Mayor wins first step toward term limits extension

At City Hall, City Council members just voted down an amendment to the mayor’s term limits bill that would have required a public referendum before extending term limits, the New York Times’ City Room blog reports. The amendment was voted down 28 to 22 with one council member abstaining.

One of the amendment’s three sponsors was David Yassky, who currently sits on the council’s Education Committee. But most other members of the committee voted against the amendment. Here’s a rundown:

  • Maria del Carmen Arroyo: No
  • Bill de Blasio: Yes
  • Simcha Felder: No
  • Lewis Fidler: No
  • Helen D. Foster: No
  • Daniel Garodnick: Yes
  • Vincent Ignizio: Yes
  • Robert Jackson: Yes
  • Melinda Katz: No
  • G. Oliver Koppell: No
  • Jessica Lappin: No
  • John Liu: Yes
  • Domenic Recchia, Jr.: No
  • James Vacca: No
  • Peter Vallone, Jr.: No
  • Albert Vann: No
  • David Yassky: Yes

The council has now moved on to discussion of the term limits bill itself. Yassky, who had withheld his opinion on the mayor’s term limits grab for weeks, has announced that he will support the bill.