Bayside Assemblyman Edward Braunstein’s legislation to improve public communications and input on city projects was recently passed by the Assembly.
Braunstein announced Friday that his bill A.355-A was approved to require city agencies to provide advance notice to state elected officials and community boards regarding construction, acquisitions and other projects that will take place in their communities.
Notifications for various construction projects or designations in New York City are currently sent only to City Council members, borough presidents, and, only in select instances, to community boards.
“Expanding vital internal communications to include state elected officials would better equip officials to deliver accurate and timely information to their constituents and would help to ensure that the local community has a voice in the public planning process,” Braunstein said. “Similarly, providing advance notice about upcoming utility projects and media filmings to elected officials and community boards would help ensure that local residents are well informed about what’s happening in their communities.”
Currently, city agencies commence projects without giving advance notice to state Assemblymembers or Senators.
Under Brunstein’s legislation, several city agencies would be required to provide advance notice on city-lead projects and in addition, the bill also mandates that elected officials and community boards be notified in advance about long-term work to be performed by a public utility company, such as Con Edison, and of media and entertainment filmings and accompanying parking requests scheduled in the district.
“This bill will assist the local Community Boards for a quicker heads up on the amount and types of constructions as well as other projects affecting their districts,” Community Board 7 Chairman Gene Kelty said. “Community Boards were developed for supervising services from the city to their districts as well as planning for their areas. This bill will help the Boards in accomplishing its primary purpose.”
Community Board 11 District Manager Joe Marziliano said Braunstein’s bill increases the transparency by which residents are informed of many film production dates and special parking request locations.
“More importantly, this bill allows for the Board and residents to have more lead time to be able to plan accordingly for community-based projects like utility work,” Marziliano said. “This is an initiative that solves many complaints we have received for a long time and the Board is happy to be able to facilitate more information directly to the public moving forward.”
