By Mike Schnitzel
According to the final issue of Chatter, the association¹s newsletter, ³the membership fees can no longer support either the publication of Chatter or the rent for our meeting room.²
³As much as it hurt everybody, we can¹t do it anymore,² said association President Linda Milano. She said that the group has lost about 100 members per year in recent years, and that the economics and logistics of maintaining a viable organization capable of helping the community were no longer feasible.
³A lot of people have left the area; old-timers have died off,² Milano said. ³We just couldn¹t get volunteers to do anything anymore. We used to have representatives who went to school board and village meetings and submitted reports. We don¹t have that anymore.²
During the organization¹s peak in the 1950s and ¹60s, records indicate that it had an average membership count in the 500 to 600 range. Milano said there were 292 members on the roster at the time the association decided to fold, but the number of active members was much lower.
³I can remember when we had to set up extra chairs for our meetings,² Milano said. ³Over the past few years, we were lucky if we had 20 people in attendance.²
She said that a few issues, such as gangs in Gibson and the proposed construction of a condominium complex on Gibson Boulevard, galvanized some previously uninterested portions of the community, but ultimately could not breathe new life into the organization. ³We had about 300 people attend a gang forum that we held, but those people didn¹t maintain their interest,² Milano said. ³And when they proposed the condos, there wasn¹t much we could do because we couldn¹t get our board to agree whether they were for or against it. They just didn¹t want to get involved.²
The association¹s annual dinner, which is usually a moneymaker, failed to generate any significant revenue for the group. According to Milano, 38 people attended, and the dinner cleared $36. The financial situation has gotten so bad that only three issues of Chatter were published, rather than the nine that were scheduled. ³We sent pro-rated refund checks to the advertisers,² Milano said. ³It was the right thing to do. We have no money, and it costs several hundred dollars to print an issue of Chatter. There was nothing we could do.²
In an effort to save the association, its Board of Trustees tried to attract younger potential members. According to Milano, they procured an e-mail address, GibsonCivic@optonline.net, and opened a chatgroup, GibsonCivicAssn@yahoogroups.com. Despite these efforts, however,
the group generated little interest among the younger crowd. ³I¹m 58, and I think I¹m one of the younger people on the board,² Milano said. ³There are only two people on the board younger than me.²
Milano¹s mother, Elsie, who was president of the association before her daughter and has been involved for more than 30 years, said she believes the changes in everyday life over the years are a major reason for the association¹s decline. ³People aren¹t as interested, and they don¹t seem to need us as much as they had in the past,² Elsie said. ³Life is quite different today ‹ women are working, they have children, and when they get home from work they don¹t want to go out again. Everybody¹s very busy, and they aren¹t as interested.²
The organization will surrender its charter, which was signed by William Gibson, to the New York Department of State. ³It¹s sad to see them go,² Mayor Edward Cahill said of the association. ³They did great community work, and it¹s a sad day for the residents of the Gibson area.²
³It¹s very, very sad,² Elsie said, ³but there¹s no alternative. Maybe we can come back if we get people sufficiently interested. We had to dissolve the corporation. We had no choice.²
Comments about this story? MSchnitzel@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 265.
