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Chair Lincoln Restler introduces meeting and explains legislation
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3 min
Council Member Lincoln Restler, chair of the Committee on Governmental Operations, State, and Federal Legislation, opens the meeting and introduces two items for vote: Resolution 740 and Introduction 564-A. He explains the purpose and importance of both pieces of legislation, focusing on charter revision processes and the archiving of social media posts from official government accounts.
- Resolution 740 calls for state legislation to eliminate mayors' power to block charter revision proposals.
- Introduction 564-A requires the Department of Records (DORIS) to create a public database of social media posts from official government accounts.
- Restler emphasizes the importance of both measures for good governance and historical record-keeping.
Lincoln Restler
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Good morning.
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My name is Lincoln Ressler, I have the privilege of chairing the committee on governmental operations, state, and federal legislation.
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I would like to thank I would like to start by thanking my colleagues who've joined us for today's vote including council member Gail Brewer, council member Lynn Schulman, council member David Carr of Brooklyn, and my neighbor council member Shahana Hanif, And council member Jennifer Gutierrez is online, and council member Jim Gennaro is online.
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Thank you both for being with us this morning.
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Today, we'll be voting on resolution seven forty and intro five sixty four a sponsored by council member Gabe Brewer.
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I'll first speak to resolution seven forty, which I'm the lead sponsor on.
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This is a resolution that calls on the state to pass legislation sponsored by the great state senator Liz Krueger and assembly member Tony Simone and eliminates the power of mayors to block charter revision proposals from local legislatures and from voters.
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Currently, the mayor can block any council or voter proposal that could reach the ballot by hastily convening his own charter commission which mayor Adams has now done not once but twice.
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He first blocked the speaker's advice and consent legislation and now is blocking the speaker's charter commission.
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Under the proposed legislation, all proposals would move forward to the ballot for a vote.
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Leave it up to the voters.
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Mayor Adams repeated politicization of the charter revision process demonstrates the importance and the urgency of this legislation.
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It is essential that we restore the balance to the charter revision process and allow an avenue for thoughtful, meaningful proposals to reach voters.
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I greatly appreciate speaker Adrian Adams leadership in pushing for this legislation and making it a top priority for the council in Albany this year and for her dedication to ensuring there's an opportunity for meaningful proposals to reach the voters.
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I'd also like to thank the 20 plus colleagues who signed on as co sponsors of this legislation including council members on the committee, Jim Gennaro, Gail Brewer, Shana Hanif.
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I just wanna say that over many administrations as far back as I can count, mayors have used this power of of creating a Charter Revision Commission to block good proposals from reaching voters.
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This isn't just an Eric Adams problem.
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This is a good governance problem.
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And this proposal that really has been spearheaded originally by Dick Godfried way back when and now by Tony Simone and Liz Kruger in Albany and by our speaker here at City Hall is a smart way for us to ensure that good ideas can reach voters and that we can make meaningful changes to our charter as needed.
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Intro five sixty four a sponsored by council member Gail Brewer would require the Department of Records to create a public database social media posts from official government accounts.
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Doris has incredible archives of our city's history and it is essential that we ensure that it continues to moving forward and into the twenty first century.
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Records that omit social media accounts are inherently incomplete.
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I really appreciate council member Brewer's commitment to Doris always.
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Over many decades she has been a like been the leading champion for Doris, and smartly worked to preserve municipal records, and social media accounts are the latest area where she is having a lasting impact.
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With that, I will turn it over to council member Brewer.