2025 City Charter Revision Commission Report

This is the preliminary staff report of the 2025 New York City Charter Revision Commission. Convened in December 2024, the Commission is charged with reviewing the entire City Charter to identify ways to make City government work better.

Over the past four months, the Commission has heard ideas for Charter reform from experts, practitioners, advocates, and New Yorkers from across the five boroughs. This report reviews what the Commission has heard and recommends areas to explore as the Commission continues its work. Importantly, these recommendations—which come from Commission staff—are not the final recommendations of the Commission or in any way binding on the Commissioners. This report is instead intended to inform the Commissioners and the public as the Commission continues its work.

Read the Executive Summary.

Public Outreach & Public Participation

To this point, the Commission has made extensive efforts to solicit input from New Yorkers across the city and conduct a transparent, accessible public process.

• The Commission has held public input sessions in all five boroughs, including opportunities for virtual testimony. As of the date of publication, the Commission has heard more than 16 hours of testimony and more than 400 New Yorkers have attended the Commission’s public hearings.
• All of the Commission’s meetings and hearings have been public, and the Commission has made recordings of all meetings and hearings available online. The Commission has also posted official transcripts online, and it has partnered with the innovative open government tool citymeetings.nyc to provide the public with easily searchable clips of all public hearings.
• The Commission has published all of its hearing notices, press releases, resolutions, and transcripts on the Commission’s website.
• The Commission has solicited written testimony, and as of the date of publication the Commission has received more than 450 written comments. The Commission has also published all written testimony, on a monthly basis, on the Commission’s website.
• The Commission has offered translation services and provided sign-language interpretation at all public meetings and hearings.
• The Commission has sought to inform the public through the media, including special attention to New York City’s community and ethnic media, as well as through Commission social media accounts.
• Commission staff have worked closely with elected officials and other stakeholders to promote awareness of public hearings and the Commission’s work.