NEW YORK—After a few decades of living in New York City, DeAnna Rieber has still kept her Indiana genteel nature. Rieber brought the community spirit she learned growing up on a farm to New York. Now, as the president of the West 75th Street Block Association, she tries to empower neighbors and create a spirit of camaraderie and partnership.
In her newest venture she is working to build the New York Coalition of Block and Community Leaders. The newly formed organization is meant to evolve into an umbrella organization for block associations, giving them mentorship and training to better serve their members. “In New York City, what happens to you happens to me,” she says, emphasizing the importance of such organizations.
Rieber is now a real estate agent for Halstead Property, working mainly On the Upper East Side and in Harlem, but she started as an aspiring dancer, and then took a turn as a teacher in the public schools. “My business and my commitment to community are one and the same,” she says.
The Epoch Times: Why are block associations important?
DeAnna Rieber: They create a sense of community. Maybe for people like me who had known it in the past, but maybe also for people who don’t really understand what it is about. It unifies neighbors. Not just around issues, but socially as well.
To think that what happens to you does not affect me is false. Whether we are aware of it or not, it does. The most important thing is knowing that you’ve got an underpinning of caring neighbors who have the feeling that your life is important to us. What happens in your life is important to us. You want to know that where you live, someone is looking out for you, that there is someone you can call.
Epoch Times: What motivated you to start with community work?
Rieber:In terms of the block, I was really involved until the [former] block president died. On the periphery I was involved, but not like I am now. It is like a little business for me. I can really help build this and make it viable. [Assuming the role of president] strengthened my commitment to the community. It got a little deeper.
Epoch Times: If I want to start a block association, how should I go about it?
Rieber: Start with your own building. Tell people what you want to do and find who your kindred spirits are. Start with that. If you have five good committed people, you could do it. It will build. Hold a meeting every other month. People will come.
Start very basic. Continue to be a presence. Do not worry if you don’t have 100 members in the first year, don’t give up. Keep at it and keep at it. That is where the real successful associations are, the ones that stay committed year after year after year. It is important for people to be involved in their work, or at least to know it is being done. Blocks that do not have associations are missing something, they are losing out.
They are missing out on a sense of community they could have, a sense of neighborliness, a sense of a group coming together for a purpose to improve where they live.
Epoch Times: In terms of real estate, where is New York heading?
Rieber: Bloomberg has said that New York is a luxury market. I think we need to fight for rent stabilization and rent control as much as possible, because that is the last hold out in the Upper West Side for affordable housing. People who are contributing so much to the community live in this kind of housing because they don’t have to be a slave to pay the rent. When a one-bedroom apartment is $3,000 a month, it makes it difficult for a family.
At what point do you say— quality of life is too much to compromise for more development? There is a point where development is not a positive thing, because it takes away from people’s well being. No development provides affordable housing. Even Harlem has become very pricey.
Even our local politicians feel helpless against the power of this new development. It is very powerful in the Upper West Side. The demise of mom-and-pops stores is all about new development. It’s all about finding the right tenant to pay the rent.
In her newest venture she is working to build the New York Coalition of Block and Community Leaders. The newly formed organization is meant to evolve into an umbrella organization for block associations, giving them mentorship and training to better serve their members. “In New York City, what happens to you happens to me,” she says, emphasizing the importance of such organizations.
Rieber is now a real estate agent for Halstead Property, working mainly On the Upper East Side and in Harlem, but she started as an aspiring dancer, and then took a turn as a teacher in the public schools. “My business and my commitment to community are one and the same,” she says.
The Epoch Times: Why are block associations important?
DeAnna Rieber: They create a sense of community. Maybe for people like me who had known it in the past, but maybe also for people who don’t really understand what it is about. It unifies neighbors. Not just around issues, but socially as well.
To think that what happens to you does not affect me is false. Whether we are aware of it or not, it does. The most important thing is knowing that you’ve got an underpinning of caring neighbors who have the feeling that your life is important to us. What happens in your life is important to us. You want to know that where you live, someone is looking out for you, that there is someone you can call.
Epoch Times: What motivated you to start with community work?
Rieber:In terms of the block, I was really involved until the [former] block president died. On the periphery I was involved, but not like I am now. It is like a little business for me. I can really help build this and make it viable. [Assuming the role of president] strengthened my commitment to the community. It got a little deeper.
Epoch Times: If I want to start a block association, how should I go about it?
Rieber: Start with your own building. Tell people what you want to do and find who your kindred spirits are. Start with that. If you have five good committed people, you could do it. It will build. Hold a meeting every other month. People will come.
Start very basic. Continue to be a presence. Do not worry if you don’t have 100 members in the first year, don’t give up. Keep at it and keep at it. That is where the real successful associations are, the ones that stay committed year after year after year. It is important for people to be involved in their work, or at least to know it is being done. Blocks that do not have associations are missing something, they are losing out.
They are missing out on a sense of community they could have, a sense of neighborliness, a sense of a group coming together for a purpose to improve where they live.
Epoch Times: In terms of real estate, where is New York heading?
Rieber: Bloomberg has said that New York is a luxury market. I think we need to fight for rent stabilization and rent control as much as possible, because that is the last hold out in the Upper West Side for affordable housing. People who are contributing so much to the community live in this kind of housing because they don’t have to be a slave to pay the rent. When a one-bedroom apartment is $3,000 a month, it makes it difficult for a family.
At what point do you say— quality of life is too much to compromise for more development? There is a point where development is not a positive thing, because it takes away from people’s well being. No development provides affordable housing. Even Harlem has become very pricey.
Even our local politicians feel helpless against the power of this new development. It is very powerful in the Upper West Side. The demise of mom-and-pops stores is all about new development. It’s all about finding the right tenant to pay the rent.
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