Just What is a 'Community Board,' Anyway?

If you follow local news on Patch, you will come across articles about Community Board meetings.  For hot-button issues like , , , and development, the venue for the discussion is usually a Community Board meeting.  But most Patch readers have probably never attended these meetings, or know what, exactly, Community Boards are and do.  As an eight-year Community Board veteran, I hope to shed some light on the question. 

Structure

The New York City Charter mandates that the city be divided into Community Districts, along lines that “coincide with historic, geographic, and identifiable communities”.  Each district must be “compact and contiguous”, and have a population between 75,000 and 250,000 people.  Currently, there are 59 Community Districts citywide (12 in the Bronx, 18 in Brooklyn, 12 in Manhattan, 14 in Queens, and 3 in Staten Island).  These Community Districts are the fundamental building blocks of municipal government: almost every city agency subdivides its responsibilities first by borough and then by Community District. 

Prospect Heights is part of Community Board 8, which also includes Crown Heights and Weeksville. 

Each Community District also has a Community Board.  To sit on these Boards, up to 50 unsalaried volunteers with a “residence, business, professional or other significant interest in the district” are appointed by the Borough President.  At least half must be nominated by the City Councilmembers whose districts include the Board.  (Unlike city agencies, city council districts need not follow Community District borders).  The Borough President is charged with ensuring that the Board’s composition reflects the District’s composition.

Board Members serve two-year terms, and are not subject to term limits.  They elect a Chairperson and other officers, and hire a District Manager to staff their operations.  The entire Board meets publicly to transact business every month except July and August.  Most boards have roughly ten Subcommittees that do the real work, and whose bailiwicks usually match up either with specific agencies (Parks, Police, Sanitation) or with larger areas of concern (Housing and Land Use, Permits, Economic Development).

Role

So that’s what Community Boards look like; but what do they do?  The Charter gives them three major functions: “planning of community life”, the “efficient and effective organization of agencies that deliver municipal services”, and the “participation of citizens in city government within their communities”.

Planning

The Charter asks Boards to keep their fingers on the pulse of the District and advise agencies on topics where local knowledge is important.  Specifically:

• For budget preparation, each Board prepares a Statement of District Needs for expense items and capital projects in the District, which city agencies and councilmembers rely on while crafting the budget. 
• Boards weigh in on land use issues: when the city wants to change the zoning map or zoning text, when property owners want a variance from applicable zoning, and when Landmark restrictions apply.  Any development that is not ‘as-of-right’ usually comes to the Community Board.
• Boards advise the State Liquor Authority on liquor license applications; their familiarity with the particular location and surrounding neighborhood can give insight into whether the proposed establishment would be a good fit. 
• Other capital projects, such as park renovations, and operational projects, like bike lanes, often come before Community Boards for advisory votes.   

In most of these circumstances, Community Board votes are advisory only, and the relevant agency makes the final determination while considering the Board’s position.

Service Delivery

As mentioned, each city agency organizes its service delivery along Community District borders: some (parks, police, sanitation) have to be coterminous with each District; others (transportation, environmental protection, buildings) can aggregate one or more Districts together.  The agency District Manager communicates and works closely with the Community Board District Manager on local, usually operational issues, and the agency District Managers frequently attend meetings of the relevant Subcommittee. 

Furthermore, there is a District Cabinet, comprised of the Community Board District Manager, the Community Board Chairperson, representatives from local City Councilmembers, and each agency’s District Manager, which coordinates interagency service delivery throughout the Community District. 

Participation

Community Boards are an essential two-way communication link between the city and its citizens.  The city uses the Boards both to convey important information to the citizens, and to listen to what those citizens think.  The Boards’ assessment of their District carries weight with city agencies and elected officials (city, state, and federal) because the Boards are the officially sanctioned ‘eyes and ears on the street’.  Furthermore, average citizens can come to the Board, for answers to their questions and assistance with their problems, knowing that, through the Board, they have a voice, they have the city’s ear, and they are participating in city government. 

Conclusion

Community Boards can be a great system, but they are not perfect: in my next post I will discuss some of the flaws built in to the system, and propose some solutions.  

*All double quotes are taken from the New York City Charter, Chapters 69 and 70*