Who This Helps: Renters, homeowners, small business owners, and residents of Park Slope, Gowanus, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Red Hook, Boerum Hill, and the entire Upper West Side from 59th to 110th Streets between Central Park and the Hudson River. If a development is going up on your block, a liquor license is being decided, a street is being redesigned, or a school district line is being redrawn, your community board is the first place those decisions get aired — and the only place where regular residents can speak directly to the body recommending action to the city.
Two boards have public-facing meetings on the calendar right now that residents can actually attend or watch. Here is what is happening, where, and how to participate.
Brooklyn Community Board 6: Landmarks, Land Use & Housing Committee — Friday, May 22, 6:30pm
Brooklyn CB6 covers Park Slope, Gowanus, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Red Hook, and Boerum Hill — neighborhoods in the middle of one of the most active rezoning and land-use periods in the borough’s history. The Landmarks, Land Use & Housing committee is the workhorse panel that reviews building applications, landmark designations, zoning changes, and affordable housing proposals before they move to the full board.
This committee meeting is Friday, May 22, 2026 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The agenda is listed as TBD on the official CB6 calendar, which is common for land use meetings because items are added in the days leading up depending on which applications come in from developers, the Landmarks Preservation Commission, and the Department of City Planning. The agenda is typically posted at brooklyncb6.cityofnewyork.us/calendar 24 to 48 hours before the meeting.
If you live in CB6 and there is a project on your block — a new building, a façade change to a landmarked property, a sidewalk café application, a special permit — this is the committee that reviews it. Members of the public can attend, listen, and during the designated public comment period speak for typically 2 to 3 minutes on any agenda item.
How to Attend Brooklyn CB6 Meetings
- Office address: 250 Baltic Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201
- Phone: (718) 643-3027
- Calendar with locations and livestream links: brooklyncb6.cityofnewyork.us/calendar
- Committee meetings: Most are held in person at neighborhood locations or via livestream — check the specific event page for the location and any registration link the day before
Other CB6 Items on the Calendar This Week
The Brooklyn CB6 community calendar also includes neighborhood-level events the board tracks for residents, including the NYC Rent Guidelines Board Public Meeting on Thursday, May 21 at 9:30 a.m. (in-person or via the RGB YouTube livestream), the Arts Gowanus Patterns Gala at Union Channel/Gowanus Wharf, and Smith Street Stage’s Shakespeare in Carroll Park running through the weekend. The Rent Guidelines Board meeting is the one most renters in CB6 — and across the city — should be paying attention to: this is the body that sets the annual rent adjustment percentages for the city’s roughly one million rent-stabilized apartments. Even if you cannot attend in person, the livestream is open to anyone with a YouTube account.
Manhattan Community Board 7: Covering the Upper West Side
Manhattan CB7 covers the Upper West Side from 59th Street to 110th Street, between Central Park and the Hudson River. That is roughly 200,000 residents across some of the densest residential blocks in the city, plus the entirety of Riverside Park, the Theodore Roosevelt Park, Lincoln Center, and the major institutions of Columbia Circle and Morningside Heights.
The board’s website moved to mcb7.org — the old nyc.gov/site/manhattancb7 page now redirects there. That is the place to check for the current meeting calendar, full board agendas, and the specific committee schedules for committees including Land Use, Transportation, Parks & Environment, Health & Human Services, Housing, and the Business & Consumer Issues committee that handles liquor license applications.
How to Bring an Issue to Manhattan CB7
Every committee meeting and every full board meeting includes a public session at the start where any resident, business owner, or worker in the district can speak on any topic — not just items on the agenda. If you have a complaint about a construction site, a request for a stop sign, a concern about a proposed development, or a comment on a liquor license, the public session is the legal forum for that statement to be entered into the record and routed to the appropriate committee.
The board has no enforcement power on its own — its role is advisory — but its recommendations carry real weight with the City Planning Commission, the State Liquor Authority, the Department of Transportation, and the City Council member representing the district. A unanimous CB recommendation against a liquor license, for example, is one of the most common reasons the SLA denies an application.
How to Find Your Community Board If You Don’t Know It
NYC has 59 community boards across the five boroughs, and they do not follow ZIP code or City Council district lines exactly. To find yours, use the NYC Department of City Planning Community District Profiles tool, enter your address, and the result will show your CB number, your borough, and a link to the board’s website with its calendar and committee structure.
How to Take Action
- Look up your community board at communityprofiles.planning.nyc.gov.
- Visit your board’s calendar page and identify the next full board meeting and any committee meetings related to your issue (land use, transportation, parks, public safety, etc.).
- Sign up for public comment in advance. Most boards now require advance registration to speak — even at in-person meetings. Look for a Google Form or email instruction on the event page, usually due 24 hours before the meeting.
- Prepare a 2-minute statement. State your name, your address, the agenda item or topic, and your specific ask. Boards respond best to specific, actionable requests.
- Submit written comments if you can’t attend. Every board accepts written testimony by email, and it goes into the same public record as spoken testimony.
- Apply to serve on the board itself through your borough president’s office. Applications typically open in January each year. The Brooklyn Borough President’s community board page is at brooklynbp.nyc.gov/community-boards; the Manhattan Borough President’s page is at manhattanbp.nyc.gov/communityboards.
Key Contact Information
- Brooklyn CB6: 250 Baltic Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201 • (718) 643-3027 • brooklyncb6.cityofnewyork.us
- Manhattan CB7: mcb7.org
- 311: Dial 311 from any NYC phone, or visit portal.311.nyc.gov
- NYC Community District Profiles (to find your board): communityprofiles.planning.nyc.gov
Showing up to a community board meeting is the most direct form of local civic participation a New Yorker has. Most votes are decided by a handful of people in a room — and that room is open to you.
