By Michael V. Cusenza
The City Council this week ripped the Charter Revision Commission over the five questions that the panel decided should be included on the November ballot.
The CRC delivered its final report on Monday. The commission has forwarded to voters five separate amendments to the City Charter, with reforms that address housing and land use, and elections and voter turnout.
According to the CRC, these reforms would:
- Fast Track Affordable Housing by making it easier to build more affordable housing across the city, allowing affordable housing to be produced more quickly and at lower cost, and helping ensure that every community adds affordable housing;
- Simplify Review of Modest Housing and Infrastructure Projects by creating a streamlined review procedure for actions that will add modest amounts of additional housing, protect New Yorkers from flooding, and create new open space;
- Strike a Better Balance between Local, Borough, and Citywide Views in the Creation of Affordable Housing by establishing a new Affordable Housing Appeals Board made up of the City Council Speaker, Borough President, and Mayor;
- Modernize the City Map by centralizing and digitizing a City Map that currently exists as over 8,000 paper maps across five separate offices; and
- Significantly Boost Turnout in Local Elections by moving City elections to the same year as Presidential elections, when turnout is far higher and the voting population looks more like New York.
“Since 2022, the council has approved over 120,000 units of housing and secured more than $8 billion of additional investments to make housing more affordable and better support neighborhoods. This progress for our city would not have been possible without the council’s role in the land use process,” Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, Deputy Speaker Diana Ayala, Majority Leader Amanda Farías, Majority Whip Selvena N. Brooks-Powers, and Council Members Justin Brannan, Keith Powers, Carlina Rivera, Rafael Salamanca Jr., and Sandra Ung said in a statement. “Mayor Eric Adams’ Charter Revision Commission conveniently ignored these facts to advance a self-serving narrative in support of expanded mayoral power, even as his administration hypocritically overturned housing at the Elizabeth Street garden that was approved years ago by the council. This commission’s misguided proposals would undermine the ability to deliver more affordable housing, homeownership opportunities, good-paying union jobs, and neighborhood investments for New Yorkers across the five boroughs.”
Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Ozone Park), the legislative body’s minority leader, also issued a statement: “While I am glad to hear that the Charter Commission will no longer be pursuing open primaries, it is disappointing to see that they have decided to advance their proposals for even-year elections and changes to the land use process. These changes will, without a doubt, lead to weaker community input and representation in the future should they go through. I fully intend to spend the next three months educating my constituents on the dangers of these proposals, to explain why they present such a clear threat to our democracy and to local control in the neighborhoods of the outer boroughs.”
