The Power of the New York City Mayor

New York Mayor Series: Part One

The immense powers held by the Mayor of New York today would make Robert Moses blush.

Some examples of Michael R. Bloomberg’s eight-year impact on New York City are the smoking and trans-fat ban, increasing property taxes, and opening up Times Square to pedestrians. In any other large city in the world, such a list of accomplishments would be unheard of.

Based on the New York City Charter and several articles I have read, I have identified - what I believe - to be the three most important powers of the Mayor:

1. The appointment and removal of heads of departments

Arguably the most important job of the mayor is to name the deputy mayors and officers of the 10 departments. These officers, who are not democratically elected, have the immense power to shape and control life in New York City.

The mayor also has the power to remove any officer as he sees fit. As stated in the charter, the mayor may “remove from office any public officer holding office by appointment from a mayor of the city.”

In the mayor’s role as magistrate, he essentially controls the finances of New York City through the deputy mayor for economic development. Except for a stipulation where he must work with the comptroller to determine obligation terms, he can exercise powers of the finance board without regard to provision of law.

2. The ability to create or abolish bureaus, divisions, or positions within the executive office.

The charter does not define bureau and department roles, so it is up to the mayor to decide what they do. If he so wishes, entire departments can be removed and new ones created.

In addition to being able to use executive power to remove positions, he can also require that information obtained by city employees be kept confidential.

Both being able to create departments and hide information from the public could be seen as undemocratic, but also as a source of strength for the mayor. Following most definitions of democracy, the powers of the mayor here enter some questionable territory.

3. Power to coordinate the criminal justice system

The mayor is in charge of appointing the coordinator of criminal justice, another position that greatly affects New Yorkers. The coordinator advises and assists the mayor in planning operation in criminal justice activities. This position is also limited in its description, stating, “[the coordinator will] perform such other duties as the mayor may assign.”

In Bloomberg’s eight years, he has overseen NYPD spying on protests and social and political gatherings. He also continued his predecessor’s crackdown on so-called quality-of-life crimes. Both of these activities disproportionately target the poor.

Decisions that will affect 8 million people are largely in the hands of one man, the mayor, making it one of the most powerful positions on Earth.