by Ronald Drenger

After agonizing over the decision for nearly six months, Community Board 1’s Executive Committee on Feb. 12 chose the 92nd Street Y over the YMCA of Greater New York as its partner in an effort to develop a large community and cultural center Downtown.

The full board will vote on the recommendation at its meeting on Feb. 25.

Committee members praised both institutions and said either one could probably create a facility with great programs that would benefit Lower Manhattan residents and workers. But the 92nd Street Y got the edge in an 8-4 vote for its impressive track record organizing high-caliber cultural programs alongside recreational activities and for its perceived fundraising clout.

Representatives of the 92nd Street Y have pledged to launch an eight- to 12-month, $1 million study of what Downtowners need and want from a community center, as well as an ambitious fundraising campaign. They have also said they will work with CB1 to find a site for the project.

Last summer and fall, the 92nd Street Y and the YMCA submitted written proposals to the community board and twice made presentations to the committee. In October and again in December, the committee delayed a formal vote because members were torn between the two organizations. In a straw poll at the October committee meeting, a majority of the members said they were leaning toward the 92nd Street Y, but the YMCA won a majority during a similar informal vote in December.

“The process has been excruciatingly painful,” CB1 chair Madelyn Wils said after the vote.

From the start, most committee members had agreed that the 92nd Street Y was a step ahead of the YMCA when it came to cultural programming, and that proved to be an important factor in the vote.

While Downtown has some recreational facilities, “what we don’t have, and what I don’t see on the horizon, is something that gives us broad access to lectures and other cultural pursuits,” Bruce Ehrmann said during a pre-vote discussion.

Paul Hovitz said that he had been aware of the 92nd Street Y’ strong cultural programming, but then discovered the range of its other offerings during a recent visit to the facility .

“I was very surprised and impressed with the scope of recreational programs they provide,” he said. “That has moved me over toward them.”

“They have experience in a wider variety of issues,” said Richard Kennedy. “They cover a much broader spectrum of services, and they may bring everything the YMCA does, plus a little more, at least in terms of experience.”

But Linda Roché said that the YMCA could do a better job filling Downtown’s greatest need, which she said was for recreational and youth programs.

“What we’ve always wanted is a place kids can go to get off the streets,” she said, adding that there are plenty of cultural programs in the city and that various cultural facilities were being discussed as part of the redevelopment of Lower Manhattan in the wake of Sept. 11. “When will we have overkill with culture?”

“Let’s start with something,” Ehrmann responded.

Roché and a couple of other committee members who voted for the YMCA said they were concerned that the 92nd Street Y could squeeze out existing organizations and small businesses that provide community programs, while the YMCA seemed more likely to cooperate with them.

“I want someone to come down here and embrace what we already have, what people in the communty have spent years building,” Roché said.

But others objected, noting that the 92nd Street Y had repeatedly made clear that it intends to work with and incorporate existing groups as it develops the community center.

In addition to Roché, Carol De Saram, Albert Capsouto and Marc Ameruso voted for the YMCA. Wils, Hovitz, Ehrmann, Kennedy, Anthony Notaro, Joe Lerner, Ray O’Keefe and Marc Donnenfeld voted for the 92nd Street Y.

Nancy Owens abstained, saying she objected to the process. It was inappropriate for the board to express a preference for one private organization over the other, especially given the lack of consensus.

“It’s like saying, ‘You like baseball, I like soccer, what’s better for the community?’” Owens said. “Whichever organization can get it together with their boards and their alliances and funding, should move ahead.”

Roché agreed. The community board is “usually not in the position of picking one restaurant over another for a specific location, or one contractor over another,” she said, though unlike Owens she did not oppose moving forward with the planned vote.

CB1 hopes that the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, which is overseeing the redevelopment on and around the World Trade Center site, will provide a substantial chunk of the funding a Downtown center. The community board initially said it was seeking a $40 million, 100,000 square-foot facility, but the 92nd Street Y stated in its proposal that it envisioned a larger space, perhaps up to 300,000 square feet, for which it would need to raise $100 million to $200 million.

But there is no guarantee that the LMDC will provide a penny.

“It looks like there won’t be as much money for these kinds of projects,” said Wils, who is on the LMDC’s board of directors. “There is already an enormous amount of entities that have applied to the LMDC for money, far exceeding the money that the LMDC has.”

Several committee members said the YMCA seemed to be counting more than the 92nd Street Y on LMDC money, as well as on fundraising help from the communty board, and that the 92nd Street Y had a better chance to raise funds from other sources.

Sol Adler, 92nd Street Y’s executive director, raised some concerns among committee members in the fall when he said that only after completing the needs and feasibility study will the organization be able to decide for sure whether it intends to come downtown. But Adler said it was extremely unlikely that the 92nd Street Y won’t follow through.

The YMCA, which was exploring the creation of a Downtown branch before CB1 began its effort, said in the fall that it would probably pursue a Downtown facility even if it were not chosen by the board. It has already submitted a funding application to the LMDC.

“Our commitment to the city includes Lower Manhattan, and we’ll continue our search for a Downtown location,” YMCA spokeswoman Anvernette Hanna said the day after the vote.