Election Day is just over a week away, on Tuesday, November 3. FRIENDS encourages everyone to vote. Early voting is already underway and runs through Sunday, November 1. Polls are open 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Election Day. Find your poll site and see your sample ballot, which shows every race and question you'll vote on.

Don't forget to turn your ballot over. The five ballot questions are printed on the back, and it's easy to miss them.

For the second year in a row, New Yorkers will vote on a set of City Charter amendments that could reshape how decisions get made in their neighborhoods. This year's five questions come from the Mayor's Commission on Government Efficiency (COGE). They promise a faster, simpler city government, and that is a goal we share. But behind the language of "efficiency" and "streamlining," most of these proposals reduce when and how the public can weigh in. They also move authority away from the City Council and toward the Mayor and City agencies.

Last year, FRIENDS opposed three Charter questions that weakened public review of land use decisions, including the creation of the Expedited Land Use Review Procedure (ELURP). Voters approved those measures. This year's Question 3 would build on them by extending ELURP to the sale of development rights from City-owned landmarks. The pattern is the same: fewer opportunities for public input and less oversight, with no clear public benefit in return.

As these questions head to the ballot, FRIENDS urges the community to stay informed and engaged. Below are this year's questions, the language you'll see on the ballot, and our recommendations.

QUESTION 1: Speed Up Process for Granting a Revocable Consent to Use Public Space
"Simplify process to use public space for uses such as ramps, planters, and cafes, by removing mandatory hearings and Council disapproval of sidewalk cafes, while maintaining community and Council input."

Public hearings would become optional for sidewalk cafes, ramps, planters and other uses of City sidewalks and streets. The City Council would no longer be able to reject sidewalk cafes. Community boards would still be notified, but they'd lose the formal hearing where neighbors can raise concerns before a decision is made. Residents know their blocks better than any agency: where sidewalks are already tight, where a cafe or planter would block the way, and how competing uses add up. Seniors, people with disabilities and everyday pedestrians feel the effects first. Approvals can be made faster through clear design standards and better administration, without removing the hearing. FRIENDS recommends a NO vote.

QUESTION 2: Reduce City Contractor Paperwork; Require Regular Meetings of Procurement Policy Board
"Reduce paperwork for City's contractors by authorizing Procurement Policy Board to simplify contractor questionnaire. Require quarterly meetings of the Procurement Policy Board. Remove mandatory hearing for required client services report."

The Procurement Policy Board could lighten paperwork for smaller contracts, and it would have to meet every quarter. The Mayor's Office could hand approval of some large contracts to individual agencies. The public hearing on agencies' annual human-services contracting plans would be eliminated. FRIENDS takes no position.

QUESTION 3: Speed Up Street Safety Projects, Disposition of Unused City Property, Office Leasing
"Simplify review of street safety projects to reduce construction timelines. Fast track disposition of unused City property with approval from City Planning Commission. Expedite leasing offices used for City workforce."

Question 3 puts three unrelated changes into a single vote: street safety projects, the sale and lease of City-owned property, and office leasing for the City workforce. Each deserves its own debate. Bundled together, a voter can't support one without accepting the others.

Our greatest concern is the property piece. For decades, selling development rights from a City-owned landmark has required full ULURP review and a City Council vote. Question 3 would move many of these sales to ELURP, which ends at the City Planning Commission with no Council approval. Development rights are a public asset. Taken together, City-owned landmarks hold millions of square feet of them. And since the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity zoning changes in 2024, those air rights can be used across a wider area around a landmark, not just next door. A single sale could add height and bulk to nearby blocks with little public notice. On the Upper East Side, City-owned landmarks include the side-by-side firehouse and police station on East 67th Street and the Yorkville Branch of the New York Public Library on East 79th Street.

The rest of Question 3 follows the same pattern. The Department of Transportation could start certain street projects before notifying community boards and local officials. City office leases would no longer go before the City Council or the City Planning Commission. Safe streets and a functioning City government matter, and community input is essential to getting them right. FRIENDS recommends a NO vote.

QUESTION 4: Simplify Building Permitting and Move Waterfront Permitting to Department of Buildings
"Create centralized construction permits hub to simplify permitting. Move waterfront permitting from Department of Small Business Services to Department of Buildings. Allow construction approval by additional Department of Buildings officials."

The Department of Buildings would build a single online system for permits from every City agency by 2030 and could authorize more officials to approve projects. Waterfront permitting would move to the Department of Buildings. FRIENDS takes no position.

QUESTION 5: Set Contribution Targets for Rainy Day Fund to Promote Sufficient Budgetary Reserves
"Set target amount of money to hold in reserve funds, including rainy day fund, to address unexpected financial hardships in future years, and require development of methodology to calculate contributions."

The City would set a reserve goal of 12% of the prior year's tax revenue and publish a plan for reaching it. FRIENDS takes no position.

Read the full proposals and official summaries at NYC Votes.