can you believe this sh*t?

After listening for nearly four and a half hours to emotional and at times harshly critical testimony from scores of residents, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg signed legislation at 1:55 p.m. Monday to extend New York City’s term limits law, allowing himself and a majority of the City Council to seek a third four-year term in 2009.

The mayor — who seemed subdued, tired and perhaps a bit humbled as several members of the public berated and even yelled at him — made brief remarks before signing the bill, acknowledging that the debate had been difficult, and even painful. Mr. Bloomberg said:

This is New York City, and you get a diversity of opinion. I’ve thought long and hard about this, and you know that I have, over a period of time, fundamentally changed my opinion in terms of how long somebody should be in office. I have not changed my opinion in terms of the value of term limits. I’ve made a commitment that I will appoint a Charter Revision Commission to look at the issue of whether two or three terms is appropriate, and to put on the ballot the ability for the public to either reaffirm what we have today or to change it.

There’s no easy answer, and nobody is irreplaceable, but I do think that if you take a look at the real world of how long it takes to do things — we live in a litigious society, we live in a society where we have real democracy, and lots of people have the ability to input their views and approve or disapprove projects — I just think that three terms makes more sense than two.

I feel that for the mayor — I may not be re-elected but whoever does get re-elected, I think that they deserve three terms, and if the public at any time after any four-year period decides they’re not doing a good job, then the public can certainly make a change.

The one argument against term limits that I’ve never had a great answer to is the argument that when you have term limits, you do limit the public’s choice. I feel that this time, the public should have a choice, and while I’m still in favor of term limits, it is seriously something that everybody should think long and hard about.

The mayor’s signature was pretty much a foregone conclusion; it was he who had urged the Council to extend the term limits, overturning the results of two public referendums, in 1993 and 1996, that had imposed a limit of two four-year terms. Nonetheless, city law requires that before signing any law adopted by the City Council, the mayor must first sit and listen to any witnesses who want to come forward and speak about it.

Usually, the public comment period is pro forma — but not Monday. At the bill-signing hearing, which began at 9:30 a.m., scores of witnesses crowded the ornate Blue Room at City Hall to testify about the bill, which the Council passed on Oct. 23, by a 29-22 vote.

Mr. Bloomberg sat gamely behind a long wooden table, flanked by members of the Council who supported the bill, as elected officials and ordinary members of the public got up to address him directly. It was the first time the mayor had to personally attend a public hearing on term limits. (The mayor was represented by two lawyers during the two-day round of public hearings that the Council held on Oct. 16 and 17.)

The witnesses — who were each given two minutes to speak — were divided. Some denounced the mayor for subverting the will of the voters, who in public referendums in 1993 and 1996 expressed support for term limits. Others cited the economic challenges facing the city and said that the bill would merely give voters a choice next November to return incumbents to office if they choose to do so.

Representative Anthony D. Weiner, a Democrat who represents parts of Brooklyn and Queens, and who plans to run for mayor in 2009, told Mr. Bloomberg, “New Yorkers not only want a choice in 2009, they want a choice and a vote on this issue today.”

Danny A. Shapiro, a young man from the Upper East Side, addressed Mr. Bloomberg in blunt terms, criticizing the process by which the term limits bill had been introduced and approved.

You failed to engage the public in any meaningful debate or discussion, instead, working with the City Council to pass this bill with only two weeks of its introduction. The back-to-back City Council hearings were a circus and inaccessible to New Yorkers. Hundreds of people were turned away, either due to capacity or constraints, or waited all night to testify. … You have ignored us, instead speaking only with those who are either influential, or with whom you have influence. You say you want to give voters more choice, but not the choice to keep term limits as is.

Mr. Shapiro added, “We have high standards for mayor and deserve a public servant who will actively listen to our concerns.” He warned that the term limits bill would “not only increase cynicism in government, but also severely tarnish your legacy and reputation as mayor.”

He concluded, “I am so angry and so disappointed with you. If you truly care about our city and respect its people, you will not sign this bill.”

Councilwoman Rosie Mendez, a Democrat of Manhattan who voted against the term limits bill, told the mayor she personally opposed term limits:

While term limits are undemocratic, I believe that we don’t extend it or change it by another undemocratic method. Mr. Mayor, many of my constituents have called or written to me. They want to vote for you again, but they want to vote on this issue first.

Henry J. Stern, a former councilman and former parks commissioner, said that scores of people were lined up outside City Hall, waiting to testify. He said Mr. Bloomberg “has been a very good mayor,” but added:

This is the least public public hearing that I’ve ever attended, because the great majority of the people who want to testify and want to watch are necessarily excluded because of the size of the room. I believe that to make it a true public hearing, it should have been held in the Council chamber or at 1 Police Plaza.

Not all the witnesses were opposed to extending term limits.

Kathryn S. Wylde, the president of the Partnership for New York City, the city’s leading business association, said that “the city is facing probably the biggest financial and economic challenge in the city’s history, it is important that we have the strongest possible leadership.”

The term limits bill is “an important step in that direction,” she said, adding that term limits were bad policy. With term limits, “we have weakened our representative form of government, we have turned a career of public service into a game of musical chairs,” she said.

Another witness, David G. Greenfield, began by saying that he had been planning to run for City Council this year and was disappointed that he would not able to do so, as the incumbent was planning to run again. But he said the mayor and the Council had “proved themselves to be outstanding stewards of the city budget,” and deserved a third term. “I’m not worried about me,” Mr. Greenfield said. “God willing, I’ll be fine.

Rachel Trachtenberg, the 14-year-old Brooklyn musician and student whose testimony was a highlight of the Council hearings last month, told the mayor, “I may not be able to vote yet but I know for a fact that what you are doing is wrong.” She added, “Quite frankly, Mayor Bloomberg, you are cheating, which does not make a good example for the youth of New York City and the whole world.”
Jason TrachtenbergJason Trachtenberg spoke on Monday in front of Mayor Bloomberg. (Photo: Michael Appleton for The New York Times)

Her father, Jason, told the mayor: “You do not make new rules for your own benefit. I wish I could do that. You don’t even know what I would do. We would have a good time.”

Abraham Biderman, who was the city’s finance commissioner and then the commissioner of housing preservation and development under Mayor Edward I. Koch, who served from 1978 to 1989 and was the last mayor to serve three terms, urged Mr. Bloomberg to sign the bill, saying it merely offered voters additional choices.

“To preclude somebody who has the extraordinary ability and financial background that our current mayor does would be almost masochistic in this environment,” Mr. Biderman said.

As the testimony dragged on, Mayor Bloomberg did seem to be paying attention to each of the speakers — unlike most of the council members flanking him.

Mr. Bloomberg generally looked directly at all the speakers. His expression didn’t change much: stone-faced, implacable. Occasionally he sneaked a peak at the clock, set to two minutes allocated to each speaker, when someone criticized him.

By contrast, the council members had different body language. Councilman Robert Jackson of Manhattan seemed the most distracted, talking on the phone and typing away on his BlackBerry. Councilman Domenic M. Recchia Jr. of Brooklyn was also spotted frequently thumbing through his BlackBerry.

Councilman Thomas White Jr. of Queens sat almost motionless, arms folded, with a slightly bemused look, the entire time.

Mr. Bloomberg suppressed a chuckle when Jimmy McMillan, representing a political group called the Rent Is Too Damn High Party, turned his back to Mr. Bloomberg as he addressed the mayor, saying the mayor had turned his back on the people.

“I have no desire to look at you,” Mr. McMillan said.

Mr. McMillan called Mr. Bloomberg “a nice guy, a rich guy, a good-looking man,” but he mixed that praise with some unsparing criticism. “We ask that you step aside and let term limits do their job,” he thundered at the mayor. “Your time is up and you must go!” To re-elect the mayor, Mr. McMillan said, would be akin to “taking a bath and putting on the same old dirty drawers and sneakers.”

The mayor looked on with an expression of mild amusement, a slight smile on his face.


http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/03/bloomberg-hears-opponents-of-ter...