Queens Borough President Donovan Richards (Queens Borough President Office)
April 4, 2022 By Christian Murray
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards announced Monday his community board appointments for the 2022 year—with his selections influenced by his desire to make the boards younger and more diverse.
Richards appointed 345 members across Queens’ 14 community boards out of a pool of more than 884 applicants. Each appointee will serve a two-year term from April 1, 2022 through to March 31, 2024. The community board positions are all voluntary and unpaid.
“I could not be prouder to appoint such a dynamic, diverse class of public servants to our network of Queens community boards, as we continue steadfast in our effort to build a government that is truly reflective of the borough it serves,” said Queens Borough President Donovan Richards in a statement.
The majority of appointees were existing board members, although 94 members were selected to a board for the first time. Existing board members who reapply when their 2-year term expires are typically reappointed, except in rare situations or if their attendance has been poor.
All 14 boards have about 50 members, with half the members appointed each year.
Of the first-time members this year, 48 percent are under the age of 40, including three appointees in their teens.
Richards said that community boards have traditionally skewed older. Prior to taking office as Borough President in December 2020, he said that less than 12 percent of board members were under the age of 35, while nearly three quarters of all members were over the age of 45.
He said that there has been a growing interest among younger people to become more civically engaged in recent years—something his office has tried to cultivate.
Richards also placed an emphasis on the racial mix of the appointments—to bring them more in line with the demographics of the borough. He said that this year’s first-time members included 22.3 percent of people who identify as African American as well as 17 percent who identify as Hispanic/Latinx.
Of the 94 first-time members, 19.2 percent are immigrants—up from 17.4 percent of Richards’ class of first-time appointees in 2021 and the 6.1 percent figure of sitting community board members as of 2020. He noted that nearly half of Queens 2.4 million residents were born abroad.
Richards has also placed an emphasis on appointing members with school-age children, with 21.3 percent of this year’s new appointments falling into that category.
The boards have traditioned lacked members with school age children. In 2020, approximately 7 percent of board members were in this category.
Richards also said that the new appointees consist of more renters than homeowners. Nearly 24 percent live in market rate apartments, 6.4 percent in rented houses, 3.2 percent in rent regulated apartments and 3.2 percent in NYCHA housing, Richard said.
He said that 29 percent of new members are homeowners. He didn’t break down the remaining 34 percent, although some include coop and condo owners as well as people who live with their parents.
Community Board Districts in Queens (Queens Borough President’s Office)
The appointments come one year after Richards announced that he had increased the requirements of board members and put in place procedures in case of misconduct and unexplained absences.
He announced the creation of a centralized code of conduct for the borough’s boards and a formal complaint procedure.
The code of conduct requires members to meet specified attendance levels, maintain their board eligibility, avoid conflicts of interest, and act in a respectful, non-discriminatory manner.
Borough President Richards’ appointments for the 2022-2024 term to the Queens Community Boards are as follows:
Community Board 1 (Astoria, Old Astoria, Long Island City, Queensbridge, Ditmars, Ravenswood, Steinway, Garden Bay, Woodside): Daniel Aliberti; Louise Bordley; Gerald Caliendo; Irak Dahir Cehonski; Tenzin Dechin; Mackenzi Farquer; Adam Fisher-Cox; Tyrone Gardner; Shahenaz Hamde; Evie Hantzopoulos; Amy Hau; Vanessa Jones-Hall; Richard Khuzami; Huge Ma; Sam Massol; Amin Mehedi; Antonio Meloni; Andreas Migias; Eric Mouchette; Juliet Payabyab; Rose Marie Poveromo; Thomas Ryan; Marie Torniali; Rod Townsend; Judy Trilivas; Kathleen Warnock; Corinne Wood-Haynes.
Community Board 2 (Maspeth, Sunnyside, Woodside, Long Island City): Amparo Abel-Bey; John Laurence Bahia; T. Karesia Batan; Nicholas Berkowitz; Sandra Bigitschke; Tannia Chavez; Osman Chowdhury; Stephen Cooper; Kelly Craig; Lisa Deller; Morry Galonoy; Kenneth Greenberg; Chhemang Lama; Sheila Lewandowski; Benjamin Lucas; Patrick Martinez; Robert Miraglia; Thomas Mituzas; Reilly Owens; Clara Oza; Steven Raga; Norberto Saldana; Ryan Smith; Caroline Spitzer; Lauren Springer; Phuntsok Tashi; Akello Thomas; Frank Wu.
Community Board 3 (Jackson Heights, North Corona, East Elmhurst): Pat Beckles; Ann Brown; Mark Buhrmester; Sonya Davis-Roberts; Vivian Dock; Margaret Dozier; Rhoda Dunn; Oscar Escobar; Kevin Hughes-Noboa; Stephen Kulhanek; Marta Elena LeBreton; Andre Maloy; Violeta Morales; Richard Mullings; Theresa Parson-Jones; Dorothy Phelan; Potrirankamanis Queano Nur; Jairo Rodriguez; Leoncio Romero; Edmund Rosenbaum; David Rosero; Jimmy Smith; Shanel Thomas Henry.
Community Board 4 (Elmhurst, Corona, Corona Heights): Rownoka Ashakhan; Michelle Calderon; Valery Calderon; Chaio-Chung Chen; Jaime Cho; Ramakrishna Kadukuntla; Carol Machulski; Sunil Mahat; Abu Zafar Mahmood; Patricia Martin; Matthew McElroy; Mac Ryan Merchan; Alexandra Owens; Alexa Ponce; Alton Smith; Dewan Tarek; Marcello Testa; Charlie Tetiyevsky; Louis Walker.
Community Board 5 (Ridgewood, Maspeth, Glendale, Middle Village, South Elmhurst): Bhubaneshor Adhikari; Antonetta Binanti; Adam Bloom; Eric Butkiewicz; Robert Cermeli; Patricia Crowley; Nickolas Cuttonaro; Dmytro Fedkowskyj; Cecilia Guerra; Fred Haller; Fred Hoefferle; Richard Huber; Eileen Moloney; Margaret O’Kane; Michael O’Kane; Mike Porcelli; Melissa Rebecca; Luis Rodriguez; Dennis Stephan; Jasmin Valle.
Community Board 6 (Forest Hills, Rego Park): Anisa Ayon; Laura Ciacco; Kandra Clark; John Dereszawski; Brendan Griffith; Karen Imas; Sarina Jain; Mark Laster; Beatrice Leong; Jonathan Li; Kevin Ly; Julie Milner; Tania Padgett; Howard Pollack; Diana Rachnaev; Shari Rolnick; Petrina Schneiderman; Herbert Schonhaut; Jean Silva; Brently Winstead; Titilayo Yasukawa
Community Board 7 (Flushing, College Point, Whitestone, Bay Terrace, Malba, Beechhurst, Bayside, Queensboro Hill, Willets Point): Charles Apelian; Michael Cheng; Nicholas Corrado; Derick Fang; Fred Fu; Doreen Gatanas; Pablo Hernandez; Jeff Huang; Lawrence Hughes; Eugene Kelty; Esther Lee; Betsy Mak; Barbara McHugh; Xinwei Michelle Miao; Millicent O’Meally; John Park; Yacov Pshtissky; Paul Rifino; Warren Schreiber; Kevin Shields; Matthew Silverstein; Saleem Syed; John Tsavalos; Clarissa Wong; Dian Song Yu; Jie Zhu.
Community Board 8 (Kew Gardens Hills, Utopia, Fresh Meadows, Hillcrest, Briarwood, Jamaica Hills Jamaica Estates, Holliswood, Flushing South): Dilafroz Ahmed; Heather Bennett-Idels; Robert Hoyt Block; Susan Cleary; Kenneth Cohen; Solomon Davydov; Maria DeInnocentiis; Mohammed Islam Delwar; Allen Eisenstein; Kevin Forrestal; Howard Fried; Bhitihara Martha Fulton; James Gallagher; Marc Haken; Michael Hannibal; Neeta Jain; Steven Konigsberg; Elke Maerz; Jennifer Martin; Yaniv Meirov; David Mordukhaev; Dilip Nath; Shlomo Nisanov; Alan Ong; Tamara Osherov; Hersh Parekh; Frances Peterson; Charlton Rhee; Jesse Rosenbaum; Seymour Schwartz; Harbachan Singh; Mohammed Tohin; Amy Tse; Emanuel Yllescas.
Community Board 9 (Richmond Hill, Woodhaven, Kew Gardens, Ozone Park): Inderpaul Ahluwalia; Sherry Algredo; Dilraj Batchu; Julio Batista; Dulal Bhattacharjee; Kamal Bhuiyan; Latchman Budhai; Daniel Chu; Daniel Coffaro Hill; Marylin Custodio; Sandra Datnarain; Steve Esposito; Orazio Joe Iaboni; Carmela Isabela; Kemanad Kishore; Bernard Robert; Regina Santoro; Jarnail Singh; Mohinder Singh; Sursattie Singh; Alexandria Sumpter-Delves.
Community Board 10 (Ozone Park, South Ozone Park, Howard Beach, South Richmond Hill): Mohamed Amin; Luis Amorim; James Caruso; Anthony Cosentino; Frank Dardani; Anoop Dhanpat; Irene Dimoh; Betty Escobar; John Fazio; Edna Fraylon; Peter Granickas; Raimondo Graziano; Anthony Hill; Romeo Hitlall; Pierre Kishun; Dorothy Mitchell; Fazlurrahman Mohamed; Rohan Narine; Jose Quijano; Amar Rajnauth; Nellie Santiago; Jody Stahl; Sharif Uddin; Marilyn Vecchio; Linda Walker.
Community Board 11 (Bayside, Auburndale, Oakland Gardens, Little Neck, Douglaston, East Flushing, Hollis Hills): Dawn Anatra; Adriana Aviles; Lana Bind; Sharon Chin; Victor Dadras; Lourdes December; C. Omarr Evans; Michelle Fields; Christopher Fuentes-Padilla; Albert Galatan; Joan Garippa; Roy Giusetti; Rosemarie Guidice; George Hadjiconstantinou; Laura James; Mohan Jethwani; Karen Mazza; Douglas Montgomery; Allan Palzer; Wendy Pelle-Beer; Stephen Pivawer; Gunjan Rastogi; Jyothi Sriram; Seena Sweet; Sam Wong.
Community Board 12 (Jamaica, South Jamaica, Hollis, St. Albans, South Ozone Park, Addesleigh Park, Springfield Gardens): Jacqueline Boyce; Maxine Brannon; Kenny Carter; Manuel Caughman; Tanbir Chowdhury; Hon. Clifton Diaz; Marcia Francis; Glenn Greenidge; Nurul Haque; Yullanda Hinds; Crystal Isaac; Khondokar Islam; Audrey Lee Jacobs; Aiysha Jaggassar; Chantel Johnson; Michele Keller; Rev. Edward McKay; Angela Miskis; Charline Ogbeni; Akther Rahman; Jean Randolph-Castro; Fitzroy Searles; Amanda Sewanan; Owen Shakespeare; Florence Simmons; Yvette Sledge; Toni Totten; Linette Townsley; Khari White; Jeanette Wilson; Patricia Wooden.
Community Board 13 (Queens Village, Glen Oaks, New Hyde Park, Bellerose, Cambria Heights, Laurelton, Rosedale, Floral Park, Springfield Gardens, Bellaire): Robert Alleyne; Rachelle Antoine; Angela Augugliaro; Corey Bearak; Loleta Beckett-Nicholson; Alain Berrouet; Sheila Beverly-Skinner; Vernal Crooms-Holder; Nickolette Emptage; Charles Farruggia; Lorraine Gittens-Bridges; Robert Glover; Jaslin Kaur; Michael Mallia; Sophia Mighty; Kangela Moore; Michael O’Keeffe; Cinnamon Paltoo; David Pecoraro; Nagassar Ramgarib; Anup Ramnauth; Peter Richards; Ashok Satkalmi; Koshy Thomas.
Community Board 14 (The Rockaways, Rockaway Point, Breezy Point, Roxbury, Neponsit, Belle Harbor, Rockaway Park, Seaside, Broad Channel, Hammels, Sommerville, Edgemere, Arverne, Bayswater, Wavecrest, Far Rockaway, Rockaway Beach): Audrey Amsterdam Handy; Louis Caucig; Jack Epter; Menashe Friedman; Avionne Gumbs-Cummings; Brian Heffernan; Felicia Johnson; Caren Lee; Betty Leon; LuQuan Lloyd; Annette Lord Cohen; Rosalyn Mason; Evelyn Miller-Suber; Sonia Moise; Helen Montero; Dolores Orr; Harold Paez; Vernell Robinson; David Shelborne; Christopher Tedesco; Jose Velez.
Note: for the 2021-2023 community board appointments click here.
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6 Comments
Community Board 3
I’m writing to put in a complaint which is discriminating the disabled and elderly from open space which has taken away parking spaces. I’ve been told we should go get parking spaces and shell out money they can not afford or be able to walk great distances from their homes.
Experience should count as it brings knowledge
Losing long time Board members in large numbers does not necessarily improve the quality or functional of the Boards
Boards of incompetent socialists and wack jobs
I know lots of them
Time to leave
I see a severe under representation among the poor. Appointing teenagers is ridiculous, absurd and pandering to Ageists. From the testimony of one long-time, experienced member who is gritting her teeth through these recent years, “The new members don’t realize they have to work with agencies and bodies who all have expertise and procedures. They think they can bang the table, make declarations and it will be done! Only a few even listen. And they are here to fill out their resume and fulfill personal ambition, not out of a sense of bettering things for their neighbors.” In my opinion Mr. Richards is speaking from inside the pocket of his real estate overlords. Getting young, malleable people to replace strong, experienced people who would actually know how to balance over reaching city agencies and their politicians. We are nota community anymore. We are a profit center for real estate and a voting body for disgustingly ambitious city council people.
Yes
I know some of these board members and they are a disaster
This is a joke
Does the SSP ever publish letters that go against their political ideology? Seems like everyone on the list are people of color. How does this idiot know that the poor are underrepresented. Was tgeur net worth printed next to their names or is this just assuming that every person of color is poor?