Skip to Content
Streetsblog New York City home
Streetsblog New York City home
Log In
Community Boards

Vacca: Want Safer Streets? Don’t Even Try to Join Your Community Board

Does it get less democratic than this? The City Council Transportation Committee Chair, James Vacca, just told the New York Post that Transportation Alternatives shouldn't help people join their local community boards.

For the past few years, TA has held an annual event walking people through the process of applying for community board membership. The event is open to the public. If you go, you don't get a seat on your community board, but you'll come away with a better understanding of how to get appointed by your local council member and borough president.

But apparently, if you've demonstrated an interest in safer streets for biking and walking and better transit, you're persona non grata to Vacca:

City Councilman James Vacca (D-Bronx), chair of the Transportation Committee and a bike-lane critic, blasted the pro-biking group’s influence peddling.

“If such a ‘jamboree’ was held by real-estate developers in any neighborhood in the city, I think there would be a hue and cry, and rightfully so,” Vacca said. “We don’t want any board to be dominated by any particular interest.”

Transportation Alternatives spokesman Michael Murphy shot back, “We are empowering residents to get involved in their own communities. I can’t think of anything more democratic than that.”

He also took a jab at Vacca, who was a community-board district manager for 26 years before becoming a councilman.

“It’s pretty ironic that Chairman Vacca, the self-proclaimed champion of community process, is criticizing us for encouraging local residents to participate in community process.”

“We don’t want any board to be dominated by any particular interest.” Agreed. So why do people who speak up in favor of safer streets get booted from their local community boards? And why, in districts where the vast majority of residents don't own cars, do the interests of the privileged few with free curbside parking so often trump the interests of the many who would benefit from a more democratic use of street space?

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

Monday’s Headlines: Adams’s Anti-Bike Legacy Edition

The mayor's war on cyclists pivots to video. Plus more news.

June 16, 2025

Double Whammy: NYPD Slaps Brooklyn Mom With Criminal Summons, $190 Fine

Meet Phaedra Paulson, a Brooklyn mom who is, apparently, Public Enemy #1.

June 16, 2025

Unsafe at Any Speed: NJ Officials Allow Illegal Driving Schools To Run Rampant

A cottage industry of unlicensed, unregulated driving schools targets the state’s immigrant population, evading the system carefully set up to keep road users safe.

June 16, 2025

Monday Video: Polls Are Open — Here’s a Primer

We sent Emily Lipstein and Ilan Cardenas-Silverstein into the belly of the beast to make sense of last week's debate.

June 16, 2025

BREAKING: Mayor Adams to Remove Bedford Avenue Protected Bike Lane Citing, Bizarrely, Safety

A protected bike lane that was installed last year to calm a notoriously dangerous Brooklyn corridor will be removed by the Adams administration, making the roadway less safe.

June 13, 2025
See all posts