New York City's basic administrative unit is the community district. There are 59 districts with populations that range from 46,000 to 242,000. Each district has a community board that the city charter directs to "Consider the needs of the district which it serves." Each board has fifty members appointed by the elected borough president.

Thomas Lowenhaupt has been a member of Queens Community Board 3 since 1992. Through email Thomas answered the questions below.

What are you trying to do with the wiki and other online technology, blogs, websites etc.?

As a community board member for 14 years, I've concluded that one of the boards' key limitations arises from the city's basic communication infrastructure. Because NYC's media focus is regional, national, or global its residents are unaware of such fundamentals as the board that serves them. And boards can't effectively communicate with those they serve.

When presenting the need for improved local communication resources to fellow New Yorkers, I describe my experiences as an undergraduate student in Terre Haute, Indiana. The following chart summarizes the differences in dedicated resources for Terre Haute and Community District 3:

	Terre Haute (and county)	Queens Community District 3
Population	105,000	170,000
Television Stations	2	0
Daily Newspapers	1	0
Radio Stations	8	0

Yes, we are world's communications capital with more TV, radio, newspaper, magazine, cable... than anywhere else. But this doesn't do diddley for community boards. The "capitals" communication resources are focused on the region and world, not local concerns. The mundane daily needs of a community are of no interest to the capital media. The U.S. mail is the channel most commonly used by community boards. In this regard my board is typical -- we have a $1,200 postage budget.

The Internet provides the first real opportunity for meeting the district's communication needs. Board 3 started using a website two years ago to address local needs. The site was initiated, developed, and is maintained by the volunteer efforts of the board's members. We receive no part of the city's $50 billion budget. (Under the Giuliani administration Community Board 3's site was the "Prototype Community Board Website Development Project" and we were two jet planes away from funding.)

What has been done so far?

Board 3's website is at http://www.cb3qn.nyc.gov. In June 2005 we had 6,150 visits. But many of these come from search engines that have our map page and LaGuardia Airport highlighted. Too few local residents visit. Only 39 residents have signed up as active members of the site. We built the website and no one came. We're also developing a Great Tree Hunt Game to attract youth to the site. It's awaiting a quality GPS element. See here.

What specifically are you trying to do with the Beyond Voting wiki?

At one level I initiated the wiki to discern ways to improve the website. But more fundamentally, I was looking for ways to improve the efficacy of community and the community board. People will only invest time in a governance website if there's impact, and as currently structured, the community boards have little impact.

For info on the community board's duties see