(The Center Square) – New York City Council members want election officials to reject a slate of housing-related ballot questions proposed by Mayor Eric Adams, saying they’re misleading voters.
In a letter to the city’s Board of Elections, council leaders said three questions proposed by the mayor fail to inform voters that the ballot proposals will eliminate the City Council’s existing authority on behalf of the public to approve or modify a wide range of land use proposals.
The councilors said the referendums don’t disclose that they “eliminate the voting authority” of the City Council on certain public land use decisions and shift authority for land use decisions from the council to unelected appointees, most who the mayor chooses.
“The misleading nature of Mayor Adams’ ballot proposal language leaves voters without a clear understanding of the implications of their decisions and therefore, fails to meet statutory requirements and a basic commitment to democracy that respects voters’ informed consent and will,” they wrote.
In July, Mayor Adams’ 13-member Charter Review Commission approved five ballot questions for the Nov. 4 elections, most aimed at fast-tracking development of more affordable housing in the Big Apple. Approval of the measures was viewed as an end-run around the City Council, which traditionally sets referendums for the ballot.
Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said the Board of Elections needs to “protect voters and voting rights” by rejecting Adams’ ballot proposals for “intentionally concealing their impact from voters at the ballot.”
“When New York City voters weigh in on ballot questions this November, they deserve to know the impact of their decision in clear and honest terms,” she said. “This major change to remove the only democratically elected entity with voting power in the land use process undermines New Yorkers’ ability to secure more affordable housing and investments for their neighborhoods.”
The push by the Council’s Democratic majority to scuttle the ballot questions has also drawn support from Republican councilors, who say the mayor’s proposals are an attempted power grab that would undermine local control of housing.
“I rarely see eye to eye with this City Council but on this one I and my colleagues in the Common Sense Caucus agree,” Councilor Bob Holden, who chairs the Council’s Common Sense Caucus, posted on social media. “These ballot proposals, all five of them, are terrible. They undermine local control, community input, and responsible governance. Vote them down folks.”
Minority Leader Joann Ariola also called on election officials to reject the ballot questions, saying New Yorkers “deserve honesty, not bait-and-switch ballot language designed to mislead people into voting against their own best interests.”
“These proposals would strip away the voices of communities in every borough and block the Council from standing up for the people who elected us,” she said in a statement. “This is unacceptable, and these proposals must be rejected outright, to protect the Democratic institutions that are a cornerstone of this city.”
A City Hall spokesperson criticized the move and accused councilors of standing in the way of the Adams administration’s efforts to build more housing as New York struggles amid a major shortage following years of population growth far outpacing new development.
“If this City Council wants to go down in history as standing in the way of giving voters the chance to eliminate New York City’s barriers to housing, that is their choice and legacy to bear,” City Hall spokesperson William Fowler said in a statement. “But it stands in complete contrast to the Adams administration, which is the most pro-housing administration in city history.”
