UES Community Board Cancels Meetings Through March

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The Upper East Side's Community Board 8 canceled all planned meetings through the end of March and is developing a way to conduct virtual meetings to resume business in the month of April, CB 8 Chair Alida Camp told Patch.

Camp made the call to cancel this month's full board meeting when the City Landmarks Preservation Commission canceled its upcoming meeting, removing any time-sensitive votes from the community board's agenda. The decision to hold or cancel committee meetings was left to committee chairs, all of whom decided to cancel in the interest of public health amid the spread of coronavirus in New York City, Camp said.

"There's nothing that's really again time sensitive or particularly urgent between now and the end of the month, although we're going to be looking at just having virtual meetings. I don't I don't think board business should stop. But, but I think that everyone should be really cognizant of safety," Camp said.

Upper East Side residents should follow the Community Board 8 website and sign up for email notifications to receive the latest updates on the board's activity, Camp said. Should virtual meetings begin in April, it's very important to the board that members of the public have a way to participate either by calling in for public comment or by emailing testimony to the board to be read during the meeting, Camp said.

Community Board 8 is currently working with public broadcast station WNET, also known as channel 13, to get virtual meetings up and running. Thirteen currently hosts live streams of Community Board 8 meetings.

Virtual meetings will be held until government officials say that New Yorkers are no longer recommended to practice social distancing, Camp said.

"We will work virtually and with the best use of technology that we can in the meantime so that everyone has a chance to speak to be heard to debate and to vote," Camp said.

Check out Community Board 8's website here.