By Ivan Pereira
The borough’s elected officials and community activists rallied on the steps of Borough Hall Tuesday to take a stand against the mayor’s proposal to significantly cut funding to the city’s community boards.
More than 100 board members from all over the borough showed up for the protest, shouting, “No Budget Cuts.” Under the city budget’s proposal, the overall budget for district managers would be cut from $200,000 to $144,000 — a 28 percent drop.
Borough President Helen Marshall, who led the rally, said those cuts would lead to serious problems for the people of Queens, since the boards would have less staff and fewer resources to handle the issues affecting the borough’s neighborhoods.
“Our community boards are integral parts of our city government and if they are to function with the effectiveness that we in Queens have come to expect from them, they cannot have their budgets cut anymore,” she said.
The borough president’s words were echoed by several elected officials, including City Council members Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans), Jimmy van Bramer (D-Sunnyside), Karen Koslowitz (D-Forest Hills), Peter Koo (R-Flushing), Dan Halloran (R-Whitestone) and Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park).
Comrie said the cuts, which would go into effect July 1, were ridiculous because the boards served as the eyes and ears of the neighborhoods.
“It’s a horrible situation when you have to fight for something that makes sense,” he said.
All of the Council members vowed they would press for a way to prevent the cuts.
“We all understand that the government that governs best is close to you,” Halloran said. “To take that out of … our communities is a disgrace.”
City Comptroller John Liu also pledged his help during the Queens Civic Congress’s luncheon Sunday at Antun’s in Queens Village.
Liu, who used to serve as president of the North Flushing Civic Association and is a former member of Community Board 7, said City Hall could find other ways of balancing the budget without making the major cuts to the boards.
He noted several agencies have been spending their budgets unwisely and said he and his office would work hard to try to prevent the boards from suffering financial burdens.
“There is no accountability as to how agencies bypass the city processes,” the comptroller said.
The community boards were first created in 1975 during the adoption of the City Charter that year. Along with being an outreach center for residents’ questions and concerns, the boards were given some power in terms of the city’s land use, capital budget and expenses and delivery of city services, according to the borough president.
Most of the borough’s district managers and chairs were also on hand and emphasized that their staff are predominately volunteers giving up their time to do their part in the community.
Joe Conley, chairman of Community Board 2 in Woodside, said the mayor was thinking backward with the cuts, since he is always promoting New Yorkers to be volunteers.
“Mayor Bloomberg needs to remember in his first term he said how important community boards are,” he said.
Dolores Orr, chairwoman of CB 14 in the Rockaways, also stressed the importance of the boards being within the reach of residents’ homes. Since her neighborhood is cut off from the rest of Queens by a toll, Orr said her board has to solve the community’s problems on their own most of the time.
“Without the community board, we will be constitutionally isolated,” she said.
Reach reporter Ivan Pereira by e-mail at ipereira@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4546.
