NYC Charter Review Group’s First Public Hearing Leaves Room for Improvement

Low turnout and random complaints not covered by the city charter marked the beginning of a newly-formed panel to consider changes to New York’s municipal rules.

The first public hearing, held at the Helen Marshall Atrium in Queens Borough Hall, is the start of a fast-tracked Charter Review Commission to potentially make changes to city bylaws with one or more initiatives up for a vote on November’s ballot.

The charter is the playbook for how New York City government works. It regulates everything from appointments to ethics rules to how elected officials can be removed.

The commission was created by Mayor Eric Adams last month, in a somewhat surprising move, and is populated by some of his closest allies . Adams said he wanted the group to look at public safety changes and has praised its mission as one “towards enhancing transparency, responsiveness in city government, and further civic engagement.”

But few people attended Wednesday’s 10 a.m. hearing in person and just a few dozen tuned in over Zoom.

The absenteeism wasn’t just for attendees: Of the 13-member commission, more than half weren’t physically present.

Commission chair Carlos Scissura noted that vice chair Hazel Dukes tuned in remotely. Other physically absent members included and secretary Ken Ngai, Christopher Lynch, Max Rose, Bishop Gerald Seabrooks, and Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz.

Asked about the low turnout, mayoral spokesperson Liz Garcia noted that there will be several meetings that “take place in all five boroughs at different times of the day to accommodate working-class New Yorkers’ schedules.”

Other hearings will be held Thursday, June 6 at 10 a.m. at Staten Island Borough Hall , and Thursday, June 13 at 5 p.m. at New York Law School in Manhattan. More meetings, including a second one in Queens, are set to be announced over the next few weeks.

“This is also the first Charter Revision Commission to utilize virtual testimony and attendance, which was extremely beneficial today as it allowed 50 New Yorkers to attend, and several more to testify virtually,” said Garcia

Unclear Goals

A total of seven people testified — four in person and three online — during Wednesday’s meeting, most with concerns and suggestions not covered by the city’s charter.

A representative from Queens Borough President Donovan Richards’s budget office addressed an issue regarding funding distribution to his office, citing a specific chapter of the charter.

Others took to the microphones to discuss flooding issues, concerns about private development, a desire for community boards to have more power, and opposition to City of Yes , the mayor’s plan to overhaul neighborhood zoning.

Almost all complained about poor communication from the commission and lack of timely notification about the hearing.

“I just found out about this last night at about 5 o’clock, so more notice would be great,” Danielle Becker, a Long Island City, Queens, resident who also serves on her local community board, said at the start of her testimony.

THE CITY reached out to all 14 community boards in Queens to see if they had been notified about the upcoming hearing. They were not notified until Tuesday morning, according to emails board members shared.

The low turnout “is a reflection of the inappropriately quick process under which the Commission is working,” Betsy Gotbaum, executive director of the good-government nonprofit Citizens Union, said in a statement.

“It is not reasonable to expect members of the public to offer thoughtful input on the entire city charter under such a rushed timeline.”

Her organization also aired doubts on the commission’s ability to “recruit professional staff, thoroughly review the charter, seek meaningful public input, and draft proposals in two-months’ time.”

Other critics have said Adams formed the commission specifically to block the City Council from introducing an initiative on the ballot in November that would require the mayor to get the body’s approval on department commissioner picks.

Adams’s chief counsel Lisa Zornberg blasted that proposal Tuesday during the mayor’s weekly press conference, calling it “deeply misguided.”

“It would upend 140 years of New York City fundamental principles of governance. It will lead to gaps in service. It will discourage good people from serving if they have to go through the political charades of hearings,” she said.

Yiatin Chu, who is running for State Senate in northeast Queens, brought up that proposal during her testimony before the revision commission Wednesday, saying she opposed it. But she suggested putting the Council’s proposed “advice and consent” bil l on the ballot to let the public decide.

“It should not be done by City Council, I think it needs to be done by the populace,” she said.

Commission member Kyle Bragg, the former president of Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ and a Rosedale resident, said he volunteered for the panel to make sure marginalized voices are heard.

“We want to get the broader voices of our communities in our city so we’ll be back in Queens and we’ll do an evening meeting to make sure that everyone has the opportunity to come,” he told THE CITY after the hearing.

“I think the biggest challenge is making sure that the notices are timely enough so that people can come out and engage and talk about these very important issues.”

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