CB8 welcomes new members

Borough president Ruben Diaz Jr., has appointed a new batch of community residents to serve on Community Board 8 for the coming year.

They include Eric Dinowitz, Martin Gluck, Julia Gomez, Daris Jackson, Myra Joyce, Jyll Townes and Denise Rosalind Zaveras. 

The group replaces outgoing board members Anthony Creaney, Noah Friedman, Philip Friedman, Arturo Guzman, David Kornbluh and Sergio Marquez. Of that group, Philip Friedman and Creaney were on the board the longest — 11 and 12 years respectively. Guzman had the shortest term, being first appointed in 2015.

Eric Dinowitz is the son of Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, who at one time was approached as a possible replacement for Oliver Koppell on the city council — a seat later won by then CB8 member Andrew Cohen. A teacher at Bronx Theatre High School, Dinowitz also is a district leader for the Benjamin Franklin Reform Democratic Club.

CB8 district manager Michael Heller did not provide any further details on the new members. However, Gluck is a neurologist who practices on Kingsbridge Road. Jackson is an attorney who graduated from Rutgers in 2013 and fights for the rights of marginalized communities, according to a website biography.

Joyce is a “neuroscientist turned web designer,” according to her Twitter account, who also is active in the Riverdale Art Association. Townes is an attorney who also teaches at Monroe College, according to her LinkedIn page.

Co-ops fight for FEMA aid

U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel is working to ensure disaster relief funding is available to condominiums and cooperatives through a new bill that passed the House late last month.

The bill would direct the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide recommendations to Congress within the next 12 months on how condos and co-ops could become eligible for disaster relief, according to a release.

“According to FEMA’s policy, co-ops and condo associations are ‘business entities’ — not eligible for federal assistance that can reach up to $30,000 per household,” Engel said in a release. “As a result, community associations are often faced with the daunting task of cleaning up and rebuilding after a major natural disaster — without the help or resources that other homeowners receive from the federal government.”