district manager to work with,” said Sullivan. “He has a lot of ideas and I have a lot of ideas.”
He will be seriously exploring planning and zoning issues, he said.
One of the most serious zoning related issues facing CB 10, said Sullivan, is the need to push the city to expand parking requirements for new construction in R-6 and R-7 zones.
“Jimmy Vacca did a great job on lower density downzoning but we still have more work to do,” said Sullivan, adding that parking issues in the community is a top priority, and lack of parking affects commercial corridors.
“If the customers cannot park and go into the stores, the merchants cannot work,” said Sullivan, adding that in many places elsewhere in the borough, people have to hunt for up to an hour to park near their homes, affecting their quality-of-life.
Another concern is the need to develop better communication between civic associations, business groups and CB 10, said Sullivan.
Still another area of focus for Sullivan is the development of waterfront parks in Co-op City along the banks of the Hutchinson River and a new Metro North station being planned for the community.
Storm resiliency is also has top-of-mind awareness for the new chairman, who said he is taking a look at resiliency efforts.
He said he has learned that some recommended repairs still have not been made on certain structures years after Superstorm Sandy, including the lifting of houses in flood-prone areas.
With Local 3, Sullivan said he has donated his time to building the Throggs Neck 9/11 memorial, a similar one in Yonkers and helped distribute food around the holidays in St. Joan of Arc church’s parish.
Sullivan said he is proud of his daughters who are very active with him in volunteering, and who helped him install two pole lights at the Throggs Neck 9/11 Memorial.
Sullivan said his children continued to volunteer in high school in college, both locally and internationally.
“I am a lifetime member of this community,” he said. “If you are not part of the community and putting in the effort to improve it, you cannot be on the sidelines complaining about everything.”
