Tag Archives: term limits

Loosey-Goosey Term Limits

Posted on September 7, 2010 | Leave a comment

Tuesday’s NY Times reports that nearly three-fourths of New Yorkers want to effectively reverse the 2008 Local Law that overturned two-turn limits for the mayor and other NYC elected officials. Unfortunately, voters will not get the chance to do this in November.

The charter revision commission convened by Mayor Bloomberg earlier this year has produced only two ballot questions. On the first — whether to restore two-term limits — a “No” vote will retain the existing three-term limit, and a “Yes” vote will reimpose the two-term limit, but not for today’s incumbents. Only newcomers who first get elected in 2013 or afterward will be subject to the two-term restriction. Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Posted in 2010 NYC Charter Revision

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

CPBytes

Posted on July 30, 2010 | Leave a comment

MAS/CB1M session: NYC Charter revision consolation prize for land use reformers.

How to speed development without charter change: EDC to the rescue.

Brookings doubts HCZ claims. Canada Responds. Brookings rebuts – gently.

Leave a comment

Posted in CPBytes

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Surprise: Charter Commission to Give More Power to the Mayor

Posted on July 21, 2010 | 3 comments

NYC Charter Revision: They didn’t say it in so many words, but the 2010 Charter Revision Commission members are heading in the direction of giving the mayor even more power than Mike Bloomberg has today — at the expense of the City Council and government transparency.

How: by creating a new “reporting commission,” putatively to get rid of unnecessary advisory bodies and trim the number of reports the mayor has to submit each year. Some of those reports are not used. But the charter revision commission would give the new reporting commission the power to review (and reject?) any future City Council decision to “extend or enhance” a report the mayor already provides.

Because a majority of the members of the reporting commission would be appointed by — you guessed it — the mayor, he would be able to frustrate the Council if it wants to ask for additional information from his agencies: a loss for the Council and transparency, and a gain for him. Continue reading →

3 Comments

Posted in 2010 NYC Charter Revision

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

“Good Government” Comes to Flatbush

Posted on July 15, 2010 | Leave a comment

The Citizens Union, NYC’s oldest “good government” group and “public partner” of the 2010 NYC Charter Revision Commission, will get a chance to present its recommendations to the commission and the public on Monday, July 19, at 6:00 PM at Gershwin Theater at Brooklyn College. The session will be webcast.

The Citizens Union already has conveyed its 49 charter recommendations in a 114-page report entitled “Increasing Avenues for Participation in Governing and Elections in New York City,” released on June 30. Monday’s session will set aside time for discussion of these recommendations by Citizens Union Executive Director Dick Dadey and CU senior staff members Alex Camarda and Rachael Fauss, and questions by commission members. Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Scissura: Practice What You Preach

Posted on July 13, 2010 | 1 comment

2010 NYC Charter Revision Commission

The 2010 NYC Charter Revision Commission spent much of its July 12 meeting agonizing over ways to restore the public’s faith in government and increase voter participation. It did not acknowledge that voter apathy may stem from the public’s resignation that billionaires will continue to control the Mayor’s office, and that selection of City Council members may make little difference in shaping City Hall’s major decisions.

The webcast meeting had been convened to discuss the commission staff’s July 9 preliminary report. But as quickly as the staff’s proposal for instant run-off voting — IRV — appeared on the pages of that report, it got jettisoned when chairman Matthew Goldstein’s colleagues complained that they never had discussed it. Continue reading →

1 Comment

Posted in 2010 NYC Charter Revision

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Charter Commission Reveals Ballot Issues

Posted on July 12, 2010 | Leave a comment

Lorna B. Goodman

Mayor Michael Bloomberg will like what his charter revision commission plans to place on November’s ballot.

After a whirlwind round of 13 public hearings, meetings and panel discussions, and consideration of testimony from hundreds of individuals and groups, the 2010 NYC Charter Revision Commission has narrowed its ballot agenda to include term limits, which satisfies Bloomberg’s 2008 commitment to billionaire term limits advocate Ron Lauder, along with several other changes that could subtly shift power towards Bloomberg’s end of City Hall.

The selected issues are laid out in a July 9 staff report, which the commission will discuss at its 6:00 PM July 12 public meeting at the Surrogate’s Courthouse in Manhattan. Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Posted in 2010 NYC Charter Revision

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Term Limits and Non-partisan Elections

Posted on May 24, 2010 | Leave a comment

The 2010 charter revision commission’s upcoming Tuesday evening “issues forum” on term limits is just a detour on Mike Bloomberg’s path towards increased political power for members of the Billionaires Club.

The real thrust will play out the following week, when Bloomberg’s commission discusses non-partisan elections. Why are those so important to billionaires?

Joseph J. Savino, the Bronx Republican chairman, answered this for Sam Roberts of the NY Times: Non-partisan elections eliminate the need for party primaries, thus robbing the parties of a major raison d’etre. To Savino, as well as to most Democratic Party leaders, political parties are the only way to counter great personal wealth. Roberts writes:

“Mr. Savino said the party organization was “what separates the ability of an everyday person who doesn’t have a billion dollars to get on the ballot.”

“’If you’re just Joe Citizen,’ he said, ‘you need an organization.’”

Leave a comment

Posted in 2010 NYC Charter Revision

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,