New York, NY —
BLOOMBERG: I'm pleased the majority of the City Council voted to give the public a bigger choice, more people to select from. Anyone who wanted to run before can continue to run. I plan to run.
HOST: Mayor Bloomberg is getting ready to run for another four years in office, but first he plans to reach out to those who opposed his bid to extend term limits. It was one of the most controversial pieces of legislation before the Council in recent memory. It passed 29-to-22, but not before Council members had their say. WNYC's Kathleen Horan recaps some of the drama at City Hall.
REPORTER: In the packed Council chambers, members addressed the floor, making passionate speeches championing and denouncing Mayor Bloomberg's bill. Nearly every onlooker crammed into the room held a pad filled with slash marks - keeping tallies of the votes for and against. When someone who was thought to be against the bill voted for it, everyone would feverishly scribble in their notebooks. Speaker Christine Quinn, who brought the mayor's bill to the floor, defended the extension of term limits by saying it was increasing voter choice.
QUINN: Make no mistake. I believe that our great city will get through these challenges and emerge stronger than ever before. I also believe that in challenging times like these, the voters should have the choice — the choice to continue their current leadership. They should have the right to vote for the current mayor, or a new one, for their current City Council member, or a new one. That is exactly what is at stake today.
REPORTER: Quinn added that voters will make their choices in the voting booth - and they have the ultimate say. But once the vote was taken and the measure passed - the anger of many who spilled out into the corridors of City Hall seemed hot enough to touch.
NEW YORKERS: ...Quinn is a sellout - Democracy is for sale in the city...
REPORTER: Rosalino Delgado from the Bronx was one of the fired-up hecklers. She says she waited for hours last week to testify during the public hearings and felt ignored when her Councilman James Vacca voted to pass the measure.
DELGADO: Just this afternoon he went from no to undecided and he votes yes. It's a joke, a shame to New York.
REPORTER: One of the no votes - Queens Councilman Tony Avella - said he wasn't surprised some of his fellow Council members changed their votes at the last minute. But he says the fight over term limits is far from over.
AVELLA: There will be some legal challenges but the final effort, the final fight will be to vote everyone who voted for this out of office - and that includes the Mayor."
REPORTER: Another no vote came from Brooklyn Councilman Charles Barron. Not known for mincing words, Barron commented that some of yesterday's most rousing speeches didn't happen in the Council chambers at all.
BARRON: The arm-twisting won't be told on the floor, the threats won't be told on the floor. You didn't hear what really happened. What you heard is the politicking of the situation.
REPORTER: Former councilman and mayoral hopeful, Congressman Anthony Weiner had a quick retort when asked if the Council's passage of the bill weakened the body as a whole.
WEINER: Look, I may be the beneficiary of a weakened City Council.
REPORTER: Weiner is now looking at a run for mayor against the incumbent, Michael Bloomberg. For WNYC, I'm Kathleen Horan.