Quinn Revises Reform Proposal

Christine Quinn just unveiled her new proposal to reform the way the City Council allocates money to community groups.

Under the old plan, which Quinn announced shortly after news broke about the speaker's slush fund, any nonprofit that wanted money from the speaker's fund would have had to go through a "request for proposal" (R.F.P.) process, which would have been awarded by agencies controlled by the mayor's administration. Many Council members felt it took a great deal of power out of their hands.

This proposal targets all member items--worth about $200 million as opposed to the $20 million under the speaker's control--but drops the R.F.P. requirement, which can be daunting for smaller organizations. Instead, the groups will be pre-cleared by the mayor's agencies, but the council will decide how much money they get.

When asked how this differed from the current vetting process, Quinn told reporters, “Often, you put organizations in the budget that you find out later from the agency that there is an issue or a challenge, which slows down the service being delivered to New Yorkers.”

She added, “Often, agencies raise questions later. That is why we want pre-clearance."

In a public statement, Gene Russianoff of NYPIRG applauded the current proposal and said requiring a R.F.P. may have been problematic. "NYPIRG thinks that Council members have raised fair concerns about the possibility of ceding powers to the executive branch," he said.

The reform is part of a package she outlined at an April 11 press conference.