Jasmine Melzer
If you live near the F or G subway stop on 7th avenue, you’ve probably heard the name Jasmine Melzer. She was one of a small but formidable group of people who started lobbying the MTA (Metropolitan Transport Authority) for an elevator at the station in 2014.
“The MTA had conducted a study of subway accessibility in 2010 but when we asked for an elevator here, they weren’t very responsive. They just told us how we could get to an accessible station. So, we started collecting signatures and attending the monthly meetings of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee. The committee represents the interests of subway and commuter rail riders in the 12-county MTA region,” Jasmine explained.
“We would sit off to the side until the committee had finished its regular business session and then we would raise our hands to discuss our concerns again and again until everyone knew who we were.”
“But we didn’t just go to the MTA. We kept bringing up the need for an elevator to then Councilman Brad Lander. And of course, Good Neighbors got involved. We organized rallies all over Park Slope and attended other rallies in Manhattan, demanding greater accessibility. In short, we made a lot of noise.”
“I have to admit that we were very good agitators and, in the end, it paid off. In 2018, we heard that we had won the battle.”
Jasmine grew up in England. After finishing high school in Ramsgate, Kent, a seaside town southeast of London, she attended business school where she won the All-England typing /shorthand prize. She came to the United States in 1968, attracted by its more entrepreneurial environment. Here, she was a legal secretary and then worked in advertising as an account executive, with clients mostly in the beauty and fragrance industries. Later she became Director of Corporate Relations for the Skin Cancer Foundation. She and her husband, Roger, have two daughters, both of whom live close by, and four grandchildren.
When the Melzers moved to Brooklyn in 1978, Prospect Park was not the much-loved, much-used park it is today. “Not only was covered with litter,” Jasmine says, ‘but people were actually destroying it. You could see teenagers burning benches at night.”
Not surprisingly, people were clamoring for something to be done.
Fortunately, everything began to change in 1980 when Tupper Thomas was appointed the administrator of Prospect Park. It was Tupper Thomas who first created the non-profit Prospect Park Alliance which began to raise funds to restore and sustain the park. Then, in 1997, the Alliance created the Community Committee, now known as Com Com.
More than 30 local organizations are represented on Com Com as well as elected officials and community boards surrounding the Park. Together, as stakeholders, they take an active role in discussions about park issues such as the rights of bike riders and pedestrians. Jasmine has been a member of Com Com for many years, representing Good Neighbors and the concerns of older adults.
“Sometimes the opportunities offered by the New York City Participatory Budget Process coincide with the needs of the Park.” This year the focus was specifically on local improvements including parks and other public spaces. “Over the years we have successfully pushed for the recently opened Adult Fitness Center, next to Harmony Playground, and for handrails and lighting on the path leading from the Fallkill waterfall down to Center Drive which is very steep and can be slippery.”
What does Jasmine do when she’s not lobbying?
“I have been involved with Good Neighbors almost since the beginning. I’m Board Secretary. I like the theater and I’m part of the Mystery Book Club. But representing the community on important quality of life issues is my great love.”
We can all be grateful to Jasmine and her dedicated group of advocates for their determination and organizing skills, without which we might still be dragging ourselves up the steps at the 9th street subway stop.