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October 23, 2006
Mayor blasts “three men in a room” as undemocratic; does that apply to AY?
Atlantic Yards Report stumbled upon one item where Atlantic Yards critics and Mayor Mike Bloomberg can agree.
In response to State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver killing the Moynihan Station project:
[Bloomberg] said Friday on his weekly WABC-AM radio appearance:
Why is there a structure at the state level where three individuals basically have a veto over everything? This PC, PSA, whatever the board is that approves it. And I'm not sure why that's constitutional. Maybe somebody wants to look at that. I don’t happen to think that it’s good democracy to give the governor, the speaker of the assembly, and the majority leader in the senate—no matter who they are, whether they agree with me or not—that’s not representative democracy, that’s not letting everybody have a say, because in fact, it isn’t everybody.Host John Gambling suggested that a two out of three vote might be an improvement. Bloomberg responded:
I suppose that would be better… You can argue the governor is elected by the whole state, but then the majority leader and the speaker are representing really only their own districts, and that’s not what I think we should have.But if the PACB passes the Atlantic Yards plan, would Bloomberg appreciate it if project critics question the process? And if he's so concerned about process, how can he countenance any project that is supervised by a state authority and bypasses the City Council, which means local elected officials don’t get a voice?
Maybe someone will ask Bloomberg when he reappears on Gambling’s show next Friday.
Posted by lumi at October 23, 2006 9:13 AM