Interested in joining a community board? Don’t ask Borough President Melinda Katz how members are chosen.
After a Community Board 5 member said he and a colleague were axed from the board for backing City Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley’s (D-Middle Village) opponent in the 2013 election, Borough Hall said it does not publicly discuss how it collaborates with Council members to select up to 50 volunteers on the county’s community boards.
When asked about the appointment process, Katz’s spokesman Michael Scholl wrote in an e-mail, “It is our office’s policy not to comment on the process of how community board members are selected.”
Under the City Charter, borough presidents are charged with ensuring that all neighborhoods are adequately represented on community boards, which work to address residents’ complaints, compile community budget priorities and give feedback on land use and zoning issues. The charter requires borough presidents to select at least half of every boards’ members from those nominated by their Council members. Incidentally, Katz worked as director of community boards under former Borough President Claire Shulman.
Scholl did not return multiple requests for elaboration.
But other Queens lawmakers said the borough president’s office appoints half of boards’ members. The remainder of the seats are then divvied up among the Council members from that community district in proportion to what percentage of the area they represent, according to the offices of Council members Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park) and Karen Koslowitz (D-Forest Hills).
Michael Cohen, Koslowitz’s press representative, said the borough president has the authority to overrule Council members’ nominees, but typically defers to the legislators.
CB 5 District Manager Gary Giordano said he would leave it to Katz to explain the application process.
He said to the best of the board’s knowledge, four CB 5 members had not been reappointed and one new member had been selected — who appeared to live in the part of Ridgewood represented by Crowley.
Neither Crowley’s nor Reynoso’s staff seemed to be aware of the new CB 5 member.
10 comments:
This is progressivism, not democracy, come on people this is what you voted for. Don't act as if you didn't know
Does she ever wear makeup, jewelry, or a dress for crying out loud? She is actually a very pretty looking woman. Seriously..
Only the Red Beret gives a rodent's rectum as to her appearance.
This article is hard to understand. The Times Ledger article that is linked indicates that Crowley represents a smaller part of the community board due to last years redistricting and that the seat assignments she lost went to Reynoso, who represents south Ridgewood. Therefore it would make sense that she would need to trim her 10 board members that would accrue to him. BTW, who appointed the Caruana's to the board in the first place those years ago? Gallagher?? Were they part of the group he allegedly insisted support the tearing down of St. Savior's in exchange for their appointments?? Just asking.
This says it all folks:
http://cb1queens.org/index.html
I think that all the boards in Queens need to be made public with an explanation has to why they are thin on (non-political) Queens community activists or those with creative backgrounds..
The library board of 'developers', first parodied here, is a mess.
Look at other groups - from Noguchi to QCA to Flux Factory - all have a heavy representation of real estate, banking or lawyer types -
Yes, in the article, Crowley says she needs to trim her appointed members due to redistricting. However, Ridgewood did not gain that many people in the census and Reynoso's Ridgewood portion was unchanged during redistricting. 4 members were culled and one quit. 2 of the members are on the board of Juniper Civic, and include a cousin-in-law of Crowley, Rose Johnson. 1 board member from Crowley's district was added. The numbers don't add up. And I think Manny Caruana's appointment pre-dated Gallagher, but not 100% sure.
Melinda Katz appoints half the board members without council member recommendation. The attendance at most CB5 meetings is usually ~40 out of 50. The 10 who don't show up due to laziness or illness were reappointed, and active members were removed. Someone really needs to explain themselves.
One answer - Corruption and when exposed the voters put them back in by either voting for them or not voting at all.
that picture could be an ad for a new show
2 morally broke girls
Melinda Katz: the reincarnation of Lurch from The Munsters.
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