July 1, 2022, will mark the start of another fiscal year for New York City government, designated as FY 2023 (FY23). Although still seven months away, community boards across the city have started the process of submitting their annual Capital and Expense Budget Requests which inform the borough president, city council, and mayor about the priorities in each community district. Officially known as the Statement of Community Needs and Community Board Budget Requests Fiscal Year 2023, the 37-page document identifies the most pressing concerns in each local community.

 

On Nov. 30, Bronx Community Board 7 (CB7) voted on, and approved, a request that prioritizes three issues in the district: land use trends, including the need for mixed-income housing; lack of funding for local schools; and insufficient municipal services, including transportation, sanitation, and parks maintenance. The board’s Nov. 30 general meeting, which included updates from District 11 city councilman, Eric Dinowitz, and representatives of other local elected officials, clocked in at two minutes shy of three hours.

 

While the statement, itself, goes into detail about why these are the three most pressing needs for the community, each of the nine CB7 committees comprising the board, got an opportunity to include comments and observations on the three main areas of focus along with many others. The various CB7 committees are: Budget, Personnel & Ethics; Education, Youth & Libraries; Environment & Sanitation; Health & Human Services; Housing, Land Use & Economic Development; Parks, Recreation & Cultural Affairs; Public Safety & Quality of Life; Traffic & Transportation; and Veterans Affairs.

 

Backing up the community needs requests with data from the City, CB7 board members described a very concerning trend affecting residents. “The district is densely populated with approximately 73,000 residents per square mile,” the board reported. “They, mainly, live in rental units in multi-family buildings that make up about 97 percent of the [district’s] neighborhoods.” The board members added, “Home ownership has been in the decline in recent years, with only 6 percent of the district owning a home, condo or cooperative. A lot of the private homes in our neighborhoods have disappeared to make way for new residential buildings with supportive and affordable housing units.”

 

The beginning of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration, almost eight years ago, began with a promise to preserve 200,000 affordable homes by the end of his second term, and to create 300,000 affordable homes by 2026 under the, “Your Home NYC” plan. In July, the mayor stood in front of a new, 420,000 square-foot development in the South Bronx, known as Bronx Commons, and declared, “There’s no stopping the Bronx, and there’s no stopping New York City.”

 

A walk through the neighborhoods of Bedford Park, Kingsbridge Heights, and Norwood reveals a growing number of new developments, touting affordable housing. However, representatives of the Community Service Society, an organization which tracks inequality trends in the City, said although de Blasio’s administration secured what they said were several, crucial pieces of policy and legislation which protect tenants, they are not enough to reverse the ongoing dilemma of unaffordable housing in New York.

 

Trends in local land use were described by CB7 in both positive and negative terms during the meeting. “While the district has some of the most affordable, private, market-rental housing in the City, many rent-stabilized and rent-controlled apartments are disappearing, due to evictions and tenant turnover,” the board reported.

 

As for the many housing developments that have included a percentage of units for tenants in need of supportive services, some of whom were not originally housed in the district, the board gave a more pessimistic view. “There is also a prevailing feeling in our district that we have received a disproportionate share of supportive housing developments, which serve a population that does not currently reside in the district.”

 

According to the board’s analysis, the district’s overall population explosion serves as a warning not only to ensure more housing is built responsibly to accommodate the current fabric of the district’s neighborhoods, but to expand municipal services in the district as well. These needed municipal services include more garbage pick-ups, expanded public transportation services, and better maintenance of the parks and parklands, like Devoe, Williamsbridge Oval, and Mosholu Parkway.

 

The board’s analysis of population growth in the district also found there was an impact on local schools. “The quality and lack of funding of our local schools continues to be a major issue of concern for residents,” the board reported. “The number of [school] seats available in our community is not acceptable, as most of our schools are overcrowded,” they added. They identified Community Education Council 10, which includes most of CD7, as “the most overcrowded district in the Bronx.

 

Not all requests from CB7 included a call to action or enforcement from a City agency, however. The board said some quality-of-life issues can be addressed through more public awareness and education. While there was a request to enforce sanitation laws as they relate to dog waste, especially on sidewalks, there was also a call for “a culturally sensitive, public education campaign targeted to residential and commercial property owners [that they said] can result in a reduction of these violations.”

 

The board further explained that, before the pandemic, the City’s 59 community boards all across the five boroughs were each receiving a baseline budget of $288,000 for employee salaries, rent, and day-to-day operations. For the financial year 2023, the board requested a budget increase to $350,000.

 

At the October CB7 general board meeting, a motion to hire Karla Cabrera Carrera to the position of community coordinator, at a yearly salary of $68,000 was passed with 29 “yes” votes, zero “no” votes, and two abstentions. Cabrera Carrera picks up on work carried out by a former, since departed employee. A motion to increase the yearly salary of Bronx CB7 district manager, Ischia Bravo, by the maximum allowable increase of 10 percent per annum from $96,611 to $106,272 was also passed, with 22 “yes” votes, zero “no” votes, and nine abstentions.

 

The statement of needs will next be reviewed by the relevant City agencies responsible for the requested follow-up, and a preliminary budget will be established in January 2022.

 

*Síle Moloney contributed to this story.