How to Avoid Becoming 'A Punching Bag for the Public'

City Councilwoman Diana Reyna of Brooklyn doesn't think it's an accident that a vote on whether to extend or abolish term limits will fall to the City Council, and not the public.

The legitimacy of the change, if it passes, would be “undermined” by the fact that “public input was removed by purposely exhausting the deadline for a referendum,” she said.

Had there been a referendum, it would have most likely been proposed by the charter revision commission Michael Bloomberg discussed in his State of the City speech, but that group was never empaneled.

“Now, the only option is legislation,” Reyna said. “I do not want the City Council to be a punching bag for the public.” Reyna said she’s already hearing callers to radio shows say things like, “How could the Council do this?"

"The charter commission could have ruled on this by September 4th,” Reyna said.

She also sought to ease public objections to term limits. “Just because there’s an extension doesn’t mean the same people will stay in office,” she said, although she added that it's unlikely an incumbent would lost their seat solely because of their vote on term limits.

Reyna told me it's too early to discuss the next City Council speaker.