APRIL 8, 2022 www.qns.com RIDGEWOOD TIMES
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Borough president appoints 345 residents to Queens community boards
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 firsttime
members. This year’s applicant pool
of 884 was the second largest in the office’s
history, behind only last year’s 941. The
appointees began their two-year terms on
April 1.
According to Richards, he wanted a diverse
board in order to reflect 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
effort to build a government that is truly
reflective 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 qualified 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’ office,
the seismic interest in joining the board
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. announced the 2022 community
board appointments. Photo by Gabriele Holtermann
these last two years stems from the “simplification
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 Office of
the Queens Borough President throughout
the community board appointment process.
BetaNYC, a public interest technology
nonprofit, was able to compile and provide
various data relating to the new appointees.
This year’s group of first-time members
also reflects 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 first-time appointees, 47.9%
are under 40 years old, including three in
their teens. This reflects a huge change
since Richards took office 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 first-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.
There 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 afford
paying rent due to the pandemic and
the economic fallout that it caused, this
represents a significant shift.
Read more on PoliticsNY.com.
Schneps Media welcomes Jane Hanson
as 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 office.
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 effort so you
can make good choices at the ballot box.”
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