Community Boards Get the Steps
June 9th, 2009
Scores of community board members, comptroller and mayoral candidate William Thompson Jr. and four out of the five borough presidents took to the steps of City Hall this afternoon to urge the administration and the City Council to roll back cuts to the city’s 59 community boards.
These cuts, they say, would cripple the boards so much that they could be “rendered ineffective.” That, said Thompson, may be the point.
“One has to believe at a certain point that is what the mayor is intending to do,” said Thompson. “They are trying to cut them to the point that he’ll be able to turn around and say, ‘Let’s get rid of borough presidents. Let’s get rid of community boards,’” Thompson said of the mayor.
For an in-depth look at the future of community boards, see Endangered Community Boards.
Saying it’s the “best buy for city government,” Borough President Scott Stringer argued community boards are necessary to ensure the administration has a link to communities. The cuts would “hamstring” City Hall, he added.
“The bottom line is this mayor will not get re-elected if he picks apart democracy,” Stringer said.
The cuts would cut each board’s budget from $189,895 to $169,709 — a little more than a 10 percent decrease per board. The cuts effectively threaten one staff position at each board. Most boards have three staffers.
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz said the boards are a necessary check on a powerful administration, while Queens Borough President Helen Marshall compared the board’s importance to the importance of democracy to America.
“We need to bring the government to the people,” said Marshall as pink pro-community board signs waved behind her. “The community board does exactly that… If we take a backwards step, that’s not America.”
Following the rally, Council Finance Chairman David Weprin said he was confident that the cut to community boards would be restored by the City Council.
“I am pretty optimist we will restore the money to community boards,” Weprin said.
By Courtney Gross on June 9, 2009, 2:01 pmIn category: Albany, Electoral Politics, Gotham City, Governing, Land Use, Law, nextNY | 1 Comment »



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June 9th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
Most of the Community Boards are just rubber stamps for the policies of the Councilman who is in office. They don’t have any backbone & if anyone on the board challenges the Borough President or Councilman, he or she is out. Most of the times they vote against what the community residents want. The Community Boards are not transparent. They are a scam.