Knock, knock, Liu’s there: with Ed at Bernie’s

After 53 years, Douglaston’s Bernie Haber attended his final Community Board 11 Monday as a member of the panel. He is the city’s longest-serving community board member, a record unlikely to be broken, due to the institution of term limits in 2019.

During Monday night’s virtual meeting, Haber, center, was honored with several proclamations, including a certificate from the mayor and a plaque from CB 11. But the biggest surprise for Haber came when state Sen. John Liu, left, and Assemblyman Ed Braunstein knocked on his door just before the meeting began to congratulate him in person.

“Chairman Haber — he’s ‘the chairman’ as long as I’ve known him — he’s not a politician,” Liu said, alluding to Haber’s 30 years at CB 11’s helm, “he’s an engineer, who knows how to actually get stuff done.”

“[CB 11] really is the special place that it is because of hard-working people, especially people like Bernie,” Braunstein said.

Haber, grinning ear to ear, said he was “overwhelmed” by the gesture. “I was going to go to a meeting today and vote, get a new chairperson ... But I didn’t expect this.”

— Sophie Krichevsky