Mayor Michael Bloomberg has selected Anthony Crowell to chair his charter review commission, with the appointment and the full membership to be announced within two weeks.
Crowell, a senior counselor to the mayor and one of the prime players in Bloomberg’s successful effort to extend term limits, has served as a director/counsel to five charter review commissions and was a member of Bloomberg’s 2005 charter commission.
The 1989 commission had a $2.5 million budget. Bloomberg’s preliminary budget, released in late January, did not specifically allocate any money for the new commission, which is expected to address the term limits questions. According to some rumors, it may also include another push for the non-partisan election initiative that the mayor tried to make law through the 2003 charter commission.
Other suggestions in need of charter commission attention, include the role of borough presidents, expanding the powers of the City Council, changes to planning and land use procedures, and the existence of the public advocate.
Eric Lane, who served as director/counsel of the 1989 charter commission, conceded that he now believes the members made a mistake by not giving the public advocate's office an independent budget. He recommended reconsidering this move.
Ester Fuchs, a former Bloomberg advisor who chaired the 2005 charter commission for the mayor, urged the administration to take steps to make sure the new effort stokes a robust public debate. “It’s critical for the mayor to make sure the public recognizes this commission as legitimate,” Fuchs said.
Once the charter commission members are officially named, they will be charged with holding hearings in all five boroughs to gather recommendations for their work. They will then release a list of proposals, which will be subject to a second round of hearings in all five boroughs. Following these, the commission will choose which proposals to submit to the city clerk for consideration by the voters. The commission will have the option of putting all the proposals forward bundled into a single ballot question or of submitting each for a separate vote.
The process is unlikely to be complete in time for voter approval in the November 2010 elections. That could put the vote off until at least 2011, if not as late as the next citywide elections in 2013.
Michael H. Drucker
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