Community Board Q&A BROOKLYN-USA.ORG
Borough Hall checks in with the leaders
of local Community Boards 8, 9, 10, and 11
Borough President Adams fulfi lls
an essential role in the most local
representative bodies of government
in Brooklyn, appointing members
to the 18 community boards who
are responsible for addressing community
concerns, assessing neighborhood
needs, and helping to manage
land use issues.
Working in partnership, they tackle
many of the obstacles and opportunities
facing Brooklynites. Below are
some questions that Borough President
Adams posed to leadership from
Brooklyn Community Boards (CBs) 8,
9, 10 and 11:
COMMUNITY BOARD 8
Borough President: Community
Board 8, like some other Brooklyn
neighborhoods, has seen an infl
ux of new residents who have come
from other parts of the country who
have made Crown Heights, Prospect
Heights, and Weeksville their home.
What should transplants know about
these neighborhoods that makes them
special?
CB 8: They should know that the
neighborhoods’ longtime residents are
largely responsible for them being as
attractive to newcomers as they are.
Those residents fought the drugs in the
‘70s, put up with transportation infrastructure
problems and rallied to get
them fi xed, and preserved the existing
housing stock. Those old timers, who
didn’t have the benefi t of today’s technology
and social media, kept the community
moving forward because they
were motivated by the desire to leave
their children and grandchildren a better
neighborhood than the one they’d
found. Often, there is a sense from newcomers
that nothing positive happened
in these neighborhoods until after they
arrived, which is not true. Mutual respect
for the value that all bring to enhance
the neighborhood should be noted
and valued. If you’re not part of the solution,
you’re part of the problem.
BP: Brooklyn is now noted for its
prime real estate throughout the borough,
and particularly in this neighborhood.
The downside is that the
surge in popularity has made affordable
housing increasingly scarce for
many. What’s being missed by those
attempting to fi x the challenge?
CB 8: What’s overlooked is the fallacy
of the federal Average Median Income
(AMI), a federal construct that
looks at the gross incomes of people
in the fi ve boroughs, and also those in
Westchester and Long Island. When
this broad spectrum of AMI is used
22 ONE BROOKLYN | SUMMER 2019
Borough President Adams joined more than 1,400 petitioners who protested when Scoops, a 34-
year-old Prospect Lefferts Gardens vegan ice cream parlor was threatened with eviction. Community
activism resulted in owner Tony Fongyit (pictured) and his landlord working to negotiate a
lease extension. Offi ce of the Brooklyn Borough President/Stefan Ringel
to calculate income guidelines for
placement in affordable housing, it
artifi cially raises the income level of
the families in the neighborhoods involved.
Because gross income is considered,
rather than net income, the
numbers start off skewed because it
doesn’t account for such things as Social
Security deductions, taxes, and
single people without children, who
pay out more. Consideration of net incomes
would give a more accurate accounting
of income. It’s been said that
to change the formula would be diffi -
cult, but it remains to be seen that anyone
has made the attempt to try.
COMMUNITY BOARD 9
Borough President: The affordable
housing crisis impacts our entire
borough, and Community Board 9 is
no exception. How is CB 9 approaching
the balance between new affordable
development and concerns around displacement?
CB 9: At the onset of rapid development,
Community Board 9 requested
“affordable” be in line with
the salaries of the salaries of District
9, which would have been instrumental
in minimizing level of displacement
but developers were allowed to
get rezoning and other requests without
meeting these requests.
“New affordable development”
only has served to increase displacement
due to salary bands.
Unfortunately, CB 9 as a board has
worked to infl uence the direction of
development, but has been reduced
to troubleshooting homelessness
and identifying alternate means of
housing for its constituents in need.
We continue to work with The Fenimore
Street Block Association to obtain
rezoning status that will save
their homes. Our ULURP committtee
members have walked the district
to identify places in the district that
affordable housing can possibly be
built. The Community and the Board
need more support from our elected
offi cials.
BP: Health care is one of the largest
employers in CB 9, headlined by NYC
Health and Hospitals, King County
and Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center.
What needs to be done to support
the growth of these institutions and
the many residents they employ?
CB 9: Community Board 9 will
continue identify the services that is
needed in our hospitals through our
Annual Statement of Needs and Budget
Requests and working with our
elected offi cials so that our Hospitals
remain fully funded every fi scal year.
We continue to work with the community
through Health and Social Service
Committee to bring awareness
to the community about the services
in each hospital and their specialties.
Our Health and Social Service Committee
held a Senior Citizen Health
Expos. In 2018 and June 6, 2019 there
was a forum on Maternal Morbidity
with representatives from the Department
of Health and Mental Hygiene
(DOHMH), King County Hospital and
different health groups.
COMMUNITY BOARD 10
Borough President: How will the
long-overdue installation of two new
elevators and other infrastructural
improvements at the 86th Street subway
station in Bay Ridge impact commuters
in that community?
CB 10: The 86th Street station is
an inter-modal connection hub where
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