These bad NYC ballot props feel like home

But why are these props on my ballot?

When you got your 2024 NYC ballot, you might have been surprised that there was more stuff to vote on on the back. You might have thought:

Wait, why are these props so bad? 

Like why does one prop do 3 unrelated things that I feel unprepared to weigh in on: adding the Chief Business Diversity Officer to the city charter, authorizing the Mayor to designate the office that issues film permits, and combining archive boards???

That’s like my boss being like: “I want you to weigh in on something. Should we move to unlimited vacation, consolidate two teams, and get rid of Asana? Yes or no to all three.”

If you’ve ever lived in California, you’re used to super long ballots, and usually a prop about dialysis. Every time you vote, you think: “Am I qualified to weigh in on the size of chicken cages? Don’t I elect qualified candidates to learn about the issues and represent me?”  And if you’ve ever lived in San Francisco, you’re used to dueling propositions where a city councilmember backs one prop and the mayor backs another that does exactly the opposite (fun example). 

I grew up in California and lived in San Francisco for 5 years before moving to New York. So these bad 2024 NYC ballot proposals feel like home. 

But I get why CA voters get so many props. It’s because anyone can get a prop on the ballot if they can raise ~$11M, which is up from just ~$2M in 2015. In SF, it’s a mix of bonds, city charter changes, and groups popping out of the woodwork to take the city’s problems into their own hands. I get where the CA and SF props come from.

Where do these bad NYC props come from? 

The bad NYC props stem from a different cause. They’re just one battle in a larger war for influence within City Hall. They’re a defensive move against an attack on mayoral power. Back in May, the Speaker of the City Council took a shot at the Mayor by preparing legislation that would curb the Mayor’s power to appoint key officials. The only way for the Mayor to block that move was to create a Charter Revision Commission to put forth its own ballot proposals. These bad ballot proposals.  

I’m voting no on Props 2-6. They’re bad policy based on bad process. I’m voting yes on Prop 1— that one followed a totally different process since it’s a change to the state constitution. Prop 1 would enshrine reproductive rights in the State constitution and protect all New Yorkers–regardless of identity or status–against discrimination.

Even though I’m voting no on Props 2-6, I agree with the mayor’s move to maintain mayoral power over appointments. The speaker’s proposal would have required the mayor to obtain Council approval on 21 commissioner-level appointments. The thinking here is that the Council can stop the mayor from providing patronage appointments— giving individuals high level jobs in exchange for their political support or loyalty. The goal would be to provide a check on mayoral power. But the flip side of the policy is that it chips away at our strong mayor system. The idea behind a strong mayor system is that the mayor is the executive responsible for city operations. We should let executives appoint the leaders they think will do the best job toward their strategy. If the mayor fails to deliver, we can vote the mayor out.

San Francisco’s governance is an example of what can happen when a strong mayor system turns into a weak mayor system. The mayor of San Francisco controls 12 departments, while the Board of Supervisors controls 16. Willy Brown, who was SF’s mayor 1996 to 2004, has said: "I was certainly the last mayor that had the authority to be the mayor”. Many in San Francisco point to the structural problems with the mayoral office as a core cause of the city’s issues with crime, sanitation, and land use. Which is why San Francisco is voting explicitly on mayoral control this November: SF’s Prop D would cut the number of city commissions and give the mayor sole authority to appoint and remove city department heads. I’ll be interested to see how SF nets out. For now, New York City still has a strong mayor system.