New York City Board of Estimate presidents of Manhattan and Brooklyn, each having two votes; and the borough presidents of the Bronx, Queens, and Richmond (Staten Island), each having one vote. (The 1897 charter effective on amalgamation had had a five-member Board of Estimate and Apportionment.) The La Guardia Reform Charter of 1938 simplified its name and enhanced its powers. On March 22, 1989, the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously declared in "Board of Estimate of City of New York v. Morris" that the Board of Estimate was unconstitutional on the grounds that Brooklyn, the city's most populous borough, had no greater effective representation
History of New York City dominated the South, Boston dominated New England; Chicago, the nation's railroad hub, dominated the Midwest United States; however, New York City dominated the entire nation in terms of communications, trade, finance, popular culture, and high culture. More than a fourth of the 300 largest corporations in 1920 were headquartered in New York City. In 1898, the modern City of New York was formed with the consolidation of Brooklyn (until then an independent city), Manhattan, and outlying areas. Manhattan and the Bronx were established as two separate boroughs and joined together with three other boroughs created from parts of adjacent counties