ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the question of what community power has meant to city governance by examining community board effectiveness. The 1989 charter revisions were neither prompted by nor directly related to the community board system. The commissions went further than required by the federal courts and addressed some of the difficulties they uncovered with the community boards’ land-use review procedures. The outcome of the fair-share plan would become a function of several factors, including a borough president’s notion of equity, his or her base of intraborough political support, and community-based alternative sources of political influence in city and state governments. Community board authority under Uniform Land-Use Review Procedure has had important effects on land-use policy in New York. Research indicates that the early experiences with community-based budgeting were mixed. Community boards are involved in a host of interorganizational relationships within and outside their communities.
