Queens Borough President Donovan Richards (New York City Council/ William Alatriste)
April 6, 2021 By Allie Griffin
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards announced Tuesday his community board appointments as well as a number of new reforms that aim to raise board standards.
Richards appointed 373 members across Queens’ 14 community boards out of a pool of more than 900 applicants — a record number of applications for the borough. Each appointee will serve a two-year term from April 1, 2021 through to March 31, 2023.
The majority of appointees were existing board members, although 110 members were selected to a board for the first time. Of the first time members, 62 percent are women, 74 percent are 45 years old or younger and 73 percent are people of color, according to Richards’ office — all increases from previous years.
Parents of school-aged children are also better represented with this year’s appointees, he said. About a third of new members have children in grades K to 12.
All 14 boards have about 50 members, with half the members appointed each year. Traditionally existing board members have been automatically reappointed, except in rare situations.
Richards, in making this year’s appointments, said that he has increased the requirements of board members and put in place procedures in case of misconduct and unexplained absences.
He announced the creation of a centralized code of conduct for the borough’s boards and a formal complaint procedure.
The code of conduct requires members to meet specified attendance levels, maintain their board eligibility, avoid conflicts of interest, and act in a respectful, non-discriminatory manner. If a member violates the code, he or she may face disciplinary action — and could ultimately be removed from the board.
Under the code of conduct, Richards can remove a member from his or her respective board if that member has more than three unexcused absences within a six-month period. The code also prohibits community board members from threatening, intimidating or harassing other members, community board employees or members of the public.
Members are required to act in accordance with the borough president office’s equal employment opportunity and sexual harassment prevention policies.
Community board members must complete three training courses offered by the New York City Commission on Human Rights, including one focusing on transgender and gender non-conforming communities and another which provides a short history of race- and color-based discrimination in the city.
Board members also must avoid voting on matters where there is a conflict of interest and notify the borough president’s office of any change in eligibility — such as a board member moving out of the community district where they serve.
The Queens Borough President Office’s General Counsel will investigate any violation of the code of conduct — if Richards deems it necessary or someone files a complaint. Complaints can be sent to the general counsel by emailing legal@queensbp.org.
At the conclusion of the investigation, the General Counsel will present a report and recommendation to the Borough President for consideration. Richards will then determine the appropriate corrective action.
Richards has also called on each board to modernize its bylaws and establish a bylaw revision committee this month to review existing bylaws and policies.
He has provided a number of suggestions to include in the updated bylaws, such as implementing a video livestream of every board meeting; establishing a publicly-accessible online archive of the video recordings; and mandating a standard time to hear from the public at each meeting.
Richards will serve as an ex-officio member on each bylaw revision committee.
He said that there is still work to be done to correct the underrepresentation of many communities on the boards, but said that this year’s appointments are an important step in the right direction.
“Queens has never been closer to community board representation that is truly reflective of our borough’s vast diversity than it is today,” he said during a press conference. ““Democracy is at its strongest when the voices of all the people it serves are elevated, a principle we are proud to strive toward with this new class of appointees.”
More data on the community board members’ demographics can be viewed here and compared to 2020 membership here.
The 2021-2023 appointees are listed below, which represent about half the board members in Queens. The members listed below began their two-year term on April 1. Board members that are not listed are currently serving a 2020-2022 term.
Community Board 1 (Astoria, Old Astoria, Long Island City, Queensbridge, Ditmars, Ravenswood, Steinway, Garden Bay, Woodside): Helene Abiola, George Alexiou, Avninder Aujla, Edward Babor, Ann Bruno, Soma Brahmanandam, Jean Marie D’Avella, Antonella Di Saverio, Kate Ellman, Elizabeth Erion, Dean Feratovic, Helen Ho, Amr Kotb, Cristina Lastres, Diana Limongi, Chelsea Lopes, Jeffrey Martin, Doreen Mohammed, Stella Nicolaou, Dino Panagoulias, Brian Romero, Dominic Stiller, Andre Stith, Mitchell Waxman, Rosemary Yelton.
Community Board 2 (Maspeth, Sunnyside, Woodside, Long Island City): Czarinna Andres, Anatole Ashraf, Kat Bloomfield, Danielle Brecker, Johanna Carmona, Gianna Cerbone, Jewel Chowdhury, Warren Davis, Camille Gray, Somnath Ghimire, Jacob de Groot, Sally Frank, Rosamond Gianutsos, Benjamin Guttman, Christine Hunter, Badrun Khan, Kristen McGowan, Elliot Park, Karla Perez, Selena Romero, Katherine Sabal, Laura Shepard, Mary Torres, Anthony Tudela, Adrienne Verrilli.
Community Board 3 (Jackson Heights, North Corona, East Elmhurst): Elba Buendia, Vicky Chan, Muquith Chowdhury, Haiko Cornelissen, Shiv Dass, Michael De Valera, Renetta English, Ulrick Gedeon, Peter Herron, Larinda Hooks, Abdur Rahim Howlader, Joyce Julian, Edward Kiernan, Lisa Mesulam, Marco Munoz, Veronica Ng, Laverne Nimmons, Nuala O’Doherty, Megan Rockwell, Fausto Rodriguez, Tammy Rose, Lobsang Salaka, Dawn Siff, Fahad Solaiman, Marlene Tapper, Frank Taylor, Arthur Teiler, Hamlett Wallace, Edwin Westley.
Community Board 4 (Elmhurst, Corona, Corona Heights): Lynda Coral, Michelle Dunston, Aridia Espinal, Marialena Giampino, Lara Gregory, Leeanne G-Bowley, Deependra Lama, Vincent Laucella, James Lisa, Salvatore Lomardo, Sylvia Martin, Rovenia McGowan, Jose Morillo, Edgar Moya, Ruby Muhammad, Sandra Munoz, Georgina Oliver, G. Oliver, Shrima Pandey, Purushottam Panthee, Lindsay Quartini, Brian Ramirez, Ashley Reed, Christian Romero, Clara Salas, A. Redd Sevilla, Urgen Sherpa, Gregory Spock, Dechen Tsering, Yilin Wang, Minwen Yang, May Yu.
Community Board 5 (Ridgewood, Maspeth, Glendale, Middle Village, South Elmhurst): Vincent Arcuri, Toby Sheppard Bloch, Jessica Boiardi, Alyssa Bonilla, Rachel Caracci, Walter Clayton, Maria de la Cruz, Brian Dooley, Derek Evers, Steven Fiedler, Paul Kerzner, Maryann Lattanzio, Diego Leclery, Edward Lettau, Patricia Maltezos, Katherine Masi, Martin Nadgorski, April Narsasian, Donald Passantino, Kenneth Rehberger, Theodore Renz, Lee Rottenberg, Walter Sanchez, Catherine Sumsky, Katarzyna Syta, Gyanal Thapa, Barbara Toscano, Patrick Trinchese, Michaeline Von Drathen, Maryanna Zero.
Community Board 6 (Forest Hills, Rego Park): Michael Acati,Kavish Batra,Peter Beadle, Miriam Berfas, Howard Birnbaum, Heidi Chain, Sheridan Chu, Alexander Cohen, Latrice Davis, Alexandra Diaz-Houston, Heather Dimitriadis, Keith Engel, Joyce Kevelson, Prameet Kumar, Jack Medina, Dr. Renee Mehrra, Steven Metz, Patricia Morgan, Rafael Nektalov, Elizabeth Newton, Gladys Sandoval, David Schneier, Teresa Simmons, Robert Tamayev, Irina Tamayeva, Martha Tucker, Susan Wanderman, Alexa Weitzman, Joan Weston, Edwin Wong, Daniel Yakubov.
Community Board 7 (Flushing, College Point, Whitestone, Bay Terrace, Malba, Beechhurst, Bayside, Queensboro Hill, Willets Point): Krishnaswamy Anandaram, James Cervino, Kaily Yat Kawi Cheng, John Choe, Kim Cody, Arlene Fleishman, Richard Forman, Vincent Gianelli, Cody Herrman, Phil Konigsberg, Wensong Li, Wendy Louie, Frank Macchio, Richard McEachern, Selma Moses, Sergio Nicolich, Kim O’Hanian, Terrence Park, Frank Quatela, Joshua Sussman, Joseph Sweeney, Peter Tu, Harpreet Wahan, Maggie Wong, Linna Yu, Lei Zhao.
Community Board 8 (Kew Gardens Hills, Utopia, Fresh Meadows, Hillcrest, Briarwood, Jamaica Hills Jamaica Estates, Holliswood, Flushing South): Edward Chung, Florence Fisher, John Gebhard, Ahsan Habib, Tamara Hirsch, Paul Lazauskas, Meshulam Lisker, Mary Maggio-Fischer, Simon Pelman, Wendy Phaff-Gennaro, Mohammad Rhaman, Deepti Sharma, Douglas Sherman, Penny Maureen Stern, Martha Taylor, Jacob Weinberg, Tamika Williams-Moore.
Community Board 9 (Richmond Hill, Woodhaven, Kew Gardens, Ozone Park): Marla Abaca, Faiuze Ali, Kirpal Billing, Zoila Bofill, John Carter, Nick Comaianni, Andrea Crawford, Joan DeCamp, Jan Fenster, Linda Fogal, Daniel Grieve, Sylvia Hack, Sherman Kane, Raez Khan, Kevin O’Leary, Katharine Maradiaga, Michael Pereira, Daniel Pollack, Diannedrea Ramoutar, Cristal Rivera, Mohamed Safie, Anjali Seegobin, Maharani Singh, Raghbir Singh, J. Richard Smith, Esta-Joy Sydell, Marie Turley, Seth Welins, Kenichi Wilson, Lilian Yagual.
Community Board 10 (Ozone Park, South Ozone Park, Howard Beach, South Richmond Hill): Michele Adams, Angela Antonino, Joann Ariola, Pamela Baumann, Natalie Bissoon, Elizabeth Braton, John Calcagnile, Emily Cheng, Marie Cherenfant, Rosemary Ciulla-Frisone, Justin Coulverson, Amanda Deebrah, Anthony Garcia, Anthony Gellineau, Roger Gendron, Elaine Holland, Melanie Logan, Ashford Maharaj, Ruben Martinez, Stacy Mohammed, Angela Nocerino, Silvestro Pace, Bhola Ramsundar, George Russo, Mohammad Salim, Varinder Singh, Isabel Van Putten.
Community Board 11 (Bayside, Auburndale, Oakland Gardens, Little Neck, Douglaston, East Flushing, Hollis Hills): Jessica Burke, Michael Budabin-McQuown, Susan Cerezo, Jason Chen, Justin Chew, Carmen Collado, Paul DiBenedetto, Mary Donahue, Henry Euler, Mario Ferazzoli, Elias Fillas, Jack Fried, Michael Golia, Bernard Haber, Christine Haider, Stanley Jin, John Kelly IV, Jena Lanzatta, Linda Lee, Yosef Lee, Robert Liatto, Fleur Martino, George Mihaltses, Eileen Miller, Vidya Pappachan, Akshar Patel, Stephen Popa, Christina Schere, Benjamin Turner.
Community Board 12 (Jamaica, South Jamaica, Hollis, St. Albans, South Ozone Park, Addesleigh Park, Springfield Gardens): Alam Ahnaf, Angela Allen, Mohammed Ali, Natalie Blain, Rene Cheatham-Hill, Vishal Hardowar, Celeste James, Clementine James, Bilal Karriem, Dawn Kelly, Michelle Kirkland, Latoya LeGrand, Bernadette Logan, Wanda Manley, Abdus Salaam Musa, Mohammad Shah Nawaz, Carlene Thorbs, Sharon Sweeting-Linsdey.
Community Board 13 (Queens Village, Glen Oaks, New Hyde Park, Bellerose, Cambria Heights, Laurelton, Rosedale, Floral Park, Springfield Gardens, Bellaire): Bryan Block, Alexander Brathwaite, Kyle Bragg, Marcia O’Brien, Barbara Clements, Sylvia Cothia, Marissa Cronin, Tanya Cruz, Delroy Dawkins, Bess Debetham, James Delaney, Stephanie Delia, Derrick Delflorimonte, Lourdes Villanueva Hartrick, Richard Hellenbrecht, Fay Hill, Violet Huie, Mohamood Ishmael, Rhonda Kontner, Antony Kuncheria, John Logan, Curlene Nelson, Steven Taylor, Perminder Thiara, Pritpal Walia, Jackie Wilson, Gerald Wind.
Community Board 14 (The Rockaways, Rockaway Point, Breezy Point, Roxbury, Neponsit, Belle Harbor, Rockaway Park, Seaside, Broad Channel, Hammels, Sommerville, Edgemere, Arverne, Bayswater, Wavecrest, Far Rockaway, Rockaway Beach): Mark Anaya, Gabrielle Bennett, Yaakov Berger, Lailah Boyd, Giselle Carter, Natasha Carter, John Cori, Eric Diaz, Temima Feldman, Jaden Gabb, Gerald David, Eugenia Gibson, Yitzchok Goldstone, Rose Duggan Gulston, Randy Hall, Brian Kelly, Paul King, Maggie Larkins, Denise Lopresti. Nancy Maritinez, John McCambridge, Isa Mitchell, Aldean Moore, Daniel Mundy, Eugene Pasternak, Karen Sloane Payne, David Rood-Ojalvo, Wanda Warden, Lisa Williams.
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