Release #225 -99

Contact: Sunny Mindel/Samantha I. Lugo 212-788-2958

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani today announced that the New York City Charter Revision Commission will be convened and that former Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro will serve as Chair. Fourteen other business and civic leaders will serve on the Commission. The City Charter Revision Commission is mandated to review and make recommendations to improve the City Charter.

"The goal of this Commission is to make New York City government more efficient and better organized and more responsive to the public's needs. In order to ensure that New York City government remains responsive and efficient, the Commission will explore issues that will be vital to the health and prosperity of the City of New York in the new millennium. Once again, we have an opportunity to improve the Charter and enhance City government's ability to function more effectively," Mayor Giuliani said.

The New York City Charter Revision Commission members are:

• Randy Mastro - Chair; former Deputy Mayor; Co-Partner-In-Charge, New York Office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.
• Amalia V. Betanzos - President, Wildcat Services Corporation; former member of New York City Board of Education; former Chair of the New York City Commission on the Status of Women; member of a previous Charter Revision Commission.
• Abraham Biderman - Executive Vice President, Lipper & Company, L.P.; former New York City Housing Commissioner and Finance Commissioner; member of a previous Charter Revision Commission.
• Karen Boykin-Towns - Manager of State Corporate Affairs, Pfizer.
• Ken Caruso -Managing Partner, New York office of Shaw Pittman
• Paula Dagen - Principal, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter.
• Carl Figliola - Professor of Public Administration, Long Island University.
• Imam El Hajji Izak-El Mu'eed Pasha - Malcom Shabazz Mosque, Harlem; first Muslim Chaplain, New York City Police Department.
• Lisa Lehr - West Side Community Activist; Police Community Relations Board, West Side, Manhattan.
• Herb Rubin- Partner, Hertzfeld & Rubin; member of a previous Charter Revision Commission.
• Mary C. Sansone - Founder and Executive Director, Congress of Italian-American Organizations, Inc.; member of a previous Charter Revision Commission.
• Richard J. Schwartz- Former Senior Advisor to the Mayor, President and CEO of Opportunity America LLC .
• Tosano Simonetti - Executive Director of Security, McAndrews & Forbes; former First Deputy Commissioner, New York Police Department.
• Spiros A. Tsimbinos - Law Offices of Spiros A. Tsimbinos; former President of the Queens County Bar Association; former Legal Counsel, Chief of Appeals, Queens County D. A.'s Office; member of a previous Charter Revision Commission.

Under state law, the Mayor of New York City is empowered to create a charter review commission. The Commission will conduct public hearings in all five boroughs. The electorate must vote to approve any Charter amendments proposed by this Commission. The most recent Charter Revision Commission amendments were voted on as part of the November 1998 general election.