All Politics Is Local: An Interview With New York City CB4 Chair Delores Rubin

Timing is everything.  Prior to the historic 2016 American presidential election, we would probably have been hard pressed to engage our fellow citizens in any robust political debate.  In this new universe of “staying woke” with a Twitter-In-Chief, The War of Alternative Facts, Facebook Updates and Breaking News feeds unrelated to natural disasters or celebrity meltdowns, boy have times changed! The chaos and speed of the “scandal du jour” is troubling, erratic, confusing and often makes me want to avoid the madness and bury my head in a bin.

In an effort to combat this malaise and provide a positive example of what everyday people can do to affect their community, I bring you Delores Rubin.  The chair of Manhattan’s Community Board Number Four and an active member for a little over 5 years.  New York City has a network of 59 neighborhood boards throughout its five boroughs, whose primary function is to advocate on behalf of its residents in regards to housing, schools, public spaces, hospitals, transportation, noise abatement and business development.  Board Number 4 covers the Chelsea and Clinton/ Hell’s Kitchen areas of the city.

How and Why Did You Become Involved? “To be honest, I got involved because I met who is now the Borough President of New York, Gale Brewer at a block association meeting, and when she and I were speaking she said you really need to be on a Community Board.  I had never gone to a meeting, I had never known what it was about.  I live in the same building, for my entire life, but I was not involved with any civic activities.  I applied because she told me to and I was appointed very shortly.  So my first meeting was after I was appointed.”

Each board can have up to 50 members who must apply through the office of the Borough President.  Much like a job application process, paperwork detailing your background and experience is submitted along with a candidate interview highlighting issues important to the community and where and on which committee you think you can be most helpful.

Do You Have To Be Affiliated With A Political Party? “Not at all, we are a non-political body. We try to be objective because the truth is that even though this district is quite liberal, there is every type of person that could possibly live here and we need to be representative of that.  In fact we are going through an issue right now where we had a group that wanted to bring a pretty politicized resolution for our board to consider and we’re going to have a very interesting conversation at our Executive Committee meeting this month to break down the fact that we really aren’t a political group.”

While Community Boards do not have official authority to make or enforce laws, that’s in the hands of the City Council, they are influential and impactful.  Something I witnessed firsthand on a recent Wednesday evening when a large real estate developer, The Related Companies, made a presentation to the CB 4 Land Use Committee about amendments needed to gain the board’s approval for a proposed site on West 35^th Street.  The board was adamant that affordable housing units be included in the residential building plans.  A board will typically document their recommendations to the City Council through letters and meet with Council officials, who in turn consider these guidelines when developing policy.

How Does Your Board Work Differ From Your Work As A Trader? “My work on the Community Board is recognizing that I am one of 50 people. And that this is not about my point of view and this is not about my experiences and this is not about my vision. This is about trying to bring together not just those 50 voices but any additional voices within the community that’s participating in the process. There’s a complete, different personality that I have to bring out as a Community Board Chair. There has to be a lot of patience, a lot of listening, and a lot of empathy. There also has to be a lot of understanding of a point of view.  In the trading world you’re reacting and you’re immediate in your decisions, you’re almost harsh in your decisions, especially if you’re dealing with something that’s gone wrong that you’re trying to correct.  You don’t second guess, it’s not always a team sport, in some respects it can be and in some cases it should be, but it isn’t always a team sport.  The skill set that I bring to trading is non-existent in the world of the Community Board.  But where they do share some similarities is in being able to assess a situation and make a decision on either how to respond or how not to respond.”

Delores is a Director at Deutsche Bank in the Wealth Management Capital Markets Division.  She has spent most of her 25 year career as a Wall Street Trader.  We met years ago at Deutsche Bank, when at the end of a session I was desperate to find anyone who could help me settle a trade involving Indian Rupees.  She sorted it out.

What Do You Wish You Could Change? I think that the structure itself of the Community Board is well conceived.  I think what is difficult is figuring out how to connect your everyday citizen to the activities of the Community Board.  When we sat in the room with the new applicants, just last week, someone asked about diversity and how we reach out to get a diverse point of view on the board.  There were in that room maybe 50 people, take a look around I said, do you think all of you are indicative of the diversity within our district?  The majority of the people in the room were white males.  We have to figure out a way to reach out to that working mother with kids or the person working 2 jobs with a sick parent.  How can we become a part of the fabric of the community?”

 Local Stats:

40.68% of NYC Community Board Chairs are women, vs. 25.49% of total City Council Members. Staten Island has no female Board Chairs.