Brewer Q&A with Brooklyn panel on 322 and appointment process
Brewer asks about positions on Intro 322 and the Brooklyn appointment process. Panelists describe a process where applications and interviews occur but new members sometimes have never attended a board meeting. Weatherspoon notes the best members come from the community attending meetings.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
One quick question, though.
So,
Well, you guys, generally your boards have a post 501.
I got that.
Did you take a position on the other, the 322, or you didn't take a position on that one?
Go ahead.
Our board is yet to take a formal position on either.
They did not.
They did not, yes.
Did not.
Okay, and that's true.
Did not.
Okay.
Okay.
All right.
Do you think that the...
Do you have any sense in Brooklyn of the process for getting community board members on board?
Because I just know the Manhattan process, so I'm not familiar with the other process.
Is there a process for that or you're not familiar with it?
In other words, when you apply to the community board, you fill out an application, then in Manhattan you go through a screening panel, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
Does something like that happen in Brooklyn or you don't know?
Yes, yes, yes.
There's a process, but we don't know the process.
All right, hold on.
Let her answer, and then I'll come to you.
Go ahead.
There's a process, but a lot of the members that I get have never even been to a community board.
I'm district manager for over 11 years, and I'm teaching them.
It's their first time ever seeing a community board, so something's lacking.
Okay.
All right, that's helpful.
Do you want to comment?
Yeah, my understanding is that there is a process.
Once you apply, interviews will be conducted, and most of the time it's interviewing of new applicants as opposed to people who've historically been on the board, but sometimes they will re-interview people who've been on the board, and that's how they make their determination.
It's a variety of staff at Borough Hall that help out with that.
Okay, thank you.
Did you want to say something?
Okay.
Thank you.
Go ahead.
Yeah, go ahead.
You've got to push the button, though.
Go ahead.
Thank you.
In addition to what's been said already, we find at Community Board 8 that our
Best board members are ones that have visited from the community and just sit in on our meetings.
I just want to add that.
In Manhattan, if they hadn't been there, honey, they weren't getting on.
That's what I can tell you right now.
Thank you very much.