Brooklyn Community Board 9 — which represents Crown Heights, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Wingate and portions of Flatbush — is being sued.
The suit, which was launched by plaintiffs Alicia Boyd and LaShaun Ellis-- two founding members of The Movement to Protect the People-- is directed at the entire board and also names specific members as defendants, including Board Chair Fred Baptiste, First Vice Chair Primo Lasana, District Manager Dante B. Arnwine and John Woelfling, who is a board member and sits on the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure Committee.
This lawsuit, which was served in person at the board's monthly general meeting on Oct. 23, alleges the community board violated the Open Meetings Law — a rule that requires meetings to be open to the general public. The suit also alleges that CB9 has refused to address conflicts of interest within the board, specifically on the Land Use Committee.
In interviews with the BK Reader, board leaders dispute both allegations.
The plaintiffs make a couple of demands: They want the election of Lasana voided; and they want better representation for East Flatbush on the Land Use Committee. They also are suing for a permanent injunction to be instituted against the board to abide by all applicable laws governing community boards, like the Open Meetings Law.
The Open Meetings Law allegation
There is one meeting in particular that Boyd and Ellis took issue with in their lawsuit. The meeting was organized as a private administrative meeting by Lasana with an agenda that included discussing conflicts of interest, specifically with Lasana, who, at the time, was chair of the Nominations Committee and running for the first vice chair seat.
“It can’t be an administrative meeting when you meet with members of the board to discuss issues of the board,” said Boyd.
Both Baptiste and Lasana told BK Reader the meeting was purely administrative because only logistics were discussed. During the meeting, they both said Lasana’s conflict of interest was talked about only to decide that he isn't allowed to count the ballots of the election, as instructed by the NYC Corporation Counsel, who confirmed with the board that Lasana's position as chair of the Nominations Committee wasn't a conflict of interest.
“We clearly see the chair of the nominations committee did the same thing last year. No flags were raised. That same person ran for a position this year against me. No flags were raised. And then a third member of the nominations committee also ran for a position this year; their name was not mentioned,” Lasana told BK Reader.
The Land Use Committee
Right now, in East Flatbush, there are six new building developments that have either started construction or are planned for construction and five others that have already been built. These new developments are part of the Vital Brooklyn Initiative, a state-funded initiative to bring more low-cost housing for homeless and at-risk people to the area.
The group suing the board alleges that no one on the Land Use Committee lives in East Flatbush where those buildings will be constructed and that Woelfling, who is one of the people on the committee, is an architect involved with two of the Vital Brooklyn developments, which they say is a conflict of interest.
The lawsuit alleges Baptiste purposefully stacked the Land Use Committee with members who don’t represent the area in which the developments are being built in order to prevent discussion on them.
In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs allege, "On September 26, 2023, when a vote was taken regarding Vital Brooklyn at the general board meeting, respondent Woelfling refused to recuse himself from the vote and cast his vote regarding this project."
The vote in question was a motion put on the floor for CB9 to send a letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul opposing the Vital Brooklyn Projects, which was unanimously voted through, meaning Woelfling voted to send the letter as well.
"He has ties to lobbyists, to developers and should have recused himself from the vote despite how he voted on this particular vote," said Maxine Barnes, another founding member of MTOPP, in a statement to BK Reader.
Baptiste said Woelfling has not recused himself from a vote on the Land Use Committee, mostly because they haven't talked about the Vital Brooklyn developments.
"This isn’t something that’s been in front of the board. There hasn’t been a vote, there hasn’t been a conversation. It’s not an agenda item specifically,” Baptiste said.
The fact that it hasn't been discussed, plaintiffs say, is part of their issue.
“Sitting on the Land Use Committee allows you to put motions on the floor," Boyd said. "Before you can bring anything in front of the community board, you have to go through the committee."
Baptiste said that, ultimately, the board won't have the final say on the new Vital Brooklyn developments since community boards are not legislators, just advisers.
“[The developments] are being run through the state, the New York State Economic Development Corporation, state legislature and the Governor’s office. We’re not even middlemen in this one because we’re not even in the process. Chairs of community boards don’t have power in that respect. All the boards are advisory to begin with.”
A trial date has not been set yet. Check back for updates.
