Flushing Meadows · Est. 1964 · Rebuilt 2026

Who Runs
Queens?

There are six layers of elected government sitting on top of your address right now. Most people can name one of them. This is all of them — in plain English, with the one thing each can actually do for you.

I have a problem →Show me the map

Start Here

What went wrong?

Calling the wrong office is why most people give up. Find your problem, get the office that can actually fix it.

“My landlord raised the rent illegally”

Assembly Member

Rent law is state law. Your Assembly Member and State Senator, not the city.

“The trash hasn't been picked up in a week”

Mayor & Agencies

311 first, for a tracked ticket. If it fails twice, your Council Member.

“They're building a tower on my block”

Community Board

Your community board reviews it first — and it is public. Your Council Member casts the binding vote.

“My immigration case has been stuck for months”

U.S. Representative

Your U.S. Representative's caseworkers do exactly this, for free.

“The subway line I depend on keeps failing”

Governor

The MTA answers to the Governor, with your State Senator applying pressure.

“My kid's school lost a program”

Council Member

City funding runs through the Council; state funding through Albany. Often both.

The Stack

Six layers,
one address.

From the volunteers who meet in a school cafeteria on your block, all the way to Washington. Each one controls something different — and each one is wrong for most of your problems.

Your Block1 office

Community Board

14 boards cover Queens (QN1–QN14) · Two-year appointments

Actually controls

  • Advisory votes on rezonings and new development in the district
  • Recommendations on liquor licenses and sidewalk cafés
  • Annual district budget priorities sent to the city
  • A district manager whose job is chasing city agencies on your behalf

Does not

  • Passing any law — every board vote is advisory and can be overruled
  • Agency budgets, hiring, or police operations

Call them about

  • → A development going up on your block
  • → A bar or club with late-night noise
  • → Broken sidewalks, dead street trees, missing signage
  • → Block party and street festival permits
The City3 offices

New York City Council Member

51 seats citywide; Queens is split across roughly 15 districts · Four years (with staggered terms after redistricting)

Actually controls

  • Writing and passing city law
  • Approving the entire city budget
  • The final, binding vote on rezonings in their district
  • Oversight hearings that force city agencies to answer publicly
  • Discretionary money handed directly to local nonprofits and schools

Does not

  • Rent regulation and tenant law — that is state law, in Albany
  • Subway and bus service — the MTA answers to the Governor
  • Day-to-day agency operations, though they can apply real pressure

Call them about

  • → City services that have failed repeatedly after 311 calls
  • → Illegal construction or a landlord ignoring violations
  • → Sanitation, street repaving, traffic safety redesigns
  • → Funding for a local organization or school program

Queens Borough President

One, for all 2.3 million residents · Four years

Actually controls

  • Appointing every community board member in Queens
  • A capital budget for borough schools, parks, and libraries
  • Formal recommendations at every stage of the land use process
  • The loudest single microphone the borough has

Does not

  • Passing laws or vetoing them
  • Running city agencies

Call them about

  • → Capital needs — a park, library branch, or school building
  • → Getting appointed to your community board
  • → Boroughwide issues that cross council districts

The Mayor & City Agencies

Roughly 300,000 city employees · Four years, two-term limit

Actually controls

  • Everything that actually happens day to day — Sanitation, Transportation, Police, Parks, Housing, Schools
  • Proposing the budget the Council then negotiates
  • Enforcement: inspections, summonses, shutdowns

Does not

  • State law, the MTA, or the courts

Call them about

  • → Start with 311 — it creates a tracked service request with a number
  • → Missed trash pickup, potholes, heat and hot water complaints
  • → If 311 fails twice, escalate to your Council Member with the ticket numbers
Albany3 offices

New York State Assembly Member

150 seats statewide · Two years

Actually controls

  • State law, including nearly all tenant and rent protections
  • State school funding formulas
  • Criminal law, court structure, and sentencing
  • State health programs and benefits

Does not

  • Local zoning, city sanitation, or NYPD operations

Call them about

  • → An illegal rent increase or an eviction threat
  • → Problems with state benefits — unemployment, Medicaid, HEAP
  • → School funding and state education policy

New York State Senator

63 seats statewide · Two years

Actually controls

  • The other half of state law — nothing passes without both chambers
  • Confirming the Governor's appointments
  • MTA funding and oversight, alongside the Governor

Does not

  • City-level services and local land use

Call them about

  • → Rent regulation, housing law, tenant protections
  • → Subway and bus service, fares, and accessibility projects
  • → State agency problems that need a legislative push

The Governor

One, for 19 million New Yorkers · Four years

Actually controls

  • Effective control of the MTA — subways, buses, Long Island Rail Road
  • The state budget, which dwarfs the city's
  • Signing or vetoing every state law
  • State police, DMV, and state agencies

Does not

  • City law and city agencies

Call them about

  • → Major transit decisions and service cuts
  • → Statewide policy campaigns
Washington1 office

United States Representative

435 seats nationally; several districts cover Queens · Two years

Actually controls

  • Federal law and the federal budget
  • Casework — their staff can directly intervene with federal agencies
  • Oversight of immigration, Social Security, and veterans' services

Does not

  • Anything city or state — most local problems are not federal

Call them about

  • → An immigration case that has stalled — this is the single most common and most effective use of a House office
  • → Social Security, Medicare, or VA benefits problems
  • → Passport emergencies
  • → IRS disputes that have gone nowhere

Go deeper

Still not sure
who to call?

The long version: what each body genuinely controls, what it does not, the offices nobody remembers exist — the Queens DA, the Rent Guidelines Board, your Community Education Council — and an index of about twenty-five real problems mapped to whoever owns them.

Read the full guide →

The Interactive Borough

Find your
district.

All 14 Queens community districts, drawn from the city's own boundary files. Tap one — or type your address — to get your community board, every elected official whose district covers that ground, the civic groups organising there and the 50 landmarks standing on it.

Queens community districts

Tap a district. Numbers are community district numbers, 1 through 14.

Or start with your address

This is the only thing on this site that leaves your device. The address you type goes to the City Planning Department's free address lookup to be turned into a map coordinate. Which district it falls in is worked out here in your browser — nobody is told the answer, nothing is saved, and there is no autocomplete sending what you type as you type it. Tapping the map instead sends nothing at all.

Your representatives

Pick your district
on the map.

You'll get your community board — with its chair, district manager and phone number — plus every council member, assembly member, state senator and representative whose district covers that ground, the civic groups organising there, and the landmarks standing on it.

Not sure which one is yours? Community districts follow neighborhood lines. Astoria is 1, Flushing is 7, the Rockaways are 14 — or type your address.