At the Waldorf-Astoria's grand ballroom last night: Bill Cunningham, Oscar de la Renta (who had his Fall 2008 fashion show yesterday), and Mercedes Bass. Click here for more photos. Block by block, the Citizens Committee for New York City works to improve city neighborhoods. So the organization's annual gala, "The New Yorker for New York Awards," which took place last night at the Waldorf-Astoria, possessed a strong civic spirit, this year emboldened by sports and politics, as the event fell the night after the Giants won the Super Bowl and the night before Super Tuesday. Most of the applause was for the honorees, introduced in between courses of salmon, chicken pot pie with lingonberry sauce, and chocolate shells filled with raspberries.The New Yorker for New York Award went to the general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, Peter Gelb; the Marietta Tree Award for Public Service, to chairwoman of the City Planning Commission, Amanda Burden; the Brooke Russell Astor Award for Philanthropy, to the founder and president of Randall's Island Sports Foundation, Karen Cohen; the Arthur Ross Award for Young Philanthropists, to a principal at Katzenbach Partners, Jack O'Kelley; the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Award for Public Service, to the New York Times photographer Bill Cunningham, and the OSborn Elliott Award for Community Service, to Karen Washington, the co-founder of La Familia Verde, building community gardens in Harlem. Related: Out & About Photo Album of the Citizens Committee for New York City Gala