WINNERS LOSERS

Who was up and who was down last week

Tradition has it that each week we identify a handful of political winners and losers, but this week we feel compelled to make an even bigger announcement. New York politics’ GREATEST OF ALL TIME is … the Riverside Park goat herd! They were on hiatus due to the pandemic last year, but now they’re back to chomp on invasive plant species and being adored by their legions of fans. You can even support your favorite goat through ranked-choice voting.

JOSHUA GOLDFEIN & DAWN SMALLS

New York City stopped moving 8,000 homeless people from hotels back into congregate shelters after being slapped with a lawsuit filed by the Legal Aid Society and law firm Jenner & Block. This was a big win for Goldfein, as well as fellow Legal Aid Society lawyers Judith Goldiner and Beth Hofmeister, who also filed the suit, and Dawn Smalls, who spearheaded the effort at Jenner & Block.

WINNERS

OUR PICK

LOSERS

OUR PICK

ANDREW CUOMO

You’d think after public outcry and multiple ongoing investigations, the Cuomo administration would learn to stop obfuscating data around COVID-19 deaths. Turns out New York state’s death count is 11,000 short of the federal government’s tally, a larger discrepancy than seen in any other state. The state Department of Health has said it’s not hiding data since it’s all visible through the federal government’s figures.

THE BEST OF THE REST RICH MAROKO

A lot of labor unions endorsed Eric Adams for mayor, but it was only Maroko’s Hotel Trades Council that Adams celebrated with last week and compared to the first girl he ever loved, Linda Perkins. No matter where you lay your head at night, don’t sleep on the political sway of the HTC.

BILLY JONES & JOSEPH GRIFFO

Visiting a barbershop on Sundays is technically no longer illegal thanks to Assembly Member Billy Jones and state Sen. Joseph Griffo, lawmakers who pushed a bill forward this year doing away with a century-old blue law.

THE REST OF THE WORST ALESSANDRA BIAGGI

Postponing an ethics hearing over ethics concerns is somewhat ironic, if at least promising that a committee is not breaking the rules it’s meant to uphold. But it’s not ideal, especially when you cancel it after the starting time.

MICHAEL P. HEIN

New York’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program is not offering as much relief or operating with as much urgency as its name would suggest. The $2.4 billion program has yet to release any funds to the roughly 120,000 households who have applied for relief.

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

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

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, Associate Editor Kay Dervishi, 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, Editorial Assistant Jasmine Sheena

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

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, Media and Event Sales Associate 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 27

July 19, 2021

Yuh-Line

Niou

One of the brave ones

CITYANDSTATENY.COM @CITYANDSTATENY

POWER OF DIVERSITY ASIAN 100

July 19, 2021

Cover photography: Mengwen Cao

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 SPENCER LEE GALLOP; DAWN SMALLS FOR NYC PUBLIC ADVOCATE; KEVIN P. COUGHLIN/OFFICE OF GOV. ANDREW CUOMO