Creating Community District DNA
From BeyondVoting
Let’s imagine that the BeyondVoting effort has succeeded and we’ve empowered the community boards with administrative, technical, and planning capabilities. And that they’ve become more potent and representative bodies. What ‘state building’ activities should we take to make residents aware of the boards’ existence and give them recognition as centers of local governance? How might we encourage residents to participate in analysis and the tough decision making that will give the board’s efforts credence in the eyes of the city council and mayor?
While the boards have existed for more than a quarter century, an ongoing awareness survey indicates that only 30% of city residents know community boards exist, and 10% know which board governs their place of residence. Step one in creating legitimacy is visibility. How do we make residents aware of the boards?
While a challenging task, there are examples that can guide the effort. For a short time during the administration for Mayor Giuliani Administration, community district information was placed on the alternate-side-of-the-street parking signs that surround nearly every city block. While there was early success placing notations on signs in several districts (e.g., Queens CB-9 and CB-6, and CB-12 in the Bronx), the Giuliani Administration ended the effort for reasons unknown. Pasting a sticker noting the area’s community board to the existing parking signs could be undertaken with relative ease. Or perhaps we could follow Paris’ example. There the Arrondissement, or local administrative district, is noted on every street sign, with a “13e Arr.” or “5e Arr.” atop the street name. (Insert photo.) A bolder approach might be to place web addresses on the signs.
But beyond awareness, we need to discern some distinguishing features or beliefs community residents can gather around. Think of the process as detecting and promoting community district DNA. This DNA might be some shared characteristics that enable district residents to view themselves as colleagues, partners, comrades, or neighbors. For example, Queens Community District 3 includes the Jackson Heights and East Elmhurst neighborhoods, and the northern section of Corona. Tolerance is a common denominator in this multi-ethnic district. And all residents agree that nearby LaGuardia Airport’s noise and Flushing Bay's pollution are annoyances that need remediation.
Once common denominators are found we might then baptize our districts with appropriate names. For example, the December 10, 2001 cover of The New Yorker had a humorous map dividing the city into 56 districts with names like Botaxia for the Upper West Side, Moolahs for the financial district, and Taxistan for the area near LaGuardia Airport.
What's in a name? That which we call
a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
William Shakespeare
Was Shakespeare right? Can NYC residents be persuaded to trade their historic Greenwich Village and quaint Dumbo for another? Can you imagine someone on leafy Charles Street in Greenwich Village proudly announcing “I live in Manhattan 2?” Quite unlikely.
I don’t propose eliminating traditional neighborhood names as these often house important civic virtues. But public notation on signs and community district names might facilitate public engagement in local governance.
Other methods to develop community identity might involve efforts like The Great Tree Hunt Competition, a game to engage and educate the district’s youth as to its borders.
Or perhaps a citywide art contest like those that decorated cows and horses in cities around the nation in recent years. In NYC's instance, each of the 59 districts might sponsor a project that encompasses their district’s DNA on a float that will converge on city hall for a Community Renaissance Festival.
