Please join us for our annual meeting on May 25 at 6 pm. In addition to our usual neighborhood discussions, we will also be voting for a new slate of directors. EVERYONE is welcome to attend the meeting; however, only members can vote.

Click here to register for the Zoom meeting (Zoom link forthcoming)

Agenda:

• Welcome and update from President
• LICH Construction Update
• Community Life Updates
• Traffic Update
• Treasurer’s Report
• Questions
• Reports from Elected Officials
  • Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez
  • State Senator Brian Kavanagh
  • Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simon
  • Council Member Shahana Hanif
• Nominating Committee and Election Proceedings
• Meeting the Nominees
• Election Proceedings
• The new CHA Board is announced
• Close the Meeting

Officers, Candidates for Three-Year Terms

Amanda Sue Nichols, President

Amanda and her husband Patrick moved to Cobble Hill in 2013 so Amanda (a lawyer) could walk to a job at the court. Nine years and three kids later, Amanda dedicates her time to her family and to Brooklyn. Amanda joined the CHA board as 2nd VP in 2018, and over the last four years has helped organize community events, served on the LICH Construction Task Force, and acted as a general resource to assist neighbors with quality of life issues. In addition to her work on the CHA, Amanda is the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Brooklyn Children’s Museum and a member of the Brooklyn-focused giving circle AllinBklyn. 

Daniel Carr, Vice President

Daniel Carr, a lifelong Brooklynite, grew up in Fort Greene, and lives in Cobble Hill with his wife and two children. He received a graduate degree in real estate development from Columbia and works for a private equity firm focusing on real estate investment and development. Growing up, he attended school in the Cobble Hill area where his mother had a medical practice on Atlantic Avenue. Dan’s interests lie in urban growth patterns and he serves on the Executive Committee of the Urban Land Institute of New York.

Bennette Kramer, Secretary

Bennette is a lawyer practicing civil commercial litigation who is mostly retired from Schlam Stone & Dolan, a Manhattan law firm.  She has lived in Cobble Hill for 50 years and raised her daughter here.  She has been on the Cobble Hill Association Board for 6 years, serving as Secretary and Vice President, and has been involved in the Construction Task Force related to the development of the former LICH property since its inception.

Jonathan Minkoff, Treasurer

Jonathan and his wife Alex have lived in Brooklyn since 2008. They moved to Cobble Hill in 2021 with their two young children. Jonathan is the co-founder and Chief Financial and Investment Officer of ASH NYC, which focuses on a creative perspective on space, design, and real estate, predominantly in hospitality. Jonathan and his family enjoy outdoor activities, concerts, museums, and touring the various playgrounds in the neighborhood and the city. 

Directors, Candidates for Two-Year Terms

Allie Peterson, Director

Allie has lived in Brooklyn for seven years, moving with her husband, and two children (and dog) from Brooklyn Heights to Cobble Hill in August of 2020. Allie is a marketing consultant on brand partnerships, having worked for companies across a variety of industries (CPG, tech, payments, transportation). Her main interests include historic preservation, increasing green spaces, and community outreach and she looks forward to finding ways to make Cobble Hill an even better place to live. In her free time, you can find Allie sitting on her stoop (or a neighbor’s stoop) and spending time with her kids in Cobble Hill Park.

Jillian Schiavi, Director  

Jillian is an artist, designer, and business owner who lives in Cobble Hill. Also a yoga teacher, she brings her daily living of the practice into everything she does, from running eight businesses with her husband (including Octavia Coffee in Cobble Hill); to bonus-parenting two young stepdaughters; to engaging with community members and listening to the needs of employees and neighbors. 

Joe Finnerty, Director  

Joe moved with his young family to Brooklyn Heights in 1990. After a few moves in the Heights, he settled in Cobble Hill in 2004. He has served for many years in leadership at his law firm and as a Trustee at the Brooklyn Museum. He hopes to add value to the CHA’s good work in guiding the life and growth of the neighborhood while preserving the many things that make it an extraordinary place to live. 

Toby Cecchini, Director

Toby is originally from Madison, Wisconsin, where he also attended college. He has been in New York for 35 years, the last 14 in Cobble Hill, and owns two restaurants in Brooklyn, one of which, The Long Island Bar, is in Cobble Hill on the corner of Atlantic Avenue and Henry Street. Prior to that, he wrote for 11 years for The New York Times, where his wife Jessica works as an editor. They have one child who grew up in Cobble Hill and now attends Vassar. Toby is particularly interested in parks and the usage of streets.

Directors, Candidates for One-Year Terms

Ezana Bocresion, Director 

Ezana is returning to the CHA Board having served as Treasurer from 2015-2016 and President from 2020-2022. Ezana is a senior financial services professional who has lived in the neighborhood with his wife and two children for almost 15 years. He is looking forward to working with his fellow Board members, and the community, to find the best ways to preserve, protect and enhance the quality of life in our unique urban neighborhood in a rapidly changing New York City.

Josh Vogel, Director

Josh, a lifelong resident of Cobble Hill, is a City Planner for the NYC Department of City Planning’s Brooklyn division. This will be his third year serving on the board of the CHA. His main interests include planning, policy, and transportation. His Instagram account and blog, NYC Urbanism, tracks the city’s built environment and gets over a quarter million views a week. Josh is also a professor at the New York Institute of Technology, where he teaches courses on city planning, architecture, and history. When he’s not working or teaching, Josh spends time with his wife and bulldog at their house in Vermont where they snowboard.

Rebecca Johnson, Director

Rebecca is a magazine journalist, novelist, and editor. She has lived in Cobble Hill for 32 years and been active in the CHA for the last decade, mostly in communications. She and her husband have raised two children and two dogs in the neighborhood. She is interested in housing equity and sustainability