Council Speaker Corey Johnson Image Credit: New York City Council
Follow CityLand on twitter if you cannot watch City Council’s first ever virtual Stated meeting. On April 15, 2020, the New York City Council announced that it will be holding a Stated meeting on Wednesday April 22, 2020 at 1:30 PM. The meeting will be held remotely, a first for the New York City Council. The Stated meeting will be the first since February 27, 2020. The subsequently scheduled meetings were all canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The public will be able to view the meeting in real time through the Council’s website. As part of CityLand’s ongoing commitment to our readers, CityLand will also be “live-tweeting” the first ever virtual Stated meeting. You can follow CityLand on twitter here.
Council Speaker Corey Johnson stated “It isn’t easy to get an 82 year-old legislative body up and running remotely for the first time in its history, but I am proud of the work that the staff put in to make this happen in a secure and publicly accessible fashion,” adding, “I speak for all members in saying we are eager to resume legislating for the people of New York. The coming weeks and months will not be easy for us as a city, but I can guarantee that the Council will do everything in its power to help us weather this difficult time.”
Majority Leader Laurie Cumbo who represents Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Prospect Heights and parts of Crown Heights and Bedford-Stuyvesant said “my colleagues and I are proud of the work we’ve done together so far in the fight against coronavirus and we are excited to get back to passing bills and holding hearings on behalf of New Yorkers…Our constituents need us now more than ever and we are absolutely here for them in this trying time.”
Council Member Karen Koslowitz, who represents Forest Hills, Rego Park and Kew Gardens and is the Chair of the Rules Committee stated “Never in the 82-year history of the NYC Council has there been a more critical time for our city. I wish to salute the Speaker and his staff for placing the Council in a position to move forward with our legislative duties and responsibilities by making remote council meetings technologically possible.”
For New York City-specific COVID-19 updates, the City has established an information site with updates from all major administrative agencies. Agencies include the Department of Buildings, City Planning, Citywide Administrative Services, the Department of Finance and the Department of Transportation amongst others. You can find that page here.
By: Jason Rogovich (Jason Rogovich is the CityLaw Fellow and New York Law School Graduate, Class of 2019)
Do they get hazard-pay for this?