Meet the Board of Directors
Herb Alter
Herb has been politically aware and engaged for a long time, but has never before taken the time to get involved in local politics. His recent engagement in opposition to the Open Street on W. 103rd St. exposed him to the Block Association, the Community Board, our local Democratic Party club, the City Council, and the Department of Transportation. In his own words, “It’s been an eye-opener!”
Herb has had a long career in computer software as an employee, consultant, and teacher at Bell Labs, IBM, and many financial services companies. He has designed solutions for problems, both business and technical, and thinks of himself as a problem solver with a reputation for out-of-the-box thinking.
With a few interruptions, Herb has lived on the Upper West Side since 1968, and on West End Ave. and W. 103rd St. since 1996. He’s been walking his dogs in Riverside Park since 1970. Because he has an interest in problem-solving, he decided it was time to step up and volunteer. Joining the Block Association board has been his first step in that direction. Contact Herb.
Hedy Campbell
Hedy moved into the neighborhood (West 102nd Street) in 1984 and joined the Block Association soon thereafter. Since then she's served as co-chair, co-editor of the newsletter, editor of the newsletter, treasurer, and secretary. For many years she organized the annual Halloween parade, and continues to oversee the annual holiday caroling event. In the past few years, she's interviewed our residents of long-standing for the Neighborhood Hall of Fame, helped launch e-waste recycling, and initiated an annual blood drive. Contact Hedy.
Mary Chestaro Coss
Mary is a born and raised Upper West Side resident, having grown up here with her family while her brother began a career in film. She runs a successful event-production company and, along with her husband, who works in live-event television, is raising a school-age daughter. Her first contribution to the Block Association was to run the first post-COVID Halloween Parade and Party, which was received with tremendous enthusiasm. She joined the board in April 2022 and will be spearheading the organization’s fundraising efforts and putting her energy into raising the group’s visibility. Contact Mary.
Cynthia Doty, Chair
Cynthia has lived in her apartment at 305 Riverside Drive for 45 years, moving in after living a few years in Brooklyn. In the late 1980s, she became active in her building’s tenants’ association and, shortly after that, started participating in Block Association activities. She officially joined the board in the early 1990s, and for the past 30 years she has helped with various Block Association events, most recently helping plan and moderate the Block Association’s annual meetings. Since Cynthia also serves as the Democratic District Leader for our area, she frequently acts as a liaison to our elected officials or various government agencies. She is also the vice president of the 24th Precinct’s Community Council. Contact Cynthia.
Amy Edelman
Amy has been a resident of 300 Riverside Drive since 1997, along with her husband, two children (now grown), and a series of wonderful cats. She was managing editor at Random House for many years and is now a freelance copy editor, specializing in fiction. She joined the Block Association board in March 2021. Aside from copyediting the quarterly newsletter, she handles email communications and welcomes new members to the Block Association. Having spent many years attending her kids’ soccer and baseball games in Riverside Park, she is a big fan of that wonderful resource right at our doorstep. In her spare time, she roots for the Mets, works on get-out-the-vote campaigns, and occasionally babysits for her grandcat, Turtle. Contact Amy.
Peter Frishauf
Peter, a lifelong Upper West Side resident, and his partner (now spouse), KC, moved to West 103rd Street in 1982 with their daughter. Both are dedicated to making the neighborhood safer and more inclusive for walkers, wheelchair users, and bicyclists. In 2009, Peter and KC worked with the Block Association to create a temporary parklet by the Marseilles in a demonstration project and survey that tested the idea of a reimagined pedestrian-first street between Riverside Park and Central Park. In 2020 the idea was rekindled with the creation of the West 103rd Street Open Street, and Peter now serves as a volunteer coordinator for Park to Park 103. The same year Peter and KC moved to the neighborhood they started a medical publishing company, SCP Communications, which developed a collaborative “electronic newsroom” for fast scientific production of information far ahead of its time. SCP created Medscape in 1995, a site that became the most visited professional medical website in the world, informing millions of clinicians and consumers alike. Peter is an active adviser, investor, board member, and leader in New York's vibrant startup culture in health-care media and life sciences. He serves on the boards of several nonprofit organizations, and joined the Block Association board in April 2022. Contact Peter.
Gary Hack
Gary Hack has had a long and varied career in urban planning. He’s worked in academia, including 12 years as dean of the School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania, and as a professor and department head at MIT. He has also taught at several Chinese universities, including Tsinghua, Tongji, and Chongqing.
His projects in the private sector include several here in New York City, including the West Side Waterfront, the planning of Rockefeller Park at Battery Park City, and the redevelopment of the World Trade Center. He’s also worked on the redevelopment of the Prudential Center in Boston and directed the Canadian government's housing and urban development research and demonstration programs. He has served as an urban design consultant for projects in Japan, Thailand, Taiwan, China, and Saudi Arabia.
Gary has written extensively on urban design, the regional form of cities, urban creative districts, Chinese urbanism, and other subjects. He is the author or co-author of several influential books in the field. Serving on the Block Association board is not Gary’s first public service. He is the former chair of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission and has served on many other boards and commissions. Contact Gary.
Celia Knight, Recording Secretary
Celia, a board member since 2012, has lived in the neighborhood for 46 years, enjoyed a career in publishing, and is working now to learn new software applications and discover new ways to reach out to the community. She sings with the Voices of New York, a choral group that plans to reassemble in the fall of 2022. Contact Celia.
Ginger Lief
Ginger has been a resident of the Master Apartments on Riverside Drive and West 103rd Street since August 1969. She joined the West 102nd & 103rd Streets Block Association board in 1982 and shortly afterward became the editor of the then-monthly BA newsletter and head of the Street Fair Publicity Committee. She resigned these positions in 1986 when she returned to school for graduate work, rejoining the board in 2002. Since then, Ginger has served as the BA archivist, and more recently as the BA representative to the West Side Federation of Neighborhood and Block Associations. She serves, as well, on the Park West Neighborhood History Group board and is actively engaged locally with community outreach at St. Michael's Church. Contact Ginger.
Komal Rathi, Co-Treasurer
Komal and her husband are residents of Alexandria House on West 103rd Street. She has lived in New York City since 2008, and moved to the neighborhood in 2013. Her favorite part about living on the block is the proximity to Riverside Park. While pursuing a management career in financial services, she serves as the co-treasurer of the block association. Contact Komal.
Richard Robbins
Richard Robbins has lived on W. 103rd St. for nearly 20 years and has been an active member of our community. This includes serving for eight years on Manhattan Community Board 7, serving on the board of the Riverside Clay Tennis Association, being an active parent in his daughters’ schools, and supporting various Block Association initiatives (including taking a leading role in addressing problematic construction on his block when a developer claimed that a fully occupied building was vacant in order to get construction permits). Professionally, he owns a small business, Upper West Strategies, which runs workforce development programs for New York City, including internships for life sciences and cybersecurity. He has two daughters, who are now in New York City public high schools. Contact Richard.
Non-Board
Caitlin Hawke, Block Association Blogger & Webmaster
Caitlin has been blogging at our site since early 2014 for which she was recognized with the Jim Torain Award of the Bloomingdale Neighborhood History Group. An active member of our community, she created the TriBloomingdale Initiative which organizes activities to bridge this block association with the W. 104th Street Block Association and Bloomingdale Aging in Place. She also served as a director of Bloomingdale Aging in Place and for many years co-chaired BAiP's activities committee overseeing nearly 100 volunteers who produced 1300 activities annually. She is a lover of local urban history. Contact Caitlin.
Herb has been politically aware and engaged for a long time, but has never before taken the time to get involved in local politics. His recent engagement in opposition to the Open Street on W. 103rd St. exposed him to the Block Association, the Community Board, our local Democratic Party club, the City Council, and the Department of Transportation. In his own words, “It’s been an eye-opener!”
Herb has had a long career in computer software as an employee, consultant, and teacher at Bell Labs, IBM, and many financial services companies. He has designed solutions for problems, both business and technical, and thinks of himself as a problem solver with a reputation for out-of-the-box thinking.
With a few interruptions, Herb has lived on the Upper West Side since 1968, and on West End Ave. and W. 103rd St. since 1996. He’s been walking his dogs in Riverside Park since 1970. Because he has an interest in problem-solving, he decided it was time to step up and volunteer. Joining the Block Association board has been his first step in that direction. Contact Herb.
Hedy Campbell
Hedy moved into the neighborhood (West 102nd Street) in 1984 and joined the Block Association soon thereafter. Since then she's served as co-chair, co-editor of the newsletter, editor of the newsletter, treasurer, and secretary. For many years she organized the annual Halloween parade, and continues to oversee the annual holiday caroling event. In the past few years, she's interviewed our residents of long-standing for the Neighborhood Hall of Fame, helped launch e-waste recycling, and initiated an annual blood drive. Contact Hedy.
Mary Chestaro Coss
Mary is a born and raised Upper West Side resident, having grown up here with her family while her brother began a career in film. She runs a successful event-production company and, along with her husband, who works in live-event television, is raising a school-age daughter. Her first contribution to the Block Association was to run the first post-COVID Halloween Parade and Party, which was received with tremendous enthusiasm. She joined the board in April 2022 and will be spearheading the organization’s fundraising efforts and putting her energy into raising the group’s visibility. Contact Mary.
Cynthia Doty, Chair
Cynthia has lived in her apartment at 305 Riverside Drive for 45 years, moving in after living a few years in Brooklyn. In the late 1980s, she became active in her building’s tenants’ association and, shortly after that, started participating in Block Association activities. She officially joined the board in the early 1990s, and for the past 30 years she has helped with various Block Association events, most recently helping plan and moderate the Block Association’s annual meetings. Since Cynthia also serves as the Democratic District Leader for our area, she frequently acts as a liaison to our elected officials or various government agencies. She is also the vice president of the 24th Precinct’s Community Council. Contact Cynthia.
Amy Edelman
Amy has been a resident of 300 Riverside Drive since 1997, along with her husband, two children (now grown), and a series of wonderful cats. She was managing editor at Random House for many years and is now a freelance copy editor, specializing in fiction. She joined the Block Association board in March 2021. Aside from copyediting the quarterly newsletter, she handles email communications and welcomes new members to the Block Association. Having spent many years attending her kids’ soccer and baseball games in Riverside Park, she is a big fan of that wonderful resource right at our doorstep. In her spare time, she roots for the Mets, works on get-out-the-vote campaigns, and occasionally babysits for her grandcat, Turtle. Contact Amy.
Peter Frishauf
Peter, a lifelong Upper West Side resident, and his partner (now spouse), KC, moved to West 103rd Street in 1982 with their daughter. Both are dedicated to making the neighborhood safer and more inclusive for walkers, wheelchair users, and bicyclists. In 2009, Peter and KC worked with the Block Association to create a temporary parklet by the Marseilles in a demonstration project and survey that tested the idea of a reimagined pedestrian-first street between Riverside Park and Central Park. In 2020 the idea was rekindled with the creation of the West 103rd Street Open Street, and Peter now serves as a volunteer coordinator for Park to Park 103. The same year Peter and KC moved to the neighborhood they started a medical publishing company, SCP Communications, which developed a collaborative “electronic newsroom” for fast scientific production of information far ahead of its time. SCP created Medscape in 1995, a site that became the most visited professional medical website in the world, informing millions of clinicians and consumers alike. Peter is an active adviser, investor, board member, and leader in New York's vibrant startup culture in health-care media and life sciences. He serves on the boards of several nonprofit organizations, and joined the Block Association board in April 2022. Contact Peter.
Gary Hack
Gary Hack has had a long and varied career in urban planning. He’s worked in academia, including 12 years as dean of the School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania, and as a professor and department head at MIT. He has also taught at several Chinese universities, including Tsinghua, Tongji, and Chongqing.
His projects in the private sector include several here in New York City, including the West Side Waterfront, the planning of Rockefeller Park at Battery Park City, and the redevelopment of the World Trade Center. He’s also worked on the redevelopment of the Prudential Center in Boston and directed the Canadian government's housing and urban development research and demonstration programs. He has served as an urban design consultant for projects in Japan, Thailand, Taiwan, China, and Saudi Arabia.
Gary has written extensively on urban design, the regional form of cities, urban creative districts, Chinese urbanism, and other subjects. He is the author or co-author of several influential books in the field. Serving on the Block Association board is not Gary’s first public service. He is the former chair of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission and has served on many other boards and commissions. Contact Gary.
Celia Knight, Recording Secretary
Celia, a board member since 2012, has lived in the neighborhood for 46 years, enjoyed a career in publishing, and is working now to learn new software applications and discover new ways to reach out to the community. She sings with the Voices of New York, a choral group that plans to reassemble in the fall of 2022. Contact Celia.
Ginger Lief
Ginger has been a resident of the Master Apartments on Riverside Drive and West 103rd Street since August 1969. She joined the West 102nd & 103rd Streets Block Association board in 1982 and shortly afterward became the editor of the then-monthly BA newsletter and head of the Street Fair Publicity Committee. She resigned these positions in 1986 when she returned to school for graduate work, rejoining the board in 2002. Since then, Ginger has served as the BA archivist, and more recently as the BA representative to the West Side Federation of Neighborhood and Block Associations. She serves, as well, on the Park West Neighborhood History Group board and is actively engaged locally with community outreach at St. Michael's Church. Contact Ginger.
Komal Rathi, Co-Treasurer
Komal and her husband are residents of Alexandria House on West 103rd Street. She has lived in New York City since 2008, and moved to the neighborhood in 2013. Her favorite part about living on the block is the proximity to Riverside Park. While pursuing a management career in financial services, she serves as the co-treasurer of the block association. Contact Komal.
Richard Robbins
Richard Robbins has lived on W. 103rd St. for nearly 20 years and has been an active member of our community. This includes serving for eight years on Manhattan Community Board 7, serving on the board of the Riverside Clay Tennis Association, being an active parent in his daughters’ schools, and supporting various Block Association initiatives (including taking a leading role in addressing problematic construction on his block when a developer claimed that a fully occupied building was vacant in order to get construction permits). Professionally, he owns a small business, Upper West Strategies, which runs workforce development programs for New York City, including internships for life sciences and cybersecurity. He has two daughters, who are now in New York City public high schools. Contact Richard.
Non-Board
Caitlin Hawke, Block Association Blogger & Webmaster
Caitlin has been blogging at our site since early 2014 for which she was recognized with the Jim Torain Award of the Bloomingdale Neighborhood History Group. An active member of our community, she created the TriBloomingdale Initiative which organizes activities to bridge this block association with the W. 104th Street Block Association and Bloomingdale Aging in Place. She also served as a director of Bloomingdale Aging in Place and for many years co-chaired BAiP's activities committee overseeing nearly 100 volunteers who produced 1300 activities annually. She is a lover of local urban history. Contact Caitlin.
