(The Center Square) – New York City voters approved five referendum questions on Tuesday’s ballots aimed at streamlining city government, in a win for Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his legislative agenda.
The ballot questions, which ranged from proposals to cut red tape associated with creating bike lanes in the city, to expanding outdoor dining options and hiring city contractors, passed Tuesday with an average of 65% of the vote, according to unofficial results from the city Board of Elections. Another referendum setting contribution goals for the city’s rainy day fund was approved by about 72% of the vote.
Mamdani issued a statement thanking Big Apple voters for approving the ballot questions, telling them they “voted for a government that moves as fast as they do.”
“From opening outdoor dining faster to speeding up street safety projects to accelerating housing production, we are cutting red tape that will directly address the affordability crisis and help New Yorkers stay in the city they love,” he said in a statement. “Now comes the work of turning these votes into results.”
The questions were approved by Mamdani’s hand-picked 15-member Commission on Government Efficiency, or COGE, which he created earlier this year to review the city’s charter and solicit public feedback on potential charter amendments. The new panel disbanded a charter review committee set up by former Mayor Eric Adams on his last day in office.
The democratic socialist mayor has said the commission – inspired in part by Elon Musk’s now-defunct Department of Government Efficiency – will be taking “a hard look at how city government functions and identify the reforms we need to deliver faster, smarter and more effectively for working people.
Adams created his Charter Revision Commission on his final day as mayor after choosing not to seek reelection last year. He tasked it with crafting a referendum for the November ballot to create an open primary system in local elections. The move was viewed as an effort to undermine his successor by making it difficult to seek reelection in 2029. But the effort failed.
Gov. Kathy Hochul and Democratic legislative leaders gave Mamdani the authority to disband Adams’ “zombie” chart review commission and create his own panel with a provision tucked into the state budget.
Ann Cheng, COGE’s executive director, said the proposals crafted by the commission were based on input from members of the public who expressed frustrations with the often slow pace of city government.
“In hearing after hearing, briefing after briefing, conversation after conversation, we heard that New Yorkers – from those who depend on City services to the City workers who deliver them – want government to work faster,” she said in a statement. “I look forward to seeing how these changes will improve the lives of working New Yorkers.”
