Meet Community Board 14 District Manager Shawn Campbell

I recently visited Shawn Campbell, the (relatively) new District Manager of Community Board 14, at her office just next to the Avenue H subway stop to chat about her first months on the job since starting officially on August 15. To all those local-government wonks out there, this interview is for you.



For those who may not know, what is a Community Board, and why should people pay attention to what’s going on with theirs?

The Community Board is the most local level of government. It’s the sort of front-lines agency that can represent the blocks and the individuals to government. It ensures that all of the stakeholders get to come to the table when it comes to setting policies and procedures in the city. We ensure that all of the other city agencies are coordinated and delivering all of the goods and services to the community in the ways they are meant to do. So we represent the city government to the community, and then the community to the city government, to ensure the delivery of goods and services.

And the Community Board is strictly advisory. No enforcement. It has happened that the Community Board has made a recommendation that is ignored. Though the Charter does not give community boards explicit enforcement powers, it does provide boards with tools to elicit enforcement by authorized agencies. Ultimately, the community board is dependent on the effectiveness of those agency enforcement efforts.

How is a Community Board formed/governed?

The Board is appointed by the Borough President, but he must fill half of a board's openings with nominees of the local City Council Members. One thing that isn’t consistent between Community Boards is that different Community Boards have a different number of City Council Members. CB14 has four--Mike Nelson, Jumaane Williams, Mathieu Eugene, and David Greenfield. Community Board 10 has one.

Do you feel like that affects the attention a Community Board gets--how many Council Members it has?

I’m sure like with most things there are ups and down to all of that. I’m really glad there are four members to work with. I can’t really speak about other Community Boards, but I know that CB14 has always had a really good relationship with the City Council Members, and I actually think there’s one advantage: the focus is more distinct than if you had one City Council Member that had to represent the whole area, that you’d have more of a diffusion of their representation of that whole community. Now, you’ve got a very focused representation on a part of a community, so perhaps that’s a good thing.

And the boundaries of the Community Board are set by the City Council or the Mayor’s Office or…?

They were set back in the '70s to coincide with the local boundaries of key service delivery agencies--such as NYPD, DOT, and Sanitation--specifically to enable community boards, through district managers and District Service Cabinets, to coordinate local service delivery and express local needs. The establishing principle was (and still is) called "coterminality." Community district boundaries are supposed to be considered for revision with each decennial census, but mostly have been left alone because the ripple effects of any service delivery boundary change could be substantial.

What is the District Manager’s relationship to the board?

The District Manager is the hired staff. The Board Members are appointed, and then the Board Members hire a District Manager, and the District Manager serves at the pleasure of the Board. The District Manager would be the Board’s liaison to the city agency contacts and provides the service delivery on behalf of the Board. So for the residents of CB14 who call in with their myriad complaints, concerns, questions, and ideas, there’s no way to work directly with the Board because those are 50 volunteer members--many of whom have day jobs and other things going on. The Community Board office acts as the point of contact with the Board and is representative of the Board to the community and to and of the city agencies.

Can you talk a little about your background, and what attracted you to the job?

I’ve been working in the community for a long time. In 1994, I was a member of Flatbush Family Network, back when it was an actual physical organization (housed at All Souls Universalist Church at the time, at the corner of Ditmas and Ocean), and the Flatbush Family Network was the organization that ran a program called the Drop-In Center, where families and caregivers with and of young children would go and--they couldn’t drop them off--would drop in with them. So I would go there with my young children.

Then, the organization lost their Executive Director and Grant Writer, and I applied for the position of Grant Writer. The women who were hiring said, “What kind of experience do you have?” I said, “None. How many other candidates do you have?” And they said, “None,” and so it all worked out.

I ended up being the Executive Director of Flatbush Family Network. That was sort of my springboard to getting familiar with the community. I was reaching out to then-State Senator Marty Markowitz and State Assemblyman Jim Brennan, and got to know them and understood better the process of how politics work at the very local level, and how to run a nonprofit organization. It was really eye-opening to see how various parts of the community work together for the betterment of the community. That’s how I met Marty Markowitz, for whom I then worked when he was State Senator for a few years, and then I did a little bit of fundraising, and went back to graduate school.

What did you get your degree in?

I got an MPA from NYU, Wagner.

Not too shabby.

It was very fun to go back to school at that point because I had enough work experience that I did have some idea and direction in mind. But also raising kids and being involved in PTAs and community things and working for elected officials who have very high expectations in terms of constituent services, doing things for others all the time is hugely gratifying. But then I’m in grad school, and I just remember loving to do homework and studying because it was the one thing I was doing just for me. So going to school was extremely indulgent, but in a good way.

And then I went back to work in the community for Assemblyman Jim Brennan. I worked for Jim for nine years and did constituent services and some education policy work. Both Marty Markowitz’s State Senate District and Jim Brennan’s State Assembly District overlap a lot with CB14, so I’ve known CB14 for 15 years.

And you were working for them here in the district offices?

Yes, I’ve only ever been to Albany maybe twice, so it's Brooklyn all the way. But my familiarity with CB14 and my respect for the work they do and for their process goes back a long time. When the position opened, I never even thought about the Community Board without Terry [Rodie] and Doris [Ortiz], so the idea of aspiring to be District Manager of CB14 wouldn’t even have occurred to me. It was sort of unthinkable that there would ever be a need for a new District Manager.

When Doris retired and the position opened up, it immediately seemed like a good idea. I was familiar with it enough that I felt I could hit the ground running, and I knew that that would be important to the board because they are accustomed to a great deal of stability going back a long time. But it also seemed that there was enough that would be new--I knew there was a lot to learn. The diversity of the district--the socioeconomic, the cultural, the kind of residential diversity, from renters to homeowners to landlords to people who were born and raised and then raised their own families in the district to the people who just got here--all seemed exciting, a good mix of what I was familiar with and what I had yet to learn. I also like thinking about the process of how decisions come about, and that’s why I thought this would be a good fit for me. Because it is deliberative and, on a grander scale, that’s how our whole government was set up by our founders.

Do you live in neighborhood?

I live a block outside of CB14--I’m in CB12 in Kensington. We’ve been there since ’96, and prior to that I lived five years in CB14 on Church and Argyle.

Going back to that idea of residential diversity, do you see certain portions of the district’s population less active or vocal?

I think the Community Board does a good job of ensuring an even playing field, and while more involvement is always useful, we can do things proactively sometimes too, so we’re not dependent on being a reactive agency. And because I do have some insight and experience with parts of the district that might not have as many board members that hail from it, I think that adds a little bit of a safety net that ensures we’re serving all corners, borders, and interiors of the district.

This is a complaint-driven agency so when you’re speaking with people--and I don’t mean to contradict myself when I said that we can be proactive--but when people are calling here, it typically is to say “this streetlight, this pothole, etc.,” so you are speaking to people when they’re not feeling their highest on government. And you have to try to maintain communication. There have been things I’ve been sorry not to have been able to move more quickly, but then I have people thank me profusely just for staying in touch. I think that’s part of it too. Even when it doesn’t move along swiftly enough, just letting people know you’re still on it, you’re still concerned, is helpful and useful and something I’m going to continue to try to do.

Just to go to one of the district’s issues, I know people are concerned about traffic. They've recently unveiled a new plan for the Ocean/Parkside intersection. Are there any other traffic calming plans in the works?

I can give you a number of them that there are complaints about--CIA and Glenwood, our commercial areas J and M--so the thing about traffic in the Community Board is that sometimes you have a solution for one block that then has unintended consequences for other blocks.

Trying to ensure we’re taking a big picture approach is one of the frames we try to use at the Community Board. CB14 is very process-driven. We rely a lot on the committee structure of the Community Board, and the committees strive to bring as diverse a set of stakeholders to the table as possible and ensure that the plan mitigates as many of the concerns as possible.

Another good example of how the Community Board functions: There was a speed bump request for Stratford Road between Beverley and Albemarle. It went through Borough Hall, DOT was prepared to approve it and sent a letter for our endorsement, so we reached out to the neighborhood association. We expressed a concern that a speed hump there might cause increased traffic two blocks over. So the neighborhood association decided that what they’d like to do is to request that DOT do an overview of the entire neighborhood to address traffic-calming concerns neighborhood wide instead of just street specific, and so we’re deferring to the findings of DOT on that request.

In terms of which areas get attention, is it a case of the squeaky wheel getting the grease?

We try to be reactive to all concerns that are expressed, but if one thing is a safety concern and the other thing is a green street idea, and 10 people call about the plantings on a cul de sac and only one calls about a dangerous corner, I don’t know if the squeaky wheel applies. You still have to use some sense of priority that might not always be in line with the number of complaints.

Speaking of green ideas, there’s been a lot of talk about bike lanes across the city. Do you know of plans to put in more bike lanes in the district?

Just recently the DOT is now going to request Community Board input so there won’t be surprise bike lanes. The Community Board will be aware of the plan to include a bike lane on a street prior to its implementation. I don’t think they had done that on a regular policy basis citywide. I think that’s great because the goal is not to ensure we have more or fewer bike lanes, but to ensure that when a plan comes up, the people in the community have an opportunity to weigh in on that.

I know you’ve only had six months and the job and a lot of that is playing catch-up, but are there any issues you’ve dealt with that you’re particularly proud of?

Working with Verizon on the implementation of their FiOS was a big fish to fry at the very moment I stepped in. That’s been great for accelerating my spot on the learning curve. I’m heartened that the community has responded and been willing to roll up sleeves, and Verizon has been patient with our concerns and requests.

Another topic that’s been very interesting to me: we have almost monthly public hearings on land use. A lot of them can be similar--a standard request is to expand the dimensions of a single or two-family home--but a few of them have come along that are out of the pattern. One of them is the 480 Stratford Road common law vested rights application that’s a function of having changed the zoning there. I think that has the potential to be a precedent-setter. It is really interesting in terms of city policy for anyone who’s interested in why we even have zoning. We had a public hearing and the Community Board then voted to oppose the finding for the applicant’s common law vested rights.

Those are two big issues that were a little bit of a baptism by fire.

In terms of Verizon, where is that at in the process?

It’s sort of a different issue in different parts of the district. In the historically landmarked areas, the Landmarks Preservation Commission has to make a Determination of Appropriateness on the front-yard fiberglass poles. I believe there’s only one location for a fiberglass pole and it’s in. Whether it stays up or has to come down will be determined by Landmarks.

East 16th is a whole other kettle of fish. That is not a landmarked area. They should have had backyard installation, but Verizon has said they need easements to go in the back of these homes and aren’t able to obtain them from all  of the homeowners. Therefore, they have to do a front-yard installation of wooden poles to provide service in that location.

Garbage is another issue that comes up in our area--on sidewalks, lawns, etc. Is anything being done about that in particular?

I have to say, DSNY, BK14 are so responsive, so helpful. When we give them a call, they’re on it right away and they follow up to the best of their ability. There are some enforcement issues that have nothing to do with their willingness. There are certain situations where you can’t ticket even though it looks very offensive when you’re walking by.

That’s the other thing about this position--things that make common sense often don’t make good sense. When you call the agency and say, “They should get a violation,” and then you hear all the rules and codes that are in effect, you realize that the agencies and their ability to enforce can only be as good as the rules on the books, and sometimes the rules on the books are convoluted and byzantine and difficult.

There’ve been some concerns about food vending on Cortelyou Road. I just went to a borough service cabinet meeting where NYPD, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and Consumer Affairs were all in the room talking about the rules and regulations as they pertain to merchandise vending, food vending, fruit vending, vending by veterans, vending by people with borough-wide permits, vending by people with borough-specific permits, and people with citywide permits. The rules that govern vending are: for merchandise vending you can’t be over a subway grate but for food vending you can, for merchandise vending you have to be--and I’m making this number up--20 feet away from the curb, for food vending you have to be 20 feet away from the door but you can be as close to the curb as possible. I mean it is--

Arcane?

Yes. And who enforces? Well, the police. Okay, so the beat officer has to know every rule and regulation as it pertains. We’re lucky in the 70th because we have a couple officers--Sgt. Kramer is one of them and there a couple others who work with him--who know their stuff on this. But in other CBs where you might have a change in who’s enforcing on a certain day and they start all over on the learning curve.

Looking forward to the next year, what are some of the issues or problems you anticipate having to address?

It has to go by theme I think. The Community Board is facing a budget cut. Since it’s a small-budget agency to begin with, a percentage cut takes a bigger wallop out of our agency than it might out of a multi-million dollar agency.

And most of your budget goes toward staff salary?

Yes, and what you need to run an office. We do have a youth conference, so that’s an event that’s funded through the Community Board. That’s been in April the past four years. The fifth annual one will probably be in April again this year, but our first youth committee meeting for the planning of that happens on January 23. We have a Youth Service Committee and the conference was primarily geared toward high school transitioning to college age--reaching out about the services available to them across a broad spectrum. Whether it’s college prep, youth summer employment, youth in need of counseling, volunteer activities, leadership opportunities...but I know Little Flower Children’s Services is an organization that we’ve talked about reaching out to this year that might mean more services for younger people.

If someone wants to get involved as a Board Member, how can they do that?

There is an application they can fill out--the Borough President has applications--and I would say that they should attend Community Board meetings and committee meetings, which are open to the public. Get to know the Community Board and sort of vet themselves, whether they want to be involved, why they want to be involved, and then pursue it accordingly.

As you become more comfortable in the position, is there anything you would like to improve or change about CB14?

That remains to be seen. It’s such a stable board. People have been here a long time, and they’ve put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into it. When I came in, I wanted to provide some assurance that I wasn’t here to reinvent the wheel. I want to carry on and make sure everyone is comfortable with what we’re doing and how we’re doing it. If I can tweak things, and if people feel like tweaks equal improvement, that’s great.

Once I’ve been through a cycle, if there are any bigger changes, I’m open to the possibility. That’s something that a number of District Managers said to me when I called and made my introductions--you can make it your own, make it work for you. Which is fine, but I also had thought that there’s a downside to that. Having that much wiggle room wouldn’t be a good thing for everybody all the time. I have a very watchful, involved Board, and I don’t need the wiggle room. You know, towing the line for CB14--happy to do it.

Great. Happy to have you.

The only thing that’s taken me by surprise is reestablishing that I am Ms. Shawn Campbell. I’ve gotten so many, you know, “Dear Mr. Campbell.” In the Assembly, they got used to that, but I had to start all over with the Misters.

To contact Community Board 14, call 718-859-6357, email info@cb14brooklyn.com, or submit a complaint form on their website. The public is welcome to attend CB14's monthly board meetings; the first of 2012 will take place on Monday, January 9 at 7:30pm at Edward R. Murrow High School.