New Yorkers Unite to Defeat Mayor Adams’ Charter Amendments;

New York, NY - Today, a group of nearly fifty civil rights and community organizations joined together with city and state elected officials to announce the launch of No Power Grab NYC, a coalition of New Yorkers uniting to defeat ballot propositions 2-6 appearing on this November’s ballot. The coalition is calling on New Yorkers to protect democracy and vote “No” on the proposals, which change New York City’s charter – essentially its constitution – by expanding the mayor’s power and undermining local government’s ability to deliver for New Yorkers.
 
“Mayor Adams appointed a committee of his closest supporters and donors to oversee a rushed charter revision process at the start of summer to intentionally bypass the input of most New Yorkers. He pulled this move to change the city’s charter to increase his power and override the local system of checks and balances. New Yorkers know a dangerous and shady power grab when we see one, and we will fight this at the ballot box in November,” said Mark Winston Griffith, spokesperson for New Yorkers Defending Democracy and the No Power Grab NYC coalition.
 
Over the past 20 years, charter commissions have taken as long as a year to fully consider changing the city’s constitution and engage as many New Yorkers and experts in the process as possible. However, In May, just two months before the deadline to place charter changes on the ballot, Mayor Eric Adams convened a charter revision commission of his staunchest allies, including his top political supporters and donors, to oversee the hastiest revision process in the past two decades and exclude meaningful input from New Yorkers and key experts. The resulting propositions expand mayoral powers and erode New York’s system of checks and balances.
 
“If propositions 2-6 pass, they will take power away from everyday New Yorkers and increase the ability of the current and future mayors to act more like kings than democratically elected officials – giving them more ways to block legislation and initiatives they don’t like, even when it helps New Yorkers. It’s anti-democratic, it’s anti-New York and we must put a stop to Mayor Adams’ power grab by voting no on propositions 2-6 in November,” said Theo Oshiro, Co-Executive Director of Make the Road New York.
 
No Power Grab NYC has also attracted the support of elected officials who are calling the mayor’s charter revision an end run around the City Council’s legislative process.
 
"Mayor Adams has never been shy about putting himself before the needs of everyday New Yorkers,” said City Councilmember Alexa Aviles. “With his unchecked power over these past three years, Mayor Adams has stacked the Rent Guidelines Board with appointees who continue to side with real estate and landlords over tenants choosing to raise rents, and he's cut libraries and parks to give more funding to the NYPD while refusing to fire those who kill, brutalize, and sexually assault our people. He has even gone as far as to issue bogus emergency declarations to block the law banning solitary confinement in jails. The mayor has made dysfunction, nepotism, and siding with special interests all hallmarks of his administration. This power grab will only make things worse.
 
Additional Quotes
 
“As his administration collapses from corruption & mismanagement, Eric Adams is cynically using this ballot process to consolidate more power for himself and to undermine the ability of the City Council to act as a co-equal branch of government and a counterbalance against his worst actions. Everyday New Yorkers — especially low-income, Black and brown New Yorkers — will suffer as a result of this ego trip while the Mayor’s friends and donors will have even greater access and sway in City government. VOTE NO,” said Nick Encalada-Malinowski, Civil Rights Campaign Director at VOCAL-NY.
 
“All New Yorkers should see ballot proposals 2 through 6 for what they are – a thinly disguised power grab by the mayor to weaken our democracy. The proposals would undermine the bedrock principle of separation of powers and make agencies like the NYPD even less accountable to New Yorkers, among their many harmful effects. We need more transparency, oversight and checks and balances, not less. We urge New Yorkers to stand up for our city and vote no on these dangerous measures,” said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union.
 
"New York City is home to over 23,000 street vendor small businesses who generate an estimated $71.2 million in local, state, and federal taxes, and contribute nearly $293 million to the city’s economy. It is disturbing that the Charter Commission has utilized undemocratic, misleading processes to propose voters to expand policing over this essential New York City industry on the ballot in November, comprised primarily of immigrants, women, and people of color, at a time when vendors are already being issued thousand-dollar tickets by armed officers for selling dollar waters," said Mohamed Attia, Managing Director at the Street Vendor Project at the Urban Justice Center.
 
"Mayor Adams' charter revision process and the resulting ballot proposals two through six are nothing more than a blatant power grab born out of corruption, backroom deals and the mayor’s self-interest. New Yorkers must reject these sham proposal, which, if passed, would undermine democracy and give the mayor and NYPD even greater power to detail legislation they don’t like at a time when unconstitutional stop-and-frisk is on the rise, the NYPD is burying hundreds of substantiated misconduct complaints annually, and the administration is finding new ways to criminalize our communities on a daily basis,” said Donavon Taveras, Community Safety Coordinator with Justice Committee.
 
“New Yorkers should vote no on ballot proposals 2 through 6, which came from Mayor Adams’ hastily slapped together Charter Revision Commission that clearly prioritized politics over substance. These proposals will do little to fix the management of the city, distract from real solutions, and make a mockery of the purpose of democratic input from the people,” said Brad Lander, New York City Comptroller.
 
“When voters show up to the polls on November 5, they will have a choice to make - give a chaotic Mayor who abuses his power even more authority- or not. As the last several weeks have demonstrated, Mayor Adams and his team misuse and abuse their power, and everyday New Yorkers suffer the consequences. New Yorkers, the choice is in your hands. We urge all New Yorkers to flip their ballots to yes on Prop 1 to protect our freedoms, and NO on props 2 to 6 to deny the Mayor his power grab,” said Ana María Archila, State and Co-Director of the New York Working Families Party.
 
“New Yorkers’ democratic rights are on the ballot this November, and we can’t let the Mayor dismantle our city’s system of checks and balances. This election cycle, Adams and his allies intentionally slipped in misleading ballot measures to increase their power and help city agencies like the NYPD evade accountability. We’re calling on New Yorkers to flip their ballots and vote no on props 2-6,” said David Siffert, Legal Director of Surveillance Technology Oversight Project.
 
“The Department of Correction continues to torture and kill New Yorkers. This year, despite the Mayor’s efforts to thwart the will of the people, the City Council passed critical laws to curb police abuse and end the use of solitary confinement. The Mayor’s latest efforts to undermine democracy through the proposed charter revisions could make it even harder to enact urgently needed legislation to stop police brutality and stop locking people in deadly jails. Meanwhile the people will continue to suffer,” said Fran Geteles, forensic psychologist and member of the Jails Action Coalition and #HALTsolitary Campaign.
 
“Changing the City’s charter is a serious matter, but Mayor Adams has shown New Yorkers that he is a completely unserious mayor when it comes to transparency, accountability, and public engagement. He’s used the language of public safety to embolden the NYPD and DOC to further violate the rights of New Yorkers, while stubbornly refusing to invest in the things that could actually make our city safer - like expanding access to housing, and funding more mental health programs. Now he wants to use a rushed, sham charter process to ramp up criminalization while making it harder to pass legislation to hold law enforcement agencies accountable and fund essential services. We urge all New Yorkers to reject this dangerous power grab and Vote No on proposals 2-6,” said Darren Mack, Co-Director of Freedom Agenda.
 
“By pushing through propositions without meaningful input from communities most directly impacted by discriminatory and abusive policing, the mayor is continuing his dangerous pattern of putting policing and criminalization over the needs and the safety of everyday New Yorkers. Moves like this are what enables corruption to proliferate at the highest levels. And while Adams continues to hoard power for himself and for the NYPD, Black, Latinx, immigrant and other marginalized communities will be left to suffer the consequences. We must all vote no to prevent that from happening,” said Manny (they/he), Managing Director of Communities United for Police Reform. 

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About No Power Grab NYC
No Power Grab NYC is a grassroots coalition of dozens of civil rights and civic engagement groups from every background and borough uniting to defend democracy at the ballot this November. We’ve come together to call on New Yorkers to vote “No” on Proposals 2-6 - the dangerous and anti-democratic proposals that came out of the mayor’s sham charter revision process. 
 
Background
New York City's Charter is the city’s constitution. The charter defines the organization, powers, functions and essential procedures of NYC’s city government including the power of the mayor and the City Council. 
 
In May, just over two months before the deadline to place charter changes on the ballot, Mayor Eric Adams hastily convened a charter revision commission to increase his power and weaken NYC’s local system of checks and balances. Every person appointed to the committee was one of the mayor’s staunchest allies, including his top political supporters and donors. Together, they oversaw the revision process without meaningful input from New Yorkers or key experts. In the span of two weeks, there were only five public input sessions where only a handful of commissioners attended and rooms were sometimes totally empty before releasing preliminary recommendations for changes to the city’s charter. The time from the first hearing to the final vote was only seven weeks. 
 
No charter revision process in the past two decades has been as undemocratic or rushed as this one. Over the past 20 years, charter commissions conducted business for at least four months, even a full year, to engage as many New Yorkers and experts as possible in the process of revising NYC’s constitution. 
 
Mayor Adams is making a power grab because he doesn't like the City Council having any checks on his power and weaponized the charter process to block the City Council’s advice and consent measure from going before voters at the ballot this fall. So far, with his power, the mayor has stacked the NYC Rent Guidelines Board with his appointees who continue to side with real estate and landlords over tenants and raise already unaffordable rents; he’s cut libraries and parks to give more funding to the NYPD while refusing to fire those who kill, brutalize and sexually assault New Yorkers. He has even gone as far as to issue bogus emergency declarations to block the law banning solitary confinement in jails. The mayor is willing to step on the rights and safety of everyday New Yorkers, and this power grab will make things even worse.