Sign up for “THE CITY Scoop,” our daily newsletter where we send you stories like this first thing in the morning. The city’s complaint and information hotline, 311, isn’t only frustrating for non-native English callers — it’s also an “epic failure” for deaf and hard-of-hearing users, a City Council member charged. “It was not designed […]
Fernando Cabrera
Posted inGovernment
Community Board Cash Goes to Some Members’ Nonprofit Groups
Sign up for “THE CITY Scoop,” our daily newsletter where we send you stories like this first thing in the morning. At least two of the city’s 59 community boards recently granted funds to nonprofits run by their members, potentially violating city ethics rules. On July 2, the Bronx’s Community Board 1 paid $10,000 to […]
Posted inGovernment
City Council Puts Brakes on Community Board Spending
Additional reporting by Claudia Irizarry Aponte Sign up for “THE CITY Scoop,” our daily newsletter where we send you stories like this first thing in the morning. Community boards now have to vote before making pricey purchases with a budget-boosting grant from the City Council, which recently placed sharp limits on how boards can spend […]
Posted inBrooklyn
Community Board Sprays Weed-Killer Its Council Pal Wants to Ban
Additional reporting by Clifford Michel Spray it ain’t so: A Brooklyn community board used $20,000 in special City Council funds to tidy its overgrown grounds with a weed-killer that a pending bill would ban on city property. Among the sponsors of the glyphosate ban bid is Councilmember Fernando Cabrera (D-The Bronx), who last year secured […]
Posted inQueens
No Cars Allowed: Community Boards Get New Funding Boost, With Warning
Additional reporting by Christine Chung and Yoav Gonen For the second year running, each of the city’s 59 community boards is in line for a $42,500 budget boost, courtesy of the City Council. There’s one new condition: no vehicle purchases allowed. The caveat comes after THE CITY last month revealed that a north Brooklyn community […]