If you live in the West Farms, Belmont, Tremont, Bathgate, or East Tremont neighborhoods of the Bronx, the body that gets the first vote on liquor licenses, sidewalk cafes, zoning changes, capital budget priorities, and street-safety proposals for your block is Bronx Community Board 6. It meets this month at two public sessions — a Public Safety & Licensing Committee meeting on Wednesday, May 20, and a full General Board Meeting on Wednesday, May 27 at the West Farms Library, 2085 Honeywell Avenue. Both start at 6:30 p.m., both are open to the public, and both have a public-session period where any neighborhood resident can sign up to speak. This is the playbook to walk in, be heard, and influence what the board sends up to the Bronx Borough President and the City.
Who this helps
Renters and homeowners in Bronx Community District 6, parents of students in the Belmont or East Tremont catchments, anyone who has wanted to push back on a liquor license, propose a street safety fix, get a pothole onto the FY2027 capital list, or simply learn how the closest layer of NYC government actually works. You do not need to be a board member to speak. You do not need to RSVP to attend. You do not need to give a written statement — though one helps.
The two May meetings — what is happening and where
Public Safety & Licensing Committee Meeting — Wednesday, May 20, 2026, 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. This is the committee that reviews new and renewal liquor license applications, sidewalk-cafe applications, and policing-related issues in the district. Location and call-in info are published on the CB6 calendar at cbbronx.cityofnewyork.us/cb6/calendar. If a bar on your block has an application pending, this is the meeting where you can object on the record before the State Liquor Authority hears the recommendation.
General Board Meeting — Wednesday, May 27, 2026, 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. — West Farms Library, 2085 Honeywell Avenue, Bronx. This is the full board, where every committee chair reports out and where the board votes on resolutions that are then transmitted to the Borough President, the City Council, and the relevant agency. The public-session window — typically 2 minutes per speaker, sign up at the door before the meeting starts — is your opportunity to put an item on the record. The board is required to acknowledge it.
How to take action
1. Confirm the meeting before you go. Calendars do change. The CB6 calendar at cbbronx.cityofnewyork.us/cb6/calendar is the source of truth. If a meeting moves to Zoom or relocates, the calendar will reflect it.
2. Write your statement in advance. Public-session speakers usually get 2 minutes. That is roughly 250 words. Read it aloud at home with a timer. Name your block, name the issue, name the action you want — for example, “I live on Honeywell Avenue between East 180th and Tremont. I am asking the board to support a Department of Transportation request for daylighting at the East 180th corner, because three children have been hit there in the last 18 months.” Specific beats general every time.
3. Bring a printout. Hand a copy of your remarks to the district manager at the sign-in table. It becomes part of the meeting record and the board members can read it later, even if they did not absorb every word in two minutes.
4. Stay for the committee reports. If your issue is housing-related, listen for the Housing and Land-Use Committee report. If it is sanitation or parks, listen for the Environment and Parks, Economic Development, and Sanitation Committee. When you hear a topic that touches your concern, you can ask a board member after the meeting to raise it formally in the next committee cycle.
5. Contact the office directly for anything urgent. Bronx Community Board 6 office: 1932 Arthur Avenue, Room 403-A, Bronx, NY 10457. Phone: (718) 579-6990. The district manager handles complaints between meetings and routes them to the right agency.
What CB6 actually does — and what it does not
Under the New York City Charter, Chapter 70, every community board has formal advisory power over land use applications (ULURP), capital and expense budget priorities, liquor license applications, sidewalk-cafe applications, and the placement of city services in the district. The board’s vote is not legally binding on the City Planning Commission or the State Liquor Authority — but it is part of the record, and in practice the SLA and City Planning weigh it heavily, especially when residents have shown up to support the recommendation.
What CB6 cannot do: it cannot directly pass laws, cannot directly fund projects, cannot remove a landlord, and cannot order the NYPD to change a precinct’s deployment. What it can do, very effectively, is build a public record that City Council members and agency commissioners actually read. A unanimous CB6 vote against a problem zoning variance, with 40 residents on the record in opposition, has stopped projects citywide.
The committees you should know about
Bronx CB6 publishes its committee structure on the calendar. The committees that meet in this cycle (May into June) include:
- Public Safety & Licensing — liquor licenses, sidewalk cafes, NYPD precinct coordination. Next meets May 20.
- Housing and Land-Use / Youth and Education — joint meeting June 9 at 6:30 p.m.
- Environment and Parks, Economic Development, and Sanitation — June 10 at 6:30 p.m.
- Transportation / Health and Human Services — joint meeting June 11 at 6:30 p.m.
- Executive Committee — June 3, agenda-setting for the next full board.
If you cannot make it on May 20 or May 27, the June committee schedule gives you four more opportunities to put your specific issue in front of the right committee before the full board votes on its position.
A note on the borough budget cycle
Community boards across the city are entering the back end of the FY2027 capital and expense budget cycle. The window to influence what CB6 prioritizes for capital projects in your neighborhood — a new playground surface, a bus shelter, a pothole-prone stretch of road — is shrinking. If you have a capital request, the May general meeting is one of your last chances this cycle to put it on the record. The Borough President’s office consolidates board priorities and weighs them in the citywide capital budget that the Mayor proposes in late summer and the Council finalizes in June 2027 for FY2027.
If you can’t attend
Email the board office at the address listed on the CB6 contact page (cbbronx.cityofnewyork.us/cb6/contact) with your statement and ask for it to be entered into the public record. Specify the meeting date and the agenda item you are addressing. The district manager is required to forward correspondence to the relevant committee chair.
You can also call 311 to log a service request that creates a record agencies must respond to — and bring the 311 tracking number to your CB6 public-session statement. That combination — 311 record plus community board public testimony — is the most effective grassroots tool a Bronx resident has.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does Bronx Community Board 6 meet next? The Public Safety & Licensing Committee meets Wednesday, May 20, 2026, at 6:30 p.m. The full General Board Meeting is Wednesday, May 27, 2026, at 6:30 p.m. at the West Farms Library, 2085 Honeywell Avenue, Bronx.
Do I need to register to speak at the public session? No registration is required in advance. Sign up at the door before the meeting begins. Speakers are typically given 2 minutes.
Is the meeting in person or on Zoom? The May 27 General Board Meeting is in person at West Farms Library. Committee meetings vary — confirm on the CB6 calendar at cbbronx.cityofnewyork.us/cb6/calendar before you go.
How do I contact the Bronx CB6 office? Bronx Community Board 6, 1932 Arthur Avenue, Room 403-A, Bronx, NY 10457. Phone: (718) 579-6990.
Can a community board stop a liquor license? A community board can vote to recommend denial of a liquor license to the New York State Liquor Authority. The SLA makes the final decision, but a unanimous CB recommendation backed by community testimony is given significant weight.
Sources: Bronx Community Board 6 official calendar (cbbronx.cityofnewyork.us/cb6/calendar); NYC Charter Chapter 70 governing community boards; Office of the Bronx Borough President community boards directory.
