Several City Council Members and elected officials rallied to oppose the mayor's proposal to revise the City Charter on Thursday, after the City Charter Revision Commission approved placing a set of ballot questions for the November election that would change how city government operates.
The Commission adopted a five ballot proposals related to clean streets, fiscal responsibility, public safety, capital planning, minority-and women-owned businesses, and modernization of policies related to film permitting and archival review, according to a press release. These proposals will be presented to voters in November.
During the rally in front of the Central Library, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said the revisions will strip power from the City Council in favor of the mayor.
“It is a dangerous power to shift power away from the people represented by the City Council to one single individual. Do you want a king…do you want a king?” Speaker Adams said at the rally, according to Spectrum 1 News.
In a separate press release after the Comission's vote, Speaker Adams said Mayor Eric Adams was trying to consolidate more power for himself and his agencies.
"The Commission’s failure to come close to the standards within its own proposals, let alone basic levels of transparency, is utter hypocrisy and denies any public input on the final proposals while approving them just two days after release to the public. This will undermine our local democracy and protections established by oversight that ensure government serves New Yorkers and keeps our communities safe. The mayor’s Commission is not only blocking voters’ rights to decide on the existing advice-and-consent proposal on the November ballot, but is also taking away the will of the voters who elected 51 Council Members to represent them. This cynical attempt to weaken our city’s representative democracy must be completely rejected," the statement read.
The City Council had previously said it wants more oversight into mayoral appointments of various city agencies, and released a video on Tuesday explaining their position. With the Commission's vote, that proposal now cannot be on the November ballot.
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said the Commission's public hearings process was hastily organized.
"A rushed process of poorly attended hearings has ensured that the mayor’s voice is the loudest echoed in these proposals. This transparent tactic is aimed at the immediate, but its implications could impact decades of governance," Williams said.
Brooklyn Council Members Shahana Hanif, Crystal Hudson, Lincoln Restler, Alexa Avilés, Chris Banks, Jennifer Gutiérrez and Sandy Nurse are also opposed to revising the charter as it stands.
The mayor thanked the commission after the unanimous vote.
“This commission carefully examined our city’s charter, heard from residents across all five boroughs, and approved thoughtful ballot proposals regarding cleaner streets, fiscal responsibility, public safety, capital planning, and minority- and women-owned business enterprises that their fellow New Yorkers will have the opportunity to vote on when they flip their ballots this November,” he said through a statement.
