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Q&A
Addressing policy and space challenges for community board operations
5:05:56
·
104 sec
Jesús Pérez highlights the need for policy adjustments and improved spaces for community board operations, emphasizing the impact on public engagement and board efficiency.
- Pérez calls for flexibility with OMB and DCAS regarding office and meeting spaces
- He stresses the importance of proper equipment and venues for effective public meetings
- Pérez shares experiences of space-related challenges, including ADA non-compliance and eviction issues
Jesús Pérez
5:05:56
Some of it may need like policy adjustments, perhaps flexibility with OMB and with DCAS regarding community board office spaces and meeting spaces.
5:06:07
You know, if there's a space that's not available, if there are if there's equipment that people don't know
Lincoln Restler
5:06:15
how
Jesús Pérez
5:06:15
to because, you know, they have to lug it around everywhere or every single venue is different, that is inefficient, and it leads to a suboptimal experience for the public, which is why the community boards are here.
5:06:29
We're community boards.
5:06:30
We're here for the community, And it's disrespectful to the community to have amateurish meetings when what they're coming to do is listen and hear and learn about the issues that are impacting their communities.
5:06:43
So right now, we're often very limited by OMB and DCAST rules that limit community boards to very, small spaces, oftentimes not in great places.
5:06:54
We hear of community boards that are having struggles with their landlord, they may even fix basic leaks and things like that.
5:07:00
I myself, our board had a horrible, horrible experience where we were evicted from our space and bounced around for about three years, had a space that was ADA non compliant, and finally we were able to struggle and get a decent office space.
5:07:15
But we should have spaces that we can have access to that can accommodate different sized meetings because that's what the public expect.
5:07:24
They don't wanna come to a meeting and see that the mics are not working, that the WiFi doesn't work, see that all of these things that the the biggest city in the world and one of the biggest city in in the in the country, the biggest city in the world in 2025 should not be happy to deal with anymore.
Lincoln Restler
5:07:41
Yeah.