The city’s community boards are the most basic form of democracy that we can all experience up close. Made up of volunteers, primarily advisory, they still play a key role in relaying neighborhood opinions and emotions to our elected officials. This is especially true about land-use issues, which are as crucial as they’ve ever been in New York City. I should know: I spent roughly 30 years as a member of Community Board 5 in Manhattan, several of them as chair. And so I’ve watched with a keen eye the recent upheaval occurring there.
To make a long story short, a group of folks frustrated by the slow pace of developing housing in CB5 — which includes most of the Midtown business and Flatiron districts — staged what is essentially a coup d’etat, replacing many long-term board members in leadership positions, many of whom I worked with back in my day. These are hard-working, dedicated folks, and when they resisted plans for new housing — and shared their concerns with our government — they did so out of genuinely held beliefs that it was the right thing to do, and that it was what their neighbors wanted.
Sorry, but democracy is messy. Sometimes new blood, new ideas and new viewpoints are needed. So while I’m sorry for my former colleagues, I want to remind everyone that this is what government is all about. Or least, what it’s supposed to be about — the House of Representatives in Washington these days is a bad example of how different sides are supposed to compromise to find solutions. They seem incapable of even talking to each other.
But let’s not use that dysfunctional body as an example, because by any standard it’s a bad example. Let’s remember that there are two or more, sometimes many more, sides to each issue, and sometimes we need to bend to get things done.
I wish the new leaders of CB5 all the luck in the world, although their ascent might have been heavy-handed. And I counsel those who disagree with them or are angry about how they came to power, to put aside those feelings. Work with them. Find solutions. Washington might be a mess, but CB5 doesn’t have to be.
Michael Presser is a former chairman of Community Board 5 and is the current executive director of Inside Broadway, a nonprofit that exposes public school students to the world of New York theater.
Michael Presser , 2024-04-16 18:03:03
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