Testimony before the 2010
New York City Charter Revision Commission
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Dr. Lenora Fulani: "…the serious question is not whether we are moving slowly enough. It is whether we are moving quickly enough. How quickly do we need to move? Fast enough to keep up with our young people, who don’t identify with parties and don’t like partisanship. If we don’t, we will pay the price." Read full testimony or view video. |
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Harry Kresky, Esq.: "This Commission … must now, to be true to its mandate and to live up to the standards set by its predecessor and address a structural inequality in how that government is elected. That inequality has to do with the exclusion of 1,398,513 voters from participating in the primary elections where almost all of our elected officials are chosen. " Read full testimony or view video. |
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Bryan Puertas: "Young people like myself… see politicians more concerned with the interests of their party than the interests of the people they have been elected to serve…we see this and increasingly reject politics as usual. We have become more and more independent. Not out of a sense of childish rebellion, but an intuitive understanding that the Democratic and Republican parties do not speak for us." Read full testimony here. Or watch online. |
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Alessandra Kane: "Young voters, who increasingly do not affiliate themselves with either the Democratic or Republican parties aren’t taken seriously when it comes to primaries. Young people, like myself, are told that we are the future of NYC and are encouraged to be involved in the decision making process. I want to ask the Charter Revision Commission to take young people seriously, to take me seriously, and to put non-partisan elections on the ballot so we can have the right to participate and be heard." Read full testimony here. Or watch online. |
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Kenneth Hicks: "I am a staunch supporter of nonpartisan government. Bipartisanship is just a means for the Democrat and Republican parties to both benefit from legislation with a possible tricle down benefit to the American voter. I favor open primaries because I believe one of the things that makes the United States and ideal and envy of the world is what’s supposed to be its efforts toward inclusion." Watch online. |
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Allen Koehler: "This city needs to move forward and catch up with a majority of the major cities around the country and adopt nonpartisan elections. More people identify independent than ever before and that was clear in the previous mayoral election when New Yorkers elected our city’s first independent mayor. Close to 900,000 New Yorkers are not registered with either the Republicans or Democrats and over 750,000 are like me and not registered with a political party. Twenty-five percent of them are, again, like me and under the age of 30." Read full testimony here. Or watch online. |
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Bob Conroy: "New York City is behind in the way it conducts its municipal elections. 41 of the country’s 50 major cities already have nonpartisan municipal elections. Nonpartisan elections were part of a package of reforms advocated by the Progressives in the early 1900’s but New York City missed the boat then. Let’s not miss it now." Read full testimony here. Or watch online. |
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Bryan Puertas, Laiza Garcia, Franceli Chapman, Tracey Thomas: "Since Monday, we have talked with young New Yorkers across the city and 1084 of us have signed an open letter to all of you Commissioners…We want the right to vote in the primaries for City Council, Mayor, Public Advocate and Comptroller." Watch full testimony online. |
