As you may know, the New York Charter Review Commission is now weighing potential changes in the way the city is governed. Their deliberations could lead to ballot proposals impacting term limits, the powers of city officials (including borough presidents, the public advocate and the comptroller) and the role of New York’s 59 community boards.
Tonight, Community Board 3 will debate what issues to advocate for during the charter revision process. This evening’s meeting will focus specifically on how to maintain (and strengthen) the community boards’ influence in citywide decision-making.
Top concerns include: making sure communities have a strong voice in the city’s land use process, assuring that the community board role in zoning decisions is strengthened, establishing independent budgets and additional support staff for the community boards and reforming the procedures for selecting new board members.
There’s been a lot of speculation that Mayor Bloomberg is intent on weakening (if not completely eliminating) New York’s community boards. The commission’s meetings have been sparsely attended so far. Tonight’s session is a chance to make sure your opinions are heard.
The meeting takes place at 630pm, at CB3’s offices, 59 East 4th Street. Anyone wishing to speak is asked to sign up before the meeting begins.
