Your top questions from Open New York's Learning Studio

Sharing some interesting Q&A from a housing and local government event

Stock Photo by Beth Macdonald on Unsplash

Last December I had the opportunity to take part in Open New York’s first Learning Studio event. There, I met some awesome members of the community who want to more effectively advocate for housing here in New York City. I participated as a facilitator.

I really enjoyed the conversation, so in this post I wanted to share some common questions I received and my responses.

Note: I speak for myself and not on behalf of Manhattan Community Board 3, both at the event and in this post.

What has surprised you as a Community Board member?

There are a handful of things that have surprised me. In no particular order ...

1. The importance of knowing Parliamentary Procedure ("parli pro") has surprised me. You don’t need to know all of Robert’s Rules but being confident with the core actions is a big plus. With that knowledge, you can call out people who try to bend the rules or help those who might not know what to do.

2. The variance between Community Boards even within Manhattan is also surprising. Some require members to be part of two committees; mine only requires one. For some boards, meetings end late at night, but ours end at 9:30pm since the school that hosts us has a hard stop. You can see that individual Community Boards have a lot of leeway to interpret the City Charter as they see fit.

3. The lack of individual work also threw me off. At work, “individual contributor” work is work you complete by yourself. In contrast, Community Boards exist to review proposals by city agencies and local organizations. The Community Boards don't necessarily do that work themselves.

4. The time commitment is less than expected. My board consumes two nights a month for me, which basically amounts to watching two movies. When framed like that ... it’s not that bad. And we take August off. I came in expecting at least 10 hours a month of work.

5. I’m surpirsed full board meetings have become more engaging to me over time. Now I'm more focused on the vote count for resolutions and getting my viewpoint on the record. You don't get that kick as a visitor to Community Board meetings.

6. Being appointed to the Parks committee was a surprise! But I volunteer in Tompkins Square Park, so I don’t mind learning more about this topic.

How do we change people’s minds about building more housing?

Changing people’s political opinions on any topic is really difficult! Most people come into a session with a certain viewpoint and leave with it.

What we can do is give effective public comment. I spoke to a friend recently and this consists of:

• Speeches that are structured or even written beforehand. Some public comments are just rambling or are hard to understand. Those comments don’t contribute much, unfortunately.

• Having a clear for or against opinion: even some well-spoken people do not do a great job of making their stance clear.

• Being civil: we’ve all seen examples of deranged public comment. If pro-housing advocates come off as a group of civil and informed residents, that’s a huge win.

• Giving public comment at the committee level instead of full board. This is because resolutions are mostly workshopped in committee, not full board.

What about people who think building more housing makes housing more unaffordable?

First off, I believe we have to earnestly listen to our fellow community members and hear out any housing concerns they have. That feels like the most important thing to do to build trust.

In regards to this question in particular: it’s worth noting that without building new housing, the number of affordable units in an area will not increase. Due to inclusionary zoning, many new buildings have to offer affordable units. So if we allow more housing to be built, the number of affordable units in a neighborhood will increase. That counts! Focus on the absolute increase in affordable housing.

How do you use your position as a Community Board Member to advance causes you care about?

This isn’t housing-related, but I have been trying to get more tree guards installed at Tompkins Square Park. Only about 10% of the trees around the park have these guards in place. Most people don’t realize this, but the guards help protect trees from vehicles hitting them. Tree Guards also make it harder for dogs to pee on trees, which can poison and kill a tree over time (this is a real issue!). Many tree guards also provide more seating in the park, which is always a plus for visitors. I hope we can get more tree guards installed in the park soon.