Tom Wrobleski reports on Staten Island’s push for full representation on Mayor Bloomberg’s anticipated 2010 charter revision commission. Wrobleski’s piece in the Advance features leaders who focus on whether Staten Island will get enough seats on the commission to ensure that it will “look at shifting some decision-making away from City Hall and giving the borough more local control, especially over land-use and traffic issues.”
We’re probably a little older — and maybe more cynical — than Wrobleski. Our experience during the 1988-89 charter revision process leads us to believe that as important as the commissioners are, it’s even more important who heads up the commission’s staff. We can expect the charter commission’s executive director to be a close mayoral ally.
Possible Bloomberg picks for executive director in 2010 include Alan Gartner, who directed his 1993 commission, and Anthony Crowell, a Bloomberg senior counselor recently rumored to be the mayor’s choice as 2010 commission chairman. Crowell, a 1997 graduate of the American University, Washington College of Law, has served on the staff of five prior charter revision commissions.
CityPragmatist 