Submitted by ctnutmegger t3_10mm3pa in nyc
oreosfly t1_j63zxq1 wrote
Reply to comment by mp0295 in NY attorney general weighs in: Harlem truck depot could be illegal by ctnutmegger
There is no law or policy on the books that gives her a veto. The City Council has a practice called “member deference” where the City Council votes in line with how the affected district’s member votes. Since this project is in KRJ’s district, the Council votes the way she votes. The practice exists solely because of tradition.
Each member of the city council has an effective veto on projects in their district due to this practice. Think of it as a back room deal between Council members - “I won’t mess with your district if you don’t mess with mine’s”.
mp0295 t1_j64ensg wrote
Thank you for the explanation. Seems like a tradition that should be thrown away -- gives individual wackos too much power, especially when most people don't know who their council person is.
TonyzTone t1_j64vvsi wrote
>gives individual wackos too much power
Actually, our elections did that.
Member deference might compound the issue but the tradition exists because the city is very large and each member understands that they might not know what's best for a district across the city. Council districts aren't very large so each member should know their district intimately. And some do.
What might be a huge neighborhood issue might not even register on the city's priority list. That's exactly why having a chief neighborhood advocate in the council is so important.
KRJ just massively fucked up here. I don't quite get her thinking, and yes, it's also rippled into a broader city-wide problem.
Empty_Economist t1_j6594xq wrote
That's an argument for why representative process is important, i.e. give people a chance to voice their concerns, not an argument for why we need to give councilors veto power.
TonyzTone t1_j664883 wrote
It's not veto power. The Council has overruled a member's preference before.
It's an understanding among the CM's that they don't know your district well enough so, they defer to your lead. This happens in any organization all the time. One silo might opine on something but ultimately defer on the silo that knows the issue most intimately.
Needs0471 t1_j64kymn wrote
Fwiw, this case has led the leadership of the council to warn members that member deference isn’t inviolable and that they’ll consider asking the council to ignore local members if they’re being unreasonable. There are reasons that councilmember have found compromises on locally controversial projects in the Bronx and queens since this went down.
Pretty sure the council speaker has basically also sidelined any of KRJ’s legislative priorities.
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