Vallone Wants to Re-Open City Hall Steps And Plaza

If a bill introduced by City Council Speaker Peter Vallone of Queens becomes law, New Yorkers won’t have to be Yankee players to stand on the steps of City Hall.
In a rebuff to Mayor Giuliani who had ordered the barricading of the steps and plaza, the proposed legislation, sponsored by Vallone and other council members, would re-open the space to the public. "You shouldn’t have to win the World Series to reach the City Hall steps," Vallone said. "City Hall in the world’s greatest city and our nation’s first capitol should be a bastion of democracy and free speech, not a cold and isolated place where elected officials work cut off from the people they represent."
The bill would allow gatherings on the steps of groups of fewer than 50 people at any time without a permit. Groups between 50 and 150 would need a permit from the Department of City-Wide Administrative Services, and groups larger than 150 would need special permission from the department’s commissioner.
The plaza in front of City Hall would be open to any number of people at any time.
"It’s a shame we even have to pass this legislation," said Vallone. "It’s mind-boggling that in a free society we would have to pass laws to allow access to public officials."
It’s certainly not the first time the council leader from Queens has locked horns with the mayor. Most recently Vallone spearheaded a push to defeat a referendum on Giuliani’s proposed revisions of the New York City charter, and voters complied by a 3 to 1 margin.
Calls by The Queens Courier to the mayor’s office were not returned by press time.