By Howard Weiss | May 20, 2026 | NYC In Focus · Accredited Press
The city is opening public hearings on possible Charter changes touching elections, housing, land use, hate crimes and elected officials’ pay.
Official city records reviewed by NYC In Focus show that New York City’s Mayoral Charter Revision Commission has scheduled a new round of public hearings on potential changes to the City Charter — the rulebook for how city government actually works.
The hearings are scheduled across four boroughs: the Bronx, Brooklyn, Staten Island and Queens. The notice says the Commission is reviewing the entire City Charter, with staff-recommended issues including nonpartisan elections and open primaries, housing and land-use reforms, initiatives involving antisemitism, hate crimes and protester interference with houses of worship, and limits on elected officials raising their own salaries during their current terms.
That is not small-print government housekeeping. That is the machinery of city politics, elections, development and public accountability being put back on the table.
What’s Happening
The Mayoral Charter Revision Commission will take testimony from the public on possible changes to the New York City Charter. The notice says the Commission is reviewing the full Charter, not just one narrow section.
The staff-recommended areas listed in the notice include election changes, housing and land-use reforms, hate-crime and protest-related issues, and restrictions on elected officials increasing their own pay while already in office.
In plain English: this is the kind of public process that can shape who gets elected, how land-use fights move, how housing policy is written and how much power elected officials have over their own compensation.
Public hearing schedule:
Bronx hearing
Wednesday, May 27, 2026
7:00 PM
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
1300 Morris Park Avenue, Bronx, NY 10461
Brooklyn hearing
Tuesday, June 2, 2026
6:30 PM
God’s Battalion of Prayer
661 Linden Boulevard, Brooklyn, NY 11203
Staten Island hearing
Tuesday, June 9, 2026
6:30 PM
Staten Island JCC
1466 Manor Road, Staten Island, NY 10314
Queens hearing
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
6:30 PM
Glow Community Center
133-29 41 Avenue, Flushing, NY 11355
The Big Items on the Table
The notice identifies several issues recommended by Commission staff for consideration. The first is nonpartisan elections and open primaries — a potentially major change in a city where Democratic primaries often decide the final outcome before November even arrives.
Another listed issue is housing and land-use reform. That is where the “not in my backyard” fights usually live: rezonings, density, affordable housing, neighborhood review, Council power and the long pipeline between a proposal and a final vote.
The Commission is also looking at initiatives to address antisemitism, hate crimes and protester interference with houses of worship, according to the notice.
And then there is the item many New Yorkers will understand immediately: prohibitions on elected officials raising their own salaries during their current term in office. Nothing gets people reading city paperwork faster than elected officials and their own paychecks.
The quiet part is that Charter changes can reshape city government long before most voters realize the rulebook is being rewritten.
How the Public Can Weigh In
The hearings are open to the public under New York State Open Meetings Law. Members of the public who want to speak are encouraged to arrive early to sign up.
The notice says speakers will be given up to two minutes to testify. Written testimony may also be submitted to the Commission, care of Dechert LLP, pro bono counsel to the Mayoral Charter Revision Commission, at Three Bryant Park, 1095 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10036.
Two minutes is not a lot of time. But in a Charter process, a focused two minutes can still matter — especially if enough people show up before the decisions are already packaged.
Also Buried in Today’s Records
The Charter hearings were not the only civic item worth watching in today’s public records.
Home improvement contractors now face new permit-disclosure rules.
The Department of Consumer and Worker Protection adopted rules requiring home improvement contractors to disclose, in writing, whether permits are expected for the work, who is responsible for getting them, estimated fees and how owners can verify permit status through city databases.
City Council land-use items are moving too.
The Council’s Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises scheduled a May 27 hearing that includes DeWitt Clinton Park North items in Manhattan and a Monitor Point / 56 Quay demapping item in Brooklyn’s Community District 1.
This is the pattern: election rules, housing fights, contractor rules and land-use changes all move through public notices first. By the time most people hear about them, the process is already well underway.
What This Actually Means
Charter revision sounds boring until you remember that the Charter decides how New York City governs itself.
If the Commission eventually advances ballot proposals, voters could be asked to approve changes affecting elections, housing, land use or elected-official pay. The notice does not say which proposals, if any, will ultimately make it to voters.
But the public process is open now. And in New York City, the best time to pay attention to a rule change is before it becomes the rule.
Source note: This story is based on official public notices and city records reviewed by NYC In Focus, including the May 20, 2026 notice for the Mayoral Charter Revision Commission, City Council hearing notices and agency rule notices.
