1 CITY COUNCIL CITY OF NEW YORK ------------------------X TRANSCRIPT OF THE MINUTES of the COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL OPERATIONS ------------------------X October 17, 2008 Start: 10:00am Recess: XX:XXam HELD AT: Council Chambers City Hall B E F O R E: SIMCHA FELDER Chairperson COUNCIL MEMBERS: Larry B. Seabrook Peter F. Vallone, Jr. Domenic M. Recchia, Jr. Erik Martin Dilan Ubiqus 22 Cortlandt Street – Suite 802, New York, NY 10007 Phone: 212-227-7440 * 800-221-7242 * Fax: 212-227-7524 2 A P P E A R A N C E S COUNCIL MEMBERS: Helen Sears Letitia James Rosie Mendez David I. Weprin Mathieu Eugene James S. Oddo Charles Barron Robert Jackson Annabel Palma Lewis A. Fidler Alan J. Gerson David Yassky Jessica S. Lappin Melissa Mark-Viverito Leroy G. Comrie, Jr. Sara M. Gonzalez John C. Liu Annabel Palma Melinda R. Katz Gale A. Brewer Michael E. McMahon Vincent Ignizio 3 A P P E A R A N C E S (CONTINUED) Laura Altschuler Co-Chair League of Women Voters of the City of New York Olga Batyreva Math teacher Murry Bergtraum High School Michael Casatano Legislative Direction City Council Lisette Camilo Counsel, Contracts Committee City Council Adolfo Carrion Bronx Borough President City of New York Kenneth D. Cohen, Sr. Regional Director NAACP Metropolitan Council New York State Conference Philip De Paolo President New York Community Council Ruben Diaz Jr. 85 th Assembly District - Bronx County State of New York - Albany Patrick J. Egan Assistant Professor of Politics New York University Hector Figueroa Secretary, Treasurer Local 32BJ Dr. Lenora Fulani 4 Betsy Gotbaum Public Advocate New York City Tom Hillgardner Hakeem Jeffries Assemblyman 57 th District State of New York - Albany Dr. Mohammad Khalid President Pakistani Civic Association of Staten Island, Inc. Marty Markowitz President Borough of Brooklyn Helen Marshall President Borough of Queens Richard Mazur Executive Director North Brooklyn Development Corporation John J. McDonnell President Uniformed Fire Officers Association Israel Miranda Vice President Uniformed EMT’s, Paramedics and Inspectors - F.D.N.Y. James P. Molinaro President Borough of Staten Island Herbert Pardes, MD President and CEO New York-Presbyterian Hospital Kevin S. Parker 5 New York State Senator 21 st Senatorial District Dick Parsons Chairman Time Warner Michael Rochford Executive Director St. Nicholas Neighborhood Preservation Company Israel Rodriguez Policy Analyst City Council Pat Ruane Representing Dr. Mohammad Khalid Iron Hills Civic Association Pakistani Civic Association Norman Seabrook President Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association Steve Seltzer Esmeralda Simmons, Esq. Executive Director Center for Law and Social Justice Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York Jeff Simmons New York City Comptroller Jo Anne Simon N.Y.S. Committeewoman, 52 nd A.D. Candidate for City Council in 2009, 33 rd District Scott M. Stringer Manhattan Borough President City of New York Susan May Tell 6 William C. Thompson, Jr. NYC Comptroller Office of New York City Peter Ticali Martial Life Arts Association Nydia M. Velazquez Congresswoman New York 12 th District Anthony Wiener Congress Member Frederick Wilson Barbara Zucker Vice President for Public Policy Women's City Club of New York Bob Zuckerman Seth Andrew Kenny Augusto Greg Callfield Daniel Clark Sr. Daniel Clark Jr. Peter Gelb Andrea Haye Margarita Lopez Berchalin Marcus Doris Mitchell Colette Orakwue 7 Maria Orchilla Larry Parrara Jose Richards Jarrod Sageigo May Taliaferrow Isaiah Taylor Matthew Voss Anthony Bovey Mark Disola Alice Labree Ejon Lee Janine Loludis Atomi Nyabongo Don Pascala Ruth Shoeman Conrad Stojack Frederick Wilson Poling Yang Barbara Hohlt Patrice Senior Sovereign Citizen Dan Jacoby 8 Judith Goldiner Jim Fouratt Rodolfo Flores Former New York City candidate for City Council Gwen Goodwin Chair Coalition to Save P.S. 109 1 COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL OPERATIONS 9 2 CHAIRPERSON FELDER: Can I ask the 3 Sergeant at Arms to close the door on the left, 4 please. And, everyone else have a seat. Okay. 5 Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for 6 coming this morning. My name is Simcha Felder. 7 I'm the Chair of the Government Operations 8 Committee. And, I thank those of you that spent 9 hours yesterday to hear some of the testimony, 10 which was very, very informative and educational. 11 I'm joined today by my colleagues, 12 starting from my left, Council Member Seabrook, 13 Council Member Vallone, Council Member Recchia, 14 Council Member Sears, Council Member James and 15 Council Member Mendez. I also would like to 16 acknowledge, at this time, Michael Casatano 17 [phonetic], my Legislative Director, who's sitting 18 to my left, as well as Lisette Camilo, the counsel 19 to the Contracts Committee, who's helping us 20 today, and Israel Rodriguez, who's the Policy 21 Analyst. 22 I'm going to instruct everyone 23 who's here-- 24 CLERK: Sit down, please. 25 CHAIRPERSON FELDER: --everyone 1 COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL OPERATIONS 10 2 who's here, somebody's holding a sign backwards. 3 We can't see the message. You want me to do that 4 over here? No clapping, no cheering, no booing. 5 We are instructing you all, those-- I see some of 6 you who were here all day yesterday and I thank 7 you for coming back today. Council Member James 8 has taught me a thing or two. If you're in favor 9 of whatever's being said, you can do this. But, 10 no clapping, booing or anything else. I don't 11 know, Tish, when you don't agree, what do you do 12 without making noise? 13 COUNCIL MEMBER MENDEZ: Make faces. 14 CHAIRPERSON FELDER: Okay. Rosie 15 Mendez says just go like this, please. Okay. The 16 first panel we have is-- you look like you're - - 17 I don't know, first panel, Peter Vallone, former 18 Speaker, Peter Vallone, Dick Parsons and Helen 19 Marshall, Borough President. Whenever you're 20 ready to start, please do so. Just make sure that 21 the button [pause]. 22 HELEN MARSHALL: Good morning. 23 Good morning, Chairman Felder, members of the City 24 Council. I welcome the opportunity to come before 25 you this morning. I also want to thank you for 1 COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL OPERATIONS 11 2 all of your hard work in promoting the necessary 3 discussion of the debate over this very important 4 issue. 5 As the President of the great 6 Borough of Queens, Queens County and, for the past 7 seven years, as an individual who has served on 8 this Council for ten years, a member of the New 9 York State Assembly for nine years, a total of 26 10 years in elected office, I know firsthand how much 11 experience matters in the legislative process. 12 Voters should be able to benefit from the valuable 13 experience their elected representatives gain 14 during their term in office. And, when Election 15 Day comes around, voters should always have the 16 opportunity to choose the person they believe to 17 be the best qualified candidate. 18 Let's be clear. Term limits do not 19 simply limit the number of years an elected 20 official may serve, they limit the number of 21 choices that voters have. I heard many experts 22 yesterday, experts on City Government yesterday, 23 express their opposition to term limits. But, I 24 do think the idea of term limits has made its way 25 into the political process. 1 COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL OPERATIONS 12 2 Members sitting on the City Council 3 today represent the first class elected under term 4 limits. It is clear to me that two terms does not 5 allow for adequate time. What's placed on the 6 agenda now is three terms, which I feel is a great 7 improvement over two terms. And, with the impact 8 of the financial and economic crisis affecting New 9 York in a very real way, we need experience. The 10 people of our city deserve the right to choose the 11 most experienced leaders for the tough times 12 ahead. The challenges we face, the crisis right 13 here on Wall Street, difficult decisions on 14 budgets and taxes, long-term projects threatened 15 by economic downturn require independent 16 experienced leadership. Mayor Bloomberg, the City 17 Council and the City's other elected officials, 18 including my fellow panelists, that would be other 19 Borough Presidents, have accomplished many great 20 things for New York over the last seven years. 21 And, I do not think I speak only for myself when I 22 say we, the Mayor, the Council Members, Borough 23 President, others have learned a lot in those 24 years; how to better serve their constituents, how 25 to better make decisions for their communities and 1 COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL OPERATIONS 13 2 how to lead our City. 3 Whether the voters prefer to keep 4 their current representatives, or choose new ones, 5 we must make sure that they have the opportunity 6 to make that selection. It is within the power of 7 the City Council to give New Yorkers a choice on 8 next Election Day. I would urge the body to grant 9 them the right to vote and vote to extend term 10 limits. I thank you again for having me this 11 morning. I'll be happy to answer any questions. 12 CHAIRPERSON FELDER: Thank you. 13 DICK PARSONS: Good morning, 14 members of the Council. My name's Dick Parsons. 15 And, I'll be brief. First of all, I want to thank 16 Chairman Felder and the rest of the members-- 17 CLERK: Quiet, please.