After Queens CBs raise concern, Hochul says yes to virtually meetings
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Community Board 6 Chair Alexa Weitzman told the state her board would continue to meet virtually regardless of what the law said last month. Last week, Gov. Hochul signed a bill into law that would allow Community Board’s to continue to meet virtually. Screenshot via Queens CB6
By Jacob Kaye
With COVID-19 cases still prevalent in Queens and throughout the city, New York State passed a law last week that will allow community boards to continue to meet virtually.
Governor Kathy Hochul signed the extension of the suspension of the Open Meetings Law, which, in part, requires government bodies to hold in-person meetings, on Thursday, Sept. 2. The law was one of several passed by the State Legislature during its special session last week.
"Let's be clear—the COVID-19 pandemic is not over, and I've heard from government officials across the state who are concerned about the inability of their constituents to access public meetings virtually," Hochul said in a statement. "This commonsense legislation extends a privilege that not only helps New Yorkers participate safely in the political process, but also increases New Yorkers' access to their government by allowing for more options to view public meetings.”
Advocates said the law was necessary after the previous suspension of the law, which was put into place through an executive order from former Governor Andrew Cuomo, expired in June.
With community boards on summer vacation, members began to worry that when they’d return in September, they’d be forced to see each other in person as cases of the Delta variant continued to spread through the community.
“We're thrilled,” said Alexa Weitzman, the chair of Queens Community Board 6.
Weitzman was the first community board chair in Queens to declare that regardless of what the law said, her board was going to continue to meet virtually.
In early August, she penned a letter to Cuomo and other leaders calling on them to take action.
“To require Community Boards to meet in person at this juncture is extremely problematic [and] antithetical to the accessibility standards Queens Community Board 6 strives for,” the letter read. “This letter serves as notice that CB6, Queens, will continue to meet remotely until further notice.”
At the time of the letter, the city’s COVID-19 positive test rate was a little higher than 3 percent and the Delta variant accounted for around 72 percent of positive cases, according to city data. Though cases have started to decrease in the past week, the city’s 7 day average of positive cases is around 4.2 percent. The Delta variant has accounted for around 98 percent of cases in the past 30 days.
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards soon championed the cause – as did nearly every community board in Queens – and called on the state to pass legislation, as they did last week.
“Queens Community Boards and I had been calling for the continued authorization of fully remote meetings for a while, so we are pleased that Governor Hochul and the state Legislature passed legislation that does just that,” Richards said in a statement to the Eagle. “The new law will allow public meetings to be held fully remotely, so that they will not jeopardize the health and safety of participants and attendees. Public servants and local residents should not be forced to put their health at risk in order to attend an important government meeting.”
Weitzman said that she was slightly surprised to see the Assembly, Senate and governor pass the law during their extraordinary session, which was also used to extend the eviction moratorium and create the state’s first Office of Cannabis Management.
“I’m really happy that they took this on when they were meeting for that extraordinary session, and it was one of the few things that they thought was important enough to address,” she said. “It's the safest for everyone and it allows true accessibility for everyone.”
Weitzman said that since meeting virtually, participation from both her members and the public has seen an increase.
“We really saw so much more participation,” she said. “People were able to tune in and ‘come’ to meetings in a way that they weren't able to when they're in-person.”
Community Board 7 Chair Eugene Kelty agreed that the suspension of the OML was probably the best option to keep everyone safe.
Earlier this month, his full board met in-person in a meeting dedicated to expelling a member. Several board members attended the hearing virtually from an alternative site.
However, leading up to the meeting, Kelty said he was having issues finding a place to meet. CB 7’s old meeting location was inside a nursing home.
“It just makes it easier,” Kelty said. “I appreciate Board 6 for taking an initiative on it. I'm glad the borough president sent up a letter, endorsing it and getting all the other chairs to go along with it, to say it would be nice to be extended this for at least until the end of the year.”
Community Board 5, which represents Ridgewood, Glendale, Maspeth and Middle Village, was the only board not to sign onto Richards’ letter.
It’s chair, Vincent Arcuri, said that they didn’t sign on because the board’s executive committee didn’t have the opportunity to review it and that he doesn’t make decisions “unilaterally.”
However, he also staunchly opposes virtual meetings.
“Personally, I disagree with [the suspension of the Open Meetings Law],” Arcuri said. “Community Board business is done at committee levels and you can’t meet on a television screen as a committee. You have to sit with your compatriots, look in their eyes and discuss the problem.”
“Video is for little kids and watching cartoons, not doing business,” he added.
The Open Meetings Law suspension will be in place until Jan. 15, 2022.
