WITH the announcement of new appointments to New York’s community boards this spring, membership on these volunteer committees is suddenly on people’s minds. Yet, as is usually the case when community boards are discussed, the talk has missed the point, focusing on the wisdom of who has been asked to serve and who has been asked to give up a seat in favor of a new member.
What we need is a broader discussion of the role of community boards. After a year and a half of concerted effort, Manhattan’s 12 boards have both acquired a new professionalism and improved their ability to articulate the views of neighborhood constituents in debates over growth and development.
Of the 600 volunteer members now serving on Manhattan’s community boards, 224 are in their first two-year term. These new members have made the borough’s community boards younger, more diverse and stronger. Breaking with past practice, each new member is now appointed after being screened by an independent panel of government and civic organizations. The old expectation of automatic reappointment has given way to a merit-based process.
When the chairman of Community Board 4, which covers Chelsea, Hell’s Kitchen and Clinton, identified a need for new members with expertise in health care and human services, the appointment process found a certified social worker and several other applicants with the desired background. At Community Board 1, the influx of families with young children into TriBeCa created a need to refocus the board on schools and recreational space. A teacher with years of experience in public school education now serves on the board, along with several parents of young children, including the president of the Downtown Little League.
This new emphasis on the expertise of the borough’s community boards is a good thing for New York. Community boards, though often overlooked, are uniquely suited to express neighborhood concerns and ambitions that may differ from the goals of large commercial and political institutions. Without their voice, we would be unlikely to achieve the balanced growth essential for preserving the values of this city.
But community boards still face long odds in providing a counterweight to the billions of dollars of investment driving development here. To level the playing field between neighborhood residents and developers, and to help community boards raise their game, we need to focus on training.
To that end, we are offering tutorials for new board members on the basics of land use and zoning law. We also have started a program that assigns students studying urban planning to each Manhattan community board. Each board receives the benefit of working with a graduate fellow, and the student receives a priceless education in the realities of urban planning.
In addition to general training sessions co-sponsored with the mayor, my office offers workshops for community board members on the city budget process, resolution writing, parliamentary procedure and conflicts of interest.
With New York’s building boom continuing apace, the rapid changes the city is undergoing can be dizzying. Baseball stadiums and a basketball arena, a major expansion planned by Columbia University and a new Pennsylvania Station are just a few of the huge projects on the drawing board or being built. Even the Second Avenue subway has found a new life in this optimistic climate.
Community boards’ opinions on land use issues may be only advisory, but developers know that projects requiring approval by the City Planning Commission face a much tougher road if opposed by a community board.
This leverage was well used last year by Community Board 11 to ensure that a large mixed-use development in East Harlem will include affordable housing, space for cultural and nonprofit groups and store sites suitable for local retailers. In addition, neighborhood businesses will be partnering in and profiting from the construction.
We are fortunate that an earlier generation of New York City leaders had the foresight to establish community boards and ensure that local residents had a role in development discussions. It’s our job now to cultivate these boards so that they deliver the full measure of their promise.
