By Stephen Witt
The 67th Precinct Community Council met one of their new representatives last week. Newly-elected City Council member Darlene Mealy showed up for the monthly meeting held at the stationhouse, 2820 Snyder Avenue. Mealy, representing parts of East Flatbush, Crown Heights, and Bedford-Stuyvesant, along with Oceanville and Brownsville, defeated William Boyland, essentially ending a political hold of the Boyland family in the area. “They [the Boylands] were a three-decade dynasty, but now I’m glad the people are ready for a change, and I’m that change that they chose, and I’m ready to serve,” said Mealy. Mealy said she came to the council meeting to introduce herself, and said that covering crime and quality-of-life issues are the roots of what got her into politics. This activism began in the confines of the 81st Precinct, when Mealy organized, held marches, and successfully lobbied for better police enforcement to clean up a drug-infested neighborhood. “We cleaned up our community. That’s my roots,” said Mealy. “I will be a person going to a majority of police community council meetings and community board meetings because I enjoy them.” Mealy said she particularly related with the 67th Precinct’s commanding officer, Inspector Robert Boyce when he spoke about the need to cut down on student loitering after the local schools let out by getting kids on the bus back to their own neighborhood as soon as possible. “This can detour a lot of unsavory characters in the community that don’t mingle with the youth in our community,” she said. Additionally, Mealy said she would like to foster her ability to become another liaison between the police and local residents. Other than policing, Mealy said finding and maintaining affordable housing tops her agenda. “We want to mandate that any new development has inclusionary zoning where at least 30 percent of the residential units goes to affordable housing,” said Mealy. “We don’t want just recent gentrification in our community. We want some who have been here all their lives and supported our communities to stay, and not just because we are building again in our community,” she added. Mealy said many long-time residents are being forced out because property owners want more money. “We need our seniors and our young new entrepreneurs to have a place to live as well,” she said.
