Newly re-elected Community Board 7 chair, Adaline Walker-Santiago, cheered herself as she heard the election results in the race for chair, narrowly keeping her position at the June 20 CB7 general board meeting. The news came as the Board announced its district manager is slated to return.
In their last meeting before the elections, the buoyant Walker-Santiago won the race by a slim margin of 13 votes to opponent Jean Hill’s 12. Gloria Bent, another board member on the ballot, threw a wrench into the race when she withdrew her bid for chair in the last minute.
“I am so happy I’m re-elected; we got a lot done in the past two years. We have a very progressive agenda and after the election we went right back to work,” Walker-Santiago said.
This is the second time Walker-Santiago has been re-elected, having won her first re-election in 2015. Like the current race, the board was virtually split over Walker-Santiago’s victory. Since her win in 2015, Walker-Santiago has kept busy attempting to offer more exposure to the Board. Some events she’s helped organize include a Veteran’s Day breakfast and a Women’s Empowerment event.
With Hill having opted out as treasurer to run for chair, the treasurer post went to Anthony Perez, a board member whose professional job is executive director of the Bronx Democratic County Committee.
“I am happy that I was elected to serve as treasurer of Community Board 7,” Perez said in response to his victory. “I’m looking forward to working alongside our executive board and fellow CB7 members to move our board forward and continue to find better, and more effective ways to serve our community.”
The news came as the board announced Andrew Sandler’s return as the district manager for CB7, which covers Norwood, Bedford Park, Kingsbridge Heights, Fordham, and University Heights. His return is on a part-time basis, working solely between the hours of 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Sandler had been on medical leave since late January. He had applied for a reasonable accommodation request as part of his return to work.
It’s active from September until June, when all the boards go on a summer hiatus.
Barbara Stronczer, Robyn Saunders, Andrew Laioisa, and Nora Feury kept their positions as vice chair, second vice chair, third vice chair and secretary, respectively. The current executive board members will remain in their position until the end of June.
