NY City Council Members Bill de Blasio and Letitia James (Go Brooklyn!) filed papers in court this morning to stop the scheduled City Council vote tomorrow morning on Mayor Bloomberg’s bill to extend term limits from two terms to three. Voters in NYC have voted for term limits twice over the last 15 years and those votes, via referendum, call for a two term limit. Mayor Bloomberg, who believes he is indispensable to our city during this financial crisis — but had been floating this idea long before it even happened — would like to stay on for another 4 years stating that he has not “finished” everything he wanted to achieve. Frankly, I think he may not realize it but he is finished.
The case – which calls for a restraining order – is being heard now, beginning at 2 p.m., in State Supreme Court in Manhattan. Read more here from the New York Times. (As always, check out the reader comments, always insightful and illuminating.)
If their petition for a restraining order fails, the vote will take place Thursday, October 23rd at 10 a.m. at City Hall in Council Chambers, 2nd floor. The public is invited to attend.
Update: No big surprise (although I think it is a wrong decision). State Supreme Court justice Jacqueline Winter Silbermann did not agree to stop the City Council term limit vote scheduled for tomorrow. (Read more at the Times site.) Another new development has City Council member Alan Gerson (Washington Square Park falls within his district) in the mix who (of course…?) is publicly undecided. Council Member Gerson and two other City Council Members, David Yassky (Brooklyn) and Gale Brewer (Manhattan), called for a referendum amendment to be added to the existing bill. According to the Times, unless the amendment gains support, it is “expected” that Alan Gerson will vote for the Mayor’s extension of term limits to three terms.