You might recall that Mayor Bloomberg dismissed the two days of public hearings held by the City Council on term limits as a chance for the people to “emote” and admitted he didn’t listen to any of it. He will however sit through public testimony on Monday, November 3rd before almost assuredly signing the bill — which the Council passed (at his, um, request) to overturn term limits — into law. The public is invited to speak at 9:30 a.m. at City Hall before our billionaire Mayor. If you plan to attend, I suggest you get there early.
The New York Times reports today: “Public to Give Mayor Earful on 3rd Term:”
The bruising debate over term limits is not over — yet.
Starting at 9:30 a.m. on Monday at City Hall, members of the public will be given two minutes each to tell Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg face to face, why they favor or oppose legislation that would permit him to seek a third term. It is not known how long the hearing will last.
It will be the first time that Mr. Bloomberg will be present for a public hearing on the legislation, which will allow him and dozens of elected officials in the city to serve 12 years, rather than 8. New York voters approved the current term limits in two public referendums in the 1990s.
Mr. Bloomberg will listen to the discussion during a bill-signing ceremony.
So, do you think Mayor Bloomberg will stack the room with supporters as he did during the public hearings?
An excellent Village Voice article this week by Tom Robbins, “Bloomberg’s Term-Limits Coup,” outlines the coup’s “heroes, villains and wimps.” He asks:
… who was that mystery man sitting in the Subway sandwich shop across from City Hall on the first day of the hearings? The guy with the cash-filled envelope doling out dollars to those who showed up early to grab front-row seats and wave pro-Bloomberg signs?
Another good article by Errol Louis in the 10/30 Daily News “A limit to voters’ patience: Bloomberg power grab looks worse by the day.”
Robbins concludes: Bloomberg and Quinn may have carried the day, but you had to believe they bought themselves a world of future political pain in doing so. As any tinpot banana republic generalissimo will tell you, the next coup is always around the corner.