Overruled again!
City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams bluntly told lawmakers to ignore the Adams administration’s attempt to change how they communicate with city agencies — in the latest spate between the two branches of city government.
Speaker Adams, no relation to the mayor, informed the City Council Wednesday afternoon that City Hall provided “no official communication” on the new policy.
Even if they did, she added, the legislative body “will not be adhering to this excessively bureaucratic and inefficient process that only undermines the work of city government on behalf of New Yorkers.”
“I encourage your offices to go about your business on behalf of your constituents and New Yorkers, as usual,” the speaker said in an email to lawmakers. “If you or your staff have issues getting responses from agency staff, I recommend that you call the Commissioner and/or any other executive staff to address these issues.”
The sharp rebuke from the speaker comes just a day after it emerged the Adams admin was trying to force lawmakers to fill out a two-page form requesting meetings or events with city agency reps.
Council members raged about the process, which they argued would lead to delays in helping their constituents.
Some believed it would be used to punish lawmakers who didn’t back the mayor and his administration.
City Hall and the Council have been locked in a petty back-and-forth for months since butting heads on a pair of bills, one banning solitary confinement and another requiring cops to log nearly every official encounter, dubbed the How Many Stop Act.
At one point, the mayor’s deputy chief of staff, Menashe Shapiro, went as far as to shut off the lights and try to kick reporters out of chairs during the speaker’s press conference in City Hall on Jan. 22.
The mayor also uninvited several council members to public announcements in response to the override.
“Wasn’t it just a short time ago when some wise folks told us that filling a simple form was no big deal?” Shapiro fired back on social media, appearing to reference the speaker’s statement.
The tweet by Shapiro was deleted later in the day.
City Hall said the administration is “working every day to deliver on our vision for a better New York.”
“With 300,000 employees serving more than 8.3 million New Yorkers, we must ensure that we have the right processes in place to streamline our services and maximize our resources, just like any other large organization would,” read a statement from City Hall.
“Several elected officials — including councilmembers — are already effectively using this process, and, as the mayor said today, we are confident that this will allow city agencies to better coordinate their efforts and more efficiently use their time.”
