Uptown Community Board Is Hostile Place For Women: Report

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS-INWOOD, NY — The community board that represents Washington Heights and Inwood has become a hostile place for female board members, who have been demoted from their positions and subject to humiliation by the board chair, according to reports.

Community Board 12 is locked in an internal struggle between chair Richard Lewis and members of the board who have filed complaints regarding Lewis' treatment of women, THE CITY first reported. The complaint launched an Equal Employment Opportunity investigation by the Manhattan Borough President's office, which found that Lewis discriminated against female board members on the basis of gender, according to the report.

Board Member Tanya Bonner filed the complaint after Lewis blocked her from becoming the board's assistant chair of the business development committee, THE CITY reported. Lewis also removed a female chair of the board's transportation and housing committees, according to the report. The complaint also detailed hostile behavior toward women on the board, such as condescendingly referring to members as "dear" and Lewis saying "take the MeToo movement someplace else," when board members objected to the term.

The seven-month investigation — a confidential process — wrapped up at the end of October. THE CITY acquired a letter from the borough president's office detailing its findings.

Read the full THE CITY report here.