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If You Liked It Then You Shoulda Held A Hearing On It

By Jeffrey B. Cohen

August 07, 2009

The charter revision train to nowhere rolls on.

The secretary of the state says it would be a smart move to scrap the charter revision process and start over.

The attorney who ran the city's charter revision commission and the commission's attorney have told the city that -- in the words of Corporation Counsel John Rose -- "the process was so flawed, that the possibility of a successful challenge is so evident, that the entire process was rendered a nullity."

And so Rose, in a letter, asks the city council: Given that the council failed to hold the proper public hearing, should we put the proposed changes out for a public vote? Or should we not?

Council President Calixto Torres said he's still trying to figure out if there's any possibility of reviving the process. He's not optimistic.

"But given the hard work that people have put into this," Torres said, "we have to explore the possibility."

Democratic Majority Leader rJo Winch said it in six short words: "Dead in the water, I hope," she said.

Which is fine by her -- she didn't think any of the recommendations were of use to anyone other than the "political elites" who were pushing them to begin with. "This didn't need to happen anyway."

Click on the link in the "Related Links" box to see Rose's letter, and other correspondence: