Yet, as worrisome as these provisions were, they still left a promising commission in place after 2019.
But critics like Mr. Sankaran and a host of children's law groups say the needed changes should not be left to a commission to regulate but should be written into federal or state laws.
His suite, written in 1930 for Paul Wittgenstein (the pianist who lost his right arm in World War I and as a result left a legacy of works he commissioned for the left hand), shows both his musical chops and his ear for a good melody and a contemporary flavor.
Scott O'Malia, left, a Republican member of the commission, said his agency was rewriting its so-called position limits rule, among others, to account for the regulation's economic impact on the financial industry.
Ms Walter's promotion has left an empty seat on the commission, which means it is currently split evenly between Republicans and Democrats.A number of names have been leaked as a possible replacement.
Matters were not helped when the Czech government lost a confidence vote midway through its six-month presidency of the European Union, leaving a lame duck European commission.
But he retreated from this in a compromise with Mayor John F. Street, a Democrat, that left the commission with the power to try to turn around a system in which 7 out of 10 students are from impoverished families and 2 out of 3 students read well below their grade level.
It also may leave a sharply understaffed and gridlocked commission in her wake.
Soon after she left the commission, Ms. Gramm became a well-paid director of Enron.
The landmarks commission's role is not to lock New York's architectural history in aspic, said Stephen F. Byrns, an architect who left the commission last year after completing his term.
