Thursday, June 10, 2004
Covering the activities of Community Board 5 - an experiment
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
The local Community Board is one of the two activities on the ground-floor level of participatory government that allow the citizen to get involved, hands-on, and let his or her opinion count Membership in the local political club of one’s choice is the other ground-floor level activity of active, participatory, continuous and institutionalized democracy, as distinguished from grass-roots movements and protests, which are spontaneous, issue-oriented and mostly of limited duration.
This column will try an experiment in covering the hearings and agendas of our local Community Boards 5 and 6, using the minutes of the monthly full-board meetings (available only a after the next monthly meeting has approved them) and the announcements of future committee meeting topics. This is an area totally neglected by the daily newspapers, for various reasons (to be discussed at a later date) and is particularly suited for coverage by neighborhood media.
There are 59 such boards in NYC, with a maximum of 50 members each, appointed by the Borough President, 50% of them following recommendations of City Council members .The citizen can either apply for membership, granted on basis of political, environmental activity or other qualifications, or request the designation and attend committee meetings as a “public member,” or just attend the meetings of one’s choice and testify on the items under consideration. The summary below will give you the flavor of the activities Future articles will have more details and some historic stuff of the CB phenomenon..
Today let’s look in on CB5, which had its monthly get-together on April 4, attended by practically all of its 43 members, plus representatives of Borough President C. Virginia Fields State Senator Liz Krueger Assembly member Richard Gottfried and City Councilmember Christina Quinn. The first part of a full board meeting gives members of the public an opportunity to make statements on local subjects. The bulk of the meeting involves reports from thew various sanding committees that have had their own hearings during the month. The bulk of CB work is done on the committee level. Committee recommendations and resolutions are normally approved by the whole board, practically unanimously, and the resolutions refuiring further action by various city government organizations are passed through.
CB 5 in this 3 ¼ hour meeting dealt with a variety of topics. The Public Session saw a dozen community members speak against a Department of City Planning ULURP (Uniform Land Use Review Process) proposal to change the zoning of 5 ½ bocks of the Ladies’ Mile Historic District (17th to 22nd Streets, 5th to 6th Aves) from M1 (Manufacturing) to C6 (Commercial), to accommodate “ as of right” residential development. Later in the meeting the Land Use and Zoning Committees, jointly, did not approve the city planners’ resolution, unless rezoned area includes specific provisions for affordable housing, requires sufficient off-street parking and excludes new bars and night clubs. The full CB agreed with the committees, as it did in all recommendations detailed below. .
The same committees also asked the NYC Department of Buildings to reverse a ruling that allows 49% of space in transient hotels to be used for long-term occupancy
A major function of both CB5 and 6 is granting permits for street fairs, block parties and park use Any number of religious, ethnic and fraternal, as well as commercial functions like to use the above activities for their commemorative, fund raising and advertising activities. If all were permitted, the streets in Manhattan would have no room for weekend traffic, and we would be overrun by vendors. The criteria for denials by the CB committee members center on lack of tolerance for minorities, gender discrimination, lack of cleanup after the festivities, and event organizers’ non-attendance at committee hearings, where the groups are supposed to present their cases. Thus, Consents and Variances Committee and Parks Committee denied various requests from Chelsea Chamber of Commerce and some Catholic, Indian and Pakistani groups for fairs involving street closings and Union Square and Madison Square park use, in one case urging the group to see an alternate venue.. An Oxygen Media concert, a wine tasting sponsored by The New Yorker and a Chiclets promotion in both parks bit the dust, while a Marina Maher commercial women’s health event and a Carvel Ice Cream feast were approved. .The customary New York is a Book Country on Oct 3 passed with flying colors, as did a Berkeley College block party.
Request for modifications to landmarked buildings are reviewed by the Landmarks Committee, which approved proposed changes to 42-48 East 20th Street and denied the legitimization of illegal changes in another, on West 18 Street.
Sidewalk cafes are another major item. The 12 CCKO tables at 25 Union Square West and another for Zana Inc at 30 East 30th were approved. Proposed curbside telephone booths, new and improved, were investigated, and 12 of 20 denied.
Madison Square Park has a food kiosk, which had requested a beer and wine license. It was recommended by the joint Public Safety and, Quality of Life and Parks committees and approved by a split vote.
The next full board meeting is scheduled for June 10, 6:30 PM, at F.I.T., Building A, 8th Floor, 227West 27th Street. After the meeting approves the may meeting minutes, they will become available to this column for summarizing.
The local Community Board is one of the two activities on the ground-floor level of participatory government that allow the citizen to get involved, hands-on, and let his or her opinion count Membership in the local political club of one’s choice is the other ground-floor level activity of active, participatory, continuous and institutionalized democracy, as distinguished from grass-roots movements and protests, which are spontaneous, issue-oriented and mostly of limited duration.
This column will try an experiment in covering the hearings and agendas of our local Community Boards 5 and 6, using the minutes of the monthly full-board meetings (available only a after the next monthly meeting has approved them) and the announcements of future committee meeting topics. This is an area totally neglected by the daily newspapers, for various reasons (to be discussed at a later date) and is particularly suited for coverage by neighborhood media.
There are 59 such boards in NYC, with a maximum of 50 members each, appointed by the Borough President, 50% of them following recommendations of City Council members .The citizen can either apply for membership, granted on basis of political, environmental activity or other qualifications, or request the designation and attend committee meetings as a “public member,” or just attend the meetings of one’s choice and testify on the items under consideration. The summary below will give you the flavor of the activities Future articles will have more details and some historic stuff of the CB phenomenon..
Today let’s look in on CB5, which had its monthly get-together on April 4, attended by practically all of its 43 members, plus representatives of Borough President C. Virginia Fields State Senator Liz Krueger Assembly member Richard Gottfried and City Councilmember Christina Quinn. The first part of a full board meeting gives members of the public an opportunity to make statements on local subjects. The bulk of the meeting involves reports from thew various sanding committees that have had their own hearings during the month. The bulk of CB work is done on the committee level. Committee recommendations and resolutions are normally approved by the whole board, practically unanimously, and the resolutions refuiring further action by various city government organizations are passed through.
CB 5 in this 3 ¼ hour meeting dealt with a variety of topics. The Public Session saw a dozen community members speak against a Department of City Planning ULURP (Uniform Land Use Review Process) proposal to change the zoning of 5 ½ bocks of the Ladies’ Mile Historic District (17th to 22nd Streets, 5th to 6th Aves) from M1 (Manufacturing) to C6 (Commercial), to accommodate “ as of right” residential development. Later in the meeting the Land Use and Zoning Committees, jointly, did not approve the city planners’ resolution, unless rezoned area includes specific provisions for affordable housing, requires sufficient off-street parking and excludes new bars and night clubs. The full CB agreed with the committees, as it did in all recommendations detailed below. .
The same committees also asked the NYC Department of Buildings to reverse a ruling that allows 49% of space in transient hotels to be used for long-term occupancy
A major function of both CB5 and 6 is granting permits for street fairs, block parties and park use Any number of religious, ethnic and fraternal, as well as commercial functions like to use the above activities for their commemorative, fund raising and advertising activities. If all were permitted, the streets in Manhattan would have no room for weekend traffic, and we would be overrun by vendors. The criteria for denials by the CB committee members center on lack of tolerance for minorities, gender discrimination, lack of cleanup after the festivities, and event organizers’ non-attendance at committee hearings, where the groups are supposed to present their cases. Thus, Consents and Variances Committee and Parks Committee denied various requests from Chelsea Chamber of Commerce and some Catholic, Indian and Pakistani groups for fairs involving street closings and Union Square and Madison Square park use, in one case urging the group to see an alternate venue.. An Oxygen Media concert, a wine tasting sponsored by The New Yorker and a Chiclets promotion in both parks bit the dust, while a Marina Maher commercial women’s health event and a Carvel Ice Cream feast were approved. .The customary New York is a Book Country on Oct 3 passed with flying colors, as did a Berkeley College block party.
Request for modifications to landmarked buildings are reviewed by the Landmarks Committee, which approved proposed changes to 42-48 East 20th Street and denied the legitimization of illegal changes in another, on West 18 Street.
Sidewalk cafes are another major item. The 12 CCKO tables at 25 Union Square West and another for Zana Inc at 30 East 30th were approved. Proposed curbside telephone booths, new and improved, were investigated, and 12 of 20 denied.
Madison Square Park has a food kiosk, which had requested a beer and wine license. It was recommended by the joint Public Safety and, Quality of Life and Parks committees and approved by a split vote.
The next full board meeting is scheduled for June 10, 6:30 PM, at F.I.T., Building A, 8th Floor, 227West 27th Street. After the meeting approves the may meeting minutes, they will become available to this column for summarizing.
# posted by Wally Dobelis @ 5:57 AM 
