Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Civic Operations topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Community Board 2 adopts virtual meetings; Manhattan-wide tech support planned
Summary
Community Board 2 moved its March full board to a virtual Zoom meeting and pledged weekly executive check-ins. Beta.nyc said it will help scale the technology platform for Manhattan community boards so others can meet remotely under the governor’s emergency order.
Community Board 2 Manhattan conducted its March 2020 full board meeting on video conference and announced a short-term shift in operations to handle COVID-19 conditions.
Carter Booth, chair of Community Board 2, told members the board’s office was closed to the public and that the board would use weekly virtual executive committee meetings to monitor developments and coordinate community outreach. He said the board would pause many regular committee meetings for several weeks but would convene on urgent items and continue to provide advice to city agencies where needed.
Noel and Kate from Beta.nyc, a nonprofit that helps New York City community boards adopt digital tools, praised the board’s move to virtual meetings and said they had secured funds to provide the same technical setup to other Manhattan community boards. "We're really excited to see how amazing this meeting went," Noel said, and Beta.nyc expressed a plan to provide the same baseline tools across Manhattan so each board can continue operations remotely.
Board staff and speakers emphasized the legal basis for virtual gatherings: they were using the governor’s emergency executive order relaxing provisions of New York’s open meetings law — a temporary measure that board members said they will monitor and that state legislators are seeking to codify for future emergencies.
Why it matters: community boards serve as the main touchpoint for local land-use and quality-of-life issues. The board’s adoption of virtual meetings preserves its advisory role while complying with social-distancing rules and allows continued public input and agency engagement in an evolving emergency.
Board members and staff said they would distribute quick-start guidance and a contact list so neighbors and organizations could sign up for notices and volunteer coordination.
Direct quotes in this article come from participants who spoke during the public portion of the meeting.
