NYC Charter Revision Panel Preps For Fight Against Low Turnout

NEW YORK — New Yorkers voting for governor this November will also find on their ballots proposed changes to the city's constitution. But much more consequential amendments to the City Charter could be voted on next year – without a major election to drive a big turnout.

Two so-called charter revision commissions have taken up the task of revamping the tome that outlines the framework of government of the city. Both have 15 members and will eventually propose charter amendments on which New Yorkers will vote.

A panel which Mayor Bill de Blasio appointed this spring is already well into its work. It's held several public hearings and outlined its final ballot proposals at a meeting last week.

But the other, created by the City Council, is just getting started. While de Blasio's commission has primarily addressed campaign finance and civic engagement issues, the Council's will undertake a "top-to-bottom" review of the charter as a similar panel did three decades ago, said Chair Gail Benjamin.

The proposals it produces will go to voters in 2019, a year with no citywide or statewide races to boost participation. Only 6 percent of active eligible voters turned out for the last comparable election in 2015, according to the city Board of Elections. Turnout in 2014, the last year with a gubernatorial race, was still anemic but much higher at 25 percent.

Benjamin said her commission understands that public awareness will be key and is planning extensive outreach to get as many New Yorkers involved in the process as possible.

"It is a tough challenge to get people to come out to vote when what’s on the ballot is something that is not immediately understandable and it is going, one way or another, to be lengthy," Benjamin told reporters at roundtable discussion Tuesday.

"So we are hoping and doing our outreach throughout our entire process to try and involve people and let them know why it matters."

De Blasio's charter revision commission is among several in the last 15 years that have largely addressed narrow issues. The last panel in 2010, for instance, proposed the two-term limit that now binds citywide officials, the Council and the borough presidents.

The mayor's panel directed its staff last week to draft ballot proposals that would lower campaign contribution limits for city elections; create a "Civic Engagement Commission"; and implement term limits of four two-year terms for community board members.

The commission also recommended that a future revision panel consider larger questions, such as reforms to the City Council districting process and a ranked-choice voting system. One member, Dale Ho, said it was disappointing that the panel didn't get to move further with those ideas during its "extremely truncated process."

"I think there are other matters on which the people of New York City deserve an opportunity to weigh in and I think it's unfortunate that they won't be able to do so," Ho said at an Aug. 14 meeting, according to a transcript.

The charter changes proposed in recent years have been minimal compared to those that radically remade city government in 1989 after the U.S. Supreme Court declared the powerful Board of Estimate unconstitutional.

Voters that year approved the elimination of the board, which held immense power over land use and budget issues, and the redistribution of its authorities to the mayor and the City Council, Benjamin said.

Council members and other city officials wanted a similarly broad look at the charter to set the course for the city's next 30 years, Benjamin said. Legislation was passed in April establishing a second commission with members appointed by the Council, de Blasio, Public Advocate Letitia James, City Comptroller Scott Stringer and the five borough presidents.

While the Council commission's work may not lead to changes like those seen in 1989, Benjamin said it will take the opportunity to prepare the city for future growth and address New Yorkers' most pressing problems. The panel plans to look at issues from budgeting to how social service decisions are made to "which elected officials are doing what," she said.

"We hope that by engaging the public from the beginning, by keeping the public informed about what's going on, that we will get them interested in the future of this important process," Benjamin said. "... We will also have to campaign and explain to people what we're proposing, why it's important, how it affects them and why they should vote."

The 1989 charter revisions took place in a consequential political context. The entire City Council was up for election, and voters picked David Dinkins to replace three-term mayor Ed Koch and become the first African-American to lead City Hall.

Asked whether it's responsible to ask voters to make such big changes in a sleepy political year, Benjamin said the commission is limited by the legislation that created it, which says proposals it produces will go on the 2019 ballot.

"If we have done our jobs correctly, there will be people who want to come out to show their support or their disappointment," Benjamin said. "Hopefully it will be their support."

The Council is confident the commission will succeed in its goal of engaging the public, a spokeswoman said, adding that the Council "will continue to do everything we can to increase participation."

"Given the current political climate folks are far more eager than ever to engage in the political process and they are looking for ways to participate," the spokeswoman, Shirley Limongi, said in a statement. "The issues the Commission will be looking at are core to how the city is governed and will have a direct impact on the lives of New Yorkers."

(Lead image: Gail Benjamin, chair of the Council's charter revision commission, speaks at a Tuesday roundtable with reporters. Photo by Noah Manskar/Patch)