Frequently Asked Questions
Props 2-6 are a dangerous power grab by Mayor Adams, to take more unchecked power for himself and his interests and away from everyday New Yorkers. The ballot language is vague and misleading – the proposals are intentionally written to seem harmless but if passed, they will weaken our city’s democracy, possibly for generations.
Dangers of Propositions 2-6: If passed, these proposals will:
■ Erode our city’s checks-and-balances and separation of powers, which are essential for democracy and a functional city government - weakening local democracy and taking power away from everyday New Yorkers.
■ Make it harder for the city to deliver for New Yorkers. It creates new ways for mayors to block & derail bills they don’t like without having to explain why, especially laws that provide services and help New Yorkers (e.g. childcare & housing assistance).
■ Give even more unchecked power to the mayor and his interests – including unprecedented special rights to the NYPD and Dept. of Corrections to block transparency & accountability – making us all less safe.
The anti-democratic charter changes will be Proposals 2 - 6 on NYC ballots. Their titles will seem innocent - but as a group, they will erode checks-and-balances, give mayors new ways to interfere with legislation they don’t like, make it even harder to pass legislation that helps New Yorkers, and make it harder to hold police accountable.
Don’t forget to flip your ballot and Vote No on Props 2-6!
We need everyone to help get the word out, to vote NO on Props 2-6! Tell your friends, family and neighbors to vote NO on Props 2-6. Follow us on social media (@nopowergrabnyc) and share our posts (sample posts here)-- and create your own! If you’re part of an organization that wants to endorse, fill this form out and someone from the No Power Grab NYC campaign will be in touch!
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We all want a clean city – but Prop 2 won’t make our city cleaner. The Sanitation Dept. already has authority to clean streets & the city has already moved forward on requiring disposal of waste in containers (containerization). Prop 2 is a stealth & inhumane attack on small businesses and vendors, who are already over-policed by multiple agencies. Prop 2 purposely hides that the main change that will result is a new, layer of criminalizing small businesses that are part of the foundation of NYC’s economy.
Vote “No” on Props 2-6.
Sounds harmless (& boring!) but the truth is that Prop 3 erodes separation of powers & weakens checks-and-balances in NYC government while wasting money on duplicative and redundant fiscal reviews that are already part of the process. It creates new ways for mayors to block and derail legislation they don’t like, while giving them bureaucratic cover so they don’t have to say why they oppose popular programs like childcare and housing assistance.
Prop 3 makes the city’s budget process even less transparent and permanently delays budget deadlines for the mayor – cutting the time New Yorkers and oversight bodies have to analyze and respond to mayoral budget proposals (e.g. cuts to libraries and pre-K).
Vote “No” on Props 2-6.
Prop 4 erodes separation of powers & weakens checks-and-balances. It gives more unchecked power to the mayor and creates new, special rights for the Dept. of Corrections & the NYPD to block transparency and accountability for officers who are corrupt or violent – which makes all of us less safe.
Vote “No” on Props 2-6.
Prop 5 is useless, misleading, and created in bad-faith. The Mayor’s charter commission falsely claimed Prop 5 was based on a recommendation from the city’s Comptroller (the city’s top financial executive) – but the Comptroller refuted that, saying that Prop 5 is a “transparently false attempt to lend credibility to a meaningless measure”. Prop 5 only covers the 1% of city infrastructure that’s already been approved (which means we already have capital planning information) – there is no new transparency from this measure.
Vote “No” on Props 2-6.
Prop 6 is a collection of three totally unrelated items and claims to support Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (MWBEs), but really only renames and largely restates the role of a mayoral office. **This gives the illusion of change without additional concrete support for MWBEs. **
Vote “No” on Props 2-6.
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