New York Times is live blogging from the term limits hearing today at City Hall. It’s well done and somewhat entertaining. Apparently, Mayor Bloomberg got 50 of his supporters in there early and it’s unclear if they were paid to attend.
Council Member Charles Barron took on the Mayor’s reputation (at last someone did):
“It was under Mayor Bloomberg — under his watch, that Wall Street collapsed,” Mr. Barron continued, adding, “If he’s so sharp, a big-time businessman, why didn’t he foresee this?” he asked of the crisis. “Not only did he not foresee it, what he did was come in and cut this budget. He’s closed down seniors’ centers and youth centers. He robbed the poor and gave to the rich. And you’re going to push Bloomberg on us.”
You can read up-to-the-minute information here.
They will be signing people up to speak until 8 p.m. tonite (but will go later than that if necessary) and it starts again at 10 a.m. tomorrow. (Getting there earlier before the Bloomberg “supporters” arrive is probably a good idea.) If you’ve never testified before the City Council, it can be a little daunting but it’s such a magnificent building and sort of fun to do.
Updated: NY1 is carrying the hearings live til 7 p.m. ! I just discovered this.
This was my favorite from the hearing (pulled from the NYT)
Next witness: Richard D. Emery, a lawyer who was involved in the litigation in the 1980s that resulted in the Board of Estimate being declared unconstitutional. The board was abolished in a 1989 charter revision vote, and the City Council was enlarged and given more power.
“We could do it, but it would be wrong,” Mr. Emery said of the Council’s extending term limits on its own, citing “moral corrosiveness” and “self-interest” that he said the Council should avoid.
“Sitting in the lap of the mayor” as the process goes forward will ruin the Council’s reputation, he said, warning, “Your reputation as a body is at stake here. … It’s hanging in the balance. Either you opt for the principled position — which is to go back to the people, even though you don’t have to — or you take the self-interested road and put the Council in the position of ignominy it was in the past.”