The board of the Kings Point Civic Association resigned this week, likely ending the organization that in recent years led public engagement efforts on village issues including violent crime, tax hikes and public video surveillance.
“Nobody is taking it over. It’s probably just going to vanish,” said civic association President Marsha Rotman, who told the Great Neck News of her resignation prior to last night’s civic association dinner with Nassau County Legislator Judi Bosworth (D-Great Neck.)
The rest of the board resigned shortly after Rotman announced her decision, according to Rotman and civic association vice president Shohreh Kohanzedeh.
The assocation attempted to mobilize residents to attend village meetings and participate in the most recent village election, Rotman said.
But she pointed to a deeper reason for the civic association’s dissolution – a lack of interest from village residents that deflated membership numbers and prevented the association from easily transitioning to new leadership.
The association lacked the number of paying members required by its bylaws to hold new elections or amend its rules, Rotman said.
“There’s a tremendous lack of interest,” Rotman said. “The only time there’s been interested involved budgetary issues or safety issues.”
Village of Kings Point Mayor Michael Kalnick, whose policies sometimes faced civic association criticism, issued a statement thanking Rotman for her participation in village life.
“We thank Marcia for her service to the Kings Point community,” said Kalnick in the statement, “and wish her the best in her next endeavor.”
The association led efforts to oppose a nearly 10 percent increase to the property tax rate in 2011, organizing packed public meetings to discuss the budget and protest the hike. The Kings Point Board of Trustees, which passed the budget, defended the increase as a necessary response to unfunded state mandates and higher state pension costs.
The group also held a safety meeting on December 1, 2011 after a man armed with a handgun abducted a woman from a Kings Point bus station and attempted to sexually assault her. Police arrested Sirus Kashimallak, 50, of Cherry Lane one week later on charges of kidnapping and sexual abuse; his case is still pending.
And an April 2011 plan to install securities cameras covering all the entrances to Kings Point also drew criticism from the group, with Rotman and the civic association questioning the cost and privacy implications of the program.
“Marsha did a lot for Kings Point,” said Kohanzadeh, who credited the civic association with sparking interest in village elections. The group hosted a debate before this summer’s elections between Kalnick and Kings Point Responsible Government Party candidate Marjie Sasson, and competitors for the other board of trustee seats.
“We never had so many people, for the first time in the life of Kings Point, … participate in the election,” Kohanzadeh said.
Kohanzaden cited a lack of public participation in the group as a reason for her resignation, saying that she thought she “did her share.”
“[My resignation] sort of had a snowball effect. I’ve been thinking about it because of my conflict of time, and when I did the other officers decided to as well,” Rotman said.
The group had repeatedly tried to recruit more members, Rotman said, but encountered little interest among Kings Point residents in the day-to-day activities of the civic association.
Rotman said she did not plan on participating in public life or advocacy in Kings Point following her resignation, but hoped a younger generation of residents would become active.
““There really has to be a change – do it through social media, and do it through cyber meetings,” she said.
