Thomas MacMillan Photo
Long-simmering tensions on the city zoning board erupted into public view as one member accused Chairwoman Cathy Weber of bullying other members into voting according to her preferences and otherwise running the board as her own “fiefdom.”
Weber (at left in photo) tries to exert total control over the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) and expects to tell others which way to vote, charged board member David Streever (at right).
“I’m tired of Cathy bullying everyone and telling board members what kind of opinions they can express,” Streever said. Weber needs to be reined in by the City Plan Department or by the mayor, he said.
“She uses her position to boss other people around,” he said.
Streever leveled those accusations after a tense meeting of the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) on Tuesday night. He said he has been quietly complaining about the way the board is run for some time, to no avail.
Chair Weber refused to respond to questions from the Independent, or to acknowledge that she was even hearing the questions.
What began as a minor personal spat ended up again exposing broader concerns about how mayorally appointed boards work in town.
Streever’s accusations are the latest allegations of misdealings at the BZA, which has had a history of avoiding proper public process. In 2007, the board was found to be avoiding public voting and deliberation by scheduling private last-minute meetings. Mayor John DeStefano appointed Weber as chair and promised that the BZA would be more accountable to the public. Last February, Weber refused to use a microphone to amplify a voting session, saying the public didn’t need to hear it.
Other mayorally appointed boards have been the subject of similar complaints about lack of transparency and democracy in recent years. The Board of Assessment Appeals keeps no written records of decisions, no meeting notes, no minutes; summarily rejects appeals without considering the law or a basis in facts; and now has only one member participating. The Fire Commission was found several times to have violated Freedom of Information law; the Board of Education has also run afoul of the law, and this year approved its entire budget with no public hearings or discussion. Even the Democracy Fund flouted open-meeting rules. And under City Hall’s press policy, employees have faced discipline, up to firing, for speaking in public without advance approval from the mayor’s public information office.
Tuesday’s zoning board flare-up occurred after a tense voting session, during which Streever accused Weber of telling him to shut up. She denied the charge. Visibly upset, Streever quietly completed the voting and then erupted and stormed out of the room.
The trouble began during voting on an item brought by local attorney Patricia Cofrancesco (pictured). She sought to overturn a ruling by Deputy Director of Zoning Tom Talbot, who decided that she could not add a seventh apartment to a building she owns on Townsend Avenue.
Earlier in the evening, during the public hearing on that item, only four board members were present. To pass, the item needed the approval of all four. Weber announced the member shortage several times during the meeting and explained that people could choose to postpone their proposals until a full board of five members was present. Cofrancesco declined to do so.
Later, by the time of the voting session, board member Regina Winters had arrived. She recused herself from voting on the Cofrancesco item, since she hadn’t been present during the public hearing.
During the voting on the item, BZA staff attorney Felipe Pastore suggested taking a quick poll of board members before the vote, to see which way they intended to vote.
This is not standard practice at the BZA. Pastore refused to answer questions about it after the meeting.
Streever said he would vote against the proposal. “Sorry Phil,” he added, as Pastore put his head in his hands.
“I don’t know if you want to table it,” suggested Pastore. “This is it. OK. Well, it has to be four out of five.”
Pastore suggested to Winters that maybe she could take 10 minutes to familiarize herself with the application and then vote on it. “I’m just trying to have the largest panel of people as possible,” he said.
Zoning staff said if Winters wasn’t present for the public hearing, she couldn’t vote.
Finally, Pastore relented and the board voted.
Streever and Walter Esdaile voted to deny Cofrancesco’s request to overturn the zoning decision. Weber and Victor Fasano (at center in top photo) voted to approve it. Without four votes of approval, the item failed.
Off The Record?
A short time later, the board began voting on a proposal to allow a dialysis center to be built in the Hill. Weber said that a lot of neighbors had come out against it. Streever brought up traffic considerations. Weber continued speaking.
Streever interrupted: “Did you just say ‘shut up’ to me?”
Weber said she hadn’t: “I mean, I could. But no, I didn’t.” She said twice that she could tell him to shut up, but hadn’t.
She asked Fasano, sitting between her and Streever, if she had said shut up. He said no.
Streever said he must have misheard.
The rest of the voting occurred without incident. Streever was visibly irritated. As the meeting adjourned, he rose and approached the staff table. “You need to get this under control,” he later recalled saying to Talbot.
A brief exchange with Pastore followed. Streever again accused Weber of telling him to shut up. Then he shouted, “We’re not playing a fucking game,” and left the room.
As she packed up her things to leave, Weber refused to answer questions or even acknowledge the presence of a reporter standing next to her.
Later, Streever explained the context of his eruption at the meeting. It was born out of frustration with the way Weber runs the board, he said.
Weber expects total control at BZA meetings, he said. She expects people to vote the way she tells them to and gets angry when she is crossed, he said.
“She makes it very unpleasant to hold any opinion that’s opposed to what she wants you to say,” Streever said.
Weber routinely talks with board members about upcoming votes during breaks in the meeting, Streever said. During those conversations, she tells people how to vote, he said. Streever said he has tried to avoid such conversations with Weber.
“It’s my understanding that there can be no conversations off the record” about items to be voted on, he said. “It’s totally inappropriate.”
On Tuesday, Weber spoke with other members about the Cofrancesco vote during a break, Streever said. He said she told them to vote in Cofrancesco’s favor.
Weber rules on BZA items based on her own personal preferences and allegiances, not regulations, Streever said. “I definitely think Cathy makes decisions not based on zoning ordinances.”
Weber “shuts down” people — members of public, staff, other board members — when she doesn’t agree with them, he said. She “hammers on Christian values” when it comes to setting hours of operation for businesses, he said.
She’s said things like “Don’t you think you should be in church?” to people seeking to open businesses on Sundays, Streever said.
Streever recalled a vote on an auto repair business near Weber’s home. She made it clear to board members that the garage was not to be given permission to paint cars. “This is not going to pass. I’m not screwing around tonight,” Streever recalled her saying. When the item did pass, Streever remembered her leaving the meeting in a huff.
Streever said Weber sometimes makes deals with board members, allowing them to vote last on controversial items. This allows members to vote against something to please a constituency of theirs, while still ensuring that the item passes.
Streever recalled one particular vote during which Weber muttered off-mic to another member, promising to allow the member to vote last. “Sure enough,” that person was the sole dissenting vote, Streever said.
Voting sessions do not follow Robert’s Rules of Order or any other established practice for conducting meetings. During voting, Weber customarily announces an item, makes a brief statement about why the board should approve or deny it, and then asks members for votes. She rarely calls for discussion and never makes or requests motions of any kind. Other members seldom speak during voting.
Weber can be vindictive and retaliatory when a member votes against her wishes, Streever said. When he voted against Cofrancesco’s item, Weber gave him “a lot of nasty looks,” Streever said. “It seemed to piss her off.”
When she allegedly told him to shut up, “I was definitely shocked,” Streever said.
Streever said she turned to him and said it very quietly. “I saw her lips move,” he said. “I definitely heard the words coming out of her mouth.”
Streever said he has complained to zoning staff, to no avail. He said he hoped the city would not let Weber “run the zoning board like her fiefdom.” “City Plan needs to step up and get involved,” he said. Streever said he plans to request recordings of meetings at which Weber has exhibited bullying behavior or deal-making.
Weber has told him that as chair of the committee, “I’m the employer; you’re the employee,” Streever recalled. If that’s her attitude, “Why even have a board?” Streever asked.
Members of the BZA have a HUGE responsibility to the public--both to neighborhoods & to the individuals who come before the board.
I am extremely disappointed in the Chair & anyone else on the board who does not take that responsibility seriously. As I told City Plan, it is not a game. People's livelihoods and homes depend on open and transparent decision-making and objective opinions from the Board.