It turns out that Wednesday night was the first time that a community group had brought a resolution to this relatively new committee. Its procedure for this was not entirely in place, and the committee declined to take any action — for now.
Rob Hollander, representing the Block Association and No 7-Eleven group, submitted the resolution and supporting documents several weeks ago. However, the background and documents hadn't been distributed to the committee members.
As Hollander noted, "So members may not have read it in its submitted form and they didn't have any documents to look at during the meeting. As a result, some concerns were raised and discussed that were not contained in the resolution itself."
He said that the resolution is just a way to give all community boards more say in local land use. "It doesn't prescribe what any community board should do about land use, it just allows them to exercise choice," Hollander said.
And for the time spent Wednesday night?
"I don't begrudge the lost time — I enjoyed meeting the members who I didn't already know, it was a pleasure to see again the members that already knew, and presenting is fun," Hollander said. "But we did lose a month. At the very end an important and relevant concern was raised: On what criteria would the Community Board decide up or down on a given corporate store? It seems to me it raises serious legal liabilities of discrimination. So the meeting was not a waste by any means."
Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] More from the anti-7-Eleven front on Avenue A and East 11th Street
Avenue A's anti-7-Eleven campaign now includes arsenal of 20,000 stickers
'No 7-Eleven' movement goes global with BBC report
7-Eleven fallout: East Village groups propose resolution 'to restrict corporate formula stores'
