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August 12, 2019

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August 12, 2019

City & State New York

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EDITOR’S NOTE

JON LENTZ Editor-in-chief

THE SHORTHAND FOR the way Albany operates has long been known as “three men in a room” – the governor, state Senate majority leader and Assembly speaker going behind closed doors each session to hash out what will or won’t get done.

The old model is under threat, however, thanks to the arrival of the “Wonder Twins” – state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, who turned heads this year by joining forces and cutting the governor out of some legislative negotiations.

“We’re just so happy to be with somebody that we’re like,” Heastie told The New York Times in February. “It’s like we’re the Wonder Twins.”

For the uninitiated, the Wonder Twins are the shapeshifting siblings Zan and Jayna who were featured in a 1970s Hanna-Barbera cartoon and a comic book series. To activate their powers, the twin brother and sister bump their fists together and shout, “Wonder Twin powers, activate!” While possessing remarkable powers – Zan turns into water, and Jayna can transform into various animals – they are relatively young and inexperienced, especially compared to their superhero friends like Batman and Superman. And by coincidence, the characters were revived in a comic book reboot this year.

In this week’s cover story, City & State takes a closer look at the real-life Wonder Twins, and how they’re shaking up state politics.

CONTENTS

THE WONDER TWINS … 6 Carl Heastie and Andrea StewartCousins are trying something different.

AFTER THE IDC … 12

Somehow, David Carlucci and Diane Savino are thriving.

THE COST OF SESSION … 16

How 2019’s biggest bills will affect insurance rates

INSURANCE LEGISLATION … 20

CELESTE SLOMAN; PROVIDED BY CARL MCCALL

These issues will be huge next year.

CARL MCCALL … 23 Reflecting on half a century of public service WINNERS & LOSERS … 38 Who was up and who was down last week

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The

August 12, 2019

Latest CABÁN CONCEDES

MMV FOR CONGRESS DE BLASIO’S BAD WEEK

Former New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito has jumped into the race to replace Rep. José E. Serrano, who will retire at the end of his current term. She joins Assemblyman Michael Blake and City Council members Ritchie Torres and Rubén Díaz Sr. in vying for the South Bronx seat. Mark-Viverito is framing herself as a progressive leader who predates the current wave.

After a poor performance the presidential debate, things haven’t improved for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. He caught flak for using his police detail to help his daughter move and for taking out a mortgage with a bank founded the brother of notorious landlords with whom the city made a controversial deal. He got called out for taking money from hoteliers with business before the city. And he faces two new complaints filed with the FEC for his questionable campaign finances.

The

Back & Forth

A Q&A with 2021 NYC mayoral candidate

Dianne Morales The

Kicker

Why are you running for mayor?

I was born to a working-class Puerto Rican family – first generation. I’ve had lots of experiences with inequity and challenges with access and opportunity. I’m also a single mom who’s had to navigate the special ed system, mental health care. Professionally, I’ve been working in low-income communities, helping them to overcome different barriers. Quite frankly, it’s time to stop tinkering around the edges and get the systems that are intended to serve and support communities to do that in a different way that is more impactful.

that would make me part of the left, then I would embrace that. For me, it’s less about the labels and more about the substance.

We’ve seen success from candidates running from the far left, like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Tiffany Cabán. How do you define yourself, politically?

I believe in real access and equity, and I believe in things to help tip the scales on the disparities that are both institutionalized and systemic. If

New York City has never had a female mayor, and all the top contenders for 2021 are men. Will that a big part of your campaign?

Having leadership that reflects a greater part of the city is important (and) having leadership that has been impacted by some of the greatest challenges that some New Yorkers face. And I think that it’s time.

You’ve been in the local government orbit for a long time, currently as the executive director and CEO of Phipps Neighborhoods, but have you ever run for office or worked on a campaign?

Oh gosh, no. I have no traditional political experience. That would be part of my appeal to some folks. I haven’t been aspiring to political positions since I was 20.

“We terrified the Democratic establishment.”

– TIFFANY CABÁN, in her concession speech in the Queens district attorney primary race, via The City Get the kicker every morning in CITY & STATE’S FIRST READ email. Sign up at cityandstateny.com.

LEV RADIN, A KATZ/SHUTTERSTOCK; MEGAN MAGRAY FOR CABÁN FOR QUEENS; KRIS GRAVES; OPPOSITE PAGE: PROVIDED BY THE CAMPAIGNS

After the contest to be the Democratic nominee for Queens district attorney went into extra innings, public defender Tiffany Cabán conceded defeat to Borough President Melinda Katz. The announcement came after a tough day in court indicated Cabán had no viable path to victory. Despite the loss, she struck an optimistic tone in her address, thanking supporters for helping change the playing field in Queens.

GOP VS. AOC August 12, 2019

City & State New York

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BY REBECCA C. LEWIS

THE REPUBLICANS RUNNING AGAINST THE LIBERAL LIGHTNING ROD

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EP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ has not even finished her first full year in office, but she has already attracted seven Republican challengers, even from outside the district.

City & State spoke with six of them. Despite their long odds, each feels confident they have what it takes to unseat one of the most famous members of Congress.

RUTH PAPAZIAN

Papazian is advocating for school vouchers and as yet unspecified changes to tax policy. She organized a campaign in 2018 called Block Bolshevik to keep Ocasio-Cortez out of office. “I have been essentially running against AOC since she defeated Joe Crowley in (the) primary,” Papazian said. “I was running against AOC before it was fashionable.”

MIGUEL HERNANDEZ

Hernandez is focusing on improving the city’s housing and public housing infrastructure. A former Democrat, he said he switched parties in 2016 because he is pro-life and cited erroneous claims touted by President Donald Trump about Democrats killing babies after they are born and performing abortions minutes before birth. “When I speak about my policies, (people) say, ‘Wow, you speak like a Democrat,’” Hernandez said. “I say, ‘No ... I speak like a realist.’”

REY SOLANO

Solano is touting what he calls “The Blue and Orange Deal.” The tenets of his plan include a flat federal income tax rate of 10%, requiring a surety bond for all visa holders to help ensure they don’t overstay, school vouchers and a tax credit to reimburse the cost of private health care.

“I can solve health care in five minutes with my plan,” Solano told City & State.

ANTOINE TUCKER

Tucker went to prison over a decade ago for selling drugs, where he said he found God. He is focused largely on reforming the nation’s criminal justice system, including the conditional erasure of past felonies.

He also said he wants to introduce more vocational training programs to offer more opportunities to kids from disadvantaged backgrounds. “There’s nothing more important to me than making sure my city has another 50 years of prosperity,” he said.

JOHN CUMMINGS

Cummings, a high school civics teacher and former police officer from the Bronx, says that the district has “lacked local representation” for a long time, going back to the years under Crowley. “I think the entire socialist movement has to be stopped,” Cummings said. “I think it’s antithetical to everything that we as a country stand for. For me, this election is freedom and liberty versus government control.”

SCHERIE MURRAY

Murray is a former state Republican committeewoman who ran for Assembly in 2015. She said a key part of her campaign will be to spread Republican values and help strengthen the state GOP. “What we see now is someone who’s more interested in the limelight and spewing rhetoric that’s detrimental to this great nation,” Murray said. “There are issues that are pertinent to the district that I don’t feel is being articulated on the national level.”

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NEW ROOM, NEW RULES

June 17, 2019

Three men in a room once ruled Albany with an iron fist. Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Carl Heastie are trying something different.

June 17, 2019

City & State New York

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by Z A C H W I L L I A M S

O

NE DAY IN APRIL, state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins set in motion a plan to change the lives of millions of people across New York state. To do this, she didn’t call the governor, or even the most senior members of her conference. Instead, she summoned first-term state Sen. Zellnor Myrie to her office on the third floor of the Capitol. The 32-yearold Brooklyn lawmaker was the final piece of the puzzle for Stewart-Cousins’ plan to advance a package of housing reforms through the labyrinthine corridors of power in state government.

Rather than swearing Myrie to secrecy, she asked him to tell every Democratic senator that a newly formed legislative housing working group was going to craft the conference’s position on rent reforms – one of the most complicated and contentious issues the Democrats would face in 2019.

“It was pretty dope,” Myrie said in an interview. “She straight up asked me to co-chair it.” Myrie and state Sen. Brian Kavanagh were not only going to moderate Democratic debate on issues like vacancy decontrol and restrictive covenants, but the co-chairs were also going to conduct an exercise in small “d” democratic control of a legislative chamber.

The episode illustrates a consensus-driven approach that sets Stewart-Cousins apart from her predecessors, according to interviews with nearly three dozen lawmakers, activists and insiders. This includes delegating the details of top policy issues, allowing lawmakers to hold more public hearings and working through divisive legislation before taking a public position as a conference. And in contrast to past leaders who would yell, threaten or otherwise cajole lawmakers to follow their orders, Stewart-Cousins has a less bellicose brand of leadership.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie has also been credited by rank-and-file members with empowering them and consulting with them on key matters. Sheldon Silver, Heastie’s predecessor, thrived instead by cutting deals with the governor and the Senate leader behind the scenes.

In the past, legislative leaders distinguished themselves by what they would not do. Up until last year, state Senate Republican Leader John Flanagan would block popular bills like the Child Victims Act – which eventually passed unanimously this year under Democratic con-

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trol – from even getting a vote.

Now, Albany’s traditional “three men in a room” – the governor, Senate majority leader and Assembly speaker – no longer decide among themselves what does and does not get done, and not just because a woman is now leading the Senate. Members of both majority conferences have more say in matters, lawmakers say. At the same time, Stewart-Cousins said it was relatively rare for her and Heastie to meet alone with Gov. Andrew Cuomo this session. Instead, the two legislative leaders met with each other frequently and were unafraid to leave the governor out of the negotiations, even on hot-button issues like rent regulations.

Of course, Heastie and Stewart-Cousins entered 2019 in a strong position with sizeable majorities, affording them the flexibility to work more closely with rank-and-file lawmakers. A “blue wave” in 2018 gave the party control of both houses of the Legislature, and Cuomo, who had moved to the left in his second term on issues like hydraulic fracturing and the minimum wage, promised “the most progressive agenda this state has ever seen, period” as he began his third term. As the session got underway, Democratic lawmakers were poised to pass one big progressive bill after another, on abortion rights, voting reforms, civil rights for transgender people and other issues.

“We’re just so happy,” Heastie said in February of his working relationship with Stewart-Cousins. The Assembly speaker then referenced a 1970s cartoon duo whose superpowers only worked when they joined their fists together. “It’s like we’re the Wonder Twins,” Heastie said.

But like their cartoon namesakes, who had Batman and Superman to work with, Stewart-Cousins and Heastie were going to need some super friends of their own.

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RYING TO DELIVER landmark legislation on rent regulations, congestion pricing, farmworker rights, bail reform and climate change, however, would challenge both legislative leaders. Stewart-Cousins in particular, while learning the ropes of running a legislative chamber, also had to hold her conference together despite its regional and ideological fault lines, especial-

August 12, 2019

ly those going through Long Island and the Hudson Valley.

Committee assignments gave her an opportunity to empower as many legislative friends as possible. With the exception of her deputy leader, state Sen. Michael Gianaris, every Democrat got to chair a committee in 2019. First-term lawmakers were assigned to run important committees – a notable contrast to the Assembly, where members wait years to get a chairmanship.

Myrie chaired the Elections Committee and helped shepherd a package of voting reforms through the chamber. Fellow freshman state Sen. Julia Salazar, chairwoman of the Women’s Health Committee, led efforts to pass the Comprehensive Contraception Coverage Act. Long Island state Sen. James Gaughran was the point person on the permanent extension of the state property tax cap. There were even committee chairs for the former members of the Independent Democratic Conference, a breakaway group of Democrats that had aligned with Republicans.

In both chambers, Democratic lawmakers said they felt empowered to represent their constituents without angering legislative leaders. “At no time did anyone say to me in the entire legislative session: ‘Come on, kid, you’ve got to take one for the team because this is important to the leader,’” said state Sen. Pete Harckham of Westchester County, one of eight Democrats to win a GOP-controlled seat in 2018. “It was always: ‘Let’s take the extra time to discuss it and make sure folks are feeling comfortable with it.’”

Of course, not every decision Stewart-Cousins made was embraced by her conference. The Senate Democrats’ relationship with Cuomo soured after the pomp and circumstance of the first few weeks wore off, thanks to the divide on Amazon’s proposed headquarters in Long Island City, Queens.

Gianaris, along with Salazar and another new lawmaker, state Sen. Jessica Ramos, spoke out against the deal. Other Democrats were supportive, including Long Island state Sens. Todd Kaminsky and Anna Kaplan.

The competing sides placed Stewart-Cousins in a tough political position. She could appoint Gianaris to fill a seat on the state Public Authorities Control Board, an obscure body that could veto the deal, or she could choose someone like state Sen. Leroy Comrie, who

“AT NO TIME DID ANYONE SAY TO ME: ‘COME ON, KID, YOU’VE GOT TO TAKE ONE FOR THE TEAM.’” – state Sen. Pete Harckham

The actual Wonder Twins were a pair of cartoon superheroes popular in the ’70s.

Their calling card? The fist bump.

would have been more acceptable to Amazon supporters. In the end, she picked Gianaris, a move later blamed for Amazon’s decision to back out of the deal.

Heastie deployed his own form of soft power over his members during the early months of the legislative session, especially on congestion pricing. Outer-borough lawmakers had balked at the proposal to charge drivers a toll to drive into Manhattan below 60th Street. “He respected my position,” said Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte, a Brooklyn Democrat who initially opposed congestion pricing. “He didn’t bully me. He said: ‘OK, I’m going to give you things to think about and resources in place that will help you make a more informed decision.” Heastie set up a meeting between Bichotte and incoming MTA Chairman and CEO Patrick Foye and gave her assurances that the final plan would include provisions to make sure proceeds went to public transit. Bichotte ended up changing her mind, and member by member, Heastie built the support he needed.

Yet some activists and lawmakers openly criticized Heastie for the perceived shortcomings of the $175.5 billion state budget that passed in the wee hours of April 1. Activists complained that the Assembly had undermined a public financing system for political campaigns by delegating the matter to an unelected commission. The failure to legalize recreational marijuana or

August 12, 2019

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THE DEMISE OF ‘THREE MEN IN A ROOM’ ONE OF Albany’s most infamous traditions is the “three men in a room.” As the legislative session draws to an end, the governor, the state Senate majority leader and the Assembly speaker sit down behind closed doors, away from the rank-and-file legislators, and hash out exactly how the session is going to end – which bills get passed, and which get thrown away with yesterday’s trash.

This year, things were different. With Andrea Stewart-Cousins as Senate majority leader, not only was one of the three “men” a woman, but – as Stewart-Cousins insists in the following interview – there wasn’t much of a “room” to speak of at all.

WHAT’S YOUR LEADERSHIP DOCTRINE, SO TO SPEAK?

I’ve only had one other Democratic majority leader, and that was Malcolm Smith, so I don’t compare my style to his style or anyone else’s style. I have an incredible group of people and I try to figure out what’s important to them. The way we work is by working on policy together. There is not some big confusion about what we’re doing and what we’re not doing. Everybody sits at the table.

HOW DID A FRESHMAN SENATOR GET TO TAKE A LEADING ROLE ON RENT REFORMS?

This was such a big issue for state Sen. Zellnor Myrie and his family. This is what he came to Albany to do – to make sure that people had an opportunity to stay in their apartments.

That is why I was so happy, along with state Sen. Brian Kavanagh, to ask Myrie to co-chair the housing working group because I knew how important it was. He was thrilled and he told me that he would not let me down. Sen. Kavanagh and Sen. Myrie – and all the senators in this group – really worked hard, hearing everyone, doing hearings, having everybody involved, so that by the time we said that we were ready to go with a legislative package, we were ready to go with the package.

THIS PHOTO AND PREVIOUS PHOTO: STATE SENATE MAJORITY LEADER’S OFFICE

DID YOU, GOV. ANDREW CUOMO AND ASSEMBLY SPEAKER CARL HEASTIE MEET PRIVATELY THAT MUCH THIS PAST SESSION? fully abolish cash bail irked progressives.

Cuomo’s ability to get his way on issues like education funding and the permanent property tax cap showed a class of young insurgent lawmakers that the governor had the power to pass his own progressive priorities instead of theirs. Lawmakers openly questioned whether Albany had truly changed. Adding to their despair was the perception that the governor had gotten everything he wanted while embarrassing lawmakers with a late-night vote giving Cuomo a pay raise.

While the spending package included several Assembly priorities, such as criminal justice reforms and congestion pricing, Heastie conceded that final budget negotiations had not resulted in anything prettier than the “Big Ugly” bills negotiated in past years. “I’ll be the first one to say this is not a great budget,” Heastie said at the time.

“There is not a lot of happiness in this budget. There are a lot of things that are missing in this budget. But we did the best that we could.”

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ARL HEASTIE – who declined to be interviewed for this article – succeeded Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver in 2015 following Silver’s arrest on federal corruption charges. The “bloodless and quiet” rise of the “soft-spoken” Silver shared striking similarities to Heastie’s own rise to the position, the Times Union wrote in 2015. But as soon as Heastie took over, the self-described “listener” sought to draw a con-

There weren’t that many of those meetings in general – take the budget as an example.

The governor puts out his budget and the commentary about his budget comes in the form of our one-house bill. There were things that everybody agreed on and then there were things that were tweakable. There’s a level of staff that talks about things where we’re close to an agreement. Then there’s the secretary level, where my chief of staff, the speaker’s chief of staff and the secretary to the governor get together. By the time it gets to the room, quote-unquote, it’s probably gone through several layers and it’s at this point where there has to be a real conversation about whether or not a proposal can move forward.

WOULD YOU SAY IT WAS LESS THAN 10 TIMES YOU MET PRIVATELY WITH THE SPEAKER AND GOVERNOR? Just three people? Yes.

SO WHAT’S IT LIKE TO BE THE FIRST WOMAN “IN THE ROOM”?

I’d never been in the room, so I don’t know if it’s different, but I think that the fact that I’m in the room changes a lot of dynamics over the room. (Laughs.) I think I’ve been pretty clear about what happens prior to the room. I don’t remember anyone before actually talking about that. People were very happy with the mystique of this room.

trast with the leader he replaced – one that was noticed by Democrats and Republicans alike. “Speaker Heastie has tried to be extremely more fair in allocation of legitimate resources for all members of the Assembly,” Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb of the Finger Lakes told City & State.

“Silver went out of his way on a daily basis to prove that he was the guy in charge, and only he controls everything, whether it was pencils or paper clips.”

During the four years that followed, Heastie burnished the reputation he began cultivating in his first year as a more consensus-driven leader than his predecessor, even if it meant laying low on some of his legislative priorities. “For the first couple years that he was speaker, he wouldn’t want to get out in front of an issue,” said Ken Lovett, senior

vice president of communications and Albany director for Metropolitan Public Strategies and the former Albany bureau chief for the Daily News. “He always went to the conference – and he still does – but he wouldn’t even talk about it in (past years).”

This year, though, Heastie has made several moves to push his conference on difficult votes. He spoke personally about reforming bail as a moral duty. “I would’ve been a failure as a black man if we did not reform the criminal justice system,” Heastie told a Manhattan audience in January. He pushed outer-borough lawmakers to support congestion pricing – a proposal Silver killed a decade before – and then publicly announced that he had majority support for the idea a week before the final budget vote at the beginning of April.

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Then, toward the end of the session, Heastie did something that would have seemed unfathomable during the tenure of Silver, who largely controlled the conference from behind closed doors. Heastie left his office in the back of the Assembly chamber to whip a key vote from a freshman lawmaker in a committee meeting on a bill to end the religious exemption from vaccines.

“That’s not something the speaker would have done a couple years ago – or even last year,” Lovett said of Heastie’s increasingly assertive style. In the final weeks of the legislative session, Heastie even resisted heavy pressure from the Senate and Cuomo to pass a bill legalizing gestational surrogacy.

Not long after Stewart-Cousins first arrived in 2007, the state Senate went through its own period of tumult. Democrats were pushing to take back the chamber for the first time in decades, and while they succeeded in the 2008 election, chaos ensued.

Renegade Democrats Pedro Espada Jr. and Hiram Monserrate defected to the Republican side. Democrats eventually regained control, but the episode became emblematic of the general dysfunction of Albany.

Rivalries within the Democratic leadership persisted even after Republicans won back a majority in the 2010 election. Within weeks, the breakaway Independent Democratic Conference formed, and it eventually forged a controversial coalition with the GOP that many suspect had Cuomo’s backing.

The mainline Democratic conference would remain in the minority for the next eight years. Even when Democrats won the biggest majority in the chamber in decades last fall, doubts remained that Stewart-Cousins could bridge the political divides between upstate and downstate members, the suburbs and New York City, moderates and progressives.

The future of their legislative agenda – and their majority – depended on her ability to succeed where previous Democratic leaders had failed.

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TRONGER TENANT protections had been a progressive dream for years before the Democrats took over the state Senate. If the Democrats had a big enough majority in the chamber, progressives hoped, Democratic lawmakers would not only renew the rent laws, but ideally make

August 12, 2019

them permanent. Maybe, just maybe, they could even strengthen tenant protections downstate, while also expanding them across the rest of the state. “Some of us have prepared for this moment for years,” said Kavanagh, the senator who co-chaired the housing working group. “I had conversations with Andrea last year about chairing the housing committee and playing this role.”

Bringing people together for regular meetings on a shared concern would hardly be innovative outside of “Planet Albany,” but it has proven to be a big change in the state Senate this year. “It’s not so much revolutionary,” said Democratic state Sen. Neil Breslin, an Albany-area lawmaker who was first elected in 1996.

“It’s the leader having confidence to delegate to other people to participate.” In previous years, legislative leaders in the Democratic Assembly and the GOP-controlled state Senate negotiated behind closed doors over how to renew the rent laws regulating roughly 1 million apartments in New York City and its suburbs.

Democratic senators this time around adopted the working group model to housing that they had used to reach a consensus on congestion pricing, an issue that was driven by state Sens. Leroy Comrie of Queens and Tim Kennedy of Buffalo. The housing group met a few times a week at first, gradually accelerating its operations as the June 15 deadline loomed to pass legislation before the rent laws expired. This took time, and it appeared to the outside world that the state Senate was dragging its feet. In April, a few days after the passage of the state budget, Heastie announced his chamber’s support for a package of tenant-friendly bills that largely mirrored what a coalition of housing activists proposed.

Stewart-Cousins delegated authority over crafting bills on climate change and

congestion pricing to working groups that any Democratic senator could join. This approach let Senate leadership assess the level of support they had for any one provision of a bill during negotiations with the Assembly and the governor’s office. “We got a bill done that a lot of people said was too complicated and difficult to get done in such a short amount of time,” said Kaminsky, who led a working group on what would become the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. “Andrea’s leadership style made that happen.”

While Stewart-Cousins spent much of the year decentralizing decision-making in her conference, Heastie found himself this year at a different point in his evolution as a conference leader. There were doubts that the Assembly would be as progressive this year as it had looked compared to the GOP-controlled state Senate. Once it actu-

“THIS IS EXACTLY WHY (CUOMO) DIDN’T WANT A DEMOCRATIC LEGISLATURE. THERE ARE PEOPLE THAT CAN WORK TOGETHER.” – Democratic source

August 12, 2019

City & State New York

STATE SENATE MAJORITY LEADER’S OFFICE

Bringing lawmakers together for regular meetings would seem like a no-brainer, but it has been a major innovation for the state Legislature.

ally became possible to pass many of these bills, Heastie adopted a more cautious stance on some issues – like single-payer health care – that had passed in the Assembly but faced expected resistance from the governor or the state Senate.

On other measures, such as a sweeping proposal to address climate change, there was simply enough support in both houses, if not in the executive chamber. “The Assembly having a partner in the Senate finally on environmental issues clearly contributed,” said Peter Iwanowicz, executive director of Environmental Advocates of New York. “But I think there was also the courage of (Stewart-Cousins) to understand that this is where the membership was on both sides of the aisle.”

It was not always a matter of political expediency that determined what legislation made the cut in both houses this year. The Green Light bill granting driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants is a case in point. Neither that bill nor single-payer health care polled well with voters, but that did not stop Heastie and Stewart-Cousins from advancing the driver’s licenses bill. Could it be they thought it was the right thing to do, despite the political risk?

“They could have easily run into the kinds

of issues that happens to legislation in Albany all the time,” said Steven Choi, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition and a major proponent of allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses. “They didn’t let that happen.” Republicans made it clear that they would do everything they could to make Democrats pay for passing the legislation.

Yet, it happened despite the concerns of suburban lawmakers.

The Green Light bill also highlighted Stewart-Cousins’ tendency to hold her cards close on an issue as she builds support. Introduced in January, it sat in committee until June 10 but then became law within a week.

“I’d rather just move quickly when the time is right than put people on a roller coaster ride for no reason,” she said in an interview. The state Senate would wait until early June to announce its position on rent reforms despite the criticisms of activists and the taunting of Cuomo. “The question is: ‘What can the Senate pass?’ Whatever the Senate can pass, I know the Assembly can pass, and I will sign,” Cuomo told WAMC on June 6. The deal that the Assembly and Senate struck in the following days would reveal that the governor had miscalculated just how much consensus had been building on the issue among

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Democratic lawmakers. “This is exactly why he didn’t want a Democratic Legislature,” a high-level Democratic source in the Legislature told City & State at the time. “There are people that can work together.”

There were times this year when progressive activists might have wished for more forceful leadership, such as on the failure to legalize recreational marijuana despite widespread support among lawmakers and the governor. Suburban lawmakers wanted limits on growing marijuana at home and provisions limiting where marijuana could be sold. Proponents wanted tax revenues to be directed to communities of color that were disproportionately targeted by the war on drugs.

With at least eight Democratic senators on the fence, a final deal could not be reached by the end of the session. “Democracy is messy,” state Sen. Liz Krueger said.

A deal on limiting solitary confinement through administrative means – struck by Stewart-Cousins, Heastie and Cuomo behind closed doors in the final days of the session – highlights how much remains the same in Albany after the first year of one-party rule. Activists found little comfort in limiting solitary confinement to 30 days. “We were betrayed,” said Victor Pate, a formerly incarcerated person who experienced solitary confinement and now works as the statewide organizer for the New York Campaign for Alternatives to Isolated Confinement. Democratic lawmakers defended the deal as progress on an issue that can be addressed legislatively in the future. While activists, who met with Stewart-Cousins on several occasions, got their hopes up this year, she says that she keeps expectations in check on controversial bills as a rule. “I always tell people, I’d rather under promise and over deliver,” she said.

Despite their different assessments of the solitary confinement deal, Stewart-Cousins and the activists agree in principle. They both believe that progress should be measured by results, in this case how many specific days the state can isolate an inmate. As leaders, Stewart-Cousins and Heastie use the same principle to justify their work in this past session. By including their members in the decision-making process, both leaders reason that they can get more done at a time when tensions between centrists and progressives pose one of the biggest legislative obstacles. If the “Wonder Twins” of Albany have any real superpowers, it might be an ability to keep Democratic legislators together through persuasion rather than sheer political muscle. “I’m an educator,” Stewart-Cousins, a onetime high school English teacher, said in an interview. “I believe in making sure that people are not just being told to do this and do that. … It obviously worked well because of the amount of things that we were able to do.”

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IDC? NBD.

The Independent Democratic Conference is dead, but its last standing former members aren’t just surviving – they’re thriving.

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

D

ESPITE THEIR PAST allegiance, neither of the Independent Democratic Conference’s two former members who are still in the state Senate – Diane Savino and David Carlucci – were badly marginalized under the new state Senate Democratic majority. Past bitter rivalries between the IDC, which had a power-sharing agreement with Republicans until April 2018, and the mainline Democratic conference did not stop Savino and Carlucci from legislating. By all appearances, the 39 Democrats in the conference worked together like a well-oiled machine, despite six of the new members having toppled former IDC members in primaries. Publicly, the dysfunction of years past seemed to have become nothing more than a memory and members were happy to forgive past transgressions. (Though state Sen. Simcha Felder, who had conferenced with Republicans in the past, did not rejoin the Democrats until July, after the session ended.)

Carlucci sponsored 233 bills in 2019, 61 of which passed in the state Senate – the most out of anyone in the chamber. Eight so far have become law. An additional 42 have passed both chambers and most of those are likely to become law once they are sent to Gov. Andrew Cuomo for his signature. “It’s been the most productive session that I’ve had in my time in the Senate,” Carlucci told City & State. 2019 marked his ninth year serving in the state Senate and his first full session as a member of the Democratic conference. (Ironically, what

enabled such productivity on Carlucci’s part was the very thing the IDC had sometimes prevented: Democratic control of the chamber.) Among the eight that have become law are two bills that he introduced as part of a package of voting reforms that were passed at the beginning of the session.

Carlucci’s laws allowed 16- and 17 year-olds to preregister to vote and permitted voters who move within the state to automatically register at their new address.

State senators who passed a comparable number of bills in the upper chamber to Carlucci include Brad Hoylman, who passed 53, Gustavo Rivera, who passed 48, and Todd Kaminsky, who passed 44.

Hoylman, a leading progressive, has widely been regarded as one of the session’s biggest winners, since he sponsored a number of high-profile bills that passed. Kamin-

sky held power as the unofficial dean of the crucial Long Island Democrats and Rivera chaired the powerful Health Committee and has long been one of the Senate’s more outspoken members.

Savino had an active year as well, getting 33 bills passed in her chamber, 17 of which passed both chambers, which is in line with many others in the conference. One longtime Albany observer said that while Savino was frustrated with new progressives and some of the first-term lawmakers who unseated her former IDC colleagues, she kept her head down and got her work done. Savino has a reputation of being outspoken and opinionated, including with other Democrats in the past. When former state Sen. José Peralta, another ex-IDC member, died in 2018 after losing his primary to state Sen. Jessica Ramos, Savino

MIKE GROLL

August 12, 2019

Andrea Stewart-Cousins had used committee assignments as a way to punish Carlucci and Savino for their past transgressions.

Carlucci received the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Committee, which he chaired during his IDC days.

Progressive activists have made the argument that a senator with his seniority – he has been in office since 2011 – would have likely received a more powerful committee.

Some freshmen who defeated former IDC members got relatively plumb assignments: Sen. Zellnor Myrie got the Elections Committee and Alessandra Biaggi got the Ethics and Internal Governance Committee. Carlucci told City & State he wanted the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Committee, and Stewart-Cousins was gracious enough to give it to him.

Savino’s assignment as chairwoman of the Internet and Technology Subcommittee, which was later elevated to a full committee, came across as more of a snub.

Many expected Savino to receive the powerful Labor Committee because she had chaired it in the past and has strong ties to labor. Instead, Ramos became the chairwoman of the Labor Committee. Savino was also passed over for the Codes and Finance committees, both of which she served on as vice chair during the previous session under the old IDC and GOP power-sharing arrangement.

Gary Ginsburg, a spokesman for the Senate majority, said that in a state with a growing number of tech jobs and an environment where technology plays an increasingly important role in everyday life, the newly formed committee can hardly be considered unimportant. “It’s going to be absolutely critical in the next couple of years,” Ginsburg said.

Former IDC member “When we start talking about David Carlucci how do we regulate automated passed 61 bills, the cars on the road, when we start most in the Senate. talking about how do we have a smart grid infrastructure investangrily excoriated his critics who were now offering kind words about ment? That’s going to be a major issue.” his legacy. “He risked it all for his dis- State Sen. James Sanders Jr., a self-detrict, and paid the price on primary day. I scribed progressive with no love for the am sure all those who stood by and let him former IDC, agreed that Savino’s commitbe vilified for simply wanting to be more tee is a vitally important one. “By no means effective in this totally fucked up winner- can you call this a punishment,” Sanders take-all game of politics will be posting said. “You can argue that perhaps she may tributes today,” Savino said as part of a se- have felt more comfortable elsewhere, but ries of tweets. Although she did not refer she applied herself to it.” For her part, Savto any person directly, her words were read ino has taken her committee post in stride as a dig against Ramos and other anti-IDC and maintains that she is satisfied with the candidates. But once the session began, she position. She advanced a total of four bills did not publicly speak out, directly or indi- out of the newly formed committee, two of which have been signed into law, including rectly, against any of her colleagues.

Savino was not available for an interview one that creates a commission to study arand a spokesperson did not return a request tificial technology and robotics in the state, jokingly called the Skynet Commission for comment.

At the beginning of the session, some after the “Terminator” movies.

Carlucci and Savino could have fared far speculated that state Senate Majority Leader

City & State New York

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“IT’S BEEN THE MOST PRODUCTIVE SESSION THAT I’VE HAD IN MY TIME IN THE SENATE.” – state Sen. David Carlucci worse when committee memberships were assigned. A coalition of progressive activists wrote a letter to Stewart-Cousins demanding that the pair not be given any committee assignment, let alone a chairmanship. The majority leader could have easily taken such measures – she did so with Felder, who was not even allowed to rejoin the conference and was not assigned to any committee.

Sources both inside and outside the state Senate pointed to Stewart-Cousins’ control over the conference and her measured leadership style as an important factor in the smooth integration of the two former IDC members. “The awkward part, if there were any, was last year, not this (year),” Hoylman told City & State. “I think a lot of us took our lead from Andrea Stewart-Cousins and she normalized the situation.” Hoylman also said that with Democrats in the majority, personal, petty grudges that may have simmered during their time in the minority fell by the wayside in favor of getting work done.

“Our mission is bigger than any individual in the Senate.”

The longtime Albany observer opined that it was possible that members of the conference did not want to cause any major issues during the first year of Stewart-Cousins’ historic leadership role as the first black woman to serve as state Senate majority leader, despite myriad issues that could have split the conference, including IDC reunification. Remarkably, even with the IDC, the backlash against Amazon and several controversial bills like a narrowly failed effort at recreational marijuana legalization, the conference never visibly fractured. In fact, there were only a handful of bills on which the Democrats

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did not vote as a bloc.

There was some disagreement behind the scenes. Multiple sources in Albany told City & State that Savino was not particularly happy with how far left the conference was beginning to move. Several freshmen declined to be interviewed for this story, but state Sen. Julia Salazar, a left-wing insurgent who defeated a mainstream Democrat in last year’s primary, told City & State that she only had positive interactions with both Savino and Carlucci, calling them “hardworking legislators.” Evan Stavisky, a partner at Democratic consulting and lobbying firm The Parkside Group, which works with the mainline Democratic conference, said that in a conference that size, members were certain to have differences in opinion. “You put three New Yorkers in a room, you’ll get five opinions,” Stavisky told City & State. “But the reality, and the critical thing, is that it didn’t spill into anything else.” Sanders added that, at first, there was still some lingering animosity toward Carlucci and Savino, but it quickly dissipated. “I heard (Savino), several times, offer help to anyone who sought it, whether it be labor or anything else,” Sanders said.

Although Carlucci’s and Savino’s former allegiance to the IDC now seems to be water under the bridge for the party’s leaders and sitting senators, that offers no protection against primary challenges from the Democrats’ ascendant liberal grassroots. Ravi Gupta, co-founder of the progressive group Arena that recruits, trains and supports candidates, said in a statement to City & State that the pair “should not be in office” and that it “remains a priority for us to defeat or replace them.”

Other progressive activists also have not forgiven the senators. Gus Christensen, chief strategist for No IDC NY, told City & State that his and other progressive groups have been actively looking for candidates to primary Carlucci and Savino in 2020. “There’s no redemption for what they’ve done,” Christensen said.

“They haven’t even sought redemption; they haven’t even apologized.”

That much, at least, is true. An apology was not part of the deal to rejoin the Democratic conference. Asked if he ever considered leaving the IDC, Carlucci did not express remorse for his decision to join the conference when he took office in 2011, calling it “the best way forward” at the time, given the political atmosphere, to pass legislation that would benefit his district in the Lower Hudson Valley. He added that when the IDC dissolved last year, it had reached a point where it was no longer productive, implying that until then, it had been.

In the past, members of the Democrat-

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Usually outspoken, Diane Savino did not lash out at colleagues during the session.

ic conference promised to support primaries against IDC members if they refused to rejoin the conference. The ultimatum was used prior to the conference’s dissolution in 2018, and state Sen. Michael Gianaris, chairman of the state Senate Democrats’ campaign arm, had already begun recruiting candidates to unseat those members before a deal was struck.

This time around, Gianaris is prioritizing gaining a supermajority in his chamber, which would enable the state Legislature to override vetoes from Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Gianaris declined to comment for this story, but he previously told City & State that the New York State Democratic Senate Campaign Committee will target Republicans it considers vulnerable, such as Sen. Robert Antonacci, whose district is near Syracuse, and Sen. Sue Serino in the Hudson Valley.

Rumors have been swirling in Albany that Savino, who has been in office since 2005, may not seek reelection in 2020, or that she could be considering a run for Staten Island borough president, since

the seat will be open in 2021.

Although leadership and rank-andfile members alike appear to have buried the hatchet, that does not mean senators will soon forget the IDC years. Sanders said they will serve as a warning both for Democrats and those that may try to play political games in the future. “This is a cautionary tale that Democrats need to tell to their children of a political Icarus whom outside forces gave wings to fly away,” Sanders said. “And for a while, the flying was good, but then there’s hell to pay.”

According to Greek legend, Icarus drowned at sea after his wings melted because he flew too close to the sun. Unlike their colleagues, Savino and Carlucci knew how to swim. Right now, having been accepted back into the Democratic conference but facing continued resistance from activists, they may still be treading water.

Dry land awaits over the 2020 election horizon, if they can once again beat back primary challenges.

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City & State New York

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INSURANCE

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NSURANCE IS ONE of those topics that people don’t give much thought to, as long as they can avoid it. But in today’s world, it’s of critical importance. There is health insurance, which can make the difference between life and death. There’s life insurance, which helps grieving families. Then there is property and casualty insurance, just the type of thing you need when your apartment floods or your car gets stolen.

Even the relatively obscure title insurance

can incite a spirited debate.

Just like the industry they cover, government officials who set state policies on insurance typically attract scant public attention. “When you get into the Legislature, you want to work on issues like the death penalty so that you can talk about it at parties,” state Senate Insurance Committee Chairman Neil Breslin joked.

“I got left with insurance.”

Yet insurance is a key issue, especially in the state Capitol. “The states are the

regulators of insurance, not the federal government, with very rare exceptions,” said state Department of Financial Services Superintendent Linda Lacewell, the state’s top insurance regulator. “There are hundreds of thousands of jobs related to insurance in New York state (and) billions of dollars in premiums that are paid.”

So when big things do happen in the state’s $4.7 trillion insurance industry, the lives of millions of New Yorkers are affected by the decisions of legislators and regulators.

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HAT DO THE Child Victims Act, allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses and new rules for pharmacy benefit managers have in common?

All three of them will have a significant impact on the state’s $4.7 trillion insurance industry.

What’s more, lawmakers this year passed new health insurance laws aimed at reducing prescription drug prices, boosting reproductive care and making other changes to state health, car and property insurance laws. And the failure of some bills suggests that the 2020 legislative session will feature debate over more far-reaching changes to the industry, such as creating a statewide single-payer health care system.

For now, however, one of the biggest issues facing the insurance industry is the passage of the Child Victims Act. One key provision of the law was a one-year “lookback window” that opens on Aug. 14, which will allow victims of childhood sexual abuse to press charges against their attackers. The new law pits insurers against organizations like the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York and the Boy Scouts of America, who want their insurance policies to cover the enormous financial liability that the new law creates for them.

“The insurance industry itself is very, very much on its toes and they are going to react to an enhanced risk by evaluating that risk,” state Senate Insurance Committee Chairman Neil Breslin said. “They’ll spread the risk, but it’ll cost more to insure.”

New laws tightening state

sexual harassment laws will have a negligible effect on the industry, according to state lawmakers.

But the Green Light bill allowing undocumented people to get driver’s licenses was successful in part because of arguments that it would lead more people to buy car insurance. This boon to the industry could also trickle down to customers, who might get a slight reduction in their rates, according to Assembly Insurance Committee Chairman Kevin Cahill, since that has occurred in other states that have adopted similar measures. “It is roughly a 5% reduction of the liability costs,” Cahill said. “When you listen to insurance companies talk about rate reduction, that’s pretty close to what they say they would get as a rate reduction, if every single fraud measure that they asked for were approved.”

Even with their largest legislative majorities in decades, Democratic lawmakers took a slow and steady approach to one of the most contentious issues: single-payer health care. Proponents held hearings on the issue, but the real action on health care – apart from setting spending levels in the state budget – focused more on expanding consumer protections and reducing prices in the current health care system. This included successful efforts to codify provisions of the Affordable Care Act into state law, while also expanding coverage to vasectomies for men.

However, federal law limits how the Legislature can expand Obamacare. “We can’t create a new benefit that is not included the benchmark plan without the state incurring the cost,” Cahill said. Another measure

that passed the Legislature this year aims to keep patient costs down for emergency room visits by making insurers and hospitals negotiate through a process called independent dispute resolution.

Prescription drugs were another area that received attention from legislators this year. One new law requires pharmacies to coordinate prescriptions so that a customer can renew and pick them all up in one visit. Lawmakers – along with Gov. Andrew Cuomo – also confronted the role pharmacy benefit managers in the prescription drug supply chain.

Pharmacy benefit managers manage prescription drug programs for insurers and Medicare, serving as middlemen between pharmacies and drug manufacturers.

Legislation awaiting Cuomo’s signature would require pharmacy benefit managers to register with the state Department of Financial Services and meet new licensing requirements. “If the governor signs the bill, it will be the most comprehensive PBM regulation in the nation,” Cahill said. “It will become a national standard, upon which other states will determine how to regulate PBMs.” While Democrats did not opt to overhaul the health care system from top to bottom this year – as creating a single-payer system would – the changes they did enact faced some resistance from the insurance industry.

“We got a few things done this year,” said Ellen Melchionni, president of the New York Insurance Association. “But we were spending a lot of time on defense this year.”

This included gauging the

impact of the lookback window opened by the Child Victims Act. Like other issues, industry concerns centered less on the main thrust of the proposal and more on how they would increase costs on the industry – a top concern of GOP lawmakers as well.

“Great ideas come with a cost,” said Republican Assemblyman Andrew Garbarino, who sits on the Insurance Committee.

The inability of both chambers to pass certain bills was a mixed blessing for the industry. One proposal that only passed in the Assembly would have shifted some responsibility to remediate lead paint from landlords to insurers. Another effort that stalled was to remove a requirement that prospective building owners fill out an antiarson application to be eligible for insurance – a bureaucratic artifact from the 1970s.

Like many other issues likely to arise in the coming year – from single-payer health care to making it easier for title insurance salesman to schmooze potential clients – whatever lawmakers, regulators and the industry do will affect the people of New York in dramatic ways.

“There are so many issues here that affect consumers directly, whether it is auto insurance, flood insurance and the waves of innovation that are taking place with emerging technologies,” said state Department of Financial Services Superintendent Linda Lacewell, the state’s top insurance regulator.

“The central point really is the opportunity to help consumers.”

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City & State New York

Several sweeping state laws are shaking up the insurance industry – and your rates.

by Z A C H W I L L I A M S

“GREAT IDEAS COME WITH A COST.” – Republican Assemblyman Andrew Garbarino

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NEIL BRESLIN CHAIRMAN, STATE SENATE INSURANCE COMMITTEE

THE IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE What were the big bills this year going through your committee?

We’ll start with the bill regulating pharmacy benefit managers. That will do much to shine a light on where the profits are going and who’s getting them in the pharmacy chain – which hadn’t been done before.

There’s a bill that I sponsored that made it mandatory that an HMO can’t change the prescription that you receive and which might have been the reason you are in that HMO to begin with. Now, during the first contract year, they’re precluded from doing that. And there’s a lot of bills like that in the insurance area.

August 12, 2019

major insurers, they’ve been able to measure the risks and adapt accordingly, so they’re measuring that risk better than I would have imagined.

After the Schoharie limousine crash, we passed legislation almost immediately thereafter reviewing the kinds of coverage that limousines had and we increased the coverage dramatically. Another bill puts the burden on a pharmacy to coordinate your prescriptions so they all are returnable at the same time.

Why are you such a nerd about all this?

Great question, and I don’t have a great answer. I’m a lawyer and I’ve represented insurance companies and I’ve sued to get money from insurance companies, so I know the concepts.

When you get into the Legislature, you want to work on issues like the death penalty, so that you can talk about it at parties. I got left with insurance. Once I became somewhat skillful in insurance, it wouldn’t have been a good idea to change. And it’s hard to get new legislators interested in insurance anyways.

How does the Child Victims Act affect the insurance industry?

One of the reasons to have insurance is to determine ahead of time: Does this situation have a risk? Is it worth having insurance to cover that risk?

Obviously, with the Child Victims Act, the answer was yes.

Has climate change affected the insurance industry?

We know that the weather is changing and not for the better. It’s up to the insurance people to have better models than I do in my head to cover that risk. In discussions with

Insurance provides New Yorkers with financial security and enables people to live life to the fullest.

Own a home

Rent an apartment Start a business Drive a car The insurance industry is also a major contributor to the state’s economy.

Employing New York. Insuring New York. Moving New York Forward.

August 12, 2019

KEVIN CAHILL CHAIRMAN, ASSEMBLY INSURANCE COMMITTEE

WHY THE INDUSTRY CAN’T GIVE ‘TOASTERS’

STATE SENATE; ASSEMBLY

What’s the lay of the land in the insurance industry?

It is siloed in that there are three major areas of insurance: health, property casualty and life. There are also a number of peripheral insurances that don’t fit into those categories, per se. There’s medical malpractice. There’s title insurance. There’s service contracts that are awarded when people buy goods and services. There are groups that represent insurance agents. There are the trial lawyers. There are organizations that represent consumers. There are folks that represent providers.

City & State New York

What limits does Obamacare place on expanding health insurance benefits?

We started out the year by passing the Comprehensive Contraception Coverage Act, which codified the Affordable Care Act obligations for reproductive health. Each one of these benefits already existed, but it was determined that they were being administered in a very uneven way by insurance companies because they lacked clarity.

Family planning was considered women’s work, so we expanded our basis for being able to expand the benchmark plan in use in New York state so that it also included coverage for male long-term sterilization processes. We have a limitation on the state of New York – and all states – as to what we can include as a new benefit.

Why can’t my health insurance company give me a free gym membership?

Back in the 19th century, it was not uncommon for somebody to try to sell insurance by saying: “Your premium is $20. I’ll give you $19.99 back, so it’s not going to cost anything.”

They would earn a penny at a time but they would not have any money to pay the claims.

So those practices were regulated and rebating was, by and large, prohibited. That became a consumer protection to make sure that insurance companies were selling insurance – and not selling other products and insurance. That also meant that insurance companies couldn’t basically do what banks could do: give you a toaster. Should your health

plan be able to give you a Fitbit? Should your health plan be able to entice you with a gym membership?

Should your insurance give you money if you decide to quit smoking? These are the things that need to be examined.

* Based on a five day work week. Data Source: Ernst & Young analysis — “New York life insurance size, economic contributions and recent trends.” (2019)

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SCHEDULED COVERAGE These insurance issues are going to be huge next session

by Z AC H W I L L I A M S and R E B E C C A C . L E W I S

August 12, 2019

I

NSURANCE isn’t the sexiest issue in Albany, but it’s vitally important.

The industry is facing major changes following the passage of legislation like the Child Victims Act, which makes it easier for victims of child sexual abuse to sue their attackers, and the Green

Light bill, which allows undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses. However, the session ended with many insurance issues unresolved, from the Scaffold Law to single-payer health care. Here are some of the biggest insurance matters that lawmakers will contend with next year.

SCAFFOLD LAW State Senate Insurance Committee

Health Act is a high priority for her group.

In the meantime, Assembly Insurance Committee Chairman Kevin Cahill said that he plans to hold hearings on municipal cooperative health insurance, which would allow different municipalities to work with each other to provide health insurance to their employees, and hopes to pass legislation in both houses to eliminate the copay for prescriptions used to combat opioid addiction.

Chairman Neil Breslin said he was surprised that the state’s Scaffold Law did not appear in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s budget this year. The law, which dates back to the end of the 19th century, holds employers and property owners fully liable when a worker lacking proper safety equipment falls from a building. New York is the only state that imposes an absolute liability penalty. Business groups and contractors have long called to reform or repeal the law, which was passed before modern workers’ compensation laws were enacted, because they say it drives up the cost of construction. However, trade unions and other supporters say it is a critical safety measure. “I’m a very strong union person, (and) unions are generally very supportive of ... protecting their workers,” Breslin said.

“So I think we’ve come to the stage where there’s lots of laws written since 1885, when that became part of our law here in New York state, that protect workers in other ways.” Breslin said reforming the law has a wide range of supporters and he expects the issue to come up as part of next year’s budget negotiations, which could maximize positive participation and minimize the politicization of the issue.

HEALTH INSURANCE The state Legislature declined to take up the

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City & State New York

measure that would have had the greatest impact on the insurance industry: the New York Health Act. The bill, which did not come to a vote in either chamber this year, would establish a single-payer health care system in New York and ban all private insurers from doing business in the state.

The prospect of the government effectively forcing everyone onto the same plan has become a sticking point both nationally and in New York. “When you say, ‘Do you think it would be good to have one system for everybody?’ People say, ‘Yeah, that’s a good idea,’” said Leslie Moran, senior vice president at the New York Health Plan Association. “But what if that means giving up your insurance plan and your insurance coverage?” Killing the New York

TITLE INSURANCE Title insurance is lesser known compared

to health, life and property insurance, but it plays an important role when someone purchases a home. It protects the property owner from any damages that may occur as a result of a mistake in the title for that property. A judge recently struck down title insurance industry regulations imposed by the state Department of Financial Services meant to prevent companies from passing certain business expenses on to consumers.

It’s the second such decision that comes as part of an ongoing lawsuit. Cahill said that suit resulted in legislation to provide the department with the necessary tools to regulate the industry, which passed in the Assembly but stalled in the state Senate.

The New York State Land Title Association sued the state to stop the regulations. The association’s Executive Vice President and Executive Director Bob Treuber said next year his group will focus on working with the state Legislature on drafting and passing legislation that will both protect consumers’ rights and help small businesses.

CLIMATE CHANGE The rising threat of climate change will have an impact on the insurance industry, likely in ways that are not even fully understood today. It’s an issue that many in the industry now consider to be a top risk. “We have to pay close attention to whether the tools that we have to address the risk of extreme weather for real people are current given the increasing risk of climate change expressed in extreme weather,” state Department of Financial Services Superintendent Linda Lacewell said.

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LINDA LACEWELL SUPERINTENDENT, STATE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCIAL SERVICES

ENSURING PRIVACY, MITIGATING FLOODING New technology is affecting not just the banking industry, but also the insurance industry. How is the industry changing?

The insurance sector is looking at data as a way to make decisions about who to insure at what rate and for what purpose.

One of the things we’re doing at DFS is being vigilant about what kind of data is used and making sure that it’s not even inadvertently a proxy for race, gender, sexual preference, sexual identity and other factors that involve protected classes.

We’ve told the industry they have to look at the decisions that they’re making and look at the algorithms that they’re using to make sure that, even unintentionally, they aren’t engendering potential discrimination against protected classes, which I believe most of the industry, if not all of the industry, doesn’t want to be involved in doing.

How big is the insurance sector in New York and how it might compare to the banking sector, or just the state’s economy overall?

New York has about 1,800 insurance-related entities. There are about 1,500 banking and financial service-related entities. If you combine them, it’s about $7.3 trillion in assets – more so on the insurance side than on the banking side.

There are hundreds of thousands of jobs related to insurance in New York state.

There are billions of dollars in premiums that are paid.

What is DFS doing on climate change, and how does it affect the insurance sector?

We at DFS have to find ways to help make sure that the industry is properly accounting for the risk of climate change on consumers’ investments, to make sure that we invest in ways of mitigating the impacts of climate change and to make sure that we are working together with the industry to increase the availability and affordability of flood insurance.

THANK YOU From SUNY and Chancellor Kristina M. Johnson, we thank the Honorable H. Carl McCall for his 12 outstanding years of service to the Board of Trustees and congratulate him on a storied career dedicated to public service.

www.suny.edu

C A R L M CC A L L N E W Y O R K P U B L I C S E R VA N T, TR AILBL A ZER, RE TIRES AF TER M O R E T H A N 5 0 -Y E A R C A R E E R

PUBLISHER’S SEC TION

B Y K AY D E R V I S H I

L E ADING T HE WAY

PORTR AITS BY SEAN PRESSLE Y

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FTER A SUDDEN blackout struck parts of Upper Manhattan during a sweeping heat wave in July 1999, state Sen. Kevin Parker, then a special assistant to state Comptroller Carl McCall, received a call from the Rev. Al Sharpton about a press conference condemning Con Edison. Parker headed to McCall’s office to suggest he attend, but McCall merely chuckled.

He called in another staff member to ask how many Con Edison shares the state held, learning that the state was the company’s largest single investor. After McCall set up a brief meeting for the next morning with top figures at Con Edison, the power returned that day, Parker said.

“I was a major investor in so many companies,” McCall said. “When there were issues that came up, without having a lot of confrontation, I was able to get to the leadership in those companies, let them know about my concerns and change the way of the business.”

With a career that spans more than five decades, McCall has wielded power and influence throughout New York in many ways. He made history as New York’s first statewide African American elected official, and he has served as state comptroller and part of the United States’ delegation to the United Nations, among many other roles. At the age of 83, McCall has now retired as SUNY board chairman.

But McCall isn’t finished yet. He is in the process of establishing a scholarship and plans to write a memoir as well. In reflecting on his career, McCall says it is a story about the obstacles he faced and the opportunities he took advantage of.

But it also represents an era of changing New York politics, on issues ranging from race to education.

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PUBLISHER’S SEC TION

Carl McCall began his political career in the ’60s the same way many New York City politicians do today: As a community organizer in his borough.

RETROSPECTIVE PHOTOS PROVIDED BY H. CARL MCCALL

C

ARL McCALL GREW UP in Boston, Massachusetts, where he and his five sisters were raised by a single mother. The family sometimes relied on public assistance. It was from his mother that he learned to value education, going on to attend Dartmouth College on a scholarship – as one of the few black students attending at the time – and Andover Newton Theological Seminary. He worked briefly as a high school teacher in Boston.

McCall did not begin his political career until he moved to New York City in the 1960s – to find greater opportunities, he said. He succeeded. He started out as a community organizer in Brooklyn, working to increase voter turnout among members of black churches.

“It became clear to me as we worked on education, we worked on housing, worked on health care, that behind all of this was a political dimension,” he said. “It was politics that decided where certain communities were going to have sufficient resources or if certain communities are going to get the attention they need.”

As McCall became politically active in Harlem, he met several prominent African American power brokers: Manhattan Borough President Percy Sutton, Rep. Charles Rangel and David Dinkins, who would eventually become New York City’s first black mayor. It was with their encouragement that he decided to run for elected office as a state senator in 1974.

After five years in the Senate, McCall had become discouraged with serving as part of the minority party. “The Senate was controlled by Republicans and they controlled it to the point that, as a Democrat, you had nothing to say,” he said.

It was then that he received a call from Rangel with a possible offer to become an ambassador with the U.S. delegation to the U.N. – a position he would take.

One of McCall’s most challenging positions followed, when Dinkins tapped him to become president of the city Board of Education in 1991. His tenure was marked by difficulties, as the board had been known to be a tumultuous body with regular conflict.

“The work at the Board of Education was much more difficult because the governing system was flawed. … It was really hard to figure out who was really in charge.

All of us on the board were responsible to the people who appointed us and all those people had different positions and views on education,” McCall said.

For example, in 1992, a majority of the board members supported a resolution emphasizing abstinence for AIDS prevention education, against McCall’s stance which encouraged condom use instead.

(The New York Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit challenging the resolution.) A year later, McCall was unable to prevent the board from ousting the city’s schools chancellor, Joseph Fernandez.

Despite such setbacks, McCall is remembered as a respected leader who strived for compromise.

“Carl was a calming voice at that time,” said Bill Thompson, a former New York City comptroller and former president of the New York City Board of Education.

And then in 1993, state Comptroller Edward Regan suddenly resigned and the state Legislature was left to find an appointee. McCall took the position and ran in the election the following year in order to keep the seat. He won – making history as the first African American elected to

CityAndStateNY.com

August 12, 2019

statewide office in New York.

“I think it proved to people that folks who haven’t had opportunities, minority folks, women, who haven’t had opportunities, once they’re given an opportunity, they can do the job,” McCall said. “And I think I sent this signal that I can do this job.”

Colleagues said that McCall tended to favor a middle-ground stance, especially when balancing activism and government interests.

“He really understood how to use power within the context of the halls of government,” Parker said.

One of McCall’s notable accomplishments during his time as comptroller included ending the purchase of tobacco stocks. His decision to retain existing tobacco investments because of how much money they generated for the pension fund was considered a step forward by some activists, while others didn’t think it went far enough. McCall also initiated sanctions against two Swiss banks – Credit Suisse and UBS – over their alleged withholding of money deposited by victims and survivors of the Holocaust during World War II. By 2002, McCall was interested in pursuing higher office and announced his candidacy for governor. He faced a formidable opponent in the Democratic

Above: Carl McCall served as human rights commissioner and comptroller under then-Gov. Mario Cuomo. Right: Bill Clinton appeared with McCall to boost his gubernatorial bid.

primary: Andrew Cuomo, the son of the former governor who had appointed McCall to his position. McCall managed to beat Cuomo, but spent so much money in the process that his war chest was crippled for the general election, where he faced popular incumbent Gov. George Pataki.

“When Carl McCall became the Dem-

We salute

ocratic nominee, there were two things,” Pataki said. “One, I knew he was a strong opponent because he had won statewide and was highly respected. And the second, I knew it would be a campaign that was based on the issues and the future of the state instead of trying to destroy each other personally.”

McCall would lose the 2002 election,

Chairman H. Carl McCall for making New York a better place!

Lisa Linden, President & CEO • lakpr.com

PROVIDED BY H. CARL MCCALL

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City & State New York

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PUBLISHER’S SEC TION B. Jenkins, a political consultant who also worked on McCall’s gubernatorial campaign. “I can’t say there was a time where I picked up the phone, called the guy, and he didn’t call me back. He always responded to me. I’ll never forget that.”

S winning 33% of the vote compared to Pataki’s 49%. By 2007, he would come into his most recent role at SUNY, joining the board of trustees. He would become board chairman in 2011, overseeing the largest comprehensive university system in the country.

Several of McCall’s former colleagues have noted how receptive he has been to staying in touch with them – whether to give advice or ask for favors.

“I remember I called his office in the

past, before I was even an elected official, and he would answer the phone himself,” said New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, who got his start in politics working on McCall’s 2002 gubernatorial campaign.

“I would go to the phone and call him to talk about education issues, or just talk to him about being in business, just get his perspective on dealing with government and government issues, and he’s just always been there,” said Patrick

ITTING IN THE Fashion Institute of Technology, where his wife Joyce Brown is president, McCall said being retired made him feel like a “general who lost his army.” But he is still marching forward with his plans. His retirement celebration doubled as a fundraiser for scholarships to support low-income students at SUNY schools with other expenses beyond tuition. The students, dubbed McCall scholars, will also receive mentoring and support from McCall himself.

What’s next for McCall? He plans to teach at the University at Albany while working on a memoir about his career.

When asked about McCall’s legacy, several colleagues and friends hesitated to say McCall’s career has come to an end.

“I don’t think he’ll ever retire,” Dinkins said. “He may leave this position, but he will not retire.”

■

On behalf of the 30 community college Presidents of the State University of New York, NYCCAP congratulates Carl H. McCall on his retirement.

We extend our eternal gratitude for your unwavering commitment to the people of New York and particularly those who attend our public community colleges. Best wishes for a healthy and happy retirement.

www.newpaltz.edu

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“WH AT I T HOUGH T WA S BES T”

C A R L M CC A L L REFLECTS ON HOW TO DO THE IMPOSSIBLE: S TAY I N G E T H I C A L IN POLITICS.

B Y K AY D E R V I S H I

C

Given that your latest position was with SUNY and as you reflect on the years you spent there, is there anything that sticks out in your mind as something you were especially proud of doing?

SUNY is a very special institution, not as well-understood as it should be. But it is so critical to New York’s progress – to our economic progress, to our social progress. Right now, about 40% of our students go to college and don’t pay anything. And that is so critical, because unless we can make college affordable, we’re not going to have the kind of number of students who are going to be able to access and graduate. Though it’s affordable, it’s hard to keep it that way.

As a state entity, we compete with all other entities. We compete with health care people; we compete with K-12; we compete with the housing. These are all critical services too.

Since you first joined SUNY and its board of trustees, are there any changes you’ve seen at SUNY over the years?

Above: Carl McCall ran for governor and secured the Democratic nomination in 2002. Right: McCall with former Newark Mayor Kenneth Gibson and your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

I think what has changed is that people have become more aware of SUNY, its presence, and they’re much more aware of its contribution to the state.

One of the things that came up during your time as state comptroller was your decision to freeze tobacco stocks, which some activists criticized at the time because you were still holding on to the preexisting investments. How did you tackle situations where activists’ or political sentiments conflicted with your fiduciary responsibility?

Well, I listen to people on all sides of the issues, and I was always cognizant of my responsibility to get the best possible return on money. So I kind of reached a compromise on the tobacco issue. I realized that tobacco was very harmful to someone’s health. I hope people would stop smoking, and I saw that we were moving in that direction.

I didn’t want to give up entirely on that industry, because we did get returns from it, but at the same time I didn’t want to get further involved and give the industry

more money. So that’s why I froze it. I said we’re not going to invest any more money in tobacco companies, and we didn’t. But we did continue to hold the stock, and over time we were reducing the amount of stock we owned. But I didn’t just drastically sell it all – that would’ve been a big financial hit and that would not have helped us. I think I reached a reasonable compromise on the issue, and some of the activists thought it was a good thing.

Some of them didn’t, but my job wasn’t to please them. My job was to do what I thought was best for the pension fund.

After you served as comptroller, you ran for governor. Can you tell me a bit about what that decisionmaking process was like?

The decision-making process was a tough one, because I liked what I was doing as comptroller. I thought that I was able to make a big contribution, but on the other hand I know that being governor gives you even more influence to do a lot of good things in terms of education, in terms of health care, in

PROVIDED BY H. CARL MCCALL

ARL McCALL retired earlier this summer after more than 50 years in public service – but the former chairman of the State University of New York board doesn’t plan to stop working anytime soon.

Next on his agenda: writing a memoir about the decades he spent in government, politics, education and business, and the people he met along the way.

McCall, who was elected to the state Senate in 1974 and went on to serve as an ambassador with U.S. delegation to the U.N., state comptroller and president of the New York City Board of Education, spoke with City & State shortly after retiring from SUNY. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

August 12, 2019

City & State New York

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PUBLISHER’S SEC TION

terms of the environment. You just have a bigger stage. I knew if it worked, it was fine; if it didn’t work, it wasn’t the end of the world.

So I mounted a campaign. As you know, I was successful in the primary.

I had a very formidable opponent in Andrew Cuomo and we had a big fight – political fight, but not a personal fight – and I was able to prevail. Unfortunately, I had to spend so much money during the primary, I didn’t have the kind of money I needed for the general election. So I was not successful.

I don’t believe there’s any such thing as failure. I think you have some experiences that don’t turn out well and you need to examine them. You need to try to find out why they didn’t work well and what you’ve learned from it, and you take that information and you move on.

With the primary specifically, what were some of the factors that helped push you to victory?

In the primary, it was just that I had been here. After my first year being appointed comptroller, I ran in 1994. I was the only Democrat elected statewide. The governor lost, the attorney general lost.

I was the only Democratic state official.

So I spent the next several years helping Democratic organizations all around the state. I went to dinners and breakfasts and rallies, you know, in every county in the state except one. I never got to Madison County. I tried to get in one day on a plane and couldn’t land.

I think that paid off when I ran in the primary, because people remembered and appreciated the fact that I was there and gave them that sort of support during that period.

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You said you had learned lessons during that campaign. What were some of those lessons?

One lesson is that money is significant – unfortunately – that you just have to have a lot of money. And it’s hard to raise money, and there are all kinds of issues about if you get money from people – what is it they want for it. I remember when I had my very, very first fundraiser when I ran for the Senate, one of my mentors, Percy Sutton, who was the (Manhattan) borough president. I said to Percy, “You know, people are giving you money. What am I to tell them that I’m going to give them?” He said, “Just tell them they’ll get good government.”

But I found out people wanted more than good government. They wanted certain favors, attention. So it’s tough to balance that. How do you raise the kind of millions of dollars you need to run while at the same time not getting into conflicts with people who are giving you money? And there’s even the perception that they’re going to give you money because they want you to do something for them. That’s why I’m a big supporter of campaign finance reform.

How does it feel to be in retirement?

Well, it’s been about two weeks. I feel like a general who lost his army.

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August 12, 2019

“AN INSPIRATION FOR US ALL” B Y K AY D E R V I S H I

Left: Carl McCall with former state Sen. Manfred Ohrenstein. Right: McCall with former Rep. Charles Rangel and former President Jimmy Carter.

ANDREW CUOMO GOVERNOR Chairman McCall is a friend and a quintessential public servant who dedicated his entire career to improving the lives of others.

Chairman McCall never turned down an ask to help and demonstrated his unmatched commitment to New York and our nation time and time again, including as state senator, comptroller, commissioner (of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey), ambassador to the United Nations and, most recently, as chairman of the SUNY board of trustees since 2011. His accomplishments are numerous but he will long be remembered for his deep commitment to equality, diversity and access to education to ensure New York’s students – especially from underserved areas – are provid-

ed with a high-quality and affordable education.

He was a trailblazer who paved a path for others to follow and he never lost sight of the fundamental goal of government: making a positive difference in the lives of the people we serve. SUNY is stronger because of Chairman McCall’s leadership, and his legacy and impact on all New Yorkers will carry on long after he steps down. I join all New Yorkers in celebrating Chairman McCall’s distinguished career and thanking him for his service to our state.

THOMAS DiNAPOLI STATE COMPTROLLER H. Carl McCall is a New York icon. He spent a lifetime breaking barriers, overcoming obstacles and fighting to help others do the same. He served the public in numerous roles over his long career.

He always answered the call and stepped up to lead with uncommon grace. His unwavering commitment to doing for others has made our state and nation stronger. His legacy is profound and his contributions unmeasurable. He is an inspiration for us all.

DAVID DINKINS FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR He came here from Boston, I guess it was.

GEORGE PATAKI FORMER GOVERNOR Carl McCall brought integrity and intelligence to political office. When you think of someone like Carl McCall – that’s the type of person who should be in politics. When he was comptroller and I was governor, we worked very well together.

We put in place the savings program, the tax-free savings program for parents and grandparents to help their kids with college education. We toured Israel together on a solidarity trip to that country.

While we may have had different parties, and periodically different political philosophies, he was always someone of integrity. After we were both out of office, we co-chaired Gov. (Andrew) Cuomo’s tax reduction task force a few years back. We never had, as far as I recall, any significant conflicts or disagreements of a meaningful nature.

BILL THOMPSON CHAIRMAN CUNY BOARD OF TRUSTEES I’ve joked in public a couple of times that it always seems like I’m following Carl to some extent. He was the president of the Board of Education; a few years later I became the president. He became the state comptroller; I became the city comptroller. He was the chair of SUNY; I became

PROVIDED BY H. CARL MCCALL

M

ENTOR. TRAILBLAZER. STATESMAN. NEW YORK ICON. As H. Carl McCall embarks on his next chapter, City & State asked several of his friends and former colleagues to reflect on their time working with the longtime public servant. Their responses have been edited for length and clarity.

It was a time when we were working very hard at voter registration. We had card tables set up on street corners and things like that. And he was enormously helpful.

He’s a very smart, articulate, knowledgeable guy whose friendship I value.

It was not a surprise to see him move up the political ladder. When everyone thought of some opening or some spot for which we needed somebody of accomplishment and ability, you automatically thought of Carl. It’s hard to think of him retiring. I don’t think he’ll ever retire. He may leave this position, but he will not retire.

August 12, 2019

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PUBLISHER’S SEC TION

the chair of CUNY. He has just become a New York treasure.

When you look at the first African American elected on a statewide level, you know, people have looked up to him and respected him over the years just as far as being a trailblazer. If you look at his time at the Board of Education, as the president of that entity, it was a time of a bit of upheaval. Carl was a calming voice during that time. I think when I talk about statesman, I talk about a person that people will listen to and follow his leadership.

NANCY ZIMPHER FORMER SUNY CHANCELLOR I first met H. Carl McCall on the first day of a series of interviews with the SUNY board of trustees for the chancellor’s role.

He struck an awesome pose, which said to me: “Here’s somebody I really need to

know!” Turns out we got to know each other very well over the next eight years. And importantly for all the many constituents Chairman McCall has represented over the years, his first question to me on that very first day, and every day thereafter was, “What are we doing for diversity?”

While together we moved many dials and solved many problems, nothing was more important to us both than recruiting and admitting underrepresented cohorts of students – diverse in every respect – and then supporting them in as many ways as possible so that they and all students we served crossed the finish line, completed their college degree and took their rightful place in society to live a fruitful and productive life. This, in addition to his incredible life of leadership and service, is at the core of who Carl McCall is. I am so proud to have served by his side.

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KRISTINA JOHNSON SUNY CHANCELLOR Chairman Emeritus H. Carl McCall has made his lifework to eliminate barriers to a high-quality education and inspire more students to challenge themselves to earn a college degree. He led the State University of New York board of trustees in comprehensively expanding SUNY’s academic breadth, in elevating its national and international reputation and in diversifying its senior administration and student body.

“Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,” “Enough is Enough” and “Ban the Box” are just a few of the policies approved under his leadership. While different in focus, when combined, these policies create a safe and welcoming college experience where students, faculty and staff may achieve their academic pursuits and thrive.

He has been a mentor and someone who inspires us. As someone who believes strongly in our right to vote, Chairman McCall was a guide to our student assembly leadership as they drove a campaign to increase voter registrations before the 2018 midterm elections – one in which we witnessed the highest voter turnout for a midterm. His ardent advocacy of higher education has led to substantial gains for SUNY’s students, and his legacy will be felt by the generations who follow.

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Pursuant to an Order Confirming Referee’s Report, and Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly filed on June 14, 2019, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the Kings County Supreme Court, Room 224, 360 Adams Street, Brooklyn, NY on August 8, 2019 at 2:30 p.m., premises known as 282 Hemlock Street, Brooklyn, NY. All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Brooklyn, County of Kings, City and State of New York, Block 4147 and Lot 53. Approximate amount of judgment is $485,489.15 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index # 501581/2016.

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NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF KINGS, DEUTSCHE BANK NATIONAL TRUST COMPANY, AS CERTIFICATE TRUSTEE ON BEHALF OF BOSCO CREDIT II TRUST SERIES 2010-1, Plaintiff, vs. JASON PALMER, ET AL., Defendant(s).

Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly filed on June 14, 2019, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the Kings County Supreme Court, Room 224, 360 Adams Street, Brooklyn, NY on August 22, 2019 at 2:30 p.m., premises known as 1962 Bergen Street, Brooklyn, NY. All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Brooklyn, County of Kings, City and State of New York, Block 1453 and Lot 18. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index # 515601/2016.

Leo Salzman, Esq., Referee Berkman, Henoch, Peterson, Peddy & Fenchel, P.C., 100 Garden City Plaza, Garden City, NY 11530, Attorneys for Plaintiff

NOTICE OF QUAL. of 100 SLD Owner LLC. Auth. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 6/20/19. Off. Loc: NY Co. LLC org. in DE 5/16/19. SSNY desig. as agent of LLC upon whom proc. against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of proc. to NRAI, 28 Liberty St., 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.

Evers Mental Health Counseling, PLLC, Arts of Org filed with SSNY on 06/25/19. Off. Loc: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of process to: The PLLC 875 6th Ave, Ste 1604, New York, NY 10001. Purpose: to engage in the profession of Mental Health Counseling

Notice of Formation of Alpine Properties Group LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with SSNY on 07/08/2019. Office location: Westchester County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to 265 Summit Avenue, Mount Vernon, New York 10552. Purpose: any lawful act or activity.

Notice of Formation of 102-104 FULTON ST RETAIL LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/28/19.

Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Douglas Gladstone, Esq., Goldfarb & Fleece LLP, 560 Lexington Ave., NY, NY 10022. Purpose: any lawful activities.

Notice of Qualification of DIG INN 460 PAS LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/01/19. Office location: NY County.

LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 03/26/19. Princ. office of LLC: 1235 Broadway, 2nd Fl., NY, NY 10001.

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 122072543. 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.

BKGREENCART LLC filed Arts. of Org. with the Sect’y of State of NY (SSNY) on 7/1/19. Office: Kings County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: The LLC, 15 Maiden Ln, Ste 600, NY, NY 10038. Purpose: any lawful act.

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Notice of Formation of Piel Developmental Consulting, LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with SSNY on 6/27/19. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent for process and shall mail to: 400 Riverside Dr., Apt. 5A, NY NY 10025. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of SOLIGHT2, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 06/27/19. Office location: NY County. 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. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

HER HONOR, LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 04/18/2019.

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, 3 Stuyvesant Oval Apt. 1E, NY, NY 10009. Reg Agent: David Silberg, 3 Stuyvesant Oval Apt. 1E, NY, NY 10009. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.

NOTICE OF FORMATION of RIVERCENTER LS LLC. Art. of Org. filed with the Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 5/7/19. 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: 28 Liberty, New York, NY 10005. Reg. Agent: National Registered Agents, Inc., 28 Liberty, New York, NY 10005. Purpose: Any lawful act

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G.A.S. PRODUCTIONS LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with SSNY 06/03/2019.

Office loc: Richmond County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, Attn: Gregory Scott, 81A Clark Lane, Staten Island, NY 10304. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.

NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF KINGS, SELENE FINANCE LP, Plaintiff, vs. ISIAH SLAUGHTER A/K/A ISIAH B. SLAUGHTER, ET AL., Defendant(s).

Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly filed on June 12, 2019, and a Decision and Order filed on June 21, 2019, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the Kings County Supreme Court, Room 224, 360 Adams Street, Brooklyn, NY on September 12, 2019 at 2:30 p.m., premises known as 639 East 86th Street, Brooklyn, NY. All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Brooklyn, County of Kings, City and State of New York, Block 7991 and Lot 25. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index # 11848/13.

Steven Z. Naiman, Esq., Referee Berkman, Henoch, Peterson, Peddy & Fenchel, P.C., 100 Garden City Plaza, Garden City, NY 11530, Attorneys for Plaintiff

Notice of Qualification of BEGI, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/11/19. Office location: NY County.

LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 06/28/19. Princ. office of LLC: TAG Associates, LLC, 810 Seventh Ave., 7th Fl., NY, NY 10019. 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. DE addr. of LLC: Corporation Service Co., 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808.

Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, State of DE, Dept. of State, Townsend Bldg., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

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NOTICE OF FORMATION OF NEW YORK LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY The name of the limited liability company is Sally Rose Pond, LLC. The date of filing of the Articles of Organization with the Department of State was July 15, 2019.

The county in New York in which the offices of the LLC are located is Richmond.

The Secretary of State has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process may be served, and the Secretary of State shall mail a copy of any such process served against the LLC to Dr. Daniel Messina & Debra Messina, 17 Coverly Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10301 .

The business purpose of the LLC is to engage in any and all business activities permitted under the Limited Liability Company Law of the State of New York.

Notice of Qualification of THE PRIVACY CO LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/09/19. Office location: NY County.

LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 06/25/19. Princ. office of LLC: Renee M. Lercher, CFO, 845 3rd Ave., Fl. 18, NY, NY 10022.

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. DE addr. of LLC: c/o Corporation Service Co., 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808.

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 Formation of David and Dad LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/01/19. Office location: NY County.

SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The Baker Law Firm PLLC, 1175 York Ave., #15D, NY, NY 10065, Attn: Brett R. Baker, Esq. Purpose: any lawful activities.

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Notice of Formation of Leeza Garber Esq Consulting LLC filed with SSNY on June 21, 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: 252 W 76th Street, NY, NY 10023.

Purpose: any lawful act or activity.

NOTICE OF FORMATION of BAYSIDE LS LLC. Art. of Org. filed with the Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 5/7/19. 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: 28 Liberty, New York, NY 10005. Reg. Agent: National Registered Agents, Inc., 28 Liberty, New York, NY 10005. Purpose: Any lawful act Notice of Formation of Fora Financial Advance LLC (f/k/a Empire Merchant Advance, LLC).

Articles of Organization filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 05/29/09.

Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to 519 8th Ave., 11th Fl., New York, NY 10018. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

MARV HOLIDAY, LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 07/03/19.

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, 434 E. 57th Street, New York, NY 10022. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

Notice of Formation of ASHES TO ASHES LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/22/19.

Office location: Kings County. Princ. office of LLC: 99A Stuyvesant Ave., Apt. 2, Brooklyn, NY 11221. 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.

GRAND STUDIO MANAGEMENT LLC filed Arts. of Org. with the Sect’y of State of NY (SSNY) on 7/16/19. Office: Kings County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: T. Rufus Cappadocia, 295 Grand St, Brooklyn, NY 11211. Purpose: any lawful act.

Notice of Formation of Grandstar Original LLC filed with SSNY on June 12, 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: 115 4th Avenue, Apt 4A, NY, NY 10003. Purpose: any lawful act or activity.

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A LICENSE, SERIAL # 1319561 FOR WINE & BEER HAS BEEN APPLIED FOR BY THE UNDERSIGNED TO SELL WINE & BEER AT RETAIL UNDER THE ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE CONTROL LAW AT 544 LORIMER ST. BROOKLYN, NY 11211. KINGS COUNTY, FOR ON-PREMISE CONSUMPTION. LORIMER PIZZA LLC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A LICENSE, SERIAL # 1319725 FOR LIQUOR, WINE, & BEER HAS BEEN APPLIED FOR

BY THE UNDERSIGNED TO SELL LIQUOR, WINE, & BEER AT RETAIL UNDER THE ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE CONTROL LAW AT 180 9TH AVE NY, NY 10011 NEW YORK COUNTY, FOR ON PREMISE CONSUMPTION. QANOON CORP Notice of Formation of MADE F&B LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/25/19. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Mark Devli, 460 Main Ave., Ste. A, Wallington, NJ 07057.

Purpose: Any lawful activity.

August 12, 2019

NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF KINGS, DEUTSCHE BANK NATIONAL TRUST COMPANY, AS CERTIFICATE TRUSTEE ON BEHALF OF BOSCO CREDIT II TRUST SERIES 20101, Plaintiff, vs. JASON PALMER, ET AL., Defendant(s).

Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly filed on June 14, 2019, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the Kings County Supreme Court, Room 224, 360 Adams Street, Brooklyn, NY on August 22, 2019 at 2:30 p.m., premises known as 1962 Bergen Street, Brooklyn, NY. All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Brooklyn, County of Kings, City and State of New York, Block 1453 and Lot 18. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index # 515601/2016.

Leo Salzman, Esq., Referee Berkman, Henoch, Peterson, Peddy & Fenchel, P.C., 100 Garden City Plaza, Garden City, NY 11530, Attorneys for Plaintiff

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A LICENSE, SERIAL # 1319713 FOR LIQUOR, WINE, & BEER HAS BEEN APPLIED FOR

BY THE UNDERSIGNED TO SELL LIQUOR, WINE, & BEER AT RETAIL UNDER THE ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE CONTROL LAW AT 182 8TH NY, NY 10011 NEW YORK COUNTY, FOR ON PREMISE CONSUMPTION. NEW HK 2 LLC SAPPHIRE VISION, LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with SSNY 2/12/2019. Office loc: Kings County. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process against LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: LLC, 805 Saint Marks Avenue, Apt. B3D Brooklyn, NY, 11213. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.

Notice of Qualification of 24 WEST 25TH STREET HOLDINGS IV, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/19/19. Office location: NY County.

LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 03/04/19. Princ. office of LLC: 430 Park Ave., Fl. 12, NY, NY 100223505. 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. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808.

Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of the State of DE, 401 Federal St. - Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of 24 WEST 25TH STREET INVESTORS IV, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/19/19. Office location: NY County.

LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 03/04/19. Princ. office of LLC: 430 Park Ave., Fl. 12, NY, NY 100223505. 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. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808.

Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of the State of DE, 401 Federal St. - Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of LHL SHORE PARKWAY, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/17/19. Office location: NY County.

LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 07/11/19. Princ. office of LLC: 183 Madison Ave., Ste. 1602, NY, NY 10016. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to Bennet L. Schonfeld at the princ. office of the LLC. DE addr. of LLC: c/o Corporation Service Co., 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State of the State of DE, 401 Federal St., Ste. #4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of CaaS Capital Management LP Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/11/19. Office location: NY County.

LP formed in Delaware (DE) on 05/01/19. Duration of LP is Perpetual.

SSNY designated as agent of LP upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the Partnership, 800 Third Ave., 26th Fl., NY, NY 10022. Name and addr. of each general partner are available from SSNY. DE addr. of LP: c/o Corporation Service Co., 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of LP filed with the Secy. of State of DE, Dept. of State, Div. of Corps., John Townsend Bldg., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of DPR OPPORTUNITIES 2 LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with SSNY 06/17/2019.

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: Robert D. Lindsay, Goldberg Lindsay & Co. LLC, 630 Fifth Avenue, 30 FL, New York, NY 10111.

Purpose: To be a qualified opportunity fund.

Notice of Formation of DPR OPPORTUNITIES 3 LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with SSNY 06/17/2019.

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: Robert D. Lindsay, Goldberg Lindsay & Co. LLC, 630 Fifth Avenue, 30 FL, New York, NY 10111.

Purpose: To be a qualified opportunity fund.

Notice of Formation of THE LFS LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/03/19. Office location: NY County.

Princ. office of LLC: 1540 Broadway, NY, NY 10036.

SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Duane Morris LLP, Attn: Jon H.I. Grouf, 1540 Broadway, NY, NY 10036. Purpose: Investments.

NOTICE OF POSTPONEMENT SALE SUPREME COURT FOR THE STATE OF NEW YORK, COUNTY OF BROOKLYN CROSBY CAPITAL USA, LLC; Plaintiff v. WAHEED EGBO, et al; Defendants Attorney for Plaintiff: Hasbani & Light, P.C., 450 7th Ave, Suite 1408, NY, NY 10123; (646) 490-6677 Pursuant to judgment of foreclosure and sale granted herein on 05/29/19, I will sell at Public Auction to the highest bidder in the Supreme Court of the State Of New York, County of Kings - 360 Adams Street, Room 224, Brooklyn, NY 11201.

On August 1, 2019 at 2:30 pm.

Premises known as 107 Harman Street, Brooklyn, NY 11221, Block: 3275 Lot: 62 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.

As more particularly described in the judgment of foreclosure and sale.

Sold subject to all of the terms and conditions contained in said judgment and terms of sale.

Approximate amount of judgment: $963,987.79 plus interest and costs.

Index Number: 502722/2014 Aaron Maslow, Esq., Referee

Notice of Formation of DPR OPPORTUNITIES 1 LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with SSNY 06/17/2019.

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: Robert D. Lindsay, Goldberg Lindsay & Co. LLC, 630 Fifth Avenue, 30 FL, New York, NY 10111.

Purpose: To be a qualified opportunity fund.

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PUBLIC and LEGAL NOTICES / CityAndStateNY.com

August 12, 2019

Notice of Formation of 136 West 92nd Street Associates LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/11/19.

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 Trinity Episcopal School Corporation, 139 West 91st St., NY, NY 10024, Attn: Joan Dannenberg. Purpose: any lawful activities.

Notice of Formation of MINH HOLDINGS, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/15/19. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of DOVEL TECHNOLOGIES, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/25/19. Office location: NY County.

LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 04/06/16. Princ. office of LLC: 7901 Jones Branch Dr., Ste. 600, McLean, VA 22102. 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, Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

VR IMMERSION LLC Art. Of Org. Filed Sec. of State of NY 7/12/2019. Off. Loc.: Richmond Co. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY to mail copy of process to The LLC, 55 Richmond Ter, Ste 306 Staten Island, NY 10301.

Purpose: Any lawful act or activity

Notice of Qualification of THE DOVEL GROUP, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/25/19. Office location: NY County.

LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 04/06/16. Princ. office of LLC: 7901 Jones Branch Dr., Ste. 600, McLean, VA 22102. 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, Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

NOTICE OF FORMATION of TRAVEL PLANZ, LLC. Arts. Of Organization filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 1/28/2019. Office location: BX County.

SSNY designated agent upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy of process against LLC to 1565 Fulton Ave. Bronx, NY 10457.

Purpose any lawful act Notice of Formation of Tick Tock VII LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with NY Dept. of State on 2/16/18. Office location: NY County. Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o Pat Rubino, Lazard, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, NY, NY 10112. Purpose: any lawful activity.

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TCB 667 STANLEY AVE LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 07/26/2019. Office loc: Kings County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Zaheer A Bukhari, 667 Stanley Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11207.

Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.

NOTICE OF PUBLIC SALE OF A COOPERATIVE APARTMENT PLEASE TAKE NOTICE: by Virtue of default under Loan Security Agreements, and other Security Documents, originally held by JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association which is now held by The Bank of New York Mellon Trust Company, N.A. f/k/a The Bank of New York Trust Company, N.A., as trustee for Chase Mortgage Finance Trust Multi-Class Mortgage PassThrough Certificates Series 2007-S2, as Secured Creditor, George Nelson, DCA # 1300011, will sell at public auction, with reserve, in the Rotunda of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY, at 12:00 pm, on September 9, 2019, 581 shares of the capital stock of 300 E. 74th Owners Corp. (a Cooperative Housing Corporation), issued in the name of Lawrence Tannenbaum, and all right, title and interest in a Proprietary Lease to 300 East 74th Street, Unit 22G, New York, NY 10021.

Sale held to enforce rights of Bank of New York Mellon Trust Company as Secured Creditor, which reserves the right to bid. Ten percent (10%) Bank/Certified check payable to the Escrowee, Sheldon May & Associates, as attorneys for THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A. F/K/A THE BANK OF NEW YORK TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS TRUSTEE FOR CHASE MORTGAGE FINANCE TRUST MULTI-CLASS MORTGAGE PASS-THROUGH CERTIFICATES SERIES 2007-S2. Balance due at closing within thirty (30) days.

The auctioneer’s fees are required at sale.

The Cooperative Apartment will be sold “AS IS,” and possession is to be obtained by the purchaser(s).

Dated: July 19, 2019 Sheldon May & Associates (Escrowee) Attorneys for Plaintiff 255 Merrick Road Rockville Centre, NY 11570 Telephone: (516) 763-3200

Tiger Digital LLC Art. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 4/18/2019. 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 United Corporation Agent, Inc., 7014 13th Ave, Suite 202, Brooklyn, NY 11228.

Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

Notice is hereby given that the undersigned applied for a license, No. 2217546 to sell liquor at retail in a restaurant at 23 Factory St., Montgomery, NY 12548 under the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law. City Winery Hudson Valley LLC, dba City Winery.

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NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A LICENSE, SERIAL # 1319827 FOR LIQUOR, WINE, & BEER HAS BEEN APPLIED FOR BY THE UNDERSIGNED TO SELL LIQUOR, WINE, & BEER AT RETAIL UNDER THE ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE CONTROL LAW AT 1315 MORTON ST NY, NY 10011 NEW YORK COUNTY, FOR ON PREMISE CONSUMPTION. CARA JECM LLC. NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A LICENSE, SERIAL # 1319969 FOR LIQUOR, WINE, & BEER HAS BEEN APPLIED FOR BY THE UNDERSIGNED TO SELL LIQUOR, WINE, & BEER AT RETAIL UNDER THE ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE CONTROL LAW AT 575 W. 207TH ST NEW YORK, NY 10034. NEW YORK COUNTY, FOR ON PREMISE CONSUMPTION. GALICIA TAPAS LLC

NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF KINGS Wells Fargo Bank, National Association as Trustee for Option One Mortgage Loan Trust 2007-5, Asset-Backed Certificates, Series 20075, Plaintiff AGAINST June P. Isaac a/k/a June P. Isaac-Goodridge; et al., Defendant(s) Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly dated November 30, 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 September 12, 2019 at 2:30PM, premises known as 326 92nd Street, Brooklyn, NY 11212. 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:4646 Lot:25.

Approximate amount of judgment $372,701.31 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index# 515931/2016.

Jeffrey Dinowitz, Esq., Referee Shapiro, DiCaro & Barak, LLC Attorney(s) for the Plaintiff 175 Mile Crossing Boulevard Rochester, New York 14624 (877) 430-4792 Dated: July 30, 2019 Notice of Qualification of BLANCHE INDUSTRIES, LLC. Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/25/19. Office location: NY County.

LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 01/05/17. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 16133 Ventura Blvd., Ste. 545, Encino, CA 91436, Attn: Daniel Frattali. Address to be maintained in DE: 2140 S Dupont Hwy, Camden, DE 19934. Arts of Org. filed with the DE Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activities.

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Notice of Qualification of SO - Hubbards Commons LLC. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 7/29/19. Office location: NY County.

Princ. bus. addr.: c/o ShopOne Centers REIT, Inc., 10100 Waterville St., Whitehouse, OH 43571.

LLC formed in DE on 9/25/18. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: Cogency Global Inc. (CGI), 10 E. 40th St., 10th Fl., NY, NY 10016. DE addr. of LLC: c/o CGI, 850 New Burton Rd., Ste. 201, Dover, DE 19904. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, PO Box 898, Dover, DE 19903. Purpose: all lawful purposes.

Notice of Qual. of Paintbox Madison LLC, filed with the SSNY on 7/24/19. Office loc: NY County. LLC formed in DE on 7/22/19. SSNY is designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served and shall mail process to: Attn: Paintbox, 154 Grand St, 3rd Fl, NY, NY 10013. Address required to be maintained in DE: c/o Corporation Service Company, 251 Little Falls Dr, Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert of Formation filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St, Ste 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful act.

Notice of Qualification of C-Bridge Capital LLC. Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/22/19. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 07/12/19. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 450 Lexington Ave Ste. 39B, NY, NY 10017, Attn: Fu, Wei. Address to be maintained in DE: Corp2000, 838 Walker Rd., Ste. 21-2, Dover, DE 19904. Arts of Org. filed with the Secy. of State of the State of DE, Division of Corporations, PO Box 898, Dover, DE 19903. Purpose: any lawful activities.

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CityAndStateNY.com / PUBLIC and LEGAL NOTICES

FAMILY COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK CITY OF NEW YORK: COUNTY OF NEW YORK SUMMONS - Docket No.: B-3995-19 ---------------------------------X In the Matter of Commitment of Guardianship and Custody of JOSEPH JAMARD REID JR also known as JOSEPH REID JR also known as JOSEPH REID A Child under the Age of Eighteen Years -----------------------------------X In the Name of the People of the State of New York TO: Eldra James ADDRESS:

UNKNOWN

A Petition having been duly filed in this Court, alleging that the above-named child in the care of THE NEW YORK FOUNDLING HOSPITAL, should be committed to the guardianship and custody of THE NEW YORK FOUNDLING HOSPITAL; a copy of said Petition being annexed hereto; 60 Lafayette Street, New York, New York, Part 4, in front of the Hon. Frias-Colon on January 30, 2020 at 9:00A.M. in the forenoon of said day to Show Cause why the Court should not enter an Order committing the guardianship and custody of said child to the petitioning agency as required by law.

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that if the guardianship and custody of said child are committed to the petitioning agency, THE NEW YORK FOUNDLING HOSPITAL, said child may be adopted with consent of the petitioning agency without your consent or further notice to you.

PLEASE TAKE FURTHER NOTICE that you have the right to be represented by a lawyer, and, if the Court finds that you are unable to pay for a lawyer, you have the right to have a lawyer assigned by the Court.

PLEASE TAKE FURTHER NOTICE that upon failure of the person summoned to appear, all of his or her parental rights to the child may be terminated, and PLEASE TAKE FURTHER NOTICE that his or her failure to appear shall constitute a denial of his or her interest in the child which denial may result, without further notice, in the transfer or commitment of the child’s care, custody or guardianship or in the child’s adoption in this or any subsequent proceeding in which such care, custody or guardianship or adoption be at issue.

Dated: New York, New York August 6, 2019

By Order of the Court /S/ Clerk of the Family Court Notice of Formation of 514 Herkimer LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with NY Dept. of State on 8/1/19.

Office location: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 514 Herkimer St., Brooklyn, NY 11213. Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: 525 7th Ave., Ste. 1406, NY, NY 10018. Purpose: all lawful purposes.

PUBLIC NOTICE AT&T proposes to collocate antennas (tip heights 86’) on the building at 4020 Broadway, New York, NY (20191268).

Interested parties may contact Scott Horn (856809-1202) (1012 Industrial Dr., West Berlin, NJ 08091) with comments regarding potential effects on historic properties.

August 12, 2019

PUBLIC NOTICE SprintCom, Inc. proposes an antenna and equipment upgrades atop an existing 151.5’ building at 225-231 Jerome St in Brooklyn, Kings County, NY; an existing 122’ building at 3657 Broadway in Manhattan, New York City, NY; an existing 57.5’ building at 902 West 72nd St in Brooklyn, Kings County, NY; an existing 102’ building at 10 Jones St in Manhattan, New York City, NY; and an existing 69.1’ building at 47-46 40th St in Sunnyside, Borough of Queens, NY. In accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended and the 2005 Nationwide Programmatic Agreement for Review Under the National Preservation Act; Final Rule, SPRINT is hereby notifying the public of the proposed undertaking and soliciting comments on Historic Properties which may be affected by the proposed undertaking. Accordingly, 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 ½ mile of the above address, please submit the property’s address and your comments to: Charles Cherundolo Consulting, Inc. at 976 Tabor Road, Suite 4B, Morris Plains, NJ 07950 or via email at tcns@cherundoloconsulting.com.

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A LICENSE, SERIAL # 1319806 FOR LIQUOR, WINE, & BEER HAS BEEN APPLIED FOR BY THE UNDERSIGNED TO SELL LIQUOR, WINE, & BEER IN A CATERING HALL UNDER THE ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE CONTROL LAW AT 541 W 25TH ST NEW YORK, NY 10001.

NEW YORK COUNTY, FOR ON PREMISE CONSUMPTION. LG CONCEPTS INC.

LEGALNOTICES@CITYANDSTATENY.COM

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CityAndStateNY.com

August 12, 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, Administrative Assistant Lauren Mauro

Who was up and who was down last week

CREATIVE Art Director Andrew Horton, Senior Graphic Designer Alex Law, Graphic Designer Aaron Aniton

LOSERS MELINDA KATZ The Queens beep keeps declaring victory, so we’ll keep making her a winner. Her job as Queens’ next district attorney was all but guaranteed last week when Tiffany Cabán’s campaign dropped its court case and conceded defeat in the Democratic primary. Now she just needs to wipe the floor with whatever Republican opposition shows up, and get to the real, difficult job of jailing her political opponents. Kidding!

OUR PICK

OUR PICK

WINNERS

Bordeaux and Burgundy, Napa Valley and Sonoma … and the Finger Lakes and Lake Erie? New York doesn’t typically come to mind as a top wine producer, but Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants you to think it is – and his annual awards just recognized a cabernet franc from Six Mile Creek Vineyard outside Ithaca as the state’s top wine of the year. For other fine wine-ers (and losers), read on.

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, Staff Reporter Kay Dervishi

DIGITAL Digital Director Derek Evers devers@cityandstateny. com, Digital Marketing Director Maria Cruz Lee, Digital Content Coordinator Michael Filippi, Social Media Editor/ Content Producer Amanda Luz Henning Santiago

BILL DE BLASIO “It’s such a charade,” the mayor said when he visited Fox News’ professional pot stirrer Sean Hannity – but was he referring to the conservative outlet or his campaign for president? After the headline of a humiliating profile in The New York Times Magazine described de Blasio as a “punching bag” who “seems sick of his city,” Hizzoner was accused of violating federal election campaign rules in an attempt to obscure the wealthy donors backing him in the race he’s polling 0.3% in.

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, Legal Advertising Executive Shakirah Gittens legalnotices@cityandstateny.com, Junior Sales Associate Chris Hogan EVENTS events@cityandstateny.com Sales Director Lissa Blake, Events Manager Alexis Arsenault, Event Coordinator Amanda Cortez, Editorial Research Associate Evan Solomon

Vol. 8 Issue 30 August 12, 2019

'S ALBANY C DUO DYNAMI

THE REST OF THE WORST

JOHN BROOKS & KIMBERLY JEAN-PIERRE

MARUF ALAM

Cuomo signed their boat safety bill after 19 deaths on the water last year. Now about those 1,000 annual car deaths ...

LAURA CURRAN

The Islanders’ll be back to bashing skulls where they should be: Nassau County.

DAVID EHRENBERG

Humans and robots are working side by side in peace at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

POLLY TROTTENBERG

Yuppies be damned, bus lanes on 14th Street got the green light.

THE

WONDER TWINS

The FBI came for Felix Ortiz’s chief of staff after $80K mysteriously vanished.

SAIKAT CHAKRABARTI

AOC threw her No. 2 under the bus after a “divisive” tweet and federal probe.

WHAT ALL-BLUE ALBANY MEANS FOR INSURANCE RATES HOW SAVINO & CARLUCCI SURVIVED A POST-IDC WORLD CIT YANDSTATENY.COM

@CIT YANDSTATENY

August 12, 2019

Cover photos Hans Pennink/AP/Shutterstock

FIDEL DEL VALLE

“Do you know who I am?” the judge asked on video. Nobody now, buddy.

ANTHONY FOXX & JOSH GOLD

Poor Lyft and Uber! The cap is sticking around ... and somehow their cars are still literally EVERYWHERE.

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.

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SARAH BLESENER; LEV RADIN/SHUTTERSTOCK

THE BEST OF THE REST

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SEPTEMBER 24, 2019 While the New York City subways have received many headlines for their state of disrepair, much of the city and state’s infrastructure is inadequate. Funding has been a big issue, and the problems have been exacerbated by letting infrastructure wear out before replacing it, rather than incorporating improvements to keepour roads, railways, bridges, utilities and other critical lifelines up-to-date.

City & State’s Rebuilding New York Summit will feature discussions that dissect the biggest infrastructure issues, including funding for repairs, policy recommendations, and where the city and state has seen its biggest successes and shortcomings.

PANEL TOPICS WILL INCLUDE: IMPACT OF REBUILDING NEW YORK’S TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS GETTING AHEAD OF ISSUES IN AGING INSTITUTIONS AND INFRASTRUCTURE TRANSFORMING HOW WE THINK ABOUT CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT REBUILDING NEW YORK THROUGH CAPITAL PLANNING & PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS

FEATURED SPEAKERS RICK COTTON, Executive Director, Port Authority of New York & New Jersey STATE SEN.TODD KAMINSKY, Chair of the Committee on Environmental Conservation Councilman DONOVAN RICHARDS, Chair, Committee on Public Safety Councilman YDANIS RODRÍGUEZ, Chairman, Transportation Committee JAMES WONG, Executive Director NYC Ferry Division, New York City Economic Development Corp.

DEBORAH GODDARD, Executive VicePresident for Capital Projects, NYCHA Councilwoman ALICKA AMPRY-SAMUEL, Chairwoman, Committee on Public Housing LORRAINE GRILLO, Chief Information Officer, New York City Department of Buildings LEENA PANCHWAGH, Chief Information Officer, New York City Department of Buildings YOUSSEF KALAD, Program Director, NYCx, Mayor’s Office of the CTO GALE A. BREWER, Manhattan Borough President DUNCAN KISIA, Assistant Director of Planning & Regional Development Port Authority of NY & NJ 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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