Adults over 55 dominate Queens community boards, data shows
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New community board members were sworn-in during a 2019 ceremony at Queens Borough. Photo courtesy of Borough President’s Office
Analysis and graphic design by Amber Grof of Measure of America
Story by David Brand
Senior citizens make up about 17 percent of the population in Howard Beach, Ozone Park and the nearby neighborhoods that comprise Community District 10. Yet 57 percent of the local community board is older than 65.
In Central Queens’ Community District 8 — Kew Gardens Hills, Jamaica Estates and Briarwood — residents older than 65 account for 18 percent of the population, but 53 percent of the community board.
At the same time, a borough of 2.3 million people features just seven community board members younger than 25. That’s 1 percent of 700 board seats boroughwide.
Those numbers illustrate the general age demographics of Queens’s 14 community boards, key conduits between residents and their city government. Each board skews disproportionately older, sometimes strikingly so, according to a new analysis by the Eagle and the organization Measure of America.
Graphic by Amber Grof, Measure of America
The analysis is based on an annual report compiled by the Queens Borough President’s Office and demographic data from DATA2GO.NYC, Measure of America’s online mapping tool. DATA2GO.NYC compiles information from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.
The Eagle/Measure of America reporting reveals the deep disparities in age, race, ethnicity and gender across every community board during the 2019 calendar year. The office has not yet published a report for the calendar year 2020.
The data shows what anyone who attends a community board meeting — or watches the now virtual proceedings — can perceive: Residents older than 66 are over-represented on every board in the borough and residents between ages 45 and 65 are overrepresented on all but one community board.
Nearly two-thirds of members are older than 55. Meanwhile, people over 65 make up 16 percent of Queens’ population, but 40 percent of the borough’s community boards.
People under 25 aren’t the only ones missing from Queens community boards. Residents between ages 25 and 44 are also underrepresented on every board in the borough, the data shows.
Khaleel Anderson, an assemblymember, got his start in local politics when he was appointed to the Rockaway Peninsula’s Community Board 14 at age 17. He said he was not surprised by the number of older adults on the boards, but he said he was stunned to learn there were so few young people.
“The borough is very young, so seven people is incredibly incompetent,” said Anderson, who resigned from CB14 in November 2020 after winning his election to state office.
The problem, he said, is a lack of information among younger residents.
“I think the outreach is not even directed toward us,” Anderson said. “There’s no outreach to schools, to the organizations young people are in.”
With community board applications now open, new Queens Borough President Donovan Richards said he is committed to changing that. Appealing to younger people and educating them about board responsibilities is a top priority, he said.
“We are doing street outreach at college campuses,” he said. “We want to see that diversity.”
Richards said CUNY schools, like York College, can be fertile ground for recruiting energetic, community-minded young people. His office will also take over responsibility for live-streaming and archiving meetings so they remain more accessible.
For the first time this year, prospective board members can submit their applications online, a measure Richards said will encourage underrepresented groups, including young people, to apply.
“We’re going to open community boards and make them more accessible, more transparent,” he said.
Understanding community boards and the membership data
Queens’ 14 community boards are considered local authorities and serve as crucial conduits between residents and city government. They make advisory recommendations on land use issues, weigh in on street design proposals, educate residents about topics like ranked-choice voting and host forums on other key community concerns.
Each community board has 50 seats for unpaid members who live in, work in or demonstrate some connection to the district they represent, for a total of 700 seats boroughwide. There were 37 vacant seats across the borough on April 1, 2019 — the date new and reappointed members began their terms that year.
The annual report from the borough president’s office is a mandatory provision of the city charter, based on a revision passed by voters in 2018. The report, based on self-response surveys, includes data on race, ethnicity, gender and age.
The demographic analysis conducted by the Eagle and Measure of America isn’t perfect because the available data is incomplete: A total of 587 board members provided their ages, while 76 did not.
Still, the information available provides insight into the demographic disparities affecting every board in Queens. The Eagle and Measure of America published a report on disparities related to race, ethnicity, gender and foreign-born status last month.
Though older adults dominate the community boards, it doesn’t have to be that way.
Anyone over age 16 can apply to the boards. But they rarely do. As noted, there were just seven people under 25, including Anderson, in 2019. That’s 1 percent of board membership.
People 35 and under made up less than one-tenth of survey respondents in 2019.
In contrast, 371 respondents — or 63 percent — were older than 55. About a quarter of all respondents were older than 66.
Newly instituted term-limits will restrict members to no more than four consecutive two-year stints on their boards. The term limits, which began last year, will open more seats in 2027, but that doesn’t necessarily mean young people will apply for the vacancies without corresponding outreach, Anderson said.
Many community board leaders and elected officials have championed the role of older, long-term members on the board, particularly as the term-limit proposal headed for a citywide referendum in 2018.
Older members, including 13 who have served their boards for more than 40 years, bring a wealth of experience and institutional knowledge to land use, street design and business decisions, Councilmember Barry Grodenchik wrote in a 2018 op-ed denouncing the term limits proposal.
“Seasoned community board members have witnessed administration changes and have the institutional knowledge needed to follow up on key neighborhood issues,” wrote Grodenchik, the former director of community boards in the borough president’s office. “As appointed advisors to city government, community board members need that knowledge in order to guide their recommendations on important land use, zoning, and budgetary matters.”
Community Board 10 chair Betty Braton, whose board has more senior citizens than any other in the borough, also said the older members bring key experience to decision-making.
She said she welcomes the annual report because it clearly outlines the decades-long tenures of board members. “It helped me see just how many years people have served,” she said.
Anderson, however, said the influential bodies fail to reflect the changing demographics or younger residents in their district.
“They don’t represent the community,” he said.
At least two community board leaders are eager for younger members to apply. Community Board 6 (Forest Hills, Rego Park) Chair Alexa Weitzman and Community Board 2 (Long Island City, Sunnyside, Woodside) Chair Lisa Deller proposed reaching out to students at colleges and even high schools.
CB2 is already beginning to see more younger applicants and members, Deller said .
“The board is getting a lot younger, and a lot more people who are tech savvy and have great technical skills are joining,” she said. “We’ve embraced that and that is thrilling to me.”
This article is part two in a series on community board demographic disparities created in partnership with Measure of America. Read part one.
