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June 7, 2021
CITY & STATE NEW YORK MANAGEMENT & PUBLISHING Publisher & General Manager Tom Allon tallon@ cityandstateny.com, Vice President of Operations Jasmin Freeman, Comptroller David Pirozzi, Business & Operations Manager Patrea Patterson, Administrative Assistant Lauren Mauro
Who was up and who was down last week
LOSERS
CREATIVE Art Director Andrew Horton, Senior Graphic Designer Alex Law, Graphic Designer Aaron Aniton, Photo Researcher Michelle Steinhauser DIGITAL Digital Director Michael Filippi, Digital Marketing Manager Caitlin Dorman, Digital Strategist Isabel Beebe
MICHAEL BENEDETTO The Assembly Education Committee chair has a curious take on legislative oversight. If the state Education Department says things are A-OK, then why not take them at their word because they’re, like, really learned? That was his reasoning for holding up a bill to examine how much students are learning about the Holocaust. As it turned out, someone was listening and the whole episode came to light.
THE BEST OF THE REST
THE REST OF THE WORST
GARY LABARBERA
RAFAIL PORTNOY
The past year has been a little rocky for the New York State Building and Construction Trades Council, but Gary LaBarbera got a major win for the union when the state Legislature passed a wage theft bill that would make contractors more liable when subcontractors stiff employees.
ZELLNOR MYRIE
His bill allowing civil lawsuits to be filed against gun manufacturers was passed by the state Senate. Maybe if Assembly Member Pat Fahy, the bill’s other sponsor, can get the body to pass the bill, she’ll find herself in the Winners Circle soon.
MTA Chief Technology Officer Rafail Portnoy had a tough week after it was revealed that hackers got into the transit system’s computers. Now the unenviable task begins of fortifying the agency’s safeguards, and ensuring the hackers can’t continue their attacks.
ADVERTISING Vice President of Advertising Jim Katocin jkatocin@ cityandstateny.com, Account/Business Development Executive Scott Augustine saugustine@cityandstateny. com, Vice President, Advertising and Client Relations Danielle Koza dkoza@cityandstateny.com, Sales Associate Cydney McQuillan-Grace cydney@ cityandstateny.com, Sales Assistant Zimam Alemenew, Sales Assistant Garth McKee, Legal Advertising Associate Sean Medal EVENTS events@cityandstateny.com Sales Director Lissa Blake, Events Manager Alexis Arsenault, Event Coordinator Amanda Cortez ADVISORY BOARD Chair Sheryl Huggins Salomon Board members Sayu Bhojwani, Gregg Bishop, David Jones, Maite Junco, Andrew Kirtzman, Tara L. Martin, Mike Nieves, Juanita Scarlett, Larry Scott Blackmon, Lupe Todd-Medina, Ashwin Vasan, Trip Yang
Vol. 10 Issue 22 June 7, 2021 It ain't just NYC Upstate mayoral races to watch
Lindsey Boylan won't be silenced
SUZANNE SILVERSTEIN
The state Court of Appeals has ruled that New York City has every right to put homeless shelters in rich and poor neighborhoods alike. Too bad for Suzanne Silverstein and the merry band of NIMBYs she leads as president of the West 58th Street Coalition.
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.
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June 7, 2021
Cover photograph: Emily Assiran 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 100062763. 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 ©2021, City & State NY, LLC
NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL; TEQUILA MINSKY; ASSEMBLY
MARGARET CHIN & GALE BREWER New York City’s back: Broadway, movie theaters and summer camps are all opening up. But for weeks, the city remained mum on whether senior centers were being revived as well, to the chagrin of Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and Council Member Margaret Chin. But the mayor finally gave the OK to let older adults head back to centers for in-person activities.
OUR PICK
OUR PICK
WINNERS
The New York City Democratic mayoral primary had its first in-person debate and there was a clear winner: the mute button, when these events were virtual. We truly did not know what we had until we lost it. Speaking of things that are looking better in retrospect, Bill de Blasio got to have some more fun. While his potential successors were forced to squabble on TV, he got to share decreasing COVID-19 statistics, publicly proclaim his love for Big Bird and tweet about basketball.
EDITORIAL editor@cityandstateny.com Editor-in-Chief Ralph Ortega rortega@cityandstateny. com, Senior Editor Ben Adler, Managing Editor Eric Holmberg, Deputy Managing Editor Holly Pretsky, Associate Editor Patricia Battle, Senior Reporter Jeff Coltin jcoltin@cityandstateny.com, Senior State Politics Reporter Zach Williams zwilliams@cityandstateny. com, Deputy State Politics Reporter Rebecca C. Lewis rlewis@cityandstateny.com, Staff Reporter Amanda Luz Henning Santiago, Tech & Policy Reporter Annie McDonough amcdonough@cityandstateny.com, Staff Reporter Kay Dervishi, Staff Reporter Sydney Kashiwagi, Editorial Assistant Jasmine Sheena
