Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Do you have what it takes to be a member of the Community Board? (Well?)


Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer has launched the recruiting process to fill open positions on local Community Boards.

A few details via Brewer's office:

Community Board members must live, work, or have an otherwise significant interest in the neighborhoods served by the community board, and be a New York City resident. In addition, the Manhattan Borough President’s office looks for applicants with histories of involvement in their communities, expertise and skill sets that are helpful to community boards, attendance at community board meetings, and knowledge of issues impacting their community. No more than 25 percent of the members of any board may be New York City employees.

You must also be able to keep a straight face when applicants claim that they only want a liquor license to have something to pair with their desserts.

You can fill out an application online here. The application deadline is Feb. 3.

As The Lo-Down aptly noted: "One suggestion. If you’re interested in joining your local community board, it’s a really good idea so sit through a meeting (these meetings are often not for the faint of heart)." Good times! Check out CB3's December meeting rundown here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The community board-State Liquor Authority drinking game

15 comments:

  1. Having sat through my share of CB meetings earlier in my life, I'd never want to join one. What a miserable slog those meetings are; they drag on forever, with so much time spent, so much jaw-boning, and so little accomplished.

    My CB seemed, to me, to be populated by people who loved to hear the sound of their own voices, who wanted to be "important" and whose organizational and/or administrative skills were close to zero. And so many of the people *attending* seemed to have a lot of time on their hands, and LOVED to argue mostly for the sake of hearing THEIR own voices.

    But now I understand why CB's get very little done, and I don't expect anything much from any of them anymore.

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  2. "You must also be able to keep a straight face when applicants claim that they only want a liquor license to have something to pair with their desserts."


    ChikaLicious may want to expand beyond wine.

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  3. I might be interested.. But honestly I'm not sure I can afford to live in the neighborhood much longer

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  4. Totally agreed with 9:20. Dominated by people that want to be the pettiest of petty kings of the neighborhood. The whole CB nonsense should be scrapped.

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  5. They accidentally left out the place where you can enter direct deposit information for the developer and liquor application kickbacks.

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  6. Left out... Must also know how to kiss my ass and not leave a mark. Must be in the pocket or be willing to be in the pocket of real estate interests. Must be willing to collect campaign contributions even if you have to betray your community. And finally must be willing to send your child to a city school.

    Gee, I'm still in it... What does it say about me?!

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  7. How ridiculous that you don't have to live or work in the community to serve it, according to their statement. Define the "otherwise significant interest."

    I am wholly convinced CBs and LPC take bribes from bar owners (CBs) and developers (LPC) because why not? How difficult would it really be to kick a CB member 20G in cash? I've held that amount in cash you could literally put in a small backpack.

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  8. 12:49. Not so easy to hide, actually. The hard part isn't the handoff.

    The hard part is keeping it hidden from the IRS and other authorities, should they look. Let's say you are on a CB and you work a salaried job. The IRS or other authorities will know how much can go into your account. Unless you own a cash business (yes, I know some do) or are such a high roller that 20k or so isn't a thing, it's not going to be hard to catch if someone looks.

    I work as a tax advisor and I see people get dinged all the time for malarkey like this. I guess if someone were happy to keep the money under their bed or in a safe and just use it for small cash transactions as they go through life, that could work if they're methodical and disciplined, but people either get greedy, or more often, lazy and cock it up sooner or later.

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  9. Cash Only, No ChecksDecember 7, 2016 at 3:01 PM

    The easiest way to tell if there are some shenanigans or kickbacks going on is to look at which liquor license applications are suddenly withdrawn before a meeting, only to reappear at a later meeting and then quickly sail through to an approval. Usually these are the problem spots with shady owners, who everyone knows have a bad track record. Then they hire a lawyer of a "consultant" who takes care of the board members, and voila! Application magically approved.

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  10. @2:25pm: Maybe your clients have no imagination. Most people could figure out how to keep that kind of cash under the radar; you keep the cash on hand and pay for just about all purchases in cash - it doesn't take a genius to figure this out. If I were trying to "hide" that kind of $$, I'd be taking lots of taxi rides, getting my hair done, eating out frequently at various restaurants, buying all clothes for cash, etc. No way to track that! And if I seemed to be living "above my means" hey, maybe my parents are helping me out with a little cash here or there...

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  11. "Generation Chef," the story of the beginning of Huertas on First Avenue, has interesting information about liquor license applications. Getting a full liquor license was extremely important to the young owner, but there's an unwritten rule that the Community Board won't recommend a full license until after a year. Also, the CB only makes recommendations, and you have the option of going directly to the State Liquor Authority for approval...

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  12. WOW,, I thought I was a cynic but most of you posting here make me look like Alfred E. Newman. I don't doubt the people that attend and run these CB meetings are much different from elected official in Congress of or other levels of government. I do believe we should consider ourselves lucky at least to have this platform which has the potentials to benefit people who actually live and work in our area. These things are only good when good people get involved and don't sit on the sidelines and complain after the fact.

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  13. the board is filled with conflict of interest agency employees and representatives - and always has been.
    unfortunately it gets worse every year.
    concerned residents who work or live here are few, they don't have the time for all those long long meetings and they don't get paid or get time off for being there to make sure that the interests of their agencies are protected.

    the board is political, a fast track for those that belong, an excuse for city agencies that don't want to get involved (what did the board say?) and a general waste of time.

    and the excuse of the board is that they only make recommendations.
    look west cb#3, see what other boards seem to get done.

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  14. @4:36pm: I only have a certain number of free hours in my month; I have spent too many of them in earlier years TRYING to do my duty as a concerned citizen.

    Trying to be a good citizen & member of the neighborhood, I did NOT "sit on the sidelines and complain after the fact" - I tried to be active, involved, and supportive on behalf of my community.

    But after having my time wasted (and I use the term "wasted" very deliberately) attending various CB meetings, the only thing I had to show for my involvement - and my willingness to sit through infinitely long, languorous, poorly focused meetings - was very high blood pressure.

    So NOW, yes, I do "sit on the sidelines"! A CB3 meeting is like a coffee hour with no endpoint and no GENUINE need or apparent desire to actually GET ANYTHING DONE. If CB3 ever got its act together, it would be a miracle, but I'm not holding my breath. Many times the item(s) I was attending about would get pushed to the end of the schedule, and then cut off for "lack of time" - b/c they don't know HOW to manage their time.

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  15. Or just don't take bribes.

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