NYC Governance

From BeyondVoting

How do we govern ourselves in New York City?

In high school civics classes, students have traditionally been taught that they live in a republic, and that, through the democratic processes and the power of the vote, they steer the state. And for most people, annual voting for city, county, state, and federal representatives is their primary involvement with governance. But life teaches one that other influences steer the state: the environment, financial contributions, interest groups, the media... and that these have at least as much influence as the once a year voter.

One of the forces behind the BeyondVoting Wiki's initiation was the belief that ideas on civic betterment are common and the better the system that uncovers, presents, evaluates, prioritizes, and actualizes them, the better the city will be. Its focus is a community view; and while NYC has a strong mayor structure, BeyondVoting looks for ways to extract ideas and implement them at a neighborhood or community level, when possible.

New York City's Community Boards were selected as BeyondVoting's focus for several reasons: the wiki's initiator was intimately familiar with their operation; there is a movement afoot to transform the boards into more effective entities; with 59 independent boards the opportunity exists for experimentation and comparison, and a modicum of transparency in their operation; and perhaps most significantly, democracy is in essence a conversation that is held most effectively with those with whom we share - neighbor to neighbor.

See the mayor's website and the one maintained by the city council for the formal structure, and a concise outline of city governance on Wikipedia.