COMMUNITY BOARDS: WHAT THEY ARE, FIND YOURS
From nyc.gov: "being a New Yorker means playing an active role in shaping your local communities, and one way to do this is to get involved with your local community board." Community boards are volunteer-run neighborhood organizations that work on all kinds of issues pertinent to their communities. There are 59 community boards in New York City, each with up to 50 members. Members, who can be as young as 16, are appointed by borough presidents and city council representatives. They serve two-year terms.
Find, learn about & get involved with your community board:
1. Learn: go here & input your address -- you'll bring up your own community board profile, which will include demographics & community needs. You’ll also find a link that’ll take you directly to your community board's website.
2. Getting involved: read about how to get involved at this excellent community board primer (from Curbed NY). You don't need to be appointed by an official member to get involved -- you just need to start going to meetings. Your own board's website will also likely have information about how to participate & join.
What exactly do community boards do? First and foremost, they advise officials & government agencies about land use issues (think proposed real estate developments, city construction, changes in zoning). For example: Queens Community Board 12, representing Jamaica & St. Albans, requested a moratorium from the city on building homeless shelters in the area, arguing that more shelters would increase an already "excessive" homeless population. Queens Community Board 5, representing Ridgewood, Glendale, Middle Village and Maspeth, voted against rezoning a vacant lot from "manufacturing" to "residential," citing "worries over gentrification and the loss of manufacturing space." Manhattan Community Board 3, on the Lower East Side, voted to preserve a community garden (and in doing so, rejected a new housing development). Bronx Community Board 7, representing Bedford Park, Fordham and a few other neighborhoods, voted to approve the construction of a massive, nine-rink "National Ice Center," noting that such a development could generate millions for the local economy. And while community board votes are advisory -- officially, a board can't force anyone to do anything -- government bodies that oversee land use theoretically heed board recommendations, so boards should have (hopefully considerable) sway in determining how their neighborhoods develop. Aside from advising about land use, boards serve their districts in a variety of other ways as well. They address community complaints -- for example, traffic complaints (like these regarding traffic safety along the hell that is Northern Boulevard), often working hand-in-hand with city agencies, like the DOT, in resolving such complaints; they vote for and against liquor licenses; they vote about renaming streets (for example, about renaming a street corner after the Beastie Boys); they coordinate park cleanup programs; they approve/reject proposed landmarks; they vote about library revitalization plans; they do all kinds of things involving the overall welfare of their districts.
Find, learn about & get involved with your community board:
1. Learn: go here & input your address -- you'll bring up your own community board profile, which will include demographics & community needs. You’ll also find a link that’ll take you directly to your community board's website.
2. Getting involved: read about how to get involved at this excellent community board primer (from Curbed NY). You don't need to be appointed by an official member to get involved -- you just need to start going to meetings. Your own board's website will also likely have information about how to participate & join.
What exactly do community boards do? First and foremost, they advise officials & government agencies about land use issues (think proposed real estate developments, city construction, changes in zoning). For example: Queens Community Board 12, representing Jamaica & St. Albans, requested a moratorium from the city on building homeless shelters in the area, arguing that more shelters would increase an already "excessive" homeless population. Queens Community Board 5, representing Ridgewood, Glendale, Middle Village and Maspeth, voted against rezoning a vacant lot from "manufacturing" to "residential," citing "worries over gentrification and the loss of manufacturing space." Manhattan Community Board 3, on the Lower East Side, voted to preserve a community garden (and in doing so, rejected a new housing development). Bronx Community Board 7, representing Bedford Park, Fordham and a few other neighborhoods, voted to approve the construction of a massive, nine-rink "National Ice Center," noting that such a development could generate millions for the local economy. And while community board votes are advisory -- officially, a board can't force anyone to do anything -- government bodies that oversee land use theoretically heed board recommendations, so boards should have (hopefully considerable) sway in determining how their neighborhoods develop. Aside from advising about land use, boards serve their districts in a variety of other ways as well. They address community complaints -- for example, traffic complaints (like these regarding traffic safety along the hell that is Northern Boulevard), often working hand-in-hand with city agencies, like the DOT, in resolving such complaints; they vote for and against liquor licenses; they vote about renaming streets (for example, about renaming a street corner after the Beastie Boys); they coordinate park cleanup programs; they approve/reject proposed landmarks; they vote about library revitalization plans; they do all kinds of things involving the overall welfare of their districts.
