The Q at Parkside

(for those for whom the Parkside Q is their hometrain)

News and Nonsense from the Brooklyn neighborhood of Lefferts and environs, or more specifically a neighborhood once known as Melrose Park. Sometimes called Lefferts Gardens. Or Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. Or PLG. Or North Flatbush. Or Caledonia (west of Ocean). Or West Pigtown. Across From Park Slope. Under Crown Heights. Near Drummer's Grove. The Side of the Park With the McDonalds. Jackie Robinson Town. Home of Lefferts Manor. West Wingate. Near Kings County Hospital. Or if you're coming from the airport in taxi, maybe just Flatbush is best.

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Correct That. The Motion Didn't Pass

Just like Truman vs Dewey, a lot of folks are going to wake up tomorrow to find that their hard fought victory was an illusion. The Community Board's have a clever rule that's designed to keep members from hiding behind abstentions. Tonight's vote had too many abstentions to count, though the ays won it 16-9. It goes like this:

Tabulating Votes
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Whenever any act is authorized to be done or any determination or decision made by any community board, the act, determination or decision of the majority of the members present entitled to vote during the presence of a quorum, shall be held to be the act, determination or decision of such board. When a vote is taken, all Board members who are present and entitled to vote must either vote or abstain. No member may be marked "present but not voting." Absentee ballots, proxies and telephone votes are not permitted. In order for a motion to pass, a majority (more than half) of the members present who are entitled to vote must vote in the affirmative. That means there must be more "yes" votes than the total of "no" votes and abstentions combined in order for a motion to carry. The use of a two-thirds or other "super-majority" vote to approve any action is not permitted, unless specifically required by law. (See Appendix E on Conflicts of Interest for an explanation of when Board members are not entitled to vote.)

4 comments:

babs said...

Oh I sincerely hope so - but you know this will be just ascribed to yet another nefarious racist conspiracy (even though there are people of all races involved).

Anonymous said...

So does that mean there will be a study to look at rezoning or will another vote take place?

jessica said...

Wasn't the study already underway? The way I'm reading this is that the request already went in for a zoning study a while back. The motion yesterday was to rescind that request.

I would expect that there will be similar motions made at every single board meeting for the forseeable future. Good times.

I am only guessing though. Maybe Tim can confirm.

Unknown said...

The motion to rescind was improper anyway. The letter had already been sent and can't be unsent. A proper motion would have been to draft a letter stating that the community does not want rezoning and prefers the current zoning over all others.