By Carol Tannenhauser
The emergency rule that allowed public meetings to take place virtually during the pandemic has expired, forcing community boards to meet in person. But with the Delta variant causing a new wave of COVID in the city, the local board is pushing back, saying it endangers their health.
Concerned about their ability to meet safely, 31 members of Community Board 7 have signed an open letter to Governor Cuomo, Lt. Governor Hochul, and members of the state legislature, asking that the right to meet virtually afforded to them during the pandemic be restored.
“Thanks to the State of Emergency declared by the Governor in March 2020, our Community Board, as well as as many other…government entities were able to continue to meet and conduct the public’s business using virtual platforms such as Zoom, Teams and WebEx,” the letter stated. “The lifting of the State of Emergency in June 2021 has for all practical purposes eliminated the ability of Community and other Boards to meet via virtual platforms….We respectfully urge the Legislature to adopt, and the Governor to sign into law, amendments to the Open Meetings Law that would restore the ability of Boards to meet using virtual platforms that accomodate public participation.”
Normally, the Community Board would have drafted a formal resolution — a non-binding recommendation — to accomplish its goal, but time ran out, said Board Member Richard Robbins. “We had an emergency full board meeting in early July before the executive order ended, at which many board members said they weren’t comfortable meeting in person. We talked about meeting outdoors but that idea got rejected. I proposed a resolution calling for an extension of the executive order, but by the time we started discussing it, too many members had left the meeting so we didn’t have a quorum.”
With Delta raging, community boards have no safe way to meet. An open letter signed by 30 @CB7Manhattan members (as we can’t legally meet to vote on a resolution) to once again allow Zoom meetings. https://t.co/J2JDjii4vj cc: @westsiderag
— Richard Robbins (@rich1) August 13, 2021
In addition to safety, the letter lauds the increased public participation that the virtual meetings engendered. “Indeed, several Community Boards have reported far greater numbers of public participants in virtual meetings than had ever attended in-person meetings prior to the Pandemic — at least one Community Board reported participation by over 1,300 members of the public in a virtual meeting in 2020.”
We are awaiting a response from the Governor’s office.
Are they so scared of life that they can not meet in person?
Stadiums are filled up with fans.
Movies are sold out, to people.
Stop this none sense, get a life, do your duty and get together in person, or – resign.
As a working mom, I love that I was finally able to attend Community and CEC meetings last year. I hope this continues and, when they’re ready to meet in person, perhaps there will still be a way to join virtually as well. Thank you, board members, for your service!
The pandemic raised awareness of different ways of organizing activities.Zoom virtual meetings allowed participation and public voice of previously unheard members of the community,people with schedule conflicts,illnesses,disabilities,other restrictions Hybrid meetings for all city community boards and public forums would allow full participation and no exclusions
Remarkable to read the ugly attack on members of Community Board 7 by “babraus” (who of course hides behind a fake name). The second comment by Erica has it right. I’ve known great people who were on CB7 and other community boards. Many thanks to all of you for your service to our neighborhood and our city.
I applaud civic commitment too. However, there is a public service just in meeting. The CDC says vaccines prevent serious symptoms even if people are infected after being vaccinated. The issue isn’t infection. It’s hospitalization, and hospitalized people, the data show, are over 99% not vaccinated. So meeting in person actually showcases to the vaccine hesitant the benefits of being vaccinated. Meeting in person id acivic service.
Samuel Johnson, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Lewis Carroll and Mark Twain are among those who “hid behind a false name.”
Most of them would chuckle at Mr. Lamm’s choice of words. These folks knew a thing or two about “ugly attacks,” and by current standards, Babrarus’s comment is a Valentine.
Whatever the longer term merits of continuing to allow virtual meetings (and there are some), while we are re-imposing mask mandates and eviction moratoriums, continuing to work from home and considering vaccine mandates it seems blindingly obvious that public meetings should largely remain virtual.
By that argument Congress should be virtual also. It isn’t. congresspersons have not been hospitalized after vaccination even if infected post vaccinations. That’s because these vaccines work well. They may not stop infections but they sure stop the symptoms. Are the CBS more needful of protection than Congress?
congress gets paid ,CB members are volunteers
… volunteers who can’t be held accountable to those over whom they have power as a hyper local form of government. If they want pay they can compete for votes.
I like being a volunteer ,
I like the comparison to Congress. Are you suggesting we should get paid and get health benefits for life?
I’m fine with meeting in-person, though a number of my colleagues (and a number of members of the public) are not. As long as a reasonable number of people who would otherwise attend the meetings are not comfortable doing so, I think we need to offer a remote option.
PLUS…. Many more people have been able to attend public meetings on Zoom than in real life. Zoom makes them accessible for people with any number of complications, from busy work schedules, family obligations, accessibility issues, etc. I think having hybrid meetings forevermore would be a great thing for our community.
(All views my own.)
@Silencedogood, Have you been to a Community Board meeting? They are held in a tiny, stuffy, windowless, low-ceiling room. There is barely space for the CB members, let alone interested members of the public. Virtual meetings are a no-brainer, even in non-pandemic times.
CB7 doesn’t listen to the community anyway. Attending those meetings is a waste of time for citizens. CB7 does exactly as it pleases. The fact is the citizens of New York City have no representation.
Wrong again
Question:
Do the members of the board get paid for their service or are they doing it for free?
It’s a volunteer position.
“Volunteer” here = actually unelected and unaccountable sinecure only open to those with the right connections. CB members’ equally-interested-in-volunteering neighbors are not only out of luck but also can’t vote CB out if CB members make poor decisions.
Thank you very much.
Given that it is unsafe for vaccinated, N95-wearing adults to congregate, it is doubly unsafe for unvaccinated children to congregate. The schools should be online while Delta rages. What are we trying to prove, anyway?
The mental health risk to kids of another year going in and out of school is currently greater than the health risk of being in school full time. This risk would be even less if every single person who is eligible for the vaccine would get it.
However, when kids are in school, they need to be fully masked and precautions need to be taken. And there needs to be a plan for those kids who have to be quarantined so they don’t miss a week or two of school. But resources shouldn’t be wasted on a full time remote option.
This is well meaning but silly. Parents have to assess risks for kids all the time since no life activity – including crossing busy streets to get to school or riding a bike to grandma – is completely safe. Most parents have concluded that having kids blow yet more school online and fall further behind academic and social development after so long is a severe risk that outweighs extremely mild symptoms in most kids (not infection, symptoms). It’s a risk balance as with all life activities. Most parents have this one figured correctly, which is why parental market forces resulted in private schools being primarily open while it is the public schools — that unlike private schools do not answer to parents directly but to teachers unions — have been shut.
An unintended consequence of the pandemic is
we became aware of benefits of absentee ballots,public shared streets,reduced congestion. Zoom virtual meetings allowed a forum for many previously unheard voices to participate and address unmet issues, people with health issues, disabilities, other restrictions. Hybrid meetings in all community boards would be equitable and not exclude participants
the health and safety of people should come ahead of anything else ,if meeting was held public would be excluded . allow virtual meetings until virus is fully beaten down