Who this helps: East Village, Lower East Side, Chinatown, and Two Bridges residents (Manhattan CB3) plus Flatbush, Midwood, and Kensington residents (Brooklyn CB14) who want to weigh in on liquor licenses, traffic safety, sidewalk sheds, school zoning, and zoning changes happening on their block this month.
Two of the city’s most active community boards are meeting this month, and both take public comment from anyone who lives, works, or owns property in the district. You don’t need to be a board member, you don’t need to know Robert’s Rules, and you don’t need to bring a prepared statement. You just need to show up — or sign up to speak online — and you’ll get two minutes at the microphone. Here is exactly how to do that for the May 2026 cycle.
Manhattan CB3 Full Board Meeting — Tuesday, May 26, 2026, 6:30 PM
Manhattan Community Board 3 holds its full board meeting on Tuesday, May 26, 2026 at 6:30 PM at PS 20, 166 Essex Street (between East Houston and Stanton Streets). The board covers Tompkins Square, the East Village, the Lower East Side, Chinatown, and Two Bridges — one of the densest, most rapidly changing footprints in Manhattan.
The full board meeting is the once-a-month gathering where every committee resolution gets reviewed, debated, and voted on by all 50 board members. Public Session happens at the start. According to CB3’s standing rules, four speakers per side, per issue may speak for up to two minutes each. You must sign up by 6:30 PM on the night of the meeting — sign-up sheets are placed at the door. Get there at 6:15 PM if you want a slot.
What CB3 has been wrestling with
CB3 committees meet throughout the month and forward resolutions to the full board for ratification. The boards’ recurring docket includes liquor license applications across the East Village and LES bar corridors, sidewalk shed and scaffolding renewals (a chronic complaint in this district), Department of Transportation traffic-calming proposals, and zoning changes tied to ongoing Lower East Side development. If you have heard chatter about a specific bar opening on your block, a building wrapped in scaffolding for years, or a bus route you want preserved, the May 26 meeting is the venue where those positions become public record.
Brooklyn CB14 Full Board Meeting — Monday, May 11, 2026, 7:00 PM
Brooklyn Community Board 14 — covering Flatbush, Midwood, and parts of Kensington — meets on the second Monday of every month at 7:00 PM. That places May’s full board meeting on Monday, May 11, 2026. CB14 streams its meetings live on the CB14 YouTube channel and archives them there as well, so you can attend from your couch or watch the replay.
To get the meeting link and the full agenda for May 11, register on the CB14 online meeting calendar at cb14brooklyn.com/may-2026-meetings. Registering also signs you up for committee meeting announcements throughout the month — useful, because the real work happens in committee, not at the full board.
What CB14 typically tackles
CB14’s docket runs heavy on transportation (Flatbush Avenue redesign conversations have been a multi-year saga), school overcrowding in District 22, public safety coordination with the 67th and 70th precincts, and parks programming for the Parade Ground and Prospect Park’s southern flank. If you have an opinion on bus lanes, a bike lane proposal in your neighborhood, or a school construction project, this is where to bring it.
How to Take Action
- Read the agenda before you go. CB3 posts agendas at nyc.gov/manhattancb3. CB14 posts at cb14brooklyn.com. Agendas typically post 5–7 days before the meeting.
- Sign up to speak. CB3 takes sign-ups at the door by 6:30 PM. CB14 takes sign-ups during its registration link. Two minutes is your window — write down three sentences and rehearse them.
- Identify yourself clearly. Start with your name, the cross-streets you live on, and the agenda item or issue you are addressing. This signals you are a constituent, not a stranger off the internet.
- Email a committee chair instead, if you can’t attend. CB3 and CB14 publish committee rosters on their websites. A short, specific email to the right chair often carries more weight than two minutes of public comment.
- Apply to join the board. Manhattan applications run through the Borough President’s office at manhattanbp.nyc.gov/communityboards; Brooklyn applications run through brooklynbp.nyc.gov/community-boards. Application windows open in early winter for the following term.
Why this matters
Community boards are advisory — they don’t write law — but their resolutions land on the desk of city agencies, the City Council, and the Borough President. A 35–5 board vote against a sidewalk shed permit doesn’t end the project, but it changes how the Department of Buildings and the City Council member representing your district treat it. A unified board position on a school construction project changes the School Construction Authority’s calculus. Showing up is the cheapest way to be heard in New York. The room is rarely full. Two minutes from a resident with a real address tends to land harder than the speaker before you expects.
