The Brooklyn Standard

Many residents hoped months of mudslinging and name-calling would end Wednesday after the Manhattan Beach Community Group elected its next president. Instead, a suit was filed in the wake of the elections that promises to further embroil community leaders – perhaps even creating a splinter civic association in Manhattan Beach.

Ira Zalcman, newly elected president of the Manhattan Beach Community Group, received applause after his acceptance speech.

“You know one thing I have to give people credit for is that they came out to vote,” incumbent president Dr. Ronald Biondo said before the votes were tallied.

With 158 member households voting in an unusually packed auditorium at P.S. 195, Biondo lost Wednesday’s election to challenger Ira Zalcman, his vice president, 110 to 48.

“We really got sanity back,” said Zalcman following his acceptance speech, “and now we can look to the future.”

Biondo left the meeting quickly after its adjournment and minutes later, a man who refused to identify himself served legal process to Zalcman and fellow board members Shari Thaler and Francine Olk, opponents of Biondo’s presidency.

According to Zalcman, 67 people believed to be supporters of Biondo tried to join the Manhattan Beach Community Group to gain voting rights just prior to Wednesday’s election, but Zalcman refused them since the registration deadline passed. After a judge denied Biondo an injunction for the election, he filed suit against Zalcman and others to contest the results.

“It was an undemocratic election,” said one Manhattan Beach resident who would neither confirm nor deny the proposal of a second community group but said he would be interested in joining.

Some believe the area’s development is the underlying issue with pro-expansion Biondo on one side and the more conservative Zalcman on the other. Though a line seems to have been drawn in the sand, neither community leader has explicitly stated their goals for Manhattan Beach.

However, a recent Bay News article stated, “53 of the 67 people who submitted checks also appeared on a controversial petition circulated earlier this year urging New York City Councilman Mike Nelson to conduct a zoning study of Manhattan Beach’s housing stock.”

Further complicating matters were the 37 plaintiffs listed in addition to Biondo, many of whom did not know why or how their names appeared on the court documents. Zalcman said some of the affected parties were seeking affidavits to contest their purported involvement.

Biondo was not immediately available for comment and did not return repeated phone calls to his office.

Ed Eisenberg, a community activist, said most of the opposition to Biondo grew out of his autocratic presidency. “He didn’t reach out,” Eisenberg said, “He did things without consulting the board and he lost control.”

Though the theme of the meeting was one of community prioritization and moving forward together, Eisenberg said the lawsuit was more of the same for Biondo and Manhattan Beach. “He’s putting out the fire with gasoline,” he said.

When asked what he thought could be done to heal the community’s wounds, Zalcman, a psychologist, said, “We need group therapy.”