Photo Courtesy of Borough President Richards
“I could not be prouder to appoint such a dynamic, diverse class of public servants to our network of Queens community boards, as we continue steadfast in our effort to build a government that is truly reflective of the borough it serves,” Richards said.
By Forum Staff
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, Jr. on Monday announced his 2022 class of community board appointees, a markedly diverse group of civic-minded individuals who will serve on their respective Queens community board.
Of Borough President Richards’ 345 appointees across Queens’ 14 community boards, 94 are first-time members who are not currently serving on a board. The 345 appointees — chosen out of this year’s deep pool of 884 applicants, the second-most applications received in the office’s history — began their two-year terms on April 1, 2022.
“I could not be prouder to appoint such a dynamic, diverse class of public servants to our network of Queens community boards, as we continue steadfast in our effort to build a government that is truly reflective of the borough it serves,” Richards said. “Queens is leading the way out of the COVID-19 pandemic and toward a stronger, fairer future for all our families, and I’m both deeply grateful and excited for the work these 345 qualified community leaders will do on behalf of The World’s Borough and all who call it home.”
More broadly, this year’s class of new appointees represents another step forward in ensuring our 14 boards truly look, sound and feel like The World’s Borough, where nearly half of our 2.4 million residents were born abroad, in a number of ways.
Of the 94 first-time members, 19.2 percent are immigrants — up from 17.4 percent of Borough President’s Richards’ 2021 class of first-time appointees and just 6.1 percent of sitting community board members as of 2020. Compared to community board membership prior to Borough President Richards taking office, this year’s group of first-time members also includes a greater percentage of individuals who identify as African Americans (22.3 percent to 18.5 percent); Hispanic/Latinx (17 percent to 8.6 percent); and LGBTQIA+ (6.4 percent to 3.4 percent).
Parents of school-age children are now more represented on Queens community boards as well, as 21.3 percent of this year’s new appointees fall into that category — an increase of nearly 15 percentage points compared to board membership as of 2020.
Community Board 9 (Richmond Hill, Woodhaven, Kew Gardens, Ozone Park): Inderpaul Ahluwalia; Sherry Algredo; Dilraj Batchu; Julio Batista; Dulal Bhattacharjee; Kamal Bhuiyan; Latchman Budhai; Daniel Chu; Daniel Coffaro Hill; Marylin Custodio; Sandra Datnarain; Steve Esposito; Orazio Joe Iaboni; Carmela Isabela; Kemanad Kishore; Bernard Robert; Regina Santoro; Jarnail Singh; Mohinder Singh; Sursattie Singh; Alexandria Sumpter-Delves.
Community Board 10 (Ozone Park, South Ozone Park, Howard Beach, South Richmond Hill): Mohamed Amin; Luis Amorim; James Caruso; Anthony Cosentino; Frank Dardani; Anoop Dhanpat; Irene Dimoh; Betty Escobar; John Fazio; Edna Fraylon; Peter Granickas; Raimondo Graziano; Anthony Hill; Romeo Hitlall; Pierre Kishun; Dorothy Mitchell; Fazlurrahman Mohamed; Rohan Narine; Jose Quijano; Amar Rajnauth; Nellie Santiago; Jody Stahl; Sharif Uddin; Marilyn Vecchio; Linda Walker.
Community Board 14 (The Rockaways, Rockaway Point, Breezy Point, Roxbury, Neponsit, Belle Harbor, Rockaway Park, Seaside, Broad Channel, Hammels, Sommerville, Edgemere, Arverne, Bayswater, Wavecrest, Far Rockaway, Rockaway Beach): Audrey Amsterdam Handy; Louis Caucig; Jack Epter; Menashe Friedman; Avionne Gumbs-Cummings; Brian Heffernan; Felicia Johnson; Caren Lee; Betty Leon; LuQuan Lloyd; Annette Lord Cohen; Rosalyn Mason; Evelyn Miller-Suber; Sonia Moise; Helen Montero; Dolores Orr; Harold Paez; Vernell Robinson; David Shelborne; Christopher Tedesco; Jose Velez.
