New York City

To diversify community boards, enact term limits

The de Blasio charter revision commission's plan to enact term limits for community board members is a good idea for neighborhood democracy.

New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson speaks at a Community Board 2 monthly meeting.

New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson speaks at a Community Board 2 monthly meeting. Willliam Alatriste for the New York City Council

I began my journalism career in 2011 as a reporter at the Queens Tribune, covering northeast Queens. My beat was incredibly diverse, taking in the boomtown of Flushing, the suburban expanses of Bayside and Douglaston, and the working class communities east of the Van Wyck Expressway such as Bellerose.

As a young journalist, I knew I had to attend community board meetings regularly and meet all the people most active on local issues. Eastern Queens in particular has a robust civic scene – community boards and civic leaders play an outsize role in the politics of the area.

I met many smart, dedicated people giving all they had for their communities. I covered fascinating debates. But one thing kept gnawing at me: The community boards didn’t always reflect the diversity of the communities they represented.

Community Board 7, which included the heavily Asian-American Flushing area, had a white chairman and white district manager. Many of the members were middle-aged or older. It was a trend I found repeated across Queens, as I changed beats and began to cover more of the borough: older, whiter community boards speaking for increasingly younger, non-white communities.

As of 2018, according to the estimates of one Asian-American member of CB 7, 38 percent of the community board is Asian-American, though 52 percent of the area’s constituency is of Asian descent. Fifty-two percent of CB 7 is white; just 26 percent of the area it covers is white.

In November, this could start to change. Mayor Bill de Blasio’s charter review commission has proposed imposing term limits for all community board members. The proposal will be on the ballot next month and if voters approve it, community board members will be limited to four two-year terms. After a two-year hiatus, former members could apply to be reappointed.

Why does this matter? Community boards, which have existed since 1963, do not have the powers of an elected official, but can influence what they do. They flex their muscles most often during land use disputes. While it is up to the City Council to approve a rezoning, the Council typically defers to the member whose district encompasses the area and who, in turn, always takes into serious consideration the community board’s recommendation.

City agencies frequently speak in front of community boards about new initiatives. If the board’s opposition is fierce enough, those plans can be derailed or reconfigured to reflect community concerns. Community Board 10 in Brooklyn has repeatedly defeated Department of Transportation attempts to add more bike lanes in Bay Ridge, my home neighborhood. Since community boards skew older, car owners are too often catered to at the expense of cyclists and pedestrians.

City Council members don’t like to buck community boards – especially since many members are political insiders themselves, either leaders of civic associations or local nonprofits, former political staffers, or well-connected white-collar professionals.

The process behind getting on a community board remains opaque. Anyone can apply, and either City Council members or borough presidents appoint members. They review applications or make recommendations – it helps to have an inside connection. The applicant, if he or she is accepted, doesn’t know who made the approval. Applicants are asked to get three letters of reference and list ways they are involved in the community.

Why some get approved and some get denied remains a mystery. Applicants aren’t given an explanation if they are turned down. Given the fact that reappointments are every two years and current members are rarely denied reappointment, vacancies are relatively uncommon. Neighborhoods can undergo great demographic shifts while community boards resemble the area a quarter century ago.

Creating more vacancies on community boards could increase civic participation, especially for younger people looking for ways to get involved in their neighborhood. While teenagers can get appointed to community boards, it rarely happens – they don’t know enough about them or the openings just don’t exist. And newer residents who want to contribute to the civic discourse could do so directly, without being effectively locked out from community board service for years.

The opposition to term limits from community board members, certain civic activists and elected officials is fierce. In Manhattan especially, there are fears that crucial experience would be lost and real estate developers, who negotiate with community boards, could hire land use attorneys to run roughshod over fresh-faced members.

It’s an understandable critique, but it doesn’t square with reality. Neighborhoods are teeming with talent and experience, and no one has a monopoly on land use expertise. It’s not as if term-limiting the City Council led to the sudden collapse of effective governance – instead, new members with new perspectives were allowed to enter a legislative body, and more progressive legislation was passed.

The Charter Revision Commission has proposed creating a commission to provide additional resources to community boards, including access to urban planning professionals. If these resources prove insufficient, the City Council can pass legislation to bolster it further.

It’s time community boards welcome a new generation of members. To do otherwise is to do a disservice to our diverse, ever-evolving city.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.