5 minute read
FIRST READ
After lawmakers visited Rikers Island and decried the conditions there, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the Less is More Act into law.
SOME VACCINE MANDATES PAUSED
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Some workers facing vaccine mandates to keep their jobs got some relief from judges, who issued temporary restraining orders for the enforcement of two separate mandates. At the state level, a federal judge in Utica blocked the implementation of the mandate for health care workers, which explicitly did not include any
DON’T MESS WITH DELIVERY WORKERS
Approximately 65,000 delivery workers bring food all over New York City. They are mostly immigrants, and they have few official protections, as New York magazine and The Verge reported. Workers look out for and support each other, even as they are taken advantage of by the apps, robbed and not tipped after riding 30 blocks to deliver a single ice cream.
- New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, before watching a spectacle of illegal dirt bikes being destroyed, via Twitter
– Rep. Alexandria OcasioCortez, after wearing a white dress emblazoned with “Tax the Rich” to the Met Gala, via ABC News exemptions, notably for religious purposes. In New York City, a state Supreme Court judge put a halt to a requirement for all city Department of Education employees to get the shot, which similarly did not include exemptions. Both rulings are preliminary, and both state and city officials are confident that the vaccine mandates will ultimately stay in place.
LESS IS MORE SIGNED INTO LAW
As the situation at Rikers Island continues to deteriorate, Gov. Kathy Hochul heeded the call of lawmakers and others to sign the Less is More Act, which will reform the parole system so that fewer people return to jail for technical parole violations. Many people who populate Rikers and other jails are in for parole violations, so the law is expected to decrease the number of people reincarcerated for technical issues. The law won’t go into effect until next year, so Hochul also announced that she would direct the Board of Parole to release nearly 200 people immediately who would be eligible for release under Less is More.
POLLS LOOK GOOD FOR HOCHUL
Hochul seems to be off to a pretty good start to her time as governor, if poll numbers are to be believed. About 42% of New York voters view her favorability,
while only 17% view her unfavorability. Of course, that leaves a large portion with no opinion yet, but better to start with a clean slate and woo the electorate than come in hated. Plus, the people think Hochul will be more collaborative than her predecessor, so it seems her messaging is working.
BACK TO CLASS IN NYC
For the first time in over a year, public school students returned to the classroom with no remote option as the new school year began, an anomaly among large urban districts in the country, many of which have not returned to fulltime in person classes yet. The decision against any choice for remote learning was protested by some parents who remained cautious about sending their kids back to school with the delta variant spreading and students under 12 ineligible for the vaccine. Attendance on the first day was a little lower than it had been in the past, a likely indicator of lingering hesitancy, but not drastically so. The day also had technical glitches as parents and teachers attempted to fill out the required health screenings.
Kids were welcomed back to school last week after more than a year of remote learning. Top: GOP map for Congress Bottom: Democratic map for Congress
Partisan redistricting draft maps released
The state Independent Redistricting Commission released long-awaited drafts after delays with census data – two sets of maps each for Congress, the state Senate and the Assembly. The bipartisan panel tasked with decreasing the role of politics and gerrymandering presented one set of maps supported by Democrats and another supported by Republicans. The two sets of plans laid out very different visions for the state, with Republican commissioners even asserting that the Democrats’ version was illegal and unconstitutional, a charge the Democrats denied. GOP members of the commission also said their left-leaning counterparts refused to compromise before releasing the plans, while Democrats said that allowing the public to see both would be more transparent. Either way, the inability to agree and the tense public meeting to release the maps seem to be early indications that attempts to reach bipartisan agreements on redistricting might fall flat.
“We were not able to come to a consensus on a single map,” said Republican co-chair and former state Sen. Jack Martins. “I see our responsibility as a commission as putting aside partisan differences. … We tried to, and unfortunately it was for naught.”
The New York maps will have a national impact as Democrats scramble to hang on to their narrow majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The draft maps released last week are far from final, with the 10-member commission announcing multiple hearings across the state to gain input from New Yorkers about the plans. But they are a good indicator of how the process is going. – Rebecca C. Lewis
THE WEEK AHEAD
TUESDAY 9/21
Members of the state Senate are reviewing voting rights and election laws at a 10 a.m. hearing at the Legislative Office Building in Albany. THURSDAY 9/23
The MTA and transportation officials hold their first virtual public meeting at 10 a.m. to accept comments on the congestion pricing plan for Manhattan. INSIDE DOPE
This kicks off a 16-month environmental assessment of the proposal to toll drivers entering Manhattan below 60th Street. MONDAY 9/27
The New York City Council Committee on Public Safety holds a 10 a.m. oversight hearing at City Hall on reducing the responsibilities of the NYPD.
