Community raising concerns over new Community Board 11 meeting participation rule

This was not a full board vote.

Marissa Santorelli

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Dec 24, 2024, 3:48 PM

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Updated 2 hr ago

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Community Board 11 has allowed constituents to speak freely at monthly meetings for 40 years.

A new rule now requires community members to fill out an online form 36 hours in advance.

Board members said the protocol was implemented during the pandemic to ensure the community could weigh in on the conversation from the comfort of their homes.

The option to RSVP to speak online never went away.

According to constituents, a recent vote by the Leadership Committee passed the proposal that prior registration would be the only way community members could speak at meetings moving forward.

This was not a full board vote.

New rules around participation in monthly community board meetings is sparking concerns from constituents who say their voices are being stifled.

Some community members fear this is the board's way of stifling the loudest voices.

"People should be able to walk into a community board and discuss what is important," said Roxanne Delgado, "We're being controlled by who speaks, how long they can speak and what they can speak about."

One constituent, Franchie Muniz, told News 12 this puts older Bronx residents who aren't tech savvy at a disadvantage.

Diana Finch, another community member, said she believes this change could provide more structure to the weekly meetings in light of recent events.

"This is a necessary reaction to an abuse of the system that we've seen several times," Finch said, "There have been issues where people have just assembled as many people as they can to speak on a subject and all say essentially the same thing."

Finch also noted there are a slew of other opportunities for the community have their voices heard, specifically at individual community meetings and at public hearings, instead of the full board meeting.

News 12 reached out to Community Board 11 for comment, and it released the following statement:

"First, however, let us start by informing News 12 and the public that the gallery session speaker registration requirement for Full Board meetings is intended to streamline the meeting process. If not properly managed, CB11 Full Board meetings can be, and have been, frustratingly lengthy and time-consuming.

The initial idea for the 36-hour registration requirement came about years ago as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, when many CB11 members and constituents were forced to use technology they were unfamiliar with. But while many community boards citywide have reverted to their pre-pandemic ways, CB11 has continued with, if not expanded, its use of technology. The City Charter does require community boards, after all, to make their 'meetings and hearings available for broadcasting and cablecasting'.

As a result, CB11 generally livestreams all of its meetings and hearings, allowing for remote participation via Webex. Not every community board does this. Nor does every community board allow for public participation at every one of its committee meetings, but CB11 does."

The board did note that, while registering in advance was required in November and December, it doesn’t mean this will be the case for the January full board meeting.

The board also wants to note that constituents can also call their office to RSVP to speak at the monthly meetings