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X TRANSCRIPT of the MINUTES of the COMMITTEE on GOVERNMENTAL OPERATIONS

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X TRANSCRIPT of the MINUTES of the COMMITTEE on GOVERNMENTAL OPERATIONS 1 CITY COUNCIL CITY OF NEW YORK ------------------------X TRANSCRIPT OF THE MINUTES of the COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL OPERATIONS ------------------------X October 16, 2008 Start: 1:00pm Recess: 11:30pm HELD AT: Council Chambers City Hall B E F O R E: SIMCHA FELDER Chairperson COUNCIL MEMBERS: Joseph P. Addabbo, Jr. Inez E. Dickens Erik Martin Dilan Domenic M. Recchia, Jr. Larry B. Seabrook Peter F. Vallone, Jr. 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: Tony Avella Charles Barron Gale A. Brewer Lewis A. Fidler Daniel R. Garodnick Alan J. Gerson Vincent Ignizio Robert Jackson Letitia James Melinda R. Katz G. Oliver Koppell Jessica S. Lappin John C. Liu James S. Oddo Annabel Palma Diana Reyna Helen Sears Kendall Stewart Albert Vann David I. Weprin 3 A P P E A R A N C E S (CONTINUED) Governor Mario Cuomo Former Governor of New York State Anthony Crowell Counselor to Mayor Michael Bloomberg New York City Mayor's Administration Michael Cardozo New York City Corporation Counsel New York City Mayor's Administration Mayor Koch Former Mayor of New York City Dick Datey Executive Director Citizen’s Union of New York City Mark Green Citizen Rafael Martinez Citizen Eric Jacobs Citizen Simon Belsky Citizen Gene Rushinof NYPIRG Chris Keeley Associate Director Common Cause New York Greg Labarbera President Teamsters Local 282 Edward J. Malloy 4 President Building Construction Trades Councils of New York City and New York State Michael Paladino President New York City Detectives Endowment Association Joseph G. Garber Director Civil Service Merit Council Carol Maholsky Citizen Eric Snyder Citizen Eric Lane Professor Hofstra Law School Fritz Schwartz Citizen Victor Covner Emily Respass Andre Soleil Rachel Trackman Steve Kramer Dan Canter Richard Emory Ed Wallis Henry Stern Arthur Chelliotis 5 Howard Urol George McDonald Jeff Canada Kelly Conlan Susan Freedman Cheryl Robertson George Espinol Deloris Lozuponi Bob Friedrich President Glen Oaks Village Robert Royal Reverend St. Paul Baptist Church Bo Samajopoulos Andy Torres Reverend Iglesia Hispana de la Comunidad Miguel Rivera President National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders Lynne Serpe Agnes Rivera Peter Colapietro Reverend Holy Cross Church 6 Delois Blakely Community Mayor of Harlem Jean Rice Board Member Picture the Homeless Fred Lemoine Business Agent Metallic Lathers and Reinforcing Iron Workers Union of New York, Local 46 Yetta Kurland Candidate City Council, Third District Chanina Sperling Executive Vice President Crown Heights Jewish Community Council James Caldwell Jimmy McMillan Founding Chairman Rent Is Too Damn High Party Omowall Clay Member December 12th Movement John Rozankowski Friends of Poe Park in the Bronx Philippe-Edouard Drice Maria Passanate-Derr Member Community Board of Greenwich Village Richard Steiger Rajiv Gowda President Education Council 7 Faith Steinberg Justin Yu President Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association of New York Allan Bortnick Dairen Ann McMichaels Paul Saryian Retired New York City Police Department Marie Louis Dolores Quintero Leader Community Voices Heard Trina Semorile Jennifer Pinto Ariel Weinstock Ben O'Sickey Audrey L. Smaltz Amy Chin Ronnie Colangelo Eloise Greenberg President Brooklyn Vision 1 COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL OPERATIONS 8 2 CHAIRPERSON FELDER: Before I get 3 started, I'd like to welcome all of you to City 4 Hall, and I hope that you'll be able to stay as 5 long as necessary to hear testimony. I'm going to 6 let, just set down some rules in a few minutes, 7 but before that, I'd like to take the opportunity 8 to introduce some of my colleagues that have 9 joined us. And I'll start from the front, from my 10 left, Councilmember Melinda Katz, Oliver Koppell, 11 Jessica Lappin, Domenic Recchia, John Liu, Tony 12 Avella, and now from my left here on this row, Dan 13 Garodnick, Gale Brewer, Robert Jackson, David 14 Weprin, Peter Vallone, and Charles Baron. Who's 15 sitting there, you? Titia James, and our minority 16 leader, James Oddo. [pause] Can we close the 17 door in the back? Unless you want it open for 18 some reason. Okay. You're here? Are you ready? 19 [pause] Alright, listen, before I say anything 20 else, I want to say good afternoon, and welcome to 21 the hearing of the Committee on Government 22 Operations. My name is Simcha Felder, I'm the 23 chair of this committee, and I introduced my 24 colleagues. I would also like to acknowledge the 25 staff from the committee that prepared for today's 1 COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL OPERATIONS 9 2 hearing. On my right, Matt Gewolb, council to the 3 committee. Where's Israel? Rodriguez. Israel 4 Rodriquez who's sitting right under the American 5 flag, the policy analyst to the committee, and 6 also my legislative director, Michael Kasutano 7 [phonetic], who's here on my left. [pause] Do we 8 have to remove somebody immediately? We also are 9 assisted today by Lisette Camilo, our legislative 10 council, who's sitting second to my right, right 11 near, Councilmember Barron, on his left. [pause] 12 I don't know, I hear noise. Alright, today, the 13 committee will hear legislation regarding term 14 limits, including proposed introductions 845(a), 15 850(a), resolution 1640 and a pre-considered 16 introduction. Proposed introduction 845(a), 17 introduced by request of the mayor, would amend 18 the charter to allow three terms for elected 19 officials in New York City. Proposed intro 20 850(a), introduced by council members Weprin, De 21 Blasio, Gioia, Liu, James, Mark-Viverito, and the 22 public advocate Ms. Gotbaum, would amend the 23 charter to require any changes to the charter 24 regarding term limits be submitted for the 25 approval by the electors. Resolution 1640, 1 COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL OPERATIONS 10 2 introduced by council members Avella, Palma, James 3 and Weprin, calls on the state legislature to 4 amend the municipal home rule, to give the city 5 authority to provide in its charter that any 6 changes to the term limit law be subject to voter 7 referendum. Finally, the pre-considered 8 introduced to be introduced by Councilmember 9 James, De Blasio and Weprin would establish a 10 charter revision commission to hold a voter 11 referendum at a special or a general election on 12 amending the charter, particularly with regard to 13 term limits. Before we begin today's formal 14 hearing, I'd like to make note that it is the 15 intent of the committee to hear testimony from 16 everyone who wishes to speak publicly. We will 17 hold this hearing open as long as is necessary, to 18 hear all who wish to address the committee. We 19 will also hold another hearing tomorrow morning, 20 at 10:00 a.m., to hear additional testimony. 21 Normally, the committee follows a rule, that 22 anyone wishing to testify must register to do so 23 within the first 15 minutes of the start of the 24 hearing. However, given that it is our intention 25 to hold the hearing in two hours, this evening, 1 COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL OPERATIONS 11 2 when working New Yorkers can come to City Hall and 3 not have to take off from work or other 4 obligations, and testify, that rule is suspended 5 for this hearing. Those wishing to speak must 6 sign up by 8:00 p.m. this evening. So if you know 7 of anyone that plans on coming at 1:00 in the 8 morning to sign up, tell them not to bother. They 9 can come tomorrow morning, and sign up and speak 10 tomorrow. But if they sign up any time today 11 before 8:00 p.m., we will stay here as late as 12 necessary to hear those testimony. I' like to 13 stress that the committee will remain [pause] in 14 order, in this chambers. Let me repeat that 15 again. This is not a rally, this is not a 16 concert, I don't know what other description to 17 make other than this is a formal hearing. What? 18 A formal hearing. And that's what we're going to 19 do. There are many people who are very passionate 20 about their opinions on this matter, and we're 21 going to make sure that everyone has a chance to 22 speak. I'm not going to tolerate any clapping, 23 I'm not going to tolerate any booing, or whistling 24 or anything, even if you're doing it in my favor, 25 I will take care of that when I come home, 1 COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL OPERATIONS 12 2 hopefully, at some time this evening, or early 3 morning. But we're not going to tolerate any of 4 it. So please, if you feel the necessity to do 5 something outrageous, or get some attention, go 6 outside and do so now, and come back when you feel 7 better. [laughter] I'd like to, so that's one. 8 We're not going to tolerate any cheering, booing 9 or otherwise disruptive outbursts. Further, this 10 committee will provide a respectful audience to 11 all witnesses wishing to testify before it. And 12 there will be zero tolerance for anyone who 13 engages in behavior to disrupt, disturb or 14 intimidate witnesses in these chambers. I'll ask 15 the sergeant-at-arms at that point to remove 16 anyone in violation of these rules.
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