“If everything goes as [the Bloomberg’s administration] plans, we are looking at losing our borough president; our public advocate; and our community boards,” said Theresa Scavo, Chair of Community Board 15. “Basically, whoever is left that will represent the community won’t be on a community level.”
Scavo says that should a Charter Revision Commission be seated, community boards will likely be purged of their say in zoning and development issues. As it stands now, community boards are just one element in a three-step zoning process. All land use applications are also reviewed by the borough president and the Department of City Planning.
“We’re just one piece of it and we don’t have a final say,” explained Marion Cleaver, Chair of Community Board 13. “Originally, community boards were created to deal with land use matters, but it appears that’s no longer viably considered.”
The growing concern about the decrease in the responsibilities of community boards has many members predicting that local representative bodies will cease to exist under the rule of the Bloomberg administration.
“When you start stripping the community boards of certain things, little by little you’re taking away the use of the boards,” said Scavo. “Now you have 311 and 511, so [the administration] feels that the community doesn’t need the boards.”
Aside from power limits, the existence of community boards is also threatened by the lack of funding.
“What I’ve been seeing is a tremendous reduction in funding of community boards,” said Cleaver. “Every year we’ve been getting cut, but if the money is not restored [this] year, you will see a reduction in personnel.”
Borough President Marty Markowitz, on the other hand, promises that if the charter is revised, he will push for independent funding of community boards and the public advocate’s and borough president’s offices.
“It only stands to reason that the independence of these boards and offices is better protected when yearly budgets are not dependent on the whims of a mayor or city council,” he said.
Despite rumors that the Bloomberg administration may be planning to eliminate the borough president’s office, Markowitz says he will advocate for a stronger, more vital role for borough presidents in land-use decisions and educational policies, among other things.
While some community board members dread what the future may hold for local government, others feel that speculation about the agenda or outcome of the revisions may be slightly premature. Todd Dobrin, a community activist and CB13 member, says that if the administration made their plan public, it could be handled accordingly.
“It should be a public, open plan and local officials should be involved in it. If the administration comes out with their whole plan and makes it public, then we can definitely make an accurate assessment.”
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Statement from Borough President Marty Markowitz
“Should a charter revision commission be seated -- and I will definitely call for borough presidents to have a voice on that commission -- among our top priorities in Brooklyn will be that community boards, the public advocate and borough presidents have independent sources of operational funding determined by formula each year, in the same way that the borough presidents’ capital budgets are today. It only stands to reason that the independence of these boards and offices is better protected when yearly budgets are not dependent on the whims of a mayor or city council.
Certainly I would also advocate for the city to beef up the role of borough presidents. Among other things, borough presidents should have a stronger voice in land use decisions, and in terms of education policy, borough presidents’ offices should be centers of the city’s parental involvement efforts.”
