North Shore Towers Board of Directors member Claire Levitan was the fresh face on the Board following the 2008 elections, and has been spending her term as the chair of the House & Grounds Committee.
When Levitan was just three and a half years old, she moved to New York from Alexandria, Egypt, first settling in the lower east side of Manhattan before moving to Brooklyn.
“It was a wonderful immigrant experience for which I am very grateful,” Levitan said.
While attending CCNY, Levitan met her husband. She lived in California for two years while he attended school there. Once back in New York, Levitan worked as a secretary before having her three sons. She later went back to school, going on to teach early childhood and then reading instruction.
One of Levitan’s sons is a rabbi in Israel, while the other two run Pousada Santa Clara, a successful restaurant and small hotel located in Brazil. Levitan now has eight grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren, with one more on the way.
“I’m so very proud of each and every one of them,” Levitan said of her family. “They have made me very, very happy. I’m a fortunate woman.”
A resident of North Shore Towers for about 10 years, Levitan had visited friends before moving in and had always liked it. As Levitan began looking for her own apartment, she reconnected with Saul Cohen, a resident who she had gone to elementary and high school with and used to date.
“Instead of buying an apartment, I moved in on his request,” said Levitan, who is also a founding member of the Towers Camera Club.
When Levitan first decided to run for the Board of Directors, she said that it was because she received “two requests from opposing sides.” She also asked neighbors what they thought of the idea and received positive feedback from them. In addition, Levitan said more people knew her from her role as moderator of the Debate Club.
“Instead of being anonymous, people got to know me and I think you really have to be known in order to run for the Board. People have to know what you are and what you can do,” Levitan said. “I said that I had no baggage at the time and I would do my best for the entire community, and I hope that’s exactly what I’m doing.”
Levitan has now started her second year as the chair of the House & Grounds Committee and said that she has had a lot of help from her committee members. She also said that she has received a great deal of assistance from General Manager Glen Kotowski.
So far, Levitan said one of the accomplishments that she is most proud of is the made-to-order carpeting that has been installed in the movie theatre. The current seating has been cleaned, benches made in-house were completed and installed, and platforms were added to seating.
“We’re very proud of how it all looks,” Levitan said.
Additional work being done is getting new leather chairs for the arcade and working on the parking lot area walkways and garden. The committee is also looking into new mats for the building inner lobbies, new flooring for the outer lobbies and possibly putting in new lobby doors.
Levitan also said that she would like to see a new committee called Good Neighbor Alert started. She said that it would help address concerns about things like the use of the compactor rooms and returning the shopping carts that are available for resident use.
“My experience on the Board has been revolutionary. These are people who give a lot of themselves, who are very qualified, who care about our community and who can agree to disagree,” said Levitan, adding that she thinks Board President Bob Ricken has “shown wonderful leadership.” “I find the functioning of the Board is exemplary and our community is fortunate to have such qualified people.”
Levitan said that the most rewarding part of her Board service has been getting to know her committee members and see how much they care about where they live.
