BY LINCOLN ANDERSON | Embodying diverse talents and experience, three new members were appointed to Community Board 2 and five to Community Board 3 last month. They range from a firefighter and a former Greenwich Village Little League president, to an East Village entrepreneur, a senior housing complex president and a tenant advocate, to community activists and a professor, too.
Each of Manhattan’s 12 community boards includes 50 volunteer members. All are appointed by the borough president, but half are upon the recommendation of local city councilmembers.
On Board 2, Sandy Russo, a retired attorney and former tenant advocate, is a new appointee of Borough President Gale Brewer. Russo advocated for the L.G.B.T. Community Center in its early days and ran workshops on tenants’ rights for Chelsea residents. She has lived in the West Village more than 35 years, where she and her wife, Robin, have raised their two daughters, Cade and Ry.
Councilmember Margaret Chin appointed Dr. Shirley H. Smith. A former C.B. 2 member, Smith is an executive consultant for Scholastic Inc. and heads a management consulting group specializing in nonprofit formation and management, educational services and community development. She is a scientist, professor and a Greenwich Village resident of more than 40 years.
As for Councilmember Corey Johnson, his appointee was Daniel Miller, a past G.V.L.L. president. Miller, who lives in the Village, works in the film production and advertising industries. He is a founding member of Pier 40 Champions and a member of the Hudson River Park Advisory Council.
On C.B. 3, three of the new members are Brewer’s appointees, including Christopher Santana, one of New York’s Bravest, who has lived in C.B. 3 his entire life. As a firefighter, he hopes to be able to use his experience to inform discussion on the board’s Transportation and Public Safety Committee.
Another Brewer appointee is Enrique Cruz, the founder and president of the Association of Latino Business Owners and Residents. Born and raised on the Lower East Side, he has previously worked as a community organizer at Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES) and currently serves as a member of the board of directors of Lower East Side Coalition Housing.
Brewer also appointed Karlin Chan, who grew up and still lives in the Chinatown / Lower East Side area. He is a longtime advocate for crime victims, seniors and tenants’ rights.
Councilmember Rosie Mendez appointed two new members to C.B. 3, Zulma Zayas and Lisa Burriss.
Zayas, an Alphabet City resident for more than 40 years, has worked in the community since 1982 in the housing sector. She is the president of Casa Victoria, H.D.F.C., at 308 E. Eighth St., a federally funded housing development for senior citizens. Zayas has served on the boards of the LES Human Services Consortium and the Lower Eastside Girls Club and on the East Village Parks Conservancy’s community advisory board. She holds a master’s degree in urban affairs from Hunter College.
Burriss is a community activist and was a co-owner of the former Café Khufu, at 61 E. Third St. A lifelong Lower East Sider, she previously worked as the director of organizing at GOLES, where she serves as a member of the board of directors.
Chin made no new appointments to C.B. 3.
Brewer said that, under a revamped community board application process, nearly 600 people were interviewed and took part in training exercises on conflict of interest, budgeting and land use.
This year’s application process also included role-playing exercises, to assess group decision-making skills.
Following a three-month process, 321 community board members were appointed for 2014-16 terms — and 25 percent were new members, many of them participating in public service for the first time. There were a total of 328 new applicants, with 80 appointed.
Board members serve staggered two-year terms, with half appointed on odd years and half on even years.
“Community boards ensure local government includes grassroots input in city decision-making,” Brewer said. “As borough president, I am committed to helping give community boards the training and technical support they need to assess the complex issues facing the future of our borough, including land use, zoning, affordable housing, school spaces, services for seniors and traffic safety.”
Brewer backs term limits for board chairpersons — to be determined by the boards themselves — but not for the rest of the board members.
“I support term limits for board chairpersons,” she said. “The issue with term limits for community board members is that it would risk losing needed expertise on zoning and land-use issues. These issues can be very complex, and a lot of institutional history is needed to ask the right questions of the big developers.”
Board 2 covers the area from 14th St. to Canal St., west of Fourth Ave. / Bowery. Board 3 covers the area south of 14th St., east of Fourth Ave. / Bowery and extending to Baxter and Pearl Sts. and the Brooklyn Bridge south of Canal St.
