City & State New York 031119 by City & State

NYCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S TOP 10 LOBBYISTS AOC FOR MAYOR!

Put a socialist in Gracie Mansion

How the

Cops Handcuffed de Blasio

FROM RUNNING ON POLICE REFORM TO BECOMING THE NYPD'S APOLOGIST-IN-CHIEF

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March 11, 2019

SUMMIT 03 . 21 . 19

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ENCOUNTER 226 W 44TH ST, NEW YORK, NY 10036 City & State’s Diversity Summit will offer industry executives, public sector leaders and academics a full-day conference dedicated to fostering business partnerships between the state and local government, prime contractors and MWBEs. PANEL TOPICS: THE FUTURE OF MWBES IN NEW YORK FUNDING AND RESOURCE OPPORTUNITIES FOR SMALL BUSINESS BECOMING A PART OF NEW YORK’S BIGGEST MWBE PROJECTS DIVERSITY IN GOVERNMENT, BUSINESS, TECH AND HEALTH CARE RSVP at CityAndStateNY.com/Events For more information on programming and sponsorship opportunities, please contact Lissa Blake at lblake@cityandstateny.com

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March 11, 2019

City & State New York

CELESTE SLOMAN; ED REED/MAYORAL PHOTOGRAPHY OFFICE

EDITOR’S NOTE

JON LENTZ Editor-in-chief

LAST WEEK, the Legal Aid Society published a database of lawsuits filed against members of the New York City Police Department. The so-called CAPstat database takes direct aim at the shroud of secrecy surrounding NYPD disciplinary records. Take Daniel Pantaleo, the police officer at the center of the 2014 death of Eric Garner. It was Pantaleo who put Garner in a chokehold, even as Garner complained that he couldn’t breathe. Yet it took a year or longer for records of past misconduct by Pantaleo to emerge. DNAinfo reported in April 2016 that Pantaleo previously made an “unauthorized frisk without legal authority” but received a light punishment – and that the NYPD appeared to delay posting the details. Within weeks, the police department abruptly stopped posting any updates about officers – disciplinary or otherwise – arguing that doing so violated a state law known as Section 50-a. The debate over 50-a has been a headache for Mayor Bill de Blasio, who promised to hold the NYPD accountable but found himself defending its increasing lack of transparency. De Blasio called on the state to change the law, which Gov. Andrew Cuomo suggested was hypocritical. But while the governor has signaled he’s open to changing 50-a, it’s nowhere to be found among his proposed criminal justice reforms – meaning that for reformers, CAPstat may be as good as it gets.

CONTENTS

ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ … 6 Would the political superstar run for mayor?

DE BLASIO AND THE POLICE … 8

Why the mayor won’t stand up to the NYPD CRIMINAL JUSTICE … 16

What Albany’s doing to give suspects a fair chance

BAIL REFORM … 18

How should judges decide who’s “dangerous”?

TOP LOBBYISTS … 21

Meet the leaders of NYC’s most successful firms

WINNERS & LOSERS … 38 Who was up and who was down last week

CityAndStateNY.com

The

March 11, 2019

Latest CONFLICT MEDIATION IN THE CAPITOL When Cuomo and the state Legislature put forward vastly different revenue projections for the upcoming state budget – lawmakers estimated a whopping $900 million more than the governor – state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli stepped in for some conflict mediation. Revenue projection falls to him in the case of a dispute. DiNapoli ultimately pegged revenue at just $190 million more than Cuomo’s estimate, a sum that for now will be counted as reserves as spending talks pick up.

THE BATMAN New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson proposed a plan to put control of the city’s transit system back into municipal hands. As a supplement to his transit-themed State of the City address, Johnson released a lengthy report detailing how this could be done, dubbing the hypothetical new oversight entity Big Apple Transit, or BAT. Such a move would require approval from the state Legislature and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who responded that if the city wants the subways, it simply needs to stop leasing them to the state. But Cuomo – playing the Joker to Johnson’s BATman – added that if the city takes control, it can say goodbye to $10 billion in state funding.

Back & Forth

A Q&A with Assemblywoman

Yuh-Line Niou

The

After months of speculation, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg officially announced in an op-ed on his eponymous website that he will not run for president in 2020. He said that he will instead continue to use his vast fortune to take on President Donald Trump in other ways, targeting climate change and gun control in particular, and plans to spend heavily on the 2020 presidential contest.

Do you ever feel this burden to be “that person?” I’m thinking about the Child Victims Act vote, when four of you got up and told these very personal stories about being sexually assaulted or abused. Women often feel somewhat of a responsibility of personal disclosure. Sure. And you’re right. I think we do feel that responsibility. Not to speak for my colleagues, but we did talk about that after. When I talked about it first was actually in conference of the year before, when they decided not to do the bill – when they were trying to modify it, which I was really concerned about. That’s when I did share, and that’s when we turned the votes. I think people didn’t realize that it affects people daily. You know? And nobody wanted to speak up about it. And that was the first time I talked about it.

Kicker

“If, if, if, if. Call me when we get the fifth if.” – Gov. ANDREW CUOMO, when asked whether he would run for president if Joe Biden decides not to, via The Atlantic

Get the kicker every morning in CITY & STATE’S FIRST READ email. Sign up at cityandstateny.com.

Was it a no-brainer? No, it wasn’t. I was really freaked. It was like the worst feeling, you know? But what can you do? You know that it’s the right thing to do. And I think being a legislator is a lot like that because it’s not always the most pleasant job. You’re not making a lot of money; you’re constantly taking criticism; and you’re under scrutiny for everything, which is part of the job of a public servant. And other people have not always lived up to this position. Literally your seat. It only opened up because of Sheldon Silver’s corruption conviction. Yes! Literally my seat. And on top of that, the environment itself can be very toxic, and women don’t – they just never had that voice at the table.

JOHN MCCARTEN/NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL; DARREN MCGEE, KEVIN P. COUGHLIN/OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR; RBLFMR/SHUTTERSTOCK; CELESTE SLOMAN

The

THE BLOOM IS OFF

MARCHING March 11, 2019

THE FIGHT FOR INCLUSION IN NYC ST. PATRICK’S DAY PARADES

FORWARD

In 2016, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio marched for the first time in Manhattan’s annual St. Patrick’s Day parade, which he had boycotted due to its ban on LGBT groups in the festivities. When those rules changed, de Blasio resumed the traditional role of the mayor marching at or near

MICHAEL APPLETON/MAYORAL PHOTOGRAPHY OFFICE

City & State New York

the front of the parade. On Staten Island, those restrictions still apply. At the parade, held March 3, some local politicians joined in the procession, but Republican Borough President James Oddo and Rep. Max Rose, a Democrat, chose not to attend.

HERE’S A HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY’S EVOLVING ST. PADDY’S DAY PARADES.

1989 1991 1992 2000 2006 2010 2014 2015 2018 2019 Dorothy Hayden Cudahy, a broadcaster, is the first female grand marshal of the New York City St. Patrick’s Day parade.

Members of New York’s Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization are allowed to march and are joined by Mayor David Dinkins.

Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization is banned from marching, and Dinkins and Gov. Mario Cuomo boycott the parade.

St. Pat’s For All, an LGBT-friendly alternative to the main parade in Manhattan, begins in Queens.

New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, a lesbian, boycotts the Manhattan parade.

Ireland President Mary McAleese declines to serve as the parade’s grand marshal, reportedly due to its ban on gay groups.

Mayor Bill de Blasio boycotts the parade. Guinness withdraws its sponsorship.

One LGBT group from NBCUniversal is allowed to march in the parade.

The Staten Island St. Patrick’s Day parade bans an LGBT group.

Staten Island Borough President James Oddo and Rep. Max Rose decline to march in the Staten Island parade.

CityAndStateNY.com

March 11, 2019

AOC for ma COMMENTARY

New York City has never had a female mayor. Why not start with the biggest superstar in politics? BY TOM ALLON

SK ANY POLITICAL insider about the New York City mayoral race in 2021 and they will rattle off four top-tier contenders: Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. But New Yorkers, who never have had a female mayor, might be eager to finally break the glass ceiling at City Hall. And there is one female candidate who would be a formidable opponent to these four heavyweight politicians. Is it Cynthia Nixon? Chirlane McCray? Christine Quinn? Nope, nope and nope. Try Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Could the youngest person ever elected to Congress decide to jump into the next mayoral race? Well, for one thing, it would offer her some executive experience on the way to running for president in 2028, when she will finally be old enough to serve in the Oval Office. If that sounds far-fetched, ask yourself: What if I had told you in 2014 that a thrice married, serial adulterer and hush

money payer would occupy the White House in two years? AOC, the freshman from the Bronx, via Westchester County, has achieved fame in spectacular fashion. Just last May, she was Alexandria who? Now, with her three-letter identity, she joins the political pantheon of FDR, JFK, LBJ and other historical figures so significant that they can be known by just a reverential shorthand. Like FDR’s masterful use of the fireside chat, or JFK’s memorable speeches (“Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.”), AOC has mastered the use of social media to speak directly to millennial voters around the country. Even more impressively, she has advanced extremely bold policy ideas – including a 70 percent top marginal income tax rate on the ultrarich, a “Green New Deal” that eliminates fossil fuel use in 10 years and implementing “Medicare for all” – and she has instantly made these proposals part of the national dialogue. So why would she give up her national platform for local office? She is a junior member of a slow-moving legislative body

that awards power based on longevity. Her ideas have been incorporated into the Democratic presidential policy debate and if someone relatively young and charismatic like U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris or former Rep. Beto O’Rourke becomes president, AOC’s stardom could be eclipsed by her party’s new leader. She also could find the process of working with 434 colleagues in the House of Representatives, 100 senators and the White House to craft compromise legislation that actually can pass to be less gratifying. You get more attention and can stick to your principles more purely when you’re lobbing bombs from outside the tent, rather than nodding in unison on the inside. In two years, when the commute to Washington starts rankling the Bronx bomber, if the camera’s glare starts to dim and the frustrations of being a congressional backbencher start to weigh heavily, AOC may decide that she wants to implement her democratic socialist principles in the most hospitable and high-profile stage in the world: New York’s five boroughs. With a compliant City Council ready to rubber-stamp leftwing proposals, AOC could

implement “Medicare for all” for city residents and order that all city buildings be retrofitted with solar roofs to accelerate New York’s Green New Deal. There is precedent for New York leading the nation in developing such major government programs: FDR’s New Deal was incubated in New York by Gov. Al Smith, who hired Robert Moses to build the country’s first state park

March 11, 2019

City & State New York

LEV RADIN/SHUTTERSTOCK

ayor?

system. Smith worked with the state Legislature in the 1920s to strengthen workers’ compensation and women’s pensions and child labor laws. There is a proud history of members of Congress moving to Gracie Mansion: Fiorello La Guardia – whose stature as a national progressive leader grew significantly during his mayoralty – John Lindsay and Ed Koch all went from Penn-

sylvania Avenue to East End Avenue. It’s a natural progression for ambitious politicians who’d prefer to be an executive rather than a legislator, a much less powerful perch. If he hadn’t gotten caught in multiple sex scandals, former Rep. Anthony Weiner would probably have been elected mayor in 2013. Yes, AOC could eye Gillibrand’s or Schumer’s U.S. Senate seats, but why stop there

term, he had multiple jobs, including as a movie reviewer for a chain of weekly newspapers (my crazy idea in 1990). Former Mayors David Dinkins and Abe Beame disappeared quickly after leaving office. Rudy Giuliani ran for president in 2008, and after a brief moment as the front-runner, his campaign flamed out. Sadly, for his final act, he decided to become the TV lawyer for a reality TV president. Michael Bloomberg has flirted with running for president a few times, but has never decided to actually take the plunge. Current Mayor Bill de Blasio’s efforts to build a national profile and possible presidential campaign have so far been largely unsuccessful. That history may say more about the former mayors themselves than the office. Giuliani couldn’t win the Republican nomination with his record as a pro-choice social moderate with an embarrassing marital history. Bloomberg is too liberal for RepubNew Yorkers have lican primary voters never had a female and probably too conmayor. Why not servative for Demstart with one of the few politicians ocratic ones. Koch so prominent didn’t know when to they’re known by keep his mouth shut, just their initials? especially when he said in a Playboy interview that “it’s wasting your life” to live in the suburbs and mocked rural areas. With a dearth of female leaders in New York City government today – all three citywide elected officials are men – and with a 200-year streak of no female mayors, maybe AOC wants to blaze one more trail. Having knocked off Joseph Crowley, who was then the fourth-ranking House Democrat and Queens County Democratic Party chairman, she has when she can gain vital execu- certainly beaten the odds thus far. Maybe a historic campaign tive experience? There is, however, one argu- for mayor will be just the thing ment against AOC embarking to make her an even bigger milon the road to City Hall: Being lennial hero and role model for mayor of New York City is the women. If nothing else, the rent at biggest dead-end job in America. In recent history, Lindsay Gracie Mansion is a lot cheaper had an aborted run for presi- than keeping two homes in the dent in 1972 and then receded Bronx and Washington. from the spotlight. Ed Koch failed in his run for governor. Tom Allon is City & State’s presiAfter he lost his bid for a fourth dent and publisher.

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CityAndStateNY.com

March 11, 2019

COMMENTARY

WHY THE MAYOR GIVES THE NYPD A FREE RIDE MICHAEL APPLETON/MAYORAL PHOTOGRAPHY OFFICE

Bill de Blasio was supposed to transform policing. What happened?

BY BEN ADLER

N DECEMBER, MANY NEW YORKERS were shocked by a video of NYPD officers ripping Jazmine Headley’s baby from her arms. Her crime? Sitting on the floor of a Brooklyn food stamp office after waiting for hours and getting into a dispute with New York City Human Resources Administration “peace officers.” The video went viral, and was widely circulated by news outlets. Condemnation of the NYPD’s behavior was so ubiquitous, even the New York Post’s right-wing editorial board noted that “the de-escalation training the NYPD rolled out after the fatal 2014 takedown of Eric Garner … clearly didn’t help much here.” While elected officials swiftly denounced the actions of everyone involved, one notable voice declined to criticize the NYPD: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. Several days after the news broke, de Blasio

March 11, 2019

City & State New York

Mayor Bill de Blasio visited police precincts throughout the five boroughs last summer to mark the National Night Out Against Crime.

CityAndStateNY.com

March 11, 2019

De Blasio visits the 78th Precinct’s haunted house in 2017. After initial clashes with police, he has taken pains to repair the relationship.

called the incident “disturbing” but blamed the agency security staffers. “By the time the NYPD arrived, this situation was already out of control,” he said. (Internal investigators at the NYPD found no wrongdoing by its officers.) This was not the first time de Blasio was reluctant to denounce police officers for the use of force on people not even suspected of any serious crimes. In January 2018, in an incident captured on video outside a federal office building near City Hall, protesters who gathered to prevent the deportation of immigrant rights activist Ravi Ragbir were manhandled – put in a headlock, shoved in the throat – and arrested by police, including members of the New York City Council. “Many of us suddenly and without warning or provocation (were) shoved and pushed,” City Council Speaker Corey Johnson said afterward. “I was not blocking anyone. I was not resisting in any way.” The Daily News reported that de Blasio “called the protest a ‘very, very problematic incident’ but would not say whether the NYPD officers involved were in the wrong.” The NYPD defended the arrests on the grounds that the protesters were in the way of an ambulance. (One officer involved was disciplined and one was transferred to a different unit; nine other officers were cleared.) To some of de Blasio’s supporters, incidents like this represent a betrayal of the credo of his first mayoral campaign and the coalition that elected him. Bill de Blasio is mayor today because he won the support of two key constituencies in 2013: African-Americans and liberals. He did so by campaigning against the racial and economic “tale of two cities” that existed under then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Reining in the NYPD’s perceived trampling of civil rights in marginalized communities was at the very top of that agenda. Now, many of the mayor’s usual allies ask why these incidents still happen, why few officers ever seem to pay a price for it and why the mayor’s penchant for starkly moralistic language suddenly evaporates when it’s most sorely

needed. “Mayor de Blasio has had a lot of accomplishments in a lot of different areas – but in police reform, he’s fallen extremely short in my eye,” City Councilman Antonio Reynoso said. By many measures, de Blasio’s tenure has coincided with impressive reductions in police brutality and other intrusive practices. According to City Hall, stop and frisk is down 94 percent since 2013, and complaints of excessive use of force by police officers declined 34 percent from 2014 to 2017. Instances of police discharging their firearms have continued a long-term decline, reaching record lows. By historical standards, and compared to other large American cities, today’s NYPD demonstrates impressive self-control. And yet some liberal leaders have problems with the mayor’s record – including persistent racial disparities in policing, and rollbacks in transparency and accountability. “He’s not willing to be bold, to stand up for police reform and criminal justice reform when he ran on that,” said Alyssa Aguilera, co-executive director of VOCAL-NY, a statewide grassroots low-income advocacy organization. “The police unions have outsized weight and nasty tactics. That’s why it’s important that you have someone who is very principled and not going to make all their decisions on politics. That’s what this mayor was lacking.” Jumaane Williams told City & State during his successful campaign for New York City public advocate that the mayor’s record is a mixed bag. “There is a clear difference between this administration and the last (on policing),” he said. “There have been some very good things that have happened.” But he added, “There are two primary areas where that hasn’t happened: accountability and transparency.” On those issues, Williams said: “The mayor I endorsed in 2013 doesn’t seem to be the mayor I see now.” Why do these critics think de Blasio has failed to reform the NYPD? The answer, which may disappoint progressives even

March 11, 2019

more, is that the reasons depend less on who is mayor than on the structural constraints that any mayor faces.

HE OCCASIONS IN which police kill someone get most of the attention, even though New York City has an relatively low rate of such incidents. But there are lesser-known policy disputes that activists say have allowed the NYPD to continue some aggressive practices in low-income communities and communities of color, for whom de Blasio is supposed to be a champion.

BENJAMIN KANTER/MAYORAL PHOTOGRAPHY OFFICE

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City & State New York

“Mayor de Blasio and the NYPD’s leadership have made a grave error in attempting to appease these (activists). Their goal is the end of any law enforcement in New York City, period.”

THE RIGHT TO KNOW ACT. The most painful fight for activists and progressive legislators was the struggle to prevent cops from intimidating suspects into allowing unwarranted searches. In de Blasio’s first term, a bill to require officers to apprise civilians of their rights, specifically when searched or questioned, languished in the City Council despite having majority support because it was opposed by the mayor. The City Council passed a compromise version, which de Blasio backed, of the Right to Know Act in December 2017, which required police in many situations to explain why they are questioning someone and to let them know when they have the right to refuse to comply with a search. But advocates say that the mayor worked behind the scenes to water down the legislation by creating broad or vague exceptions. “The gutting of the Right to Know Act was heartbreaking and not what we expected,” said Johanna Miller, advocacy director at the New York Civil Liberties Union. “He’s wiping out the bread and butter of most police interactions with the public.” De Blasio’s spokeswoman Olivia Lapeyrolerie replied that the law’s “carefully crafted balance has helped further bridge the police-community divide at the center of keeping neighborhoods safe.” There are also accusations by activists that updates to the patrol guide do not follow the law. According to Joo-Hyun Kang, the director of Communities United for Police Reform, the patrol guide makes it sound as if any public gathering is an exception to the restrictions on bag searches. “In the law, that exception only applies to gatherings where you’re submitting to a search – for example, entering the barricaded section in Times Square on New Year’s Eve,” Kang said. Last year, she told the Daily News that the guide doesn’t make it clear that non-English speakers can’t consent to a search without translation. NYPD spokesman Phil Walzak said at the time: “The NYPD will of course continue to talk to advocates to fine tune the policy as it is implemented and we can assess what’s working and what might be improved.” He later told City & State that the NYPD “fully complies with the Right to Know Act.” Lapeyrolerie said, “Officers are trained on how to work with non-English speaking New Yorkers in the academy.” The law exposes a wide gulf between the views shared by progressive activists and council members and those of many police officers, who contend that the

– PAT R IC K LY NC H, N EW YOR K C I T Y P OL IC E BE N EVOL E N T A SSO C I AT ION PR ESI DE N T civil libertarians make unreasonable demands because they don’t understand policing. “Almost everything they’re calling for is absurd; the Right to Know Act is absurd,” said Eugene O’Donnell, a former NYPD officer and prosecutor who teaches at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “Are you going to have a colloquy with people who are maybe armed and dangerous?” •

50-A. Citing Section 50-a, a 1976 provision of the state civil rights law that prevents the release of officers’ personnel records, the NYPD abruptly stopped making police officer disciplinary actions public in 2016. “It used to be, after a disciplinary hearing, you could find out what happened at 1 Police Plaza,” Kang said. “It was no longer at the clipboard. First, the excuse was they were moving to an electronic system. Eventually, we realized that’s not happening and it became clear through court rulings they were taking a different position going forward.” Despite complaints from advocates, state courts have sided with the administration’s new interpretation of the law, while de Blasio and NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill support the state Legislature revising it to allow more disclosure. “The mayor and police have been clear that this state law needs to be reformed,” Lapeyrolerie said. “But in the meantime, the NYPD has no choice but to comply with the Law Department’s ruling.” Meanwhile, the police unions are offended by the mayor’s call to change the disclosure law. “Reckless efforts to repeal 50-a intentionally ignore the serious statewide impact on policing this would have, not just in New York City, but in Long Island, Westchester, Rockland, Orange, Dutchess and every other county, town and village in our state,” said Sergeants Benevolent Association President Ed Mullins in an emailed statement. “Interestingly, the NYPD supported keeping 50-a in recent litigation that went all the way to the Court of Appeals. The only things that have changed between then and now are leftward-leaning elections, and the mayor’s renewed flirtation with national politics.”

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STRATEGIC RESPONSE GROUP. Advocates say the mistreatment of the Ravi Ragbir protesters in January 2018 occurred in part because policing rallies is now handled by the Strategic Response Group, which was created in 2015. It was initially supposed to be a 350-person unit that de Blasio’s first police commis-

CityAndStateNY.com

sioner, Bill Bratton, said would handle counterterrorism and protests. Activists objected at the time to the conflation of peaceful demonstrations with terrorism, but O’Neill, then the NYPD’s chief of department, said, “They’ll have no role in protests. Their response is single-fold. They’ll be doing counterterror work.” Within a year, the group expanded to 800 members and became involved in nonterrorism-related activities. Last year, the group’s officers responded to 911 calls regarding a mentally ill man in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, named Saheed Vassell who was brandishing what looked like a gun but turned out to be a metal pipe. Officers shot and killed him. Neighbors said that local precinct police would have recognized Vassell and known that he was harmless. Criminal justice news website The Appeal reported, “Days later, during a large march in Brooklyn demanding justice for Vassell, the SRG showed up to try to intimidate protesters.” “What should happen is a re-examination of policies for protests and the (Strategic) Response Group,” Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, told City & State. The NYPD did not respond directly as to whether the unit’s mandate is too broad. “SRG is comprised of highly trained officers that specialize in a range of functions and duties,” Walzak said. Referring to the Ragbir protest from January 2018, Lapeyrolerie said, “This isolated event should not undermine the fact that the NYPD patrols thousands of protests each year without any issue.” Lieberman agreed that there had been a shift from the Bloomberg era, when the city denied permits for

March 11, 2019

rallies, police crammed protest crowds into pens and, during the 2004 Republican National Convention, 1,800 people were arrested – many pre-emptively – leading to millions of dollars in wrongful arrest settlements. “The Bloomberg years began with people being arrested for attempting to attend a rally, with people being held in protest pens that were basically jail cells without a ceiling. I think it’s better now,” Lieberman said. But, she hastened to add: “I’m not saying it’s good.” •

ARRESTS FOR QUALITY-OF-LIFE CRIMES. Perhaps no issue better illustrates institutional resistance to policy change than de Blasio’s struggle to reduce arrests for minor infractions. Arrests are down 37.5 percent from 2013, which is partly because there is less crime but also due to shifts away from arresting every perpetrator of piddling offenses. During his first mayoral campaign, de Blasio said “low-level marijuana possession arrests have disastrous consequences,” explaining the racial bias in marijuana enforcement and calling the policy “unjust and wrong.” In de Blasio’s first year in office, City Hall directed the NYPD to switch from arrests to tickets for most minor pot infractions. Arrests dropped substantially, then leveled off at around 17,000 per year between 2015 and 2017. In 2017, 86 percent of those arrested were black or Latino – roughly the same proportion as it was before de Blasio took office – even though studies show whites and nonwhites use marijuana at similar rates. Politico New York noted last year that de Blasio “has been reticent to criticize the police force”

March 11, 2019

City & State New York

WILLIAM ALATRISTE, JOHN MCCARTEN/NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL

City Councilmen Ydanis Rodríguez and Jumaane Williams – soon public advocate – were roughly arrested at a rally to support activist Ravi Ragbir.

for failing to follow his policy direction. In 2018, the city announced a new policy that would eliminate arrests for smoking pot in public with exceptions, such as encounters with those who are on probation or parole. Williams warned these loopholes would perpetuate racial disparities, and he was right. Pot arrests have subsequently dropped dramatically, but the racial gap has widened. “The culture of the NYPD is really intractable,” said Miller, the NYCLU’s advocacy director. “The Compstat era of the ’90s made cops show they were doing what they were supposed to do with numbers. Every few years, we hear about some precinct commander saying, ‘Go out and get five collars or six tickets with each shift.’ Frivolous arrests are still rampant. And the numbers show that these enforcement actions are falling very disproportionately on communities of color.” The NYPD says it is trying to change that culture, to reward demonstrations of good judgment rather than merely making arrests for its own sake. “For the past four and a half years, Commissioners Bratton and O’Neill have made a forceful and department-wide commitment to redirect the NYPD from what they believed to be a too narrow focus on enforcement numbers by past administrations to a targeted, specific focus on the sources of serious crime and disorder,” Walzak wrote in an email. “One example of this shift can be seen in Compstat meetings, where captains and inspectors are routinely challenged about arrests that do not contribute to public safety – i.e., arrests for smoking marijuana, when the defendant has no criminal record.”

“The mayor I endorsed in 2013 doesn’t seem to be the mayor I see now.” – N EW YOR K C I T Y PU BL IC A DVO CAT E-EL EC T J U M A A N E W I L L I A MS •

“BROKEN WINDOWS.” De Blasio has defended his belief in “the underlying principle” of the Rudy Giuliani and Bloomberg era crackdown on quality-of-life crimes, such as open alcohol containers and loitering, even if the principle was overzealously or incorrectly executed. “There’s been a failure to make a full break with the discredited policies of the past, including ‘broken windows’ policing, which the mayor is a fan of and he should get over it,” Lieberman said. “He should use the bully pulpit of his mayoralty to match the rhetoric of his campaign and recognize broken windows as the ineffective and discredited and divisive theory it is.” But some experts say enforcing quality-of-life laws through respectful community engagement is different from indiscriminately arresting every loiterer or litterer and that de Blasio has struck the right balance. “Broken windows is often confused with zero tolerance,” said Richard Aborn, president of the Citizens

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Crime Commission of New York City, a nonprofit research organization. “Broken windows policing is about maintaining orderly conditions. That shouldn’t be conflated with overpolicing.” To some in communities of color, de Blasio’s promise to end the overuse of stop and frisk was part of a larger philosophical reorientation of policing that would include an end of broken windows policing. But while de Blasio has not lived up to all of those expectations, he has undertaken some efforts to make policing less antagonistic. In 2015, the NYPD launched a neighborhood policing initiative to repair relations with communities. It also professionalized its school safety agents and just began a pilot program to bring neighborhood policing into schools, which have experienced an almost 30 percent decrease in major crimes over the past five years.

March 11, 2019

De Blasio with NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill. The mayor can’t afford to alienate police too much; if cops stop working, crime goes up.

IKE THE MILITARY, the police are a powerful constituency because of the esteem in which they are held by much of the public, and the fear of what harm would befall citizens without their protection. Just as former President Bill Clinton was brushed back by the armed services in his effort to allow gays to serve openly, police officers can fight back against unwelcome policy changes from Democratic mayors looking to institute liberal reforms. Mayors could learn from President Barack Obama, who – having learned from Clinton’s experience – tried to get military buy-in for ending “don’t ask, don’t tell” by re-appointing President George W. Bush’s Defense Secretary Robert Gates and commissioning a report from top military brass on the best way to implement a repeal. One can see this strategy in de Blasio’s decision to bring back Bill Bratton – a revered figure in law enforcement who pioneered proactive policing in his first term as police commissioner under Giuliani – and in the mayor increasing the NYPD’s budget and, at the request of then-City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, hiring more officers. But every new initiative to improve accountability has been met with backlash from the rank and file. Since the NYPD’s internal investigations of reports of sexual misconduct against officers are opaque and victims may fear reporting to the department itself, the Civilian Complaint Review Board, the independent oversight agency that examines allegations of police brutality – with support from City Hall and the NYPD – expanded its scope to include allegations of sexual harassment and assault by officers. The New York City Police Benevolent Association, the largest union representing officers, sued to block the change. On Feb. 28, a judge in Manhattan upheld the CCRB’s new authority while striking down some of the accompanying rules. PBA President Patrick Lynch said the union may appeal or file a new suit on different grounds. The PBA has likewise sued to prevent the release of body camera footage. After losing a state court ruling on body cameras on Feb. 19, the PBA recently announced plans to appeal. Last June – following BuzzFeed’s reporting that the NYPD’s disciplinary process is arbitrary and allegedly perpetrated retribution against a female officer who complained about sexual harassment – O’Neill appointed a blue-ribbon panel of leading law enforcement experts like Mary Jo White, a former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, to analyze the NYPD’s disciplinary process and recommend improvements. Lynch responded with scorn when, a month ago, the NYPD adopted the panel’s recommendations to enhance transparency and to address findings such as the department having failed to consistently discipline officers when they had made false statements. “When we see a panel of distinguished law enforcement figures bowing to the demands of anti-police, pro-criminal advocates, it is clear that public safety in this city is headed down a very dark path,” Lynch said. Such warnings should taken with a grain of salt, since conserva-

tives and the PBA predicted a crime wave would ensue if stop and frisk was abandoned. In keeping with national trends, although murders ticked up in the first two months of this year, shootings and murders in New York City continued their long-term decline to impressive new lows in 2018. Although the PBA continues to predict a return to the crime and disorder of the 1970s with each additional reform, de Blasio’s success at keeping crime down reduces the salience of that argument. “The union was very invested in stop and frisk and their assumption was that crime would skyrocket without it,” Aborn said. “There was an assumption that crime would come back under de Blasio, and de Blasio has proven progressives can be very effective crime fighters.”

HE DE BLASIO ADMINISTRATION is caught between its base on the one hand, and the police on the other. Cops feel like they’re being forced to walk on eggshells and progressives think de Blasio hasn’t gone far enough. “We tune out the critics on both sides and focus on doing the work that keeps people safe,” said Lapeyrolerie, the de Blasio spokeswoman. That leaves some progressives wondering why de Blasio is tuning them out instead of taking their side. Despite the data, the police officers union doesn’t see it that way. “The agenda these anti-police activists are pushing has nothing to do with public safety concerns we hear from regular New Yorkers every single day,” Lynch said in an emailed statement to City & State. “Mayor de Blasio and the NYPD’s leadership have made a grave error in attempting to appease these forces, because they will never be satisfied. Their goal is not ‘reform.’ Their goal is not ‘fairness.’ Their goal is the end of any law enforcement in New York City, period.” One sobering lesson of de Blasio’s record on policing is that both sides, for understandable reasons, care deeply about the mayor’s

March 11, 2019

City & State New York

It was the key turning point in the administration’s approach to policing. “He took on the NYPD and he paid a very heavy political price for that,” said a staffer to a citywide official who requested anonymity to speak openly. “It was a very difficult time for de Blasio’s tenure.” Just a month later, The New York Times reported, de Blasio “took pains last week to emphatically convey respect for the police, trumpeting current low crime rates while twice describing the force as ‘the world’s greatest.’” Ever since, de Blasio has been more cautious – critics say timid. “He’s a lot more concerned with the voices of the Patrick Lynches of the world than he is with the police reform movement, a group that helped get him elected,” Reynoso said. The cops also have the power to undermine a mayor by refusing to do their job. After Liu and Ramos were murdered in 2014, NYPD officers dramatically scaled back their activity: the following week, they made two-thirds fewer arrests and wrote 94 percent fewer tickets than in the same period from the previous year. At least they went back to working. In Baltimore, murders have gone up for the past three years, while the proportion of cases being solved has gone down. It’s an example of the “Ferguson effect,” named for the city in Missouri where protests against the police killing of Michael Brown gained national attention. In Baltimore, there has been what The Washington Post called “a documented officer slowdown” since protests over the April 2015 death of Freddie Gray at the hands of the Baltimore Police Department. “Police officers have an incredible amount of discretion,” said the staffer for a citywide official. “If they (stop working) and the crime rate rises, it’s an absolute nightmare. Any elected executive comes into office with two or three things they’re willing to devote significant political capital to, because you make enemies along the way and you need support to get things done. De Blasio has universal pre-K. He has housing. He has inequality. He got stop and frisk done and felt he’d done enough. He didn’t want it to become him versus the NYPD for eight years.” De Blasio clearly has larger political ambitions, and some observers speculate that his desire not to alienate the police and their supporters is motivated by hopes of appealing beyond his liberal urban base. “I believe he wants to portray himself as pragmatic, evenkeeled, bipartisan, to show this level of leadership that isn’t solely beholden to the people who got him here,” Reynoso said. “He chose the NYPD to be the place where he does that. He chose it to be the agency that he’s not going to war with, that he’s going to embrace.” The mayor contends that what some see as political expediency is just his responsibility to be circumspect when handling a 50,000-person department with a crucial function. “The difference between me and other elected officials,” de Blasio told WNYC’s Brian Lehrer, regarding the Headley imbroglio, “bluntly, is I’m in charge – it’s very easy to critique when you’re not in charge. When you’re in charge, you better get your facts straight. So that’s why I don’t jump in the first hour all the time to say what might be convenient or populist.”

tone because they are extremely invested in feeling like the mayor is on their side. Even if the mayor carefully crafts compromise policies, his inability to defend either cops or a victim of apparent brutality with unbridled indignation will leave at least one constituency unsatisfied. Police allies and other conservatives have asserted that de Blasio engaged in “anti-police” rhetoric during his 2013 mayoral campaign. That perception laid the groundwork for an uproar from the police in December 2014 when de Blasio said Eric Garner, an unarmed black man from Staten Island, “should be with us.” Garner had been choked to death by police for half-heartedly protesting being arrested for selling loose cigarettes, which Garner denied doing. De Blasio also admitted that, as the father of black son, he has had to warn his son about the possible threat of belligerent cops. The PBA responded to de Blasio’s remarks by circulating a form for officers to fill out that would ask de Blasio and Mark-Viverito to not attend their funeral, if they were killed in the line of duty. When later that month, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, a man with a long rap sheet in Ohio and Georgia, killed an ex-girlfriend in Baltimore and then drove to New York City and murdered Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos in Brooklyn, the PBA was quick to blame the mayor. Lynch said the “blood on the hands starts at the steps of City Hall in the office of the mayor,” and cops turned their backs on de Blasio at the slain officers’ funerals, then booed him at the next Police Academy graduation ceremony. – N EW YOR K C I T Y C OU NC I L M A N A N T ON IO R EY NOSO

MICHAEL APPLETON/MAYORAL PHOTOGRAPHY OFFICE

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“He’s a lot more concerned with the voices of the Patrick Lynches of the world than he is with the police reform movement, a group that helped get him elected.”

CityAndStateNY.com

March 11, 2019

LOST IN THE SYSTEM Hundreds of New Yorkers are locked up every day. Lawmakers want to make sure we don’t throw away the key. BY ZACH WILLIAMS

HAT IF YOU WERE walking down the street late at night when police officers appear and say you’re under arrest for robbery? Before long, you’re behind bars at a police precinct not knowing when this ordeal will end. Hours go by and you finally appear before a judge. What if you can’t get bail? In that case, Rikers Island could be your next stop. Now begins the difficult process of getting out – whether or not you are guilty. Many Americans – particularly white people – assume that they would have a fighting chance to defend their presumed innocence. The U.S. Constitution, after all, guarantees the right to an attorney and a speedy trial, as well as protections against excessive bail. However, individual states have leeway in how those rights play out in practice. In New York, prosecutors – and a jammed court system – can make cases drag on for years while withholding evidence until just before a trial begins. That whole time, many defendants, especially poor ones, have to sit in pretrial detention wondering whether the prosecutor really has a case or is simply holding out for a plea deal. In such a predicament, many inmates ask themselves whether the criminal “justice” system really lives up to its name. Could that change this year in New York? With strong majorities in the state Senate and Assembly, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Democratic legislators say so. The governor included in his state budget measures to abolish cash bail for many crimes, reform discovery laws and speed up trials, but with

an April 1 deadline to finalize the spending plan, they might not get done in time. However, these reforms have a real chance of passing, even if it’s later in the session, along with dozens of other bills that aim to redefine the criminal justice system – with more emphasis on correction than punishment. Advocates will have to overcome significant obstacles to pass these three high-profile reforms. For starters, the governor has to hash out the differences in his proposals with bills favored by lawmakers. There is also significant opposition from prosecutors and crime victims to some elements of these reform efforts. Plus the sheer scope of the Democrats’ legislative ambitions mean that advocates have to overcome significant political noise in order to keep the state Legislature focused on accomplishing the biggest overhaul of the criminal justice system in decades. The first step lawmakers want to take is a package of three bills that would make the trial process more favorable to defendants, who are overwhelmingly people of color. “New York state is in (the) Stone Age when it comes to criminal justice laws,” said state Sen. Jamaal Bailey, the sponsor of bills to reform discovery (which has 26 co-sponsors) and accelerate the trial process (which has 14 co-sponsors). “Mass incarceration is a scourge not only on New York, but also on our country as well, (so) we want to make sure what we are doing is stepping in the right direction to end mass incarceration.” Advocates argue that abolishing bail has to go hand in hand with changing discovery laws and making trials happen faster.

Given the notorious violence and deprivations at jails like Rikers, pretrial detention makes defendants more desperate to plead guilty as time goes by, giving key leverage to prosecutors. New York does require that felony trials take place within six months after an arrest, but a technicality in that law allows prosecutors to easily delay trials past that deadline. Prosecutors may ask a judge for a one-week delay, but clogged court calendars mean a trial is typically postponed even longer. Prosecutors only have to divulge the evidence they have just before the trial begins. If a person is out on bail, but does not know the evidence against them, or the trial is postponed for months or years on end, there may still be a strong incentive to take a deal. A few weeks ago, the state Legislature appeared ready to pass bills that would abolish cash bail, reform discovery laws and speed up trials, but it was not to be. A key reason why bail reform stalled, lawmakers say, is the idea of “dangerousness” – basically, who should be released pretrial and who should not. Advocates of abolishing cash bail say it is important to note that its primary purpose is to ensure that a defendant shows up to court. “I think the big issue with bail is how people conceptual-

LIGHTFIELD STUDIOS/SHUTTERSTOCK

March 11, 2019

ize how bail is supposed to be,” said state Sen. Luis Sepúlveda. Ongoing discussions are “totally about the exceptions” to pretrial release, he added, such as detaining a suspect in a mass shooting. As for discovery and speedy trial legislation, there is broad agreement between the governor and legislators on passing reforms, though some details have to be worked out. One outstanding issue on discovery, for example, is how many days a prosecutor has to turn over evidence to the defense. “We’re not saying 15 (days) and the governor says 45,” Bailey said as a demonstration of how minor the disagreements are. Getting all this done by April 1, however, is not guaranteed, lawmakers say. Some believe they might have to wait until later in the spring to get it done. “I think that would be the intelligent thing to do,” said Assemblyman Joseph Lentol, the Assembly sponsor of the discovery reform bill, which has 23 co-sponsors. Taking more time could allow lawmakers to tweak the legislative language to address the concerns of district attorneys, who say that the bills as written would put undue burdens on them and on law enforcement. Making the wheels of justice turn quicker requires staffing and financial resources

City & State New York

that are not currently available to prosecutors, cops or courts, according to Albany County District Attorney David Soares, who is also president of the state District Attorneys Association. While a string of witnesses at a Jan. 29 state budget hearing on public protection expressed support for the reforms, Soares had some reservations. He said the legislation needs to adequately fund pretrial services that would help track defendants and make sure they show up to court. Requiring that prosecutors turn over evidence quicker might also be counterproductive, he added, because legal fights could erupt – and thus delay cases – over what can be withheld in order to protect witnesses from intimidation. Given the long-term stakes of criminal justice reform, more time is needed to prevent unintended consequences, according to Soares. “You have the opportunity to craft some of the most innovative changes and improvements to public safety and criminal justice in a generation,” he said in his testimony. “These are important matters to our state that will have profound benefits and consequences for years to come.” Some advocates of domestic violence survivors – including Sonia Ossorio, president of National Organization for Women

New York City – argue that sharing evidence earlier could lead to witness intimidation and ultimately discourage reports of abuse or violence. However, the discovery proposal includes a provision whereby a prosecutor could request that information, such as the identity of witnesses, be withheld from public disclosure if a judge agrees there is a danger. “I have a hard time believing that,” Lentol said in response to the concerns. “They don’t know that other states have been able to handle that situation really well?” These three bills might be getting the most attention, but they only represent one facet of efforts to reform the criminal justice system. Other bills aim to emphasize rehabilitation in the prison system in order to reduce recidivism and lower prison populations. These include proposals to provide free legal counsel to inmates at parole hearings, new treatments for inmates struggling with mental illness, and increasing and expanding access to substance abuse programs for non-native English speakers. One bill sponsored by Sepúlveda would require automatic parole for inmates who complete two years of a temporary release program where they leave prison for a certain part of the day to work or attend vocational classes. “These individuals are demonstrating work ethic,” he said. “They are staying out of trouble and they do everything that’s required to complete their work release and yet because of the nature of their crimes they get denied. … What’s the incentive to participate?” If that bill is passed, along with the litany of others, then New York might just get about “85 percent” of the way to an ideal criminal justice system, according to Sepúlveda. Such a system could have resulted in a different outcome for Kalief Browder, the teenager whose incarceration and death drew attention to the conditions at Rikers Island and the challenges facing people who are accused of crimes. Such a system likely would not have kept Browder on Rikers for three years for allegedly stealing a backpack. The prosecutor would not have been able to delay his trial again and again. Browder’s attorney would have been able to better scrutinize the flimsy evidence that the prosecution had against Browder, who refused to take a plea deal. He might have even avoided spending any time on Rikers Island at all. No one will ever know how things could have ended differently for Browder, who endured 700 days of solitary confinement and then killed himself after being released. But at the very least, New York lawmakers are now pushing for new laws that would make sure what happened to Browder, and many others, will no longer be the norm in New York state.

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CityAndStateNY.com

March 11, 2019

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM If New York ends bail for all but the most dangerous suspects, who decides who’s ‘dangerous’? BY JEFF COLTIN

AIL REFORM MAY be inevitable. But that doesn’t mean it’ll be easy to pass in Albany, thanks to an ongoing debate over how much discretion to grant prosecutors and judges. State lawmakers already blew past their self-imposed February deadline for making changes to criminal justice laws amid disagreements over specific language. And now the Democratic legislative majorities in Albany are facing pushback on their plan from the very prosecutors and judges who would be putting the law into action. There are three significant proposals for reforming New York’s bail system, which determines who will be held in jail after an arrest and the filing of charges, and who will be granted their freedom until facing a criminal trial. One is the Bail Elimination Act, sponsored by state Sen. Michael Gianaris of Queens and Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell of Manhattan. Despite the name, the bill wouldn’t fully eliminate bail and judges could still impose conditions to compel defendants to return to court. But the bill would end cash bail, a practice in which defendants are asked to pay a deposit, refundable if they attend all their court dates, in order to be released from jail. A similar proposal to eliminate cash bail was included in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s 2019 State of the State book, which would also encourage police officers to issue tickets requiring defendants to show up in court on a certain date, rather than making an arrest in many cases. Lawmakers and the governor had already struggled to reach an agreement on changes to the bail system when the New York State Justice Task Force, a group made up primar-

ily of judges and prosecutors from across the state, complicated the negotiations by releasing its own bail reform recommendations in February. The task force called for most defendants to be released after arrest pending trial but to keep a cash bail system for those accused of committing serious offenses, such as assault and murder. All three proposals would significantly shift the state’s bail system to favor defendants’ freedom over temporary incarceration. But the exact language is being hotly contested. And the late entry of the task force plan seems to have extended the debate. Gianaris is in the middle of these discussions as deputy majority leader and as the sponsor of the Senate’s bail reform bill. The governor and both houses of the state Legislature are in favor of eliminating cash bail, and don’t plan to back away from that, Gianaris told City & State this month, but he admitted that some legislators were moved by the counterproposal from the Justice Task Force. “It’s a group that obviously has significant experience in the arena and expertise,” he said. “Many legislators find it persuasive.” The District Attorneys Association of the State of New York, which has members on the Justice Task Force, has been urging caution in overhauling the laws. “We want to achieve the spirit of the legislative proposals, but we want to make sure it’s done responsibly, not at the expense of victims, and we want to make sure we do it in a way that will be long-lasting,” David Soares, the association’s president and Albany County district attorney, told Law.com. The association’s position has drawn the scorn of criminal justice reform organizations, who want aggressive reforms imple-

mented as soon as possible and are eager to capitalize on full Democratic control in Albany for the first time in a decade. The Justice Task Force’s recommendation is similarly seen as too weak by activists like Rena Karefa-Johnson, state director of criminal justice reform for FWD.us, a bipartisan criminal justice reform organization that recently signed on to a letter critiquing the task force’s report along with like-minded organizations that included the New York Civil Liberties Union. “Prosecutors, as an institution, for a very long time have had an extraordinary amount of discretion,” Karefa-Johnson told City & State. “So there is a knee-jerk response to push back against anything that reduces their discretion.” Plans from both the governor and lawmakers would limit the power of judges and prosecutors at arraignment, where they

March 11, 2019

City & State New York

COMPETING PROPOSALS BAIL ELIMINATION ACT (S2101, A2726) • Presumption of release without bail for all defendants • Judge may fix nonmonetary bail to ensure attendance in court • Judges still have the option of detaining the defendant pretrial if: • The defendant is a high flight risk • The defendant is charged with a violent felony, attempted violent felony or witness intimidation • The defendant is accused of being a “persistent violent offender” GOVERNOR’S PUBLIC PROTECTION BILL (ARTICLE VII, PART AA) • Police officers must issue a desk appearance rather than arrest defendants in many cases • If arrested, there’s a presumption of release without bail for all defendants • Judge may fix nonmonetary bail to ensure attendance in court, including ordering an electronic monitoring device • Judges can still consider detaining the defendant pretrial if: • The defendant is a high flight risk • The defendant is charged with certain violent felonies or witness intimidation • The defendant poses a credible threat to the physical safety of a specific person or group JUSTICE TASK FORCE REPORT • Presumption of release without bail for defendants charged with misdemeanors and certain nonviolent felonies • Judges still have the option of fixing cash bail or detaining the defendant pretrial if: • The defendant is a high flight risk • The defendant is accused of violent felonies and/or charges facing life in prison • The defendant poses a credible threat to the physical safety of a specific person or group

KITTIRAT ROEKBURI/SHUTTERSTOCK; ALEX LAW

CURRENT LAW • Upon arrest, judges have the option of releasing the defendant, fixing bail, including cash bail, or detaining the defendant pretrial. • Making the determination, judges are allowed to consider, among other factors, the defendant’s: • Character, reputation, habits and mental condition • Employment and financial resources • Family and community ties • Crimes committed against members of the household • Previous record of responding to court appearances now have wide discretion to charge defendants and set bail. Supporters say reforms would help eliminate racial bias in the criminal justice system by leaving less room for individual discretion, while opponents fear changes could free dangerous criminals. A major point of contention is the degree to which judges would be able to consider the “dangerousness” of a defendant in deciding whether or not to hold them in jail ahead of trial. Currently, judges are allowed to consider a variety of factors when setting bail. However, the Justice Task Force acknowledged in its report that even though judges are not allowed to consider dangerousness, it is widely accepted that they do in practice anyway. The Legislature’s Bail Elimination Act would not grant judges that power. Instead, defendants could only be held if they were specifically charged with seriously injur-

ing someone intentionally, or attempting to do so. The governor’s bill is more broad, letting judges consider whether defendants are currently a threat to the physical safety of a specific person or group. The Justice Task Force report cited its own “vigorous debate and discussion” over allowing judges to consider dangerousness, but ultimately decided against it, instead agreeing with the governor’s standard of a credible threat to the safety of a specific person or group. Progressive activists like Karefa-Johnson say limiting judges’ discretion is essential to reducing bias in the criminal justice system. “When we’re given discretion to make certain determinations about who’s risky or who’s dangerous, that is when we see an even more disparate impact,” she said. “A lot of these determinations end up being proxies for class and race.” But not all liberals are on board. New

York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who controls the state’s largest police department in the NYPD, has repeatedly supported more judicial discretion. Judges should be able to consider dangerousness, de Blasio said at a Jan. 3 press conference with NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill. “We’ve had situations where it’s quite clear that if the only question you can think about is flight risk, it leaves out a very, very crucial consideration,” de Blasio said. Discussions are continuing behind closed doors in Albany as advocates ramp up pressure, and Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi said on March 5 that the governor isn’t agreeing to a budget without criminal justice reforms. But legislators are wary of setting any new deadlines. Asked if criminal justice reform would be a part of the budget due April 1, Gianaris replied simply: “I have no prediction.”

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NEW YORK by A N N I E M c D O N O U G H

TOP

CITY’S

TEN LOBBYISTS

hile New York City lobbyists spent the past year toiling away to influence legislation and policy on behalf of clients large and small, the City Clerk’s office has been busy tallying up the dollars flowing to New York’s top firms. Every March, the city releases a report of the top 10 lobbying firms by compensation, and while total lobbying spending hit a new high last year, the rankings for 2018 hold few surprises. Nine of the top 10 firms not only remained on the list but actually held their exact same rank from 2017. While Kasirer and Capalino+Company have spent the past few years battling for the No. 1 spot, Kasirer held on to the top rank. The only new firm featured in 2018’s top 10 ranking is The Wright Group NY, knocking off Kramer Levin for the No. 10 spot. City & State checked in with the top 10 firms to not only highlight their successes and challenges in 2018, but to take their temperature on the landscape for regulation of key New York industries, including technology.

CityAndStateNY.com

March 11, 2019

KASIRER PRESIDENT

SURI KASIRER COMPENSATION: $12,848,012

KEY EMPLOYEE: Julie Greenberg

KEY INDUSTRIES: Real estate, urban planning and land use; corporate and nonprofit entities NOTABLE CLIENTS: Charter Communications, T-Mobile and Northwell Health WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FIRM’S BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT IN THE PAST YEAR? After years of unsuccessful efforts by other consultant teams, we put together an amazing team for New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Streets, and succeeded in moving the horse carriages into Central Park. On behalf of Alloy, we successfully navigated through a very high profile and contentious Uniform Land Use Review Procedure for their development that will facilitate the development of two new schools, hundreds of units of affordable housing and commercial office space.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE REGULATORY/ POLICY LANDSCAPE FOR TECHNOLOGY? To say that it is challenging would be an understatement. The public tone and tenor around Amazon HQ2 certainly sent shock waves through the city, state and nation’s corporate leadership and is a prime example of the dynamic political environment in which we currently operate. That said, I’m an optimist and I believe the city is committed to diversifying its economic base and tech is an incredibly important component of that effort and I believe there is still a tremendous space for continued growth.

KASIRER

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FIRM’S BIGGEST CHALLENGE IN THE PAST YEAR? The upcoming sea change in city government that’s looming in 2021 as a result of term limits is roiling today’s political climate and driving elected officials to stake out positions designed to garner support from stakeholders who will matter to them as they run for higher office. Navigating that landscape is a challenge – and an opportunity – every single day.

March 11, 2019

City & State New York

CAPALINO+COMPANY

Dare to Build Lasting Landmarks

COO

TRAVIS TERRY COMPENSATION: $11,070,551.04

By Sid Davidoﬀ

KEY EMPLOYEES: All of our employees play an important role.

KEY INDUSTRIES: Real estate, technology, sustainability, health care, nonprofits and hospitality NOTABLE CLIENTS: UPS, Macy’s, Times Square Alliance and Accenture WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FIRM’S BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT IN THE PAST YEAR? Our firm advised on the passage of major land use actions such as the Inwood rezoning and numerous initiatives such as the improved public realm of Times Square and the capital construction of Second Stage Theater. We are very excited about the growth of our strategic consulting work which helps companies and not-for-profits both address government and political challenges and competitively position their organizations to secure opportunities, mitigate risk and attain sustainable growth. WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FIRM’S BIGGEST CHALLENGE IN THE PAST YEAR? The inability of the federal government to address issues that we embrace as a firm and that impact the success of our city, such as building the Gateway project, supporting our safety net and issues of equity and justice and valuing the important contributions of immigrants.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE REGULATORY/ POLICY LANDSCAPE FOR TECHNOLOGY? It is encouraging. There is some extraordinary entrepreneurial energy in New York City these days and under the leadership of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Bill Blasio and the New York City Council, a real commitment by government to support these efforts. Disruptive technology is always going to challenge traditional markets but making sure we have honest conversations based upon facts to ensure public and worker protection is always important. It is critical that there is an ongoing effort to train the next generation of tech workers, especially those in underserved communities.

Back when the Port Authority wanted to connect millions of passengers traveling through Kennedy Airport with the region’s public transit system, our subways and the LIRR, it turned to the Davidoff Hutcher & Citron team to effectuate an impactful community and government relations campaign. The result: AirTrain JFK cuts congestion and enables millions to move seamlessly by mass transit to and from New York City and destinations around the world, with 8 million annual riders. When the United States Tennis Association needed a world-class venue for the premier event in professional tennis, the U.S. Open, the organization worked with DHC to overcome and address any obstacles that might be involved in building the tennis center. Today more than 700,000 visitors travel to Flushing during the tournament’s two weeks, and millions more tune in via television to watch the highest level of professional tennis, generating over $800 million annually for New York’s economy. When Brooklyn wanted a live entertainment venue along the Coney Island boardwalk, DHC was retained to navigate the complex regulatory process. Today, the Ford Amphitheater hosts packed audiences who come to see world-class performers like Sting, the Beach Boys, and Mary J. Blige, and to celebrate important community events. The DHC government and regulatory affairs team’s expertise and experience are often a cornerstone and a decisive factor in the success of many landmark events and iconic cultural and economic development centers, across our region.

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March 11, 2019

PITTA BISHOP & DEL GIORNO PARTNER

JON DEL GIORNO COMPENSATION: $4,763,043.21

KEY EMPLOYEES: Vincent Pitta, Robert Bishop, Vito R. Pitta, Cesar Cardenas and Nadya Stevens KEY INDUSTRIES: Public and private unions, nonprofits, social service agencies and health care providers NOTABLE CLIENTS: Vera Institute for Justice, Transport Workers Union, Public Health Solutions, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, New York City Coalition of Operating Engineers, Spring Studios New York and Uniformed Sanitationmen’s Association Local 831.

Kasirer is the #1 lobbying and government relations firm in New York. We advocate on behalf of a wide range of clients who seek local expertise in navigating the City. We advance our clients’ goals—building coalitions and consensus and influencing decision-makers in the dynamic political landscape that defines New York. And our team of professionals, whose careers intersect at politics, policy and government, achieve victory on behalf of our clients with an unwavering commitment to the highest standard of ethics in the industry.

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FIRM’S BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT IN THE PAST YEAR? Over the course of the past four years we have been working with the Greenburger Center in their efforts to develop a firstin-the-nation program to (provide) mental health and other services to those in need and who have been charged with crimes outside of jail and prison systems. Working with mental health experts, the Office of Court Administration, the judiciary, corrections, social service agencies, and elected officials in both New York City and Albany, we have obtained $2.4 million to fund Hope House, a 25-bed facility, which will serve as the model. WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FIRM’S BIGGEST CHALLENGE IN THE PAST YEAR? Obtaining funding is always a challenge, especially on Staten Island, where one of highest hurdles is assisting Richmond University Medical Center on Bard Avenue. The full service hospital on the North Shore of the island, both its power plant and aging ER have been in dire need of an upgrade. Faced with two critical and expensive needs, we’ve been working with elected officials on Staten Island and at City Hall to obtain the funding to seed these projects.

Kasirer LLC Suri Kasirer Julie Greenberg Carla Matero Omar Alvarellos Ilona Kramer Peter Krokondelas David Lobl Jennifer Rivera Jennifer Shafran Omar Toro-Vaca Richard David Claudia Filomena Lester Marks Varun Sanyal Samantha Jones Fallon Parker Hillary Adler Dan Benjoya Jennie Frishtick Cory Hasson Jessica Madris Douglas Spring

Alexander Spyropoulos Megan Wylie Mendel Zecher Jennifer Davis Tracy Fletcher Denisse Giron Benjamin Kelly Malene Walters Katie Wilson 321 Broadway, 2d Fl New York, NY 10007 T: 212 285 1800 F: 212 285 1818 kasirer.nyc info@kasirer.nyc

PITTA BISHOP & DEL GIORNO

March 11, 2019

City & State New York

BOLTON-ST. JOHNS PARTNER

EMILY GISKE COMPENSATION: $4,547,891.30

KEY EMPLOYEES: Juanita Scarlett, Anne Marie Anzalone, Mike Keogh, Robin Brown, Julie Jursik, Violet Moss, Julian Kline and John Albert KEY INDUSTRIES: Technology, real estate, social services organizations, nonprofit service and advocacy organizations NOTABLE CLIENTS: Tech:NYC, Novo Foundation, LGBT Network, Personal Care Products Council WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FIRM’S BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT IN THE PAST YEAR? We are excited about how we have grown our firm and focused on increasing female leadership within Bolton-St. Johns. In the past year, BSJ has brought on Juanita

Scarlett as a partner, Anne Marie Anzalone as an executive vice president, and Robin Brown. In the past year, we helped the Novo Foundation past significant hurdles and (they are) closer to opening the women’s building in Manhattan, which will be a hub for women-owned businesses and nonprofits in the former Bayview Correctional Facility on the West Side Highway. We helped the Red Hook Container Terminal, the only remaining working port in New York City to renew their contract with the Port Authority and expand to new territory in Sunset Park. BSJ also successfully advocated to create a new City Council funding initiative to provide services across all five boroughs for NYC’s transgender community. WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FIRM’S BIGGEST CHALLENGE IN THE PAST YEAR? BSJ has been working with many new clients on different issues impacting New Yorkers – including access to healthy foods, improving public parks and maintaining quality health care facilities. With these increased advocacy needs by our clients, we have been challenged to expand our team with quality, passionate lobbyists from a wide range of different backgrounds.

▪ STR ATEGY ▪ G OVE R N M E NT R E L ATI O N S ▪ ▪ PUBLIC REL ATIONS ▪ ▪ COMMUNITY REL ATIONS ▪

BOLTON-ST. JOHNS

CMW represents a vast array of clients who all have one thing in common – they seek to promote or preserve their interests amidst an often difﬁcult legislative, political and media climate and have chosen CMW to create and execute a blueprint for success. For more than three decades, CMW has been helping our clients succeed.

CONNELLY MCLAUGHLIN & WOLOZ 233 Broadway

THE WOOLWORTH BUILDING

NY 10279 ▪ Phone: 212-437-7373 ▪ Fax: 212-437-7378 ▪ Suite 2310 ▪ New York, www.cmw-newyork.com

CityAndStateNY.com

March 11, 2019

CONSTANTINOPLE & VALLONE CONSULTING LLC PRINCIPALS

PERRY VALLONE AND ANTHONY CONSTANTINOPLE COMPENSATION: $4,432,492 KEY EMPLOYEES: Peter Vallone, Tony Constantinople, Perry Vallone, Anthony Constantinople, Jake Potent, Steve Williams, Jordan Press, Lauren George, Kevin Jones, Scott Karolidis KEY INDUSTRIES: Education, real estate, retail, telecommunications and energy NOTABLE CLIENTS: Waste Management, T-Mobile, TD Bank, Walgreens, College Board and America Works WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FIRM’S BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT IN THE PAST YEAR? We worked with our client College Board to successfully expand access to Advanced

Placement courses and exams, and this year the de Blasio administration announced “a record-high number of New York City students taking and passing Advanced Placement exams.” We have helped our clients restore and build more affordable housing than ever before, and we have grown as a firm. WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FIRM’S BIGGEST CHALLENGE IN THE PAST YEAR? As our firm grows, it is of paramount importance to us that we remain a clientfocused and client-driven firm, ensuring that we are able to give the benefit of our experience and expertise to each and every client we represent. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE REGULATORY/ POLICY LANDSCAPE FOR TECHNOLOGY? The landscape is changing rapidly as government actively looks to technology to solve some of our biggest problems, from congestion to health care through data and analytics. The challenge is ensuring that data is safe, compatible and being used effectively to solve problems. Many of our clients are rising to meet these challenges and we are excited to be a part of bringing these exciting new tools to government.

Start hiring now on New York’s highest-quality job site! City & State Jobs helps hundreds of job seekers and employers find the right fit every day. CONSTANTINOPLE & VALLONE

March 11, 2019

City & State New York

GREENBERG TRAURIG NEW YORK GOVERNMENT LAW & POLICY PRACTICE CHAIRMAN

JOHN MASCIALINO COMPENSATION: $3,981,466.54

KEY EMPLOYEES: Edward Wallace, Mark Weprin, Bob Harding, Jay Segal, Deirdre Carson, Julia Rogawski KEY INDUSTRIES: Real estate, land use, government contracts, legislation and economic development NOTABLE CLIENTS: JCDecaux, Curb Mobility WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FIRM’S BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT IN THE PAST YEAR? Greenberg Traurig is proud to deliver comprehensive services to a diverse list of clients, which spans from real estate developers, technology providers and not-for-profits to major franchise and concession holders. In 2018, we advised

GREENBERG TRAURIG

our clients on an array of issues that helped them achieve their business goals while also creating positive outcomes for the city. WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FIRM’S BIGGEST CHALLENGE IN THE PAST YEAR? Every year presents new and exciting challenges based on new mayoral and City Council initiatives. That is what we love about the business of law and lobbying and the work we do for our clients. It is certainly never dull, and the work we do on behalf of our clients is rewarding. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE REGULATORY/ POLICY LANDSCAPE FOR TECHNOLOGY? Greenberg Traurig has the privilege of working with dynamic, cutting-edge technology companies, and the city has an opportunity to create an environment to fast-track procurements and a receptiveness and willingness to pilot new technologies. To that end, as technology is everchanging, we look to proactively bring tech companies and the city together and work toward swiftly implementing innovative technologies and new initiatives that will ultimately provide a better quality of life for New Yorkers and keep our city as the global epicenter of the world.

CityAndStateNY.com

March 11, 2019

DAVIDOFF HUTCHER & CITRON LLP SENIOR PARTNER

SID DAVIDOFF COMPENSATION: $3,084,123

KEY EMPLOYEES: Keith Wright, Hilary Atzrott, Sean Crowley, Brian Simon and Howard Weiss KEY INDUSTRIES: Real estate development, tourism, manufacturing, transportation, infrastructure, education and nightlife NOTABLE CLIENTS: NBCUniversal, LaGuardia Gateway Partners, HBO and Hunts Point Produce Market WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FIRM’S BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT IN THE PAST YEAR? One of DHC’s crowning achievements in 2018 unquestionably was our success on behalf of the New Fulton Fish

Market located at the Hunts Point Food Distribution Center in the Bronx. The Fish Market houses 37 seafood businesses with annual sales in excess of $1 billion and supplies thousands of restaurants and retail markets. We secured agreements with the city that will keep the Fish Market in the Bronx, with its several thousand direct and indirect jobs, as well as guarantee muchneeded renovations. WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FIRM’S BIGGEST CHALLENGE IN THE PAST YEAR? The greatest challenge we faced was maintaining the bridge between our clients and government. This is especially true for the broad array of contractors and suppliers represented by the firm, who find it difficult getting paid within a reasonable time period for the goods and services they provide to government agencies. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE REGULATORY/ POLICY LANDSCAPE FOR TECHNOLOGY? The current regulatory and policy landscape represents a rugged terrain for our tech clients, particularly because government by its very nature is unable to keep pace with the rapid changes in all sectors of the industry.

Constantinople & Vallone Consulting LLC is a results oriented government relations, public affairs and business development firm with a strong record of success. C&V provides customized, hands on consulting services to a select group of clientele. C&V works to understand a client's needs and develops a detailed strategy and budget while defining short and long term tactical goals. C&V's team brings a unique combination of experience and expertise in the sectors of government, finance, law and public affairs. C&V believes in creating and fostering an open dialogue with government officials, policy makers, community leaders, business executives and members of the media.

THE WOOLWORTH BUILDING

233 Broadway, Suite 830, New York, NY 10279 • 212-393-6500

www.candvconsulting.com

March 11, 2019

City & State New York

GETO & DE MILLY PRINCIPAL

MICHELE DE MILLY COMPENSATION: $2,891,000

KEY EMPLOYEES: Ethan Geto, Daniel White, Mark Benoit, Maya Kremen and Laura Dolan KEY INDUSTRIES: Real estate development, sports, social services and cultural/arts nonprofits, K-12 and higher education and health care NOTABLE CLIENTS: Zeckendorf Development, The Howard Hughes Corp., Fisher Brothers, PepsiCo Inc., the New York City Football Club

An advocacy campaign including CITY & STATE FIRST READ provides a targeted way to reach decision makers in NEW YORK GOVERNMENT and POLITICS.

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FIRM’S BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT IN THE LAST YEAR? Our ongoing work on projects that move New York City forward, partnering with government and communities to find win-win solutions to spur economic development, accelerate infrastructure and environmental improvements, advance public health and build affordable housing. Two good examples are working with the community and civic organizations to advance the Gowanus rezoning process and helping to further the vibrant evolution of the historic Seaport District, a multifaceted endeavor that intersects with government, waterfront activation and sustainability, retail, entertainment and, importantly, preservation of this unique neighborhood’s colorful maritime history. WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FIRM’S BIGGEST CHALLENGE IN THE LAST YEAR? Geto & de Milly has built its reputation on policy expertise over decades, and being able to partner with dynamic clients and community leaders to find common ground and surmount challenges is incredibly inspiring and rewarding.

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CityAndStateNY.com

March 11, 2019

CONNELLY MCLAUGHLIN & WOLOZ PARTNER

MICHAEL WOLOZ COMPENSATION: $2,644,495.92

KEY EMPLOYEES: Jeff Rodus, Kathleen Cudahy, Danna DeBlasio, Melissa Barosy and Matt Walsh KEY INDUSTRIES: Trade associations, transportation, nonprofits, cultural institutions, corporate and real estate NOTABLE CLIENTS: American Museum of Natural History, Verizon, Cisco, New York Bankers Association, Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade, The Museum of Modern Art and Legal Aid Society

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FIRM’S BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT IN THE PAST YEAR? After five years of complex negotiations with the community and elected officials, CMW played a lead role in achieving a successful outcome for the Hebrew Home at Riverdale’s proposed “lifecare” facility. This was a complicated ULURP that took a lot of twists and turns. So it was a real sense of accomplishment when all the pieces started coming together and we were able to help pave the way for what will become the very first “lifecare” community in New York City. WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FIRM’S BIGGEST CHALLENGE IN THE PAST YEAR? One of our passion projects has been the siting of a 19.5 MW solar farm on Long Island. Despite widespread support from statewide environmental groups and local business organizations, town officials put up roadblock after roadblock in order to side with a particularly nasty brand of NIMBYism. So we had to amplify our messaging, our advocacy and what became a real fight to get the state to do the right thing for the environment. Ultimately we won the battle.

THE WRIGHT GROUP NY FOUNDER & PRINCIPAL

JOHN WRIGHT COMPENSATION: $2,572,064

KEY EMPLOYEES: Larisa Wick, Antonio Quesada, Emily Contillo, Patricia Pulvirenti, Naya Stevens KEY INDUSTRIES: Health and human services, legal representation, art and cultural institutions, advocacy, education access, juvenile justice, immigration rights, criminal justice reform and affordable housing NOTABLE CLIENTS: The Cultural Institutions Group, Human Services Council, Legal Services NYC, Children’s Defense Fund, Urban Resources Institute, The LGBT Community Center and SAGE

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FIRM’S BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT IN THE PAST YEAR? After helping to pass “Raise the Age” legislation at the state level last year, we focused much of this year on fighting to ensure the legislation was implemented in the intended spirit here in New York City. Safe Passage Project joined us as a new client this year; they provide free legal services to unaccompanied minors who are facing deportation. This new client has provided us the opportunity to be directly responsive to changes in the implementation of federal laws that impact the most vulnerable New Yorkers: kids who are being asked to face the court system alone. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE LOBBYING LANDSCAPE FOR NONPROFITS? What nonprofits have in common is that they tend to serve as safety nets for the most vulnerable and marginalized New Yorkers. Threats and attacks from the federal government on these communities underscore the need to strengthen these organizations at the city and state level, cementing our position as a true “sanctuary city.”

CONNELLY MCLAUGHLIN & WOLOZ; THE WRIGHT GROUP

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CityAndStateNY.com

March 11, 2019

BIG I

SPENDERS The 10 companies that spent the most on outside lobbying firms in 2018

by R E B E C C A C . L E W I S

N 2018, a whopping $102.5 million was spent on outside lobbying in New York City, a significant increase from $95.6 million in 2017, according to the New York City Clerkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s annual lobbying report. So what was all that money spent on? Here are the companies and organizations that spent the most on outside lobbying firms in 2018, and what they were hoping to influence.

York City in 2018. They retained two firms: Beaudoin & Company LLC and Patrick B. Jenkins & Associates. According to city records, the bulk of the money went toward lobbying the New York City Council and monitoring for legislation that targets the legal industry or relates to consumer rights. Records did not indicate if there was specific legislation that the association lobbied for or against.

1. NEW YORK STATE TRIAL LAWYERS ASSOCIATION

2. NORTHWELL HEALTH

$630,750 The New York State Trial Lawyers Association spent $630,750 on lobbying in New

$524,234.95 Northwell Health spent $524,234.95 on New York City lobbying in 2018 on a variety of different firms. The organizationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

three main lobbyists were Blue Skies Real Estate Services & Development, Kasirer and Fried Frank. According to city records, the lobbying was focused almost entirely on real estate and land use issues related to Lenox Hill Hospital. The hospital proposed a 41-story residential building with about 200 units on a Park Avenue corner of its Upper East Side property. It is planning to move some of its operations over to a Third Avenue facility as part of a multibillion-dollar rebuilding plan.

3. AMERICAN LION LLC

$469,141.50 Real estate firm American Lion LLC, better

MINDMO/SHUTTERSTOCK

March 11, 2019

CLIENT INDUSTRIES

City & State New York

GOVERNMENT ACTIONS TARGETED

GOVERNMENT ENTITIES TARGETED

Source: New York City Clerk Lobbying Bureau Annual Report known as Lions Group, spent $469,141.50 on a contract with Greenberg Traurig. According to city records, the bulk of the spending was to lobby for a controversial housing development in Long Island City, Queens, which was approved late last year and will include a new elementary school and more open space.

4. JCDECAUX NORTH AMERICA

$464,463 The outdoor advertising firm spent $464,463 on contracts with Brenda Levin Consulting, George Arzt Communications and Greenberg Traurig. According to city records, one specific issue JCDecaux lobbied against was “LinkNYC encroachment onto bus stops,” with the rest earmarked for franchise concession review. The company operates the city’s 3,500 bus shelters, which frequently feature advertisements.

5. DESIGN CENTER INC.

$459,910 The organization spent $459,910 on lobbying contracts with HR&A Advisors, Capalino+Company, Kramer Levin and WXY. According to city records, Design Center Inc. lobbied for the rezoning of the Anable Basin in Long Island City, Queens, alongside Plaxall, the company that owns the land in question. Design Center Inc. shares a business address with Plaxall and Paula Kirby, Plaxall’s managing director, is the primary officer at the Design Center. The rezoning proposal – which predates Amazon’s decision to locate in the area – is now in limbo following the collapse of the HQ2 deal. There had been plans for a mixed-use development in the Anable Basin at that location.

6. CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS

$414,963 The telecommunications company spent $414,963 on contracts with Fried Frank, Kasirer, MirRam Group and Patrick B. Jenkins & Associates. According to city records, those companies lobbied on behalf of Charter regarding a variety of different issues, including a rezoning in Manhattan. They broadly monitored the New York City Council for legislation relating to the telecommunications industry. Charter specifically targeted several pieces of legislation, including one bill that would require an annual report on the progress of citywide cable franchisees in reaching citywide coverage. Additionally, Charter retained Mercury through its subsidiary Charter Communications Operating LLC for reasons related to its ongoing labor dispute with employees – a major political issue after Gov. Andrew Cuomo attacked the company and the state Public Service Commission moved to block it from doing business in New York.

7. 69-02 QUEENS BLVD WOODSIDE LLC

$411,513.50 This LLC was created by Madison Realty Capital to lobby for a rental project at 69-02 Queens Blvd. in Woodside, Queens. It spent $411,513.50 on contracts with Bender Cantone Consulting, Capalino+Company, Perkins Eastman Architects and Stroock. The 431-unit rental project received city approval in November.

8. AIRBNB

$377,500 The vacation rental website spent $377,500 on contracts with Bolton-St. Johns, Brown

& Weinraub and Fontas Advisors, as well as Kirsten John Foy and Stanley Schlein. Airbnb lobbied against legislation that would put restrictions on the company in New York City, targeting bills like Intro. 981-A, which requires companies like Airbnb to disclose the names and addresses of its hosts. Mayor Bill de Blasio signed the bill into law last year, but a judicial ruling in January temporarily halted the law from going into effect.

9. TF CORNERSTONE INC.

$374,786.66 The real estate firm – which was a partner with Amazon on the HQ2 project that has since been scuttled – spent $374,786.66 on contracts with Fried Frank and Capalino+Company. According to city records, the firm spent money to lobbying in favor of the Anable Basin rezoning in Long Island City, Queens, with a specific focus on developments at 5-40 44th Drive and 4-99 44th Drive. The firm also created an LLC called TF Cornerstone Group LLC for the benefit of Anable Ventures, which also paid Kasirer to lobby for the project on its behalf.

10. VORNADO REALTY TRUST

$373,604 The real estate company spent $373,604 on contracts with Higgins Quasebarth & Partners, Kasirer and Kramer Levin. It also reported using the services of Fried Frank and Sam Schwartz Engineering, but did not record any compensation to those companies. Vornado lobbied in favor of several redevelopment projects, notably those at Penn Plaza and the Moynihan Train Station project. The state in 2017 tapped both Vornado and Related Cos. for the redevelopment project.

■

CityAndStateNY.com / PUBLIC and LEGAL NOTICES

March 11, 2019

SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF KINGS U.S. BANK TRUST, N.A. AS TRUSTEE FOR LSF8 MASTER PARTICIPATION TRUST, Plaintiff against JOSEPH FIORE AKA JOSEPH FRANCIS FIORE, et al Defendant(s).

March 11, 2019 For more info. 212-268-0442 Ext.2039

legalnotices@cityandstateny.com NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF KINGS MTGLQ Investors, LP, Plaintiff AGAINST Oliver Barrett; et al., Defendant(s) Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly dated November 28, 2018 I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the Kings County Supreme Court, 360 Adams Street, Room 224, Brooklyn, NY 11201 on February 21, 2019 at 2:30PM, premises known as 1740 East 54th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11234. All that certain plot piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Brooklyn, County of Kings, City and State of NY, Block 8493 Lot 71. Approximate amount of judgment $685,206.78 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index# 500455/2016. Jack Segal, Esq., Referee Shapiro, DiCaro & Barak, LLC Attorney(s) for the Plaintiff 175 Mile Crossing Boulevard Rochester, New York 14624 (877) 430-4792 Dated: December 14, 2018 59942 113 Mulberry Restaurant, LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with SSNY 1/14/2019. Office loc: NY County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, Attn: Koorosh Bakhtiar, 161 Mulberry Street, New York, NY 10013. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.

Notice of Qualification of Copley Coffee Kitchen, LLC. Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/17/19. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 01/10/19. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o Copley Coffee Holdings, LLC, 150 Newport Ave., Ste. 3, Quincy, MA 02171. Address to be maintained in DE: c/o TRAC - The Registered Agent Company, 800 N. State St., Ste. 402, Dover, DE 19901. Arts of Org. filed with the DE Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activities. Notice of Qualification of 1 PARK ROW HOLDINGS, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/23/19. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 01/10/19. Princ. office of LLC: 666 Fifth Ave., 20th Fl., NY, NY 10103. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered on November 26, 2018. I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction in Room 224 of the Kings County Courthouse, 360 Adams Street, Brooklyn, N.Y. on the 31st day of January, 2019 at 2:30 p.m. premises described as follows: All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the building and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Brooklyn, County of Kings, City and State of New York. Said premises known as 1389 Shore Parkway, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11214. (Block: 6468, Lot: 49). Approximate amount of lien $ 386,141.96 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed judgment and terms of sale. Index No. 500657-17. Charlene Brown, Esq., Referee. Stern & Eisenberg, PC Attorney(s) for Plaintiff Woodbridge Corporate Plaza 485 B Route 1 South – Suite 330 Iselin, NJ 08830 (732) 582-6344 *For sale information, please visit www.auction.com or call 800-2802832* Notice of Formation of MARINA VISTA PRESERVATION CLASS B, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/18/19. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 60 Columbus Circle, NY, NY 10023. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of Caitlin Carr LLC filed with SSNY on Jan-uary 7, 2019. Office: Kings County. SSNY designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to LLC: 368 Eastern Pkwy, 5C, Brooklyn, NY 11225. Purpose: any lawful act or activity. DIGA UNSCRIPTED LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 01/17/2019. Office loc: NY County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, 130 West 42nd St., Ste. 950, NY, NY 10036. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose. Notice of Formation of Civic Builders Sub-CDE 17, LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/10/19. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Civic Builders, Inc., 180 Varick St., Ste. 1414, NY, NY 10014. Purpose: any lawful activities. NOTICE OF QUAL. of 1601 Bronxdale Property Owner LLC. Auth. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 01/17/19. Off. Loc: NY Co. LLC org. in DE 10/17/18. SSNY desig. as agent of LLC upon whom proc. against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of proc. to 111 Eighth Ave, NY, NY 10011. DE off. Addr.: 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Cert of Form. on file: SSDE, Townsend Bldg., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activity. Notice of Formation of EGG COLLECTIVE II, LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/14/19. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: EGG COLLECTIVE II, LLC, 360 Lexington Ave, Ste. 1502, NY, NY 10017. Purpose: any lawful activities.

Notice of Qualification of 1 PARK ROW DEVELOPMENT, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/23/19. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 01/10/19. Princ. office of LLC: 666 Fifth Ave., 20th Fl., NY, NY 10103. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity. MICHALFAM HOLDINGS, LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 01/25/19. Office: Kings County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to the LLC, c/o Kagan Lubic Lepper Finkelstein & Gold, LLP, 200 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor, New York, NY 10016. Purpose: Any lawful purpose. NOTICE OF FORMATION OF PRIME WIN MANAGEMENT, LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/06/2018. Office location: NEW YORK County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process may be serviced and shall mail copy of process against LLC to: 400 5TH AVENUE. APT.#39F, NEW YORK, NY 10018. Principal business address: 400 5TH AVENUEM APT.#39F, NEW YORK, NY 10018. Purpose: any lawful act. Fragrance Pub LLC Arts. of Org. filed w/ SSNY on 7/31/18 Off. in Kings Co. SSNY desig. as agt. of LLC whom process may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Accumera LLC, 911 Central Ave, #101, Albany, NY 12206. The reg. agt. is Accumera LLC at same address. Purpose: any lawful activity.

NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION of DIGIDAY MEDIA LLC. Authority filed with Secretary of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/14/2018. Office location: New York. LLC formed in Connecticut on 2/8/2011. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: One Liberty Plaza, 9th Floor, NY, NY 10006. Principal office of LLC is One Liberty Plaza, 9th Floor, NY, NY 10006. Arts of Org filed with CT Sec of State, 30 Trinity Street, Hartford, CT 06106. Purpose: Any lawful activity. The LLC is to be managed by one or more managers. Notice of Qual. of 222 EAST BROADWAY INVESTORS, LLC, Authority filed with the SSNY on 01/23/2019. Office loc: NY County. LLC formed in DE on 12/12/2018. SSNY is designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: C/O the LLC, 147 W. 35th St., Ste 1207 , NY, NY 10011. Address required to be maintained in DE: 160 Greentree Dr., Ste 101 Dover DE 19904. Cert of Formation filed with DE Div. of Corps, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose. Notice of Formation of Sharpe Home Designs, LLC filed with SSNY on January 20, 2017. Office: Westchester County. SSNY designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to LLC: United States Corporation Agents, Inc., 7014 13th Avenue, Suite 202, Brooklyn, NY 11228. Purpose: any lawful act or activity. Notice of Formation of Sublime Videos LLC filed with SSNY on January 8, 2019. Office: NY County. SSNY designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to LLC: 201 W 108th St #67, NY, NY 10025. Purpose: any lawful act or activity.

PUBLIC and LEGAL NOTICES / CityAndStateNY.com

March 11, 2019

Notice of Qualification of MedAsset Recovery, LLC. Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/18/19. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 11/13/18. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 1370 Avenue of the Americas, NY, NY 10019. Address to be maintained in DE: c/o Harvard Business Services, Inc., 16192 Coastal Hwy., Lewes, DE 19958. Arts of Org. filed with the Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activities. Notice of Qualification of PEGASUS FUND, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 02/06/19. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 12/12/17. NYS fictitious name: PEGASUS LITIGATION CAPITAL FUND, LLC. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Cullen and Dykman LLP, Attn: Andrew Nitkewicz, Esq., 100 Quentin Roosevelt Blvd., Garden City, NY 11530. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Secy. of State, Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., #4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity. PNK LUSH, LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with SSNY 01/02/2019. Office loc: NY County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: PNK LUSH, LLC, Attn: Alexandra Vassall-Beckford, 31 Oxford Place, apt. 1, Staten Island, NY 10301. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.

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Notice of Formation of Hairvine Salon LLC filed with SSNY on January 25, 2019. Office: Westchester County. SSNY designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to LLC: 480 Main St, Armonk, NY, 10504. Purpose: any lawful act or activity. App. for Auth. (LLC) Dear Annabelle LLC. App. for Auth. filed w/ the Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 1/17/19. LLC formed in DE on 4/27/18. Office Location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o The LLC, 998 5th Ave., NY, NY 10028, registered agent upon whom process may be served. Purpose: All lawful purposes. Notice of Formation of Limited Liability Company (LLC). Name: 10101 Foster Ave Realty LLC, Articles of Organization filed with New York’s Secretary of State (NYSS) on 3/13/18. Office Location: c/o 203 Meserole Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11222. NYSS designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. NYSS shall mail copy of process of LLC, to: J. James Carriero, Esq., 108-54 Ditmars Blvd., North Beach, NY 11369. Purpose: any lawful act or activity. 940 Dumont Ave, LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with SSNY 02/01/2018. Office loc: Kings County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 940 Dumont Ave, LLC C/O Rosa, 153 Cooper Street MB#1, Brooklyn, NY 11207. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose. Notice of Formation of Brasil Alta Cultura LLC filed with SSNY 10/11/17. Office: Richmond Co. SSNY designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to LLC: 110 Logan Ave, Staten Island, NY 10301. Purpose: any lawful act or activity.

Notice of Qualification of FORESIDE CONSULTING SERVICES, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/29/19. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 07/20/10. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Jeffrey W. Bullock, DE Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Notice of Qualification of BRIGHT GARVIES POINT LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 02/01/19. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 02/01/19. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St. - Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity. NOTICE OF FORMATION of 200 Eleventh 6N Owner LLC. Art. of Org. filed with the Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/2/14. Off. Loc.: NY County. SSNY has been desig. as agent upon whom process against it may be served. The address to which the SSNY shall mail a copy to is: c/o Corporation Service Company, 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543 . Purpose: Any lawful act ADLER PARTNERS, LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 01/25/2019. Office loc: NY County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, 77 Park Avenue, #2D, NY, NY 10016. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.

AMPLE PROPERTIES, LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with SSNY 02/08/2019. Office loc: WESTCHESTER County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, Attn: Ample Properties, LLC, 941 McLean Avenue, Suite 264, Yonkers, NY 10704. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose. Notice of Formation of 5th Avenue Salon LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with NY Dept. of State on 12/7/18. Office location: NY County. Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: Cogency Global Inc., 10 E. 40th St., 10th Fl., NY, NY 10016. Purpose: all lawful purposes. BALAYIRA LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with SSNY 3/21/2018. Office loc: NY County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, Attn: Mamadou Balayira, 298 W. 147th Street, New York, NY 10039 Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose. Notice of Formation of HIDDEN GROVE DEVELOPER, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 02/22/19. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 60 Columbus Circle, NY, NY 10023. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Notice of Formation of Open6 LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with NY Dept. of State on 2/25/19. Office location: NY County. Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: 420 E. 72nd St., Apt. 18A, NY, NY 10021, principal business address. Purpose: all lawful purposes.

Notice of Qualification of Strategic Partners Fund Solutions Associates VIII (Lux) S.a r.l. Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 02/07/19. “L.L.C.” will be added to the name for use in this state. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Luxembourg on 03/29/18. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. Luxembourg addr. of LLC: 11-13, boulevard de la Fiore, L-1528, Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Cert. of Form. filed with Registre de Commerce et des Societes, 14. Rue Erasme, L-1468 Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Purpose: Any lawful activity. RMV Universal Solutions LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with SSNY 01/30/2019. Office loc: Westchester County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, Attn: Rakell M. Vazquez-Murray, Owner, 2 Ronalds Avenue, New Rochelle, NY 10801. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.

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Notice of Qualification of 165 East 66th Street (NY) Garage Owner, LLC. Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/30/19. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 11/29/18. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Paracorp Incorporated, 2804 Gateway Oaks Dr. #100, Sacramento, CA 95833. Address to be maintained in DE: 2140 S. DuPont Hwy., Camden, DE 19934. Arts of Org. filed with the Secy. of State, Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St. #4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activities.

Notice of Qualification of LibreMax Opportunistic Value Fund, LP Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/02/19. Office location: NY County. LP formed in Cayman Islands (C.I.) on 11/30/18. Princ. office of LP: 600 Lexington Ave., 7th Fl., NY, NY 10022. Duration of LP is Perpetual. SSNY designated as agent of LP upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the Partnership at the princ. office of the LP. Name and addr. of each general partner are available from SSNY. C.I. addr. of LP: Maples Corporate Services Limited, PO Box 309, Ugland House, Grand Cayman, C.I. KY11104. Cert. of LP filed with General Registry, Ground Fl., Government Administration Bldg., 133 Elgin Ave, George Town, Grand Cayman, C.I. KY1-9000. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Notice of Qualification of Flight Center Holdings LLC. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 2/8/19. Office location: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 1503 LBJ Freeway, Ste. 300, Dallas, TX 75234. LLC formed in DE on 8/2/17. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: Cogency Global Inc., 10 E. 40th St., 10th Fl., NY, NY 10016. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activity. Notice of Formation of Sevier RE Group LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/14/19. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o Brinster & Bergman LLP, 100 Merrick Rd., Ste. 320E, Rockville Centre, NY 11570. Purpose: any lawful activities.

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CityAndStateNY.com / PUBLIC and LEGAL NOTICES

Notice of Qualification of AdaptiveHR, LLC. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 2/7/19. Office location: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 800 Hingham St., Ste. 2025-3, Rockland, MA 02370. LLC formed in DE on 12/12/18. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: Cogency Global Inc., 10 E. 40th St., 10th Fl., NY, NY 10016. DE addr. of LLC: 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activity. Notice of Qualification of Adaptive Payroll, LLC. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 2/7/19. Office location: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 800 Hingham St., Ste. 2025-3, Rockland, MA 02370. LLC formed in DE on 12/12/18. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: Cogency Global Inc., 10 E. 40th St., 10th Fl., NY, NY 10016. DE addr. of LLC: 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activity.

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Notice of Qualification of DANCING BROOMSTICK DEVELOPMENT LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 02/07/19. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 12/12/18. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: c/o CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808-1674. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Secy. of State, John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St. - Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of CHESHIRE CAT DEVELOPMENT LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 02/07/19. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 12/12/18. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: c/o CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808-1674. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Secy. of State, John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St. - Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity. NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION of Rosa E., LLC amended to White Spark, LLC. Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/13/05. Office loc: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware on 7/28/05. SSNY designated agent upon whom process may be served and mailed to: 465 W 23rd St, #11B, NY, NY 10011. R/A CSC, 80 State St, Albany, NY 12207. Cert. of LLC filed with Secy. Of State of DE loc: 401 Federal St., #4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activity. Notice of Qualification of PEGASUS LEGAL CAPITAL, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 02/06/19. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 12/12/17. NYS fictitious name: PEGASUS LITIGATION CAPITAL, LLC. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Cullen and Dykman LLP, Attn: Andrew Nitkewicz, Esq., 100 Quentin Roosevelt Blvd., Garden City, NY 11530. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Secy. of State, Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., #4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

LEGALNOTICES@ CITYANDSTATENY.COM

March 11, 2019

LISA & EVELYN CO., L.L.C. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 12/14/18. Office: New York County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to the LLC, c/o Solomon Zabrowsky, Esq., 250 West 57th Street, Suite 1301, New York, NY 10107. Purpose: Any lawful purpose. Notice of Formation of HIDDEN GROVE HOUSING CLASS B, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 02/22/19. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 60 Columbus Circle, NY, NY 10023. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. Purpose: Any lawful activity. NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A LICENSE, SERIAL # 1316416 FOR WINE & BEER HAS BEEN APPLIED FOR BY THE UNDERSIGNED TO SELL WINE & BEER AT RETAIL UNDER THE ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE CONTROL LAW AT 77 2ND AVE NEW YORK, NY 10003. NEW YORK COUNTY, FOR ON-PREMISE CONSUMPTION. BRICKLANE 1 LLC. Notice of Qualification of BDG Design LLC. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 2/12/19. Office location: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 100 Park Ave., 4th Fl., NY, NY 10017. LLC formed in DE on 2/8/19. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o WPP, 1740 Broadway, NY, NY 10019. DE addr. of LLC: 3411 Silverside Rd., Tatnall Bldg. #104, Wilmington, DE 19810. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: all lawful purposes.

Notice of Qualification of MSGN ENTERPRISES, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 02/07/19. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 12/10/18. Princ. office of LLC: Two Pennsylvania Plaza, 19th Fl., NY, NY 10121-0091. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: c/o CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State of DE, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity. PUBLIC NOTICE AT&T Mobility Services LLC (AT&T) proposes the modification of an existing AT&T facility installed atop an existing building/ rooftop at 301 East 48th St in Manhattan, NY (Project 43074). In accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 and the 2005 Nationwide Programmatic Agreement, AT&T is hereby notifying the public of the proposed undertaking and soliciting comments on Historic Properties which may be affected by the proposed undertaking. If you would like to provide specific information regarding potential effects that the proposed undertaking might have to properties that are listed on or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places and located within 350 feet of the site, please submit the comments (with project number) to: RAMAKER, Contractor for AT&T, 855 Community Dr, Sauk City, WI 53583 or via e-mail to history@ramaker.com within 30 days of this notice.

LEGALNOTICES@ CITYANDSTATENY.COM

SUPREME COURT – COUNTY OF KINGS THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON FKA THE BANK OF NEW YORK, AS TRUSTEE FOR THE CERTIFICATEHOLDERS OF CWALT, INC., ALTERNATIVE LOAN TRUST 2006-OA14, MORTGAGE PASS-THROUGH CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2006-OA14, Plaintiff against MIRIAM RIVERA A/K/A MIRIAM R. RIVERA; JOE R. RIVERA A/K/A JOE RIVERA; ANA RIVERA; JOE RIVERA, et al Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered on October 25, 2017. I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction in Room 224 of the Kings County Courthouse, 360 Adams Street, Brooklyn, N.Y. on the 4th day of April, 2019 at 2:30 p.m. premises described as follows: All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Brooklyn, County of Kings, City and State of New York. Said premises known as 12 Nichols Avenue, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11208. (Block: 4109, Lot: 112). Approximate amount of lien $ 628,907.05 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed judgment and terms of sale. Index No. 511600-15. Doron A. Leiby, Esq., Referee. Stern & Eisenberg, PC Attorney(s) for Plaintiff Woodbridge Corporate Plaza 485 B Route 1 South – Suite 330 Iselin, NJ 08830 (732) 582-6344

Notice of Formation of VWNG Holdings, LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/31/19. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: the Company, c/o Steven S Pretsfelder, Van Wagner Group, LLC, 800 Third Ave., NY, NY 10022. Purpose: any lawful activities. Notice of Formation of BTTD, LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 02/06/19. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o Julien Kabla, Prime Realty Luxury, 48 Wall St., 5th Fl., NY, NY 10043. Purpose: any lawful activities. Notice of Formation of HUDSON POOL LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 02/26/19. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: c/o The Hudson Companies Inc., 826 Broadway, NY, NY 10003. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the addr. of its princ. office. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of DL AND AP PHYSICAL THERAPY AND CHIROPRACTIC, PLLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 02/15/19. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of PLLC: 113 W. 78th St., Ste. 1, NY, NY 10024. SSNY designated as agent of PLLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the PLLC at the addr. of its princ. office. Purpose: Physical therapy and chiropractic. Public Notice Cellco Partnership and its controlled affiliates doing business as Verizon Wireless (Verizon Wireless) proposes to collocate wireless communications antennas at a top height of 101 feet on the rooftop of a building with an overall top height of 101 feet at the approx. vicinity of 55 Meserole Street, Brooklyn, Kings County, NY 11206. Public comments regarding potential effects from this site on historic properties may be submitted within 30 days from the date of this publication to: Trileaf Corp, Elsie, e.boone@trileaf.com, 8600 LaSalle Road, Suite 301, Towson, MD 21286, 410-853-7128. LEGALNOTICES@ CITYANDSTATENY.COM

PUBLIC and LEGAL NOTICES / CityAndStateNY.com

March 11, 2019

NOTICE OF SALE

STATE OF NEW YORK

PUBLIC AUCTION Supreme Court of New York, KINGS County. WILMINGTON TRUST, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, NOT IN ITS INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY, BUT SOLELY AS TRUSTEE FOR MFRA TRUST 2014-2, Plaintiff, -against- LEYLA DAVIS; NEW YORK CITY ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL BOARD; KAYLIE JOHNSON; KYANNE JOHNSON; ANSIL JOHNSON; KAREN LIVERPOOL; AUDREY LIVERPOOL; VANESSA SIMPSON; LEO COLON; JESSICA CRUZ, Index No. 512846/2016. Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly dated, January 9, 2019 and entered with the Kings County Clerk on January 18, 2019, Steven Z. Naiman, Esq., the Appointed Referee, will sell the premises known as 203 Cornelia Street, Brooklyn, New York 11221 at public auction in Room 224 of the Kings County Supreme Court, 360 Adams Street, Brooklyn, New York 11201, on April 11, 2019 at 2:30 P.M. All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Brooklyn, County of Kings, City and State of New York known as Block: 3376; Lot: 54 will be sold subject to the provisions of filed Judgment, Index No. 512846/2016. The approximate amount of judgment is $891,323.70 plus interest and costs. FRIEDMAN VARTOLO LLP 85 Broad Street, Suite 501, New York, New York 10004, Attorneys for Plaintiff.

SUPREME COURT: COUNTY OF KINGS

Notice of Qualification of OpenDeal Portal LLC. Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 02/22/19. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 08/16/18. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 335 Madison Ave., 16th Fl., NY, NY 10017. Address to be maintained in DE: c/o TRAC - The Registered Agent Company, 800 N. State St., Ste 402, Dover, DE 19901. Arts of Org. filed with the Secy. of State, 401 Federal St. Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activities.

U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS TRUSTEE FOR CREDIT SUISSE FIRST BOSTON MORTGAGE SECURITIES CORP., CSFB MORTGAGE-BACKED PASS-THROUGH CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2005-12, Plaintiff,

vs. RUDOLPH DRAGHINE, STEVEN DRAGHINE, et al., Defendants NOTICE OF SALE IN FORECLOSURE PLEASE TAKE NOTICE THAT In pursuance of a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the office of the County Clerk of Kings County on December 11, 2018, I, Philip Kamaras, Esq., the Referee named in said Judgment, will sell in one parcel at public auction on April 11, 2019 at the Kings County Supreme Court, Room 224, 360 Adams Street, Brooklyn, County of Kings, State of New York, at 2:30 P.M., the premises described as follows: 2090 Strauss St Brooklyn, NY 11212 SBL No.: 3569-37 ALL THAT TRACT OF PARCEL OF LAND situate in the Borough of Brooklyn, County of Kings, City and State of New York The premises are sold subject to the provisions of the filed judgment, Index No. 509813/2014 in the amount of $435,743.62 plus interest and costs. Brittany J. Maxon, Esq. Woods Oviatt Gilman LLP Plaintiff’s Attorney 700 Crossroads Building, 2 State St. Rochester, New York 14614 Tel.: 855-227-5072

GOTHAM FIX , LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with SSNY 12/10/2018. Office loc: NY County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, Attn: 2155 center ave apt 2 Fort Lee, NJ 07024. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.

A.D. Advisory, LLC filed Arts. of Org. with the Sect’y of State of NY (SSNY) on 2/22/19. Office: NY County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o The LLC, 199 Main St., 5th Fl., White Plains, NY 10601. Purpose: any lawful act.

Patois Republic, LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with SSNY 7/17/2018. Office loc: Westchester County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, Attn: Shirley Semper, 78 Dora St, APT 2A. Stamford, New York. 00902. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.

PARTY REQUIRED, LLC, filed with SSNY 2/24/2019. Office located in Westchester Co. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of any process to: PARTY REQUIRED, LLC. 941 Mclean Ave, #507, Yonkers, NY 10704. Purpose: any lawful business activity.

Notice of Qualification of TWO SIGMA MERCURY FUND, LP Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 02/27/19. Office location: NY County. LP formed in Delaware (DE) on 02/20/19. Duration of LP is Perpetual. SSNY designated as agent of LP upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Two Sigma Principals, LLC, 100 Ave. of the Americas, 16th Fl., NY, NY 10013. Name and addr. of each general partner are available from SSNY. DE addr. of LP: Corporation Service Co., 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of LP filed with Secy. of State of the State of DE, Div. of Corps., 401 Federal St., #4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Notice of Qualification of TWO SIGMA MERCURY MASTER FUND, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 02/27/19. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 02/20/19. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC, 100 Ave. of the Americas, 16th Fl., NY, NY 10013. DE addr. of LLC: Corporation Service Co., 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State of the State of DE, Div. of Corps., 401 Federal St., #4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity. T.I.P.P INVESTIGATIONS, LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with SSNY 08/23/2018. Office loc: New York County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, Attn KELVIN GOODWIN, M.D., 99 WAL STREET SUITE 215, NEW YORK, NY 10005. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.

LEGALNOTICES@ CITYANDSTATENY.COM

PUBLIC NOTICE New York City Dept. of Consumer Affairs Notice of Public Hearing Notice is hereby given, pursuant to law, that the NYC Department of Consumer Affairs will hold a public hearing on WEDNESDAY, APRIL 03, AT 2019 2 P.M. at 42 Broadway, 5th floor, on a petition for BOYYTHAI CORP to NEW MAINTAIN, AND OPERATE an unenclosed sidewalk cafe at 662 9TH AVE IN THE BOROUGH OF MANHATTAN FOR A TERM OF TWO YEARS. REQUEST FOR COPIES OF THE REVOCABLE CONSENT AGREEMENT MAY BE ADDRESSED TO: DEPT. OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, 42 BROADWAY, NEW YORK, NY 10004 ATTN: FOIL OFFICER

LEGALNOTICES@ CITYANDSTATENY.COM

PUBLIC NOTICE New York City Dept. of Consumer Affairs Notice of Public Hearing Notice is hereby given, pursuant to law, that the NYC Department of Consumer Affairs will hold a public hearing on WEDNESDAY, APRIL 03, AT 2019 2 P.M. at 42 Broadway, 5th floor, on a petition for TOXOTIS LLC to NEW MAINTAIN, AND OPERATE an unenclosed sidewalk cafe at 8402 3RD AVE IN THE BOROUGH OF BROOKLYN FOR A TERM OF TWO YEARS. REQUEST FOR COPIES OF THE REVOCABLE CONSENT AGREEMENT MAY BE ADDRESSED TO: DEPT. OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, 42 BROADWAY, NEW YORK, NY 10004 ATTN: FOIL OFFICER

NOTICE OF QUAL. of Sugar Hill Property Offshore Fund V 2019 Holdings, LLC. Auth. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 2/15/19. Off. Loc: NY Co. LLC org. in DE 2/11/19. SSNY desig. as agent of LLC upon whom proc. against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of proc. to 28 Liberty, New York, NY 10005. DE off. Addr.: 160 Greentree Dr., Ste 101, Dover, DE 19904. Cert of Form. on file: SSDE, Townsend Bldg., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activity Notice of Qualification of 200 East 87th Street Company, LLC. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 2/28/19. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in DE on 2/20/19. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: 1290 Ave. of the Americas, NY, NY 10104, principal business address. DE address of LLC: 850 New Burton Rd., Ste. 201, Dover, DE 19904. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: all lawful purposes. Notice of Formation of Social Aces, LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 02/15/19. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Dor Mizrahi, 100 West 26th St., Apt. 10F, NY, NY 10001. Purpose: any lawful activities. Notice of Qualification of Principium TMW LLC. Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 02/12/19. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 01/17/19. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o C T Corporation System, 28 Liberty St., NY, NY 10005, also the registered agent upon whom process may be served. Address to be maintained in DE: c/o The Corporation Trust Company, 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Arts of Org. filed with the Secy. of State, 401 Federal St. - Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activities.

CityAndStateNY.com

March 11, 2019

CITY & STATE NEW YORK MANAGEMENT & PUBLISHING CEO Steve Farbman, President & Publisher Tom Allon tallon@cityandstateny.com, Comptroller David Pirozzi, Business & Operations Manager Patrea Patterson

Who was up and who was down last week

CREATIVE Art Director Andrew Horton, Senior Graphic Designer Alex Law, Graphic Designer Aaron Aniton DIGITAL Digital Director Derek Evers devers@cityandstateny.com, Digital Content Coordinator Michael Filippi, Social Media Editor/Content Producer Amanda Luz Henning Santiago

LOSERS STEPHEN ROSS Last month, New York magazine suggested that Stephen Ross is “the most powerful man in New York, a Robert Moses for our age of concierge mega-urbanism.” And last week, Ross provided additional evidence to back up that claim as he cut a deal with the Building and Construction Trades Council’s Gary LaBarbera that ended an epic, bitter feud – and apparently still allows the real estate developer to employ nonunion labor at his Hudson Yards megadevelopment.

OUR PICK

WINNERS

Battle-tested billionaire Michael Bloomberg has bowed out of the presidential race. So has two-time candidate and noted Broadway theatergoer Hillary Clinton. But Bill de Blasio, who just this month has learned how to swipe a MetroCard, is full steam ahead for 2020, having sampled some South Carolina barbecue last weekend. The real winners? Acting Public Advocate/Council Speaker/Transit BATman Corey Johnson, who’s measuring the drapes in Gracie Mansion.

EDITORIAL editor@cityandstateny.com Editor-in-Chief Jon Lentz jlentz@cityandstateny.com, Managing Editor Ryan Somers, Senior Editor Ben Adler badler@cityandstateny.com, Special Projects Editor Alice Popovici, Copy Editor Eric Holmberg, Staff Reporter Jeff Coltin jcoltin@cityandstateny.com, Staff Reporter Zach Williams zwilliams@cityandstateny.com, Staff Reporter Rebecca C. Lewis rlewis@cityandstateny.com, Tech & Policy Reporter Annie McDonough amcdonough@ cityandstateny.com

BILL LIPTON The New York Democratic Party took aim at the state’s practice of fusion voting, approving a nonbinding resolution calling for the end of cross-party endorsements. The resolution doesn’t actually do anything, mind you, and many establishment Democrats have come out in support of maintaining fusion voting, but it was widely seen as targeting Bill Lipton’s Working Families Party, which derives its influence from fusion voting.

ADVERTISING Vice President of Advertising Jim Katocin jkatocin@ cityandstateny.com, Account/Business Development Executive Scott Augustine saugustine@cityandstateny.com, Event Sponsorship Strategist Danielle Koza dkoza@ cityandstateny.com, Sales Associate Cydney McQuillanGrace cydney@cityandstateny.com, Junior Sales Executive Caitlin Dorman, Junior Sales Executive Shakirah Gittens, Junior Sales Associate Chris Hogan EVENTS events@cityandstateny.com Sales Director Lissa Blake, Events Manager Alexis Arsenault, Director of Events Research & Development Bryan Terry, Marketing Coordinator Meg McCabe, Event Coordinator Amanda Cortez

Vol. 8 Issue 9 March 11, 2019 NYC’S TOP 10 LOBBYISTS AOC FOR MAYOR!

Put a socialist in Gracie Mansion

How the

Cops Handcuffed de Blasio

FROM RUNNING ON POLICE REFORM TO BECOMING THE NYPD'S APOLOGIST-IN-CHIEF

THE REST OF THE WORST

RODOLFO DIAZ & ROBERT HARDY

AL DIRSCHBERGER

Their successful suit gives the MTA no excuses: you renovate, you add an elevator.

THOMAS DINAPOLI

Not everybody can search the couch cushions and find $190M lying around.

BILLIE HOLIDAY

The ex-Erie Social Services commissioner was convicted of raping a subordinate.

FERNANDO FERRER

The MTA needs a new warning. How about, “Stand clear of the falling debris.”

@CIT YANDSTATENY

March 11, 2019

ROBERT LEGG

She’ll be here in body and soul – with new statues of her and other women in NYC.

Facebook banned this PA mayor for saying Cuomo and Schumer should be shot. Watch it, pal, only Trump gets to say that.

LIZ KRUEGER & AMY PAULIN

JAMES O’NEILL

They’re coming for your guns. Not Dems – kids! A new law says lock up your guns.

CIT YANDSTATENY.COM

Cover elements Billion Photos/Shutterstock; Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office

The NYPD cracked down on placard abuse by towing 30 cars for their flag football game.

WINNERS & LOSERS is published every Friday morning in City & State’s First Read email. Sign up for the email, cast your vote and see who won at cityandstateny.com.

CITY & STATE NEW YORK (ISSN 2474-4107) is published weekly, 48 times a year except for the four weeks containing New Year’s Day, July 4th, Thanksgiving and Christmas by City & State NY, LLC, 61 Broadway, Suite 1315, New York, NY 10006-2763. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to City & State New York, 61 Broadway, Suite 1315, New York, NY 10006-2763. General: (212) 268-0442, subscribe@cityandstateny.com Copyright ©2019, City & State NY, LLC

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THE BEST OF THE REST

BARUCH COLLEGE • APRIL 24, 2019 City & State’s Healthy New York Summit will inform health care decision makers and policy experts on the most critical issues and priorities in New York health care. The full-day event brings insights and perspectives from all sectors of New York’s health care decision-making together to identify challenges and discuss solutions to improve our system. Join us for an extensive overview of New York’s 2019 health policy agenda and better understanding on the health care issues.

PANEL TOPICS •

Making Health Coverage Available and Affordable to All New Yorkers

•

Innovative Health Programs and Services in New York

•

Moving Toward Health Equity in NY

•

The Next Steps for Mental Health Care and Vulnerable Populations in New York

FE ATURED SPE AKERS •

Mitchell Katz, President and CEO, New York City Health + Hospitals

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State Sen. Gustavo Rivera, Chairman, Health Committee

•

Gale A. Brewer, Manhattan Borough President

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Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, Chairman, Health Committee

•

NYC Councilman Mark Levine, Chairman, Committee on Health

RSVP at CityAndStateNY.com/Events For more information on programming and sponsorship opportunities, please contact Lissa Blake at lblake@cityandstateny.com

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS

Give New Yorkers the power to fight utility rate hikes.

New Yorkers already pay some of the highest utility rates in the country. So when we face unfair rate hikes, we need somebody to fight for us. That’s why we’re urging legislators to create an Independent Utility Consumer Advocate as part of this year’s state budget. The utility companies have lawyers to represent their interests. Residential utility customers don’t. It’s time for state legislators to change that.

Call 1-844-586-9562 and tell your state legislator: We need an Independent Utility Consumer Advocate—now.

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