19 THE QUEENS COURIER • APRIL 8, 2022 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Borough president appoints 345 residents to Queens community boards
Schneps Media welcomes
Jane Hanson as new host of
2022 Meet the Candidates
BY ANNA DONCH
EDITORIAL@QNS.COM
@QNS
Schneps Media is pleased to welcome Emmy
Award-winning journalist Jane Hanson as
the new host of the web series 2022 Meet the
Candidates! Hanson brings over 30 years of
experience to the Schneps Media team, and her
sharp eye and incisive questions are perfectly
suited for interviewing candidates for New York
political offi ce.
Hanson worked previously as primary anchor
for NBC and hosted “Jane’s New York.” She
has received numerous honors for her work and
community service, and is a past president of
the New York Chapter of the National Academy
of Television Arts and Sciences.
“I’m excited to join the Schneps Media team
as we prepare for this year’s important elections
in the New York metro area,” Hanson said. “I’ll
be helping you get to know the candidates better
through our 2022 Meet the Candidates series,
as well as through debates. It’s all an eff ort so
you can make good choices at the ballot box.”
BY ETHAN MARSHALL
EDITORIAL@QNS.COM
@QNS
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards
Jr. announced his 2022 class of appointees
to the community board on Monday, April 4.
In total, 345 people were appointed across 14
community boards throughout Queens.
Of the appointees, 94 of them are fi rst-time
members. Th is year’s applicant pool of 884 was
the second largest in the offi ce’s history, behind
only last year’s 941. Th e appointees began their
two-year terms on April 1.
According to Richards, he wanted a diverse
board in order to refl ect the diverse group of
people they will represent.
“I could not be prouder to appoint such a
dynamic, diverse class of public servants to our
network of Queens community boards, as we
continue steadfast in our eff ort to build a government
that is truly refl ective of the borough
it serves,” Richards said. “Queens is leading the
way out of the COVID-19 pandemic and toward
a stronger, fairer future for all our families, and
I’m both deeply grateful and excited for the
work these 345 qualifi ed community leaders
will do on behalf of the ‘World’s Borough’ and
all who call it home.”
Of the 884 applicants for 2022, 610 were
not currently sitting community board
members. According to Richards’ offi ce, the
seismic interest in joining the board these last
two years stems from the “simplifi cation and
digitization of the application, which was able
to be completed online and no longer required
notarization.”
Richards also believed his announcement
last year of a series of government reforms
aimed at establishing a centralized code of
conduct for all 14 community boards played
a role, too. In that announcement, Richards
also called for a holistic review of each board’s
bylaws, making boards more welcoming places
for new members.
Data analytics were used by the Offi ce of
the Queens Borough President throughout the
community board appointment process. BetaNYC,
a public interest technology nonprofi t,
was able to compile and provide various data
relating to the new appointees.
Th is year’s group of fi rst-time members
also refl ects a rise in representation from the
African American, Hispanic/Latinx and LGBTQIA+
communities. Of the new appointees,
22.3% are African American, compared to
18.5% of the members in 2020. Meanwhile, 17%
are Hispanic/Latinx, up from 8.6% in 2020 and
6.4% identify as LGBTQIA+, up from 3.4%.
Out of the 94 fi rst-time appointees, 47.9%
are under 40 years old, including three in
their teens. Th is refl ects a huge change since
Richards took offi ce as borough president at
the end of 2020. In Dec. 2020, less than 12% of
community board members were under the age
of 35, with almost 75% being over 45 years old.
Richards also made it a point to have board
members who can better represent Queens residents
who immigrated here. Of the 94 fi rst-time members,
19.2% are immigrants, representing a 1.8% jump
from the 2021 class. In 2020, just 6.1% of the sitting
community board members were immigrants.
Th ere is also now a larger representation
among parents of school-age children: 21.3%
of the new appointees fall into this category, up
by almost 15% since 2020.
A majority of the new appointees are renters
rather than owners of a home. While 29%
own a house, almost 24% live in market-rate
apartment rentals, 6.4% in rental houses, 3.2%
in rent-regulated apartments and 3.2% in New
York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) housing.
Considering the fact that many tenants
struggled to aff ord paying rent due to the pandemic
and the economic fallout that it caused,
this represents a signifi cant shift .
Of the 94 new appointees, 52.1% use the
subway as their main form of transportation.
Meanwhile, 42.6% use buses, 17% ride bikes or
other micro-mobility devices, and 44.7% walk.
Despite the fact that there are more male appointees
(50%) than female (46.8%) this year,
Richards said he is still committed to having
the community boards reach a better balance
of gender representation. Prior to his administration,
56.3% of board members were men
while 43% were women. Over the last two years,
54.9% of the appointees identifi ed as women
while 41.7% identifi ed as men.
According to BetaNYC Executive Director
Noel Hidalgo, the rise in diversity could be a
huge boon for Queens residents who didn’t
previously feel represented by those in the
community boards.
“For our city to be truly democratic, our community
boards must refl ect the neighborhoods
it represents,” Hidalgo said. “We are excited to
see Borough President Richards embrace a new
generation of tools and tactics with community
leaders to refl ect the borough’s diversity of lived
experiences, community knowledge and involvement
— this is the only way to ensure our
city’s democracy is as vibrant as its residents.”
Photo by Gabriele Holtermann
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr.
announced his 2022 appointees for the community
board.
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