No Seat for CB1 at LMDC Table
Last month Mayor Michael Bloomberg made long-awaited appointments to the board of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC). Absent from the appointments were members from the local community.

"I think it was very unfortunate that there were not additional community members appointed to the board," said Julie Menin, chairwoman of Community Board 1.

The Bloomberg appointees included four members of his administration: Deputy Mayors Marc Shaw and Daniel Doctoroff, City Planning Director Amanda Burden, and Finance Commissioner Martha Stark. The other two appointments were from the private sector, William Rudin, chairman of the Association for a Better New York and Verizon president Lawrence T. Babbio, Jr. Governor George Pataki also appointed Robert Douglas, chairman of the Downtown Alliance, to the board last month.

There are 16 slots on the LMDC board, divided equally between appointments by the mayor and the governor. All slots are now filled.

Downtown representation on the LMDC board will be a topic of discussion during a meeting Dec. 7 of the CB1 World Trade Center Redevelopment Committee. Co-chair Catherine McVay Hughes said it just makes sense to have more residents represented. A likely choice, she said, would be Menin.

Now the only Downtown resident on the LMDC board is Madelyn Wils, former chairwoman of CB1.

"The current community board chair really should be on it," Hughes said. "The community would be better off if we had two voices instead of one."

The discussion of more direct community influence in the rebuilding comes as CB1 has voiced frustration in recent months about local community input.

"Having a seat at the table means the views of the community and the positions we take are given greater exposure," said CB1 member Michael Connolly. "It means the views of the community are taken into account."

Lennon Remembered
This month marks the 25th anniversary of John Lennon's death. A photographic remembrance of the former Beatle is on display until Jan. 15 at the Puffin Room, 435 Broome St.

The show includes photographs by Allan Tannenbaum, a longtime Duane Street resident and a Tribeca Trib photographer, David Spindel and Roger Farrington. Tannenbaum photographed Lennon and Yoko Ono after the singer's re-emergence onto the music scene in 1980 and shortly before his death.

Free Gift Wrapping
There will be free gift wrapping and refreshments on Saturday, Dec. 10, from 12 to 4 p.m., in the lobbies of 310 Greenwich St., 40 Harrison St. and 80 North Moore St., courtesy of Living Word Church.

Register for Little League
Register for Downtown Little League's 2006 season on the league's webite, www.downtownlittleleague.org (credit card required), or in person at an annual open house on Saturday, Dec. 10, from 10 a.m. to noon, in the cafeteria of P.S. 234, at Chambers and Greenwich Streets.

Kids ages 6-16 as of March 31, 2006, can play. Fees are $100 per child. Financial aid is available.


Culture vs. Memorial
"Zero Culture," a panel discussion on the "opposition between culture and memorialization" in the rebuilding plans for the World Trade Center site, will be presented by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council on Dec. 12, at 7:30 p.m., at the New School, 55 West 13th St. Panelists include Tom Bernstein, co-founder and chairman of the International Freedom Center, once planned for the site, artist Hans Haacke and Mike Wallace, director of the Gotham Center for New York City History. The moderator will be Paul Goldberger, architecture critic at The New Yorker and dean of Parsons The New School for Design. Admission is $8; free for students. For more information, go to www.lmcc.net.

A Rockin' Record Sale
Records, CDs and collectables will be on sale from Dec. 11-19, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., at the Archive of Contemporary Music, 54 White St. Most items are under $5.

Coat and Toy Drive
The annual New York Cares coat drive is collecting adult and children's coats for the needy this month. Coats can be dropped off at the 1st Precinct, 6 Ericsson Pl., the transit precinct at Lispenard Street and West Broadway, and the Janovic Plaza store at 136 Church St. New, unwrapped toys for the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys For Tots program can be dropped off at Wall Street Rising's Downtown Information Center, 25 Broad St.