First off, issues like eliminating the Neighborhood Boards would never see sunlight if the boards were actually entities that everyone respected. During my time in the City, as well as being a neighborhood board member (both elected and appointed), I could see very quickly the shortcomings of the board. These shortcomings have undermined the effectiveness of the boards - thus this proposal. 

Secondly, NB's are advisory, so the individuals sitting there can only advise - they have no power outside of calling a meeting to discuss things. Unless the City Council were to take seriously the opinions of the boards and their resolutions, all the activities, discussions and presentations boil down to a bunch of people, getting together one evening a month to "chat about things" in the neighborhood. 

For me, I would think that unless you give the boards teeth, your going to continue to have the same variance on effectiveness of the NBS, through the individual boards.