MANY ITEMS DEALT WITH
IN CITY COUNCIL MEETING

hat's in a name? A lot, as the City Council meeting of July 10th showed. Several Bills had to do with renaming departments and 13 different public places. One Bill called for the changing of the name of the Organized Crime Control Commission to the Business Integrity and Anti-corruption Commission. Another asked that the Department of Public Health become the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

One of the renamed streets is Wheeler Ave. between Westchester and Watson Avenues in the Bronx. It is now officially Amadou Diallo Place, named for the unarmed African immigrant who was cut down in a barrage of 41 police bullets in February of 1999.

Another newly named thoroughfare is Harriet Tubman Avenue in Harlem, which runs from West 111^th Street to West 141^st on what was formerly St. Nicholas Avenue. Speaking in favor of this change was Councilman Bill Perkins who said, "This is the first and only major thoroughfare anywhere in the City of New York to be renamed for a woman--especially for a woman of African descent who is being acknowledged for having taken part in freeing enslaved Africans."

Harriet Tubman was in excellent company as another important Resolution was put forward by Councilman Larry Seabrook to declare July Frederick Douglass Month. What better month to honor this outstanding African American orator, journalist, and anti-slavery activist who was bold enough to deliver his address "What to the Slaves Is the Fourth of July?" on July 4th, 1852. In it, he exposed the hypocrisy of this country's pretended love of liberty as it celebrated it's own independence from Britain while permitting the enslavement of Africans.

Commented Seabrook, "Frederick Douglass was a man of great character, distinction, and courage to stand up in a period when slavery and lynchings were the order of the day." He urged everyone to read Douglass' speech because a tremendous amount in it is apropos to what goes on today.

Councilman Al Vann agreed, stating that he always took Douglass as a guide for himself because Douglass stated, "Power concedes nothing without a struggle; it never did and it never will." "It's good to keep that in mind," said Vann.

Another significant Resolution called upon the New York State Legislature to allow taxpayer money to fund tuition vouchers for private and parochial schools--and both Council Members Al Vann and Leroy Comrie stepped up to the plate and spoke strongly against it.

Stated Vann, "I do not think it is in the best interest of the children of the New York City School System to have money siphoned off into special situations, be it parochial or private. We need systemic change; we must find additional resources to strengthen the public school system where most of our children are disproportionately African American and Latino." And he said that the idea should be to provide the best system possible for the most children, not to create small situations which benefit a few.

Comrie concurred. He explained that it's been proven in other municipalities that these schools wind up doing the same or worse for the children as public schools over a long period of time because parents who use vouchers can't afford to pay for the supplemental activities for their children. And he spoke about himself as the child of immigrant parents from Jamaica who wanted to insure that he, whatever school they sent him to, would be educated with every resource possible. "We cannot afford a two-tier system where some are able to obtain knowledge and some are not," Comrie said. "This entire system must be equalized so we educate all of our children in the city, not just a few."

A Bill one would have expected much discussion of was Intro. 238, to amend the New York City Charter in relation to qualifications for the office of Council Member. As it turned out, there was hardly any debate because the Bill enjoyed bipartisan support with 43 Members signing on.

Though the Bill is about altering the term limit law that New Yorkers passed in 1993 by referendum, the most important thing is that it doesn't go against the people's will.

When most New Yorkers voted to limit all citywide elected officials to 2 terms in office, little did they know that, due to the intersection of the 10-year census cycle and the 4-year term for City Council Members, there is an irregularity in the Charter that unfairly limits some Members to only 6 years of service instead of 8. This came about because in order to carry out the necessary redistricting processes and keep the Council on the same election cycle as citywide and borough elections, the 1989 Charter Revision Commission created 2 consecutive 2-year terms every 20 years.

This Bill mandates that the consecutive 2-year terms be considered as one 4-year term, thus permitting an equal 8 years in office for all Members. This is especially important since presently there are 8 members of the Council--5 of them in predominantly Black or Latino districts--who, under the current law, would be reduced to serving only 6 years instead of the full 8.

This 6-year limit for some office holders was never explained to the voters when the term limit law was presented. In fact, using such slogans as "Eight is Enough," the literature, ballot petitions, and public policy discussions were for an 8-year term limit. That is why Council Members, such as James Davis, support this Bill--because they think that instead of going against what the voters wanted, this clarifies it. "I believe when people supported term limits they wanted term limits with fairness," Davis commented. "So I stand united with the others because it's about justice across the board with everyone getting the same 8 years."

All in all it was an interesting, productive Council meeting.