Why you should weigh in on new City Charter revisions

We’re well aware that following political news both local and national right now is the psychic equivalent of being violently blasted with a firehose at all hours of the day and that there’s only so much one person can keep tabs on. But please, won’t you spare a thought for the fact that we’re having another go-round of a Charter Revision Commission?

You may recall last summer when Dave wrote about a Charter Revision Commission convened by Eric Adams in an attempt to reshape the City Charter — basically our local version of a constitution — in a manner that gave the mayor more unfettered power. Recommendations from the CRC can become ballot measures, and last election cycle, almost all of them passed. As Dave wrote last year, past Charter Commissions have been responsible for major local policy changes such as ranked-choice voting and two-term limits for mayors.

Well, now we’re getting another one, this one aimed largely at the housing crisis, with a smattering of anti-immigration insanity thrown in because this is still Eric Adams after all. Below, a quick primer on what’s happened so far, what you need to know moving forward, and how you — yes you! — can weigh in on the whole thing: 

The mayor just convened a Charter Revision Commission last summer, why is he announcing another one?

This new, largely less-nefarious CRC was announced in December on the heels of the successful passing of City Of Yes, the mayor’s signature pro-housing-development, anti-red-tape policy platform (we also wrote about that one if you need a refresher).

“We know that there is still more that we can and must do to tackle the cost of living in our city,” Adams wrote in a press release announcing the CRC in mid-December. The stated mission of this new Commission is “reviewing the New York City Charter and determining how to make New York City’s municipal government more transparent and responsive to the needs of residents, especially when it comes to promoting fair housing across the five boroughs.”

The chair of the 13-person commission is Richard Buery, CEO of anti-poverty group Robin Hood, which incidentally just released a report finding that one in four New Yorkers can’t afford basics like food and housing, and that our city’s share of residents in poverty is nearly double the national average. Rising housing costs were found to be the main driving force behind the trend, no surprise.

OK, how would tinkering with the City Charter fix housing?

That’s still to be determined, and something you, a New York Groove reader and therefore an engaged and considerate citizen, might want to weigh in on (more on that shortly). 

Some of the basic ideas on the table are similar to those in City of Yes and revolve around speeding up the land use review process — during which proposals are required to be publicly reviewed by the City Planning Commission —  which can take multiple years and add tens of thousands of dollars to the cost of any apartment that’s eventually built. Such changes could potentially weaken the City Council’s power over land use decisions, and a spokesperson for the Council has called the newly convened CRC “politically motivated” for precisely this reason, The City reported this week.

For its part, Open New York, a housing- and development-focused nonprofit that also advocated for City of Yes, has released a five-point proposal of ideas they think might help. The lowest-hanging fruit on the list is a proposal to more easily clear the way for housing to be built on city-owned land. 

Budget hawks at the Independent Budget Office and the Citizens Budget Commission have also announced proposals for the CRC to consider, generally aimed at improving planning, efficiency and public communication.

Sounds cool, the mayor didn’t also make this into a weird anti-immigrant power grab, did he?

Unfortunately while we do all love the idea of “more and cheaper housing,” this is still Eric Adams we’re dealing with, so yeah, he did do that. Specifically, he’s publicly kicked around the idea of having the commission potentially do away with New York’s sanctuary city laws via an amendment to the City Charter.

The City spoke with CRC chair Buery as well as numerous other members of the Commission, all of whom are vocally opposed to turning this whole thing into an anti-immigrant cudgel instead of a housing access referendum.

So what’s the status now, and can I get involved?

Public hearings kicked off this month (the second one was this past Monday), and upcoming public input sessions are on the calendar for March 4 in the Bronx, April 9 in Staten Island and April 23 in Manhattan (full details here). Real local policy-heads can view the previous hearings on the CRC’s YouTube channel, where future hearings will also be livestreamed.

Details of the in-person meetings, as well as registration links for Zoom testimony and an online form for submitting feedback are all available on the CRC website. Written testimony can also be submitted to CharterTestimony@citycharter.nyc.gov. It may be wonkery of the highest order, but the housing crisis affects us all, and we can promise you that weighing in on this stuff feels a whole lot better than screaming into the social media void about, well, anything.