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Q&A
Using historical precedent like at-large Council seats to inform modern reforms
2:51:41
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121 sec
Commissioner Shams DaBaron questions Cormac Slade Byrd's reference to early 1900s housing booms, given problematic historical contexts, asking if looking to the past is appropriate. Byrd clarifies he uses history for precedent (like NYC's prior use of at-large council members) to inform potential modern solutions like citywide at-large seats, adapting past structures to current needs and legal frameworks.
Carl Weisbrod
2:51:41
had a
Shams DaBaron
2:51:41
quick question and just I wanted to learn something from you.
2:51:46
You referred to the 19.
2:51:50
Mhmm.
2:51:57
Y'all caught that.
2:51:58
Right?
2:52:01
So my question to you is, do you think it's that we should look back to that time period or even before right before that, or should we just try and do something different?
2:52:16
When I think of the nineteen hundreds or I think before that, I think of places like, you know, when policies allow for communities like Seneca Village to turn into Central Park.
Richard R. Buery Jr.
2:52:32
Okay.
Shams DaBaron
2:52:35
So my my thing is really, like, I I kinda look at these things, like like, look at all of the stuff that has been here that we have been doing and what do we do.
2:52:45
I wanna know from you, like, what do you think?
2:52:48
Like, how do you think that we really should, like, just draw upon the past, or should we just look at everything and try to do something new?
Cormac Slade Byrd
2:52:56
Yeah.
2:52:56
I think there's definitely, something to be learned from the past.
2:53:00
I think a a very poignant example, that I was considering here was we had at large members.
2:53:05
They were, borough based at large members as, recently as 1984, which was, of course, before the board of estimates.
2:53:11
But, you know, this is a thing that has existed before.
2:53:13
Right?
2:53:14
We've had borough at large members.
2:53:16
Those were struck down because they were not, equal votes because the boroughs had different populations, but they citywide, at large members, those would be equal representatives.
2:53:26
So there is certainly, precedent for many of these bold options that we could, you know, take our modern context and, you know, use, what, you know, what we've done before as a as a way to think about what could be done moving forward.