What do the government efficiency ballot questions mean and how should I vote for them?
Thought you already voted to solve all the problems? Well there are always more problems.
Do you want better processes for building bus and bike lanes, approving outdoor dining structures and handing out building permits? Perhaps you’ve never thought about that at all, but you better start figuring it out, because voting starts Oct. 24 and runs through Election Day Nov. 3, and just like the 2024 and 2025 ballots, there are five more ballot referendums on the back of your ballot this year that invite you to weigh in on changes to the New York City Charter. Also don’t forget the front of your ballot, where there will be races for Congressional candidates and a gubernatorial election. Vote for Kathy Hochul, the most pro-transit governor of our lifetime. 2024 Dave cannot believe I just typed that sentence.
There are more questions on the back of my ballot this year?
Yes.
I thought we solved all the problems.
Nonsense, there are always more problems to deal with. Also Mayor Mamdani had to block a City Council Charter Revision Commission that former Speaker (and current absolutely anonymous lieutenant governor candidate) Adrienne Adams put together in 2025 and a weird zombie charter commission Eric Adams tried to shoehorn in as he left office. Also Mamdani loves government efficiency more than he does football, the beautiful game.
Really?
I don’t know, probably not. But Mamdani does have a vested interest in proving that municipal socialism is not hack jokes about bread lines or waiting around at the DMV, so he built his entire Charter Revision Commission around speeding up the processes for various permitting actions and also for some reason, a rainy day fund. He named this effort the Commission on Government Efficiency, or COGE.
That sounds familiar.
Yes the idea was to flip a cheeky middle finger to Hitler salute enthusiast and banking impresario Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE, which hollowed out the federal government and killed almost one million people. Despite its cringeworthy name and origin story aside, COGE delivered to the voters five questions, which if approved will speed up the permitting process for outdoor dining permits, simplify and cut down on the amount of time it takes a contractor to sign a contract with the city, cut down on some steps that gum up the works for bike and bus lane projects and let the city get rid of certain property it owns and sign certain leases, centralize and speed up the building permit process and create some guidelines for the city’s rainy day fund.
None of that sounds as controversial as last year’s questions.
None of them really are, unless you really hate outdoor dining or bus lanes. So in that sense, there is some controversy, and I will start walking through the questions with those two, then the next two most controversial and then the one that isn’t very controversial at all really.
Okay get to it.
Rude.
