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Corey Johnson
A L R E A DY M AYO R ?
CIT YANDSTATENY.COM
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CLIMATE CHANGE. CONGESTION PRICING. THE DREAM ACT. WILL THE DEMOCRATS OWN 2019?
December 17, 2018
NEW YORKERS HAVE WAITED TOO LONG FOR A RAISE New York invests BILLIONS of tax dollars in economic development throughout the state with little, to no, wage standards in place for the workers on these projects.
It’s time to give construction workers a raise and pass the definition of public works in this year’s budget! Everyday, tax-paying working people are subsidizing these developments and filling the pockets of for-profit developers, while workers on these projects are paid sub-standard wages, with little or no benefits.
New Yorkers deserve better, and the Legislature has the power to do better.
DON’T MAKE NEW YORKERS WAIT ONE MORE DAY,
PASS PUBLIC WORKS!
December 17, 2018
City & State New York
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EDITOR’S NOTE
JON LENTZ Editor-in-chief
IN 2013, THEN-NEW YORK CITY Public Advocate Bill de Blasio deftly moved to the left of a large field of mayoral candidates. After three terms of Michael Bloomberg’s business-minded centrism, the electorate wanted something different – and de Blasio represented that change. Well into de Blasio’s second term, attention is turning to who might replace him. Yet among the likely contenders – New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer, Bronx Borough President Rubén Díaz Jr., Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams – it’s not clear how they will differentiate themselves, at least in terms of ideology. Of course, there are other ways to stand out. Another mayoral contender is doing exactly that just by being himself: New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson. Where de Blasio drones on, Johnson is quick with a quip. While de Blasio is the family man who makes dad jokes, Johnson’s the fun single guy you want to hang out with on the weekend. When de Blasio won’t apologize, Johnson will. Will it be enough to make Johnson the city’s next mayor? The council speaker knows it’s early to start speaking that way – but he also knows he’s got a chance.
CONTENTS COREY JOHNSON … 6
Looking back at his first year as City Council speaker
CELESTE SLOMAN; CHRISTOPHER BOSWELL/SHUTTERSTOCK
SETTING THE AGENDA, PART II … 13
From climate change to congestion pricing, Albany’s biggest priorities for 2019 WINNERS & LOSERS … 38 Who was up and who was down last week
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The
December 17, 2018
Latest COHEN, KALOYEROS SENTENCED
AMAZON FEELING THE HEAT Amazon was in the hot seat Wednesday at a New York City Council hearing. Company executives endured several hours of City Council members airing their grievances about the terms of a secret agreement with the city and state as well as Amazon’s broader business practices. Earlier in the week, workers at a Staten Island Amazon fulfillment center went public with a campaign to unionize, saying that the company treats them like robots. Although City Council members had plenty of ammunition already, they gained more when the city released its Amazon pitch documents, which included an offer to use eminent domain on behalf of the company.
The
NO SITTING HERE Jazmine Headley, the woman who had her baby ripped from her arms while being arrested at a New York City benefits office, had the charges against her dismissed and has been released from Rikers Island. Members of the New York City Council criticized Mayor Bill de Blasio for his delayed response on the matter – when he did, it was in the form of a tweet. It was not until Wednesday that de Blasio publicly spoke about Headley, apologizing for her treatment, but did not put any blame on the arresting NYPD officers.
Back & Forth What have your first couple of months been like on the job? It’s been a good opportunity to start working on priorities as we set up for the 2019 legislative session. So we’re very excited about some of the things that are happening. It’s been very exciting for me to be working on congestion pricing, for example. That’s something where at DEC we didn’t work on it because while the benefits are environmental, the policy is really transportation.
A Q&A with New York League of Conservation Voters President
Julie Tighe
The
Other than congestion pricing, what else are you planning to work on in terms of climate change? There’s four different prongs of climate change that really need addressing. First is we need to make sure that we’re speeding up our adoption of renewable energy. Second is (the) transportation sector. So the state should be taking a
Kicker
“I would love to be in a room with Public Advocate Bill de Blasio having a discussion with NYC Mayor de Blasio.” — New York City Councilman JUMAANE WILLIAMS, when a City Hall protest failed to result in arrests days after the NYPD’s chaotic arrest of Jazmine Headley, via the Daily News Get the kicker every morning in CITY & STATE’S FIRST READ email. Sign up at cityandstateny.com.
leadership role in the Transportation and Climate Initiative, which is a multistate endeavor looking at how we handle our transportation systems and how we can shift to electrification of the transportation system. Third is buildings are the No. 1 source of greenhouse gases in New York City. And then we really need to do more on resiliency. What do you think of the new Democratic majority in the state Senate? We’re a nonpartisan organization, we do bipartisan endorsements. I think we’ll continue to do that, but we are excited about the new majority and the new Senate. So we will look forward to working with them on some of the items that perhaps have been stuck in the past. So we’re anxious to see that move forward and how that works.
NEW YORK METRO AREA AMAZON HQ2 RFP RESPONSE; PHILIP KAMRASS/OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR; FACEBOOK; LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS; CELESTE SLOMAN
It was a banner week for corruption sentencings in New York. Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former lawyer, was sentenced to three years in prison for his role in illegally buying the silence of two women during Trump’s presidential campaign. During the sentencing, Cohen expressed relief to be free from Trump. In an unrelated federal corruption trial in Manhattan, a judge sentenced SUNY Polytechnic Institute founder Alain Kaloyeros to three and a half years in prison for helping orchestrate the Buffalo Billion bid-rigging scandal.
THE PUBLIC ADVOCATE December 17, 2018
City & State New York
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ASSEMBLY; JOHN MCCARTEN, WILLIAM ALATRISTE/NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL; A KATZ/SHUTTERSTOCK
FUNDRAISING RACE BY CHRISTINA SAINT LOUIS
A NUMBER OF CONTENDERS have launched campaigns to become New York City’s next public advocate, but most don’t yet have the funds to match their ambition. But some candidates have money from previous city campaigns, which the New York City Campaign Finance Board allows them to fully utilize in the special election to replace Letitia James. The state allows larger individual donations than the city, so state legislators and past candidates for state legislative seats can only transfer funds within the city’s special election campaign contribution limit of $2,550 per donor – and not from a corporation or a limited liability corporation. Funds that qualify can be transferred on a “last into the state BOE, first into the CFB” basis – meaning the most recent donations under the $2,550 threshold are eligible. Here’s how much the leading candidates have on hand.
MELISSA MARK-VIVERITO
FORMER NYC COUNCIL SPEAKER
FUNDS: $389,794 Mark-Viverito is the early leader in campaign cash. She
clearly was preparing for a potential future citywide race, having raised a large sum of money by the end of last year.
RON KIM
ASSEMBLYMAN
FUNDS: $41,674 The Queens lawmaker reported more than $40,000 after easily winning re-election, some of which he can transfer toward his public advocate campaign.
RAFAEL ESPINAL JR. NYC COUNCILMAN
FUNDS: $68,224 Espinal has the second-highest amount of the current candidates.
ERIC ULRICH JUMAANE WILLIAMS NYC COUNCILMAN
FUNDS: $4,442 Williams won local support in his
failed campaign for lieutenant governor, but he only has $3,130 left over. He has another $1,312 from his 2017 City Council campaign.
NYC COUNCILMAN
FUNDS: $19,748 Ulrich could end up being the only
high-profile Republican in the race. He has more on hand than several Democratic colleagues in the City Council.
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December 10, 2018
December 10, 2018
City & State New York
Corey Johnson Declares Independence By Jeff Coltin
p ort r a i ts by a m y l om ba r d
The New York City Council speaker on his first year as Bill de Blasio’s foil.
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OREY JOHNSON and Bill de Blasio are not friends. And for Johnson, the New York City Council speaker whose friendliness is his defining trait, that’s saying something. Johnson didn’t even wish the mayor a happy birthday, something the speaker admitted at a City Hall press conference on May 9, the day after de Blasio turned 57. “I meant to, and I forgot. And now you made me feel bad,” Johnson said, with the obvious disappointment of somebody who puts a high value on such social currencies. Did de Blasio call you on your birthday, Johnson was asked, just a couple weeks earlier? “Um. Definitely not. I didn’t get a belated happy birthday either.” Then he delivered his kicker. “But I make decisions based on their merit, not based on how I was
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December 17, 2018
previously treated,” Johnson said, echoing a line that de Blasio has repeatedly used to defend his decision-making as free from the influence of political donors. As the press corps laughed, Johnson immediately walked it back – “I’m joking! … I’m not making fun of him!” – but the tension between the two officials has been more than a punchline. Johnson ran for City Council speaker on a bold promise to assert the body’s independence from the mayor, and de Blasio reportedly didn’t want Johnson to get the job. After his first full year leading the council, Johnson has delivered more than just quips – there’s widespread agreement among the council’s members and political observers that he has unified and revitalized the council, delivering legislative victories while acting as a check on the mayor. In doing so, Johnson has won over his toughest critics in the council. Behind the scenes during the 2017 speaker’s race, an informal group of members was formed who would have preferred “Anybody But Corey” – the ABC caucus. In phone calls with lobbyists and over coffee with reporters, they pushed a theory: Johnson would be a vindictive speaker, crushing the budget hopes and legisNew York City lative dreams of anybody who Council members got in his way. City Council who were part of staffers whispered of “the list” the “Anybody But that Johnson kept like a politiCorey” caucus cal Santa Claus, keeping track now say he’s been of who supported his candidaan effective leader. cy and who had crossed him. A year later, nearly a dozen critics just 10 days a month over the first nine months of this year. By said their worries were unfounded. “I will fully admit that during the speaker’s race I was a leader contrast, Johnson seems to everywhere. At City Hall, yes, but also of the Anybody But Corey caucus,” New York City Councilman at tree lightings, beach volleyball matches, canvassing days and Ben Kallos told City & State. “I will say that after working with dance parties. His star is in the ascendant, while de Blasio’s is sethim over the first year as speaker, that I was wrong. And every- ting. Talk of a Johnson run for mayor in 2021 has already begun, thing he has done since becoming speaker has been about getting and Johnson isn’t ruling it out. It’s no surprise that City Council members were clamoring for things done.” Others echoed Kallos. “If Corey had an approval rating in the more independence from the mayor’s office, especially following City Council,” said City Councilman Ritchie Torres, who also ran four years under former City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito. She reached the term limit in the council at the end of 2017, for speaker, “I suspect it would be nearly 100 percent.” Much of the praise for Johnson comes at the expense of de Bla- and the Manhattan Democrat was frequently criticized for being sio. “I think there’s a general recognition that there’s a leadership too closely aligned with the mayor to be an effective check after de void in New York City. And Corey is filling it,” Torres said. “He Blasio played an integral role in helping her win the speakership. To be fair, Mark-Viverito sued the de Blasio administration in 2014 is a larger-than-life speaker in the midst of a vanishing mayor.” De Blasio will reach the term limit of his office at the end of to oppose charter schools sharing space with public schools, fought to 2021 and already seems to be suffering from final-term fatigue. hire more police officers despite the mayor’s objections and called on While he won re-election in a landslide last year, New York City’s the city to close Rikers Island long before de Blasio got on board with overwhelmingly Democratic voters just gave their Democratic the idea. Sure, de Blasio never vetoed a bill passed under Mark-Vimayor a lackluster 43 percent approval rating. And The New York verito, but he has yet to veto a bill passed under Johnson either. The mayor’s office rejected Johnson’s narrative of renewed inTimes recently reported that the mayor showed up at City Hall
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City & State New York
dependence. “The last speaker was independent, this speaker is independent, and I bet the next speaker will be independent of the next mayor,” de Blasio press secretary Eric Phillips told City & State in response to this story. “The mayor and Speaker Johnson have a productive relationship.” Nevertheless, members insist the approach has changed on the east side of City Hall, which holds the council offices, saying they feel more institutional support when they want to speak out against the mayor. “He’s absolutely been more independent (than Mark-Viverito),” City Council Minority Leader Steven Matteo told City & State. “He’s certainly doing a good job of putting the council first.” City Councilman Rafael Espinal Jr., an early John-
“There’s a leadership void in New York City. And Corey is filling it.” – New York C ity Coun ci lm an r itch i e tor r es son ally, agreed. “He’s done a great job. He’s been able to push conversations that past leadership hasn’t been able to push,” he said. That includes winning a budgetary battle with the mayor, convincing the city to fund the Fair Fares pilot program, which will subsidize half-price MetroCards for low-income New Yorkers. Johnson also passed a law capping the number of for-hire vehicles like Uber in New York City – something Mark-Viverito considered, but never passed in her time as speaker. In his first year, Johnson also strengthened the Oversight and Investigations Committee and subjected numerous de Blasio appointees to tough questioning. He held hearings on long-stalled bills, such as the Small Business Jobs Survival Act, and managed to pass a bill further regulating waste transfer stations that advocates had pushed for more than a decade. Larger battles loom. The City Council is holding a series of hearings on the deal to bring a new Amazon office to Long Island City, Queens, which the de Blasio administration is hoping to push through without council approval. The council is considering a bill to legalize electric bicycles and electric scooters, which de Blasio is wary of allowing. And Johnson recently said he’ll push to get the city’s potter’s field, Hart Island, under the control of the Parks and Recreation Department, even if the mayor resists. On a late afternoon in early December, City & State sat down with Johnson in his City Hall office to talk about his first year as speaker. Johnson kept the overhead lights off, but three lamps gave the room a homey feel. He sipped a mason jar of Diet Coke with a paper straw while talking for more than 45 minutes about his relationship with de Blasio and with his City Council colleagues. He described his fury over being left out of the Amazon deal, why there’s nothing wrong with
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saying you’re sorry and what might keep him from running for mayor in three years. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. You spent a lot of time during the speaker’s race talking about the importance of independence from the mayor. Have you lived up to that? What I always said publicly and privately to the mayor before I was speaker was that whenever there was disagreement – and there would be plenty of disagreement – that it would never be personal. That I would never make it personal with him. And that the council asserting its independence and using its charter-mandated authorities and responsibilities would be done in a responsible manner on issues that were important to the members of this body and to New Yorkers, who want answers and want tough questions and want meaningful oversight and want legislation and want negotiated land use projects and want all of those things. I feel like that should be the case not just about this mayor, but that should be the council’s posture and role for any mayor – that the institution matters. My hope is, at the end of these four years, that hopefully, my main accomplishment will be having established a council, an independent, responsible, strategic, thoughtful branch of government that worked on behalf of New Yorkers and also allowed council members the freedom that they all deserve to work on issues that are important to them and to the districts that they represent. You’re a student of political history. I read a 1991 Times article about the council asserting its independence from then-Mayor David Dinkins. In shaping the council, are you looking to the past for guidance? Or to other sources, perhaps like how Congress interacts with the president? I don’t think there is any fully analogous moment in history or legislative body that I have tried to model the council after. I inherited as speaker a pretty strong body. Any body can be stronger. But I don’t think the institution was in a place that needed total refashioning. I thought there was ways to enhance the good work that we were doing. We’ve been significantly beefing up the land use staff here at the council. Given how contentious we see land use approvals are in New York City, I wanted the council to be an effective counterweight in land use negotiations. That’s why earlier this year I took no shame in increasing the council’s operating budget. I was very open and public about that because I said that we needed more staff to be effective in the areas that are important to us as a body. On the budget process, we asserted ourselves and had substantial wins on Fair Student Funding and Fair Fares – which is a very big deal. We created the Oversight and Investigations (Committee). I think we’ve been pretty prolific in legislation. I believe that by the end of this year, with the next two stated meetings in December, I think we’ll be on track to pass into law nearly 200 bills. Which I think in the first year of the previous council, my first year as a council member, I think they passed like 90 bills into law. We’ve almost doubled that in the first year. You seem to be a real believer in the good of the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure. Did it feel like a betrayal from de Blasio to cut the council out of the Amazon deal? It’s indefensible. It’s totally indefensible. The public
The committee got a dedicated staff, including a former prosecutor and a former FBI investigator.
According to council records, the body passed 184 laws this year, as of Dec. 12, with an additional 28 bills awaiting the mayor’s signature. In 2014, the council passed 68 laws.
The Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, in which certain projects must get approval from the City Council, in consultation with the community board, the borough president and the mayor’s administration.
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The Council denied an application for a hotel on East 4th Street in October. Johnson shook his hands, as if electrified, to emphasize his point
Johnson doesn’t just feel this way about Amazon. Johnson is suing the de Blasio administration for cutting the council out of negotiations around four planned skyscrapers on the Lower East Side.
December 17, 2018
review process exists for a reason. And the vast majority – probably more than 98 percent of land use actions – ultimately get approved by the council through good faith negotiations. The Amazon deal, I don’t know. I still don’t know if it’s a worthy deal. I have very significant concerns here, which I’ve talked about: subverting the land use process; the public subsidies; gentrification and displacement concerns; how Amazon has treated their workers; how they’ve been anti-union; transportation issues; workforce development issues. All of those issues. But I can’t evaluate whether or not the project is good because there has been no process around the project. I haven’t had the opportunity to ask these questions to the (New York City) Economic Development Corp. and to (Empire State Development) and to Amazon. And that’s hopefully why we’re having a series of Amazon hearings is to, in some way – not totally analogous, but in some way – to replicate ULURP! To ask all sorts of questions, to let the public come and testify, to get answers on the record. Because that’s what New Yorkers deserve. Not just residents of Long Island City and the surrounding neighborhoods but the entire city, because of the precedent that this sets. You’ve made news twice now by asking commissioners to apologize, with then-NYCHA
Council members say Johnson has delivered on his promise to be more independent of the mayor than his predecessor.
Greater New York Hospital Association congratulates
Governor Andrew Cuomo and all the members of the 2019–20 Legislature on their successful elections. As always, GNYHA looks forward to working with the Governor and the State Legislature on policies to improve the lives of New Yorkers and expand quality health care for all.
JOHN MCCARTEN/NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL
December 17, 2018
City & State New York
Commissioner Shola Olatoye for so many tenants being left without heat, and with Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia for the city’s poor response to the November snowstorm. There’s nothing wrong with apologizing! I apologized. I didn’t support the Uber/for-hire vehicle cap in (2015). And I didn’t understand the significance of what was to come. And I apologized for that. I said I’m sorry. I wish we acted back then. And I said sorry after the snowstorm, even though I’m not in charge of the snowstorm (response). But sometimes, people just want to hear ‘sorry.’ Not in a hollow, fake, insincere way, but you just have to acknowledge sometimes that you could have done better and you’re hopefully going to learn lessons. We asked Shola to apologize. She didn’t really want to apologize. She should have apologized. We asked the Health Department to apologize on lead (paint) and children. They didn’t really want to apologize. We asked (the Sanitation Department) to apologize on the snowstorm. They apologized on messaging, but not on logistics. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with apologizing. Everyone’s human. People can make mistakes. If you make a mistake, it doesn’t mean you’re a bad person. You talked about being a check on the mayor. I don’t believe you’ve used the council’s subpoena power yet. That’s correct. Was there ever a time when that was a question? We’ve come close.
Have you gotten all the documents you’ve wanted? Not yet. That’s NYCHA, that you’re waiting on? Yes. Has there been an instance where you were quiet on an issue you had with the mayor? No, I think when I’m asked, I say something. Sometimes I’m just not asked. And the smart folks here (at City Hall) say, “You don’t have to say anything if you’re not asked.” I mean, you come to the press conferences. I take as many questions as people want to ask me and never try to cut out. People ask me questions. I don’t avoid the questions or say I’m not answering those questions. I kind of just say how I feel! So I don’t feel like I’ve been muzzled or too cute by half in choosing my words in a very weird way. I feel – not about waxing nostalgic or being too emotional – I feel so fucking lucky. I tweeted – I got here early this morning. The light was coming off City Hall nicely. The light was coming off City Hall, there was no one in the parking lot, there was no one on the steps. I’m walking in – I remember that I was sitting in the balcony in January 2006, right when Chris Quinn was being voted on as speaker. And I remember sitting up there – and I’d only been on the community board for Chelsea for six months. I really wanted to work in government. I really
Johnson, to Garcia, on Nov. 29: “I just think there’s nothing wrong with saying sorry.” A proposal to cap the number of for-hire vehicles in New York City failed to pass in 2015. The city passed a similar law in August.
Shola Olatoye, the former New York City Housing Authority chairwoman and CEO, resigned in April. Johnson tweets a lot. The morning of the interview, he posted a photo of City Hall, saying he still feels awe walking in.
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RSA · 123 William Street New York, NY 10038 · 212-214-9200 · ww.rsanyc.org
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Koch, the mayor of New York City from 1978-1989, was childless and never married.
He gestures to the poster of the iconic AIDS health campaign, hanging on the wall in his office next to a photo of gay political icon Harvey Milk. The city of New York buried an unknown number of AIDS victims on the island in the early days of the crisis.
The 1983 Broadway musical about drag performers. The song is actually “I Am What I Am.”
December 17, 2018
wanted to hopefully one day run for office. I hadn’t gone to college. I remember thinking, ‘Wow, I wonder what it’s like to sit down there on that floor? Cast votes on things you care about.’ So now to walk in this building and have this ability to do work on behalf of the city that you love tremendously, in an institution that has such an impact on people’s lives, I feel so fortunate and so grateful. I’m a bit of a cryer. I cry all the time. I could see someone do something nice for someone on the subway and I start crying. And so sometimes I get really emotional. Like oh my god, I’m just so fortunate and lucky. There will be other speakers. There will be other leaders of this body. There will be other mayors. And I only have a small amount of time. And part of me feels
You’re looking back, but you’re also looking forward. Have you put more thought to running for mayor in 2021? I feel really conflicted. (Long pause.) I really wish I had a husband. I really wish that I had children. There’s still time. All hope is not lost yet, even though sometimes it feels that way. For me, the importance of my life goes beyond elected office. And I don’t want to walk out of elected office one day and think: ‘How come I didn’t do enough to build my personal life?’ And so I struggle with that balance. Do you think about Ed Koch when you say that? Not just Ed Koch. There are a lot of council members here that are single. It’s not an easy life. I’m not complaining. I chose this life. No one forced me to do it. I could walk away at any time. I love it! Again, I’m grateful. But I do want a family. I want that. And this is not the easiest pace or daily schedule to be able to date. To be able to – if you’re a gay man, have kids. I could adopt children. I’m open to adopting children. But I struggle with that versus loving working on the issues that matter to me and making a difference in people’s lives. And being able to learn every day about issues I otherwise wouldn’t be able to learn about. And balancing those things is hard. And I also have a lot of other passions that I could see myself doing beyond elected office. I don’t think this is the only thing that’s a good fit for me. There are other ways that I could serve the city in a way that would feel meaningful to me. When I became speaker – I think it was like my second week. I had to wake up super early one day because Paul Vallone wanted me to go out to his ceremonial swearing-in, which was very early in the morning at a high school in Bayside. And it was so far from Chelsea. And I went, and it was great. I’m happy for Paul and his family and his constituents. And I remember when I was driving back in the car … I was by myself. And the Lady Gaga song came in. And I just sort of put it on Instagram, and then tweeted it. And then all sorts of people started telling me – good, smart people! – ‘Don’t do that. That’s like childish and juvenile. That’s not befitting of the office.’ And then, you know, I would lip-sync and dance and do what I do, and tweet about random things. And of course, this isn’t the important stuff we do in this position or in life, but you know, I sort of thought, ‘I’m just going to be myself.’ I’ve always been myself, and it’s always worked. I talk about being sober, I talk about being HIV-positive, I talk about struggles I went through. I talk about these things. It’s all sort of worked out. This is what I like. This is what I enjoy. It might be goofy, it might be a little eccentric and odd sometimes. But, you know, I am who I am, as they said in “La Cage aux Folles.” And the reason why I say all this is, I never want to lose that. I never want to be in the place in public life and in office where I start having to feel like I can’t be who I am. And for this first year, I feel like I’ve been who I am. I’ve been who I am in how I relate to the mayor and the council members and the wonderful staff here and the public. And I am who I am. And that’s how it’s going to be.
“I really wish I had a husband. … I don’t want to walk out of elected office one day and think: ‘How come I didn’t do enough to build my personal life?’” like, if you’re given a platform and people will listen to what you’re saying for that short period of time, make it worthwhile. Make it meaningful. Say what you have to say. Talk about issues like Silence = Death. You know, Hart Island. Talk about issues that may not be the most popular issues or issues that there’s a groundswell around. But issues that matter to you. And issues that you think that you can make a difference on. And I’ve tried to do that. Because I know that there will be a day when I’m not in elected life. And that’s fine. And there will be other people that they’re going to want to hear from. And that’s fine. But for the time that I’m here, I want to make the most of it. I’m really proud of this first year. I’m proud of the issues that we’ve worked on, but I’m also proud to have proven people wrong. Like it really hurt me. Honestly. I felt really, like, ‘Who is this person they are caricaturing?’ My mother would call me. Every night when my mom goes home, she goes to news.google.com. And she types in “Corey Johnson speaker.” And so my mom reads every article. My mom doesn’t have a Twitter account, but my Twitter account’s public, so she goes on every day and looks at my Twitter feed. My mom, during the speaker’s race, would call me and be like, ‘Who are they writing about?! Who’s talking to these people?!
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City & State New York
SETTING the AGENDA
2019
PART 2
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! There’ll be much backroom dealing And coalition building and speeches to hear! It’s the most wonderful time of the year! ( ... for the Democrats, that is.) It’s the least – least happy season of all! With far less legislating – but at least some pay raising – there’s so much to fear! It’s the most terrible time of the year! ( ... for the Republicans, of course.) There’s congestion for pricing Climate protections so enticing And lobbying wherever you go! There’ll be scary Cuomo stories And tales of the glories of Legislative sessions long, long ago! It’s the most wonderful time … of the year!
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S ET TING THE AG ENDA
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
CARBON FREE by 2050? One bill could transform New York’s energy market. Does it stand a chance? by Susan Arbetter
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WO NIGHTS BEFORE Thanksgiving, over 100 Tompkins County residents, some toting frozen turkeys they’d just purchased for the holiday, packed a hearing room in downtown Ithaca. A resolution was on the county legislature’s agenda that opposed repowering a coal-burning power plant. The Eisenhower-era Cayuga Power Plant in Lansing, one of the last coal-burning plants in the state, is seeking approval from the state Department of Environmental Conservation to convert from burning coal to burning natural gas. The resolution before the 14 members of the Tompkins County Legislature opposed the conversion because a natural gas plant would increase methane emissions and continue pumping carbon into the atmosphere. One of the speakers that night, Sandra Steingraber, a biologist and distinguished scholar in residence at Ithaca College, urged legislators to read the recently issued report from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. “What it tells us is that methane is a more powerful greenhouse gas than previously appreciated and that natural gas infrastructure, including power plants, leak a lot more than previously known,” she said. Despite the strong probability of job
losses, a hit to county tax revenue and the widely accepted notion that natural gas burns cleaner than coal, legislators voted 12-2 in favor of the nonbinding resolution. They received a standing ovation. THE TIMING OF THE VOTE is notable. It came just over a month before the start of the 2019 legislative session in Albany. While the Tompkins County resolution represents a victory for climate activism, there is a piece of legislation in Albany that would, in practice, mandate statewide what the county lawmakers called for. The Climate and Community Protection Act, sponsored by state Sen. Brad Hoylman and Assemblyman Steve Englebright, is an expansive bill that requires New York state to generate 50 percent of its electricity from renewable energy by 2030. By 2050, the bill would require the elimination of all greenhouse gas emissions. The bill is process-oriented. Baked into the plan is a climate action playbook that proponents say will guide the state from its current level of fossil fuel use down to zero. For workers who may be displaced by the proposed transition to renewables, the bill includes prevailing wage standards and addresses the needs of environmental justice communities where many fossil fuel plants are currently located. The bill is, in
one activist’s words, “a B-12 shot for the state’s renewables.” Currently, New York only uses 3 percent wind energy and less than 1 percent from solar energy. “This is the most important issue on Earth,” said Englebright, who chairs the Assembly Committee on Environmental Conservation. “States now have to pick up the slack that has been created by the inaction of the federal government.” State Sen. Todd Kaminsky, who was recently tapped to chair the state Senate’s Environmental Conservation Committee starting in January, agreed. “There is no doubt we need to take aggressive steps to address climate change,” he said. “This bill will be the central vehicle by which we will accomplish that.” Peter Iwanowicz, executive director of Environmental Advocates of New York, said the state needs a strong foundation for setting its clean energy goals in law. “Right now the goals don’t exist in law,” he said. “They are at the whim of the executive.” Iwanowicz is referring to an executive order Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed in 2017, as well as the state’s 2015 Energy Plan, both of which articulated New York’s aspirational goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2030 and 80 percent by 2050 from 1990 levels.
ACE NY Building NY’s Clean Energy Future The Alliance for Clean Energy New York is a broad coalition dedicated to promoting clean energy, energy efficiency, a healthy environment, and a strong economy for the Empire State, and is New York’s premier advocate for the rapid adoption of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies. www.aceny.org
December 17, 2018
“Because the goals don’t exist in law, it’s hard for businesses to write a plan of how to create opportunities,” Iwanowicz said. “Surety in law is surety to businesses.” Other states have already provided the business community with that certainty. In September, California enshrined a commitment to move to 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2045, something the state has been working toward since 2002. In 2008, Massachusetts enacted the Global Warming Solutions Act to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. “When other states have passed similar laws it reorients all state decision-making to be consistent with achieving these goals,” Iwanowicz said. “You don’t have the schizophrenic nature of state government that you have in many of these places where they end up approving dirty projects when they should be aligned towards clean.” New York is showing signs of that schizophrenia. In 2017, the same year Cuomo issued an executive order aspiring to a carbon-free future, the New York Power Authority, whose trustees are appointed by Cuomo, requested proposals for a natural gas turbine project to power the state Capitol complex. This year, – PETER IWANOWICZ, Environmental the state Department Advocates of New York executive director of Environmental Conservation indicated it will likely approve the burning of plastics and other solid waste at a cement plant in Glens Falls, just north of Albany. If the Climate and Community Protection Act is passed as currently written, those projects would not get state approval. The bill’s trajectory in Albany has taken a familiar route. Like other pieces of progressive legislation sponsored by Democrats, it has passed multiple times in the Assembly, and next year looks to be no exception. When asked in early December by WCNY if he will support the bill in the next session, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, a Democrat, said, “Absolutely.” But in the state Senate, the bill has never moved out of committee. State Sen. Tom O’Mara, a Republican who chairs the Environmental Conservation Committee, is not a supporter of the bill, though he acknowledges climate change is a problem.
“Every time I’m on the Mass Pike, I see more energy projects being built. They are going gangbusters for solar. And the reason is their commitments are already in law.”
City & State New York
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“Everybody is concerned about greenhouse gas emissions and climate change and this (bill) is a huge step down the road of the elimination of greenhouse gas emissions,” he said. “The real question is how feasible it is, and at what cost. It’s eliminating emissions, 100 percent, which just doesn’t seem feasible to me certainly in this short of a period of 30 years or less.” Come January, O’Mara will cede the chairmanship to Kaminsky, one of the bill’s sponsors, and will therefore no longer have the power to prevent the bill from moving to the floor for a vote.
T
HAT WORRIES GAVIN DONOHUE, president and CEO of Independent Power Producers of New York Inc., a statewide trade association that represents independent electric power producers. “We’re very worried about the legislation, certainly with the new dynamic in the Senate,” he said. Unlike other industry sectors, Donohue’s members have been required to meet carbon reduction goals set by the 2016 Clean Energy Standard, which was mandated by the state Public Service Commission. The key difference between the 2016 Clean Energy Standard and the 2015 State Energy Plan is that the former is a mandate and the latter is not. Specifically, the Clean Energy Standard requires 50 percent of New York’s electricity come from renewable sources like wind and solar by 2030. This is mandatory and enforceable, and only applies to the power sector, which Donohue said is already achieving its goals. He cites the state Energy Research and Development Authority’s Patterns and Trends 2017 report as proof. NYSERDA’s research indicates the power sector has already reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 53.8 percent from 1990 levels. The same chart shows greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector have grown 22.2 percent during the same period. To highlight what he views as inequitable treatment, Donohue lists the state regulatory requirements his industry sector is expected to meet. “We have a CO2 performance standard. We have acid rain regulation. We have the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. We have something coming out of the Department of Environmental Conservation on high electricity demand days that will impact all NYC generators,” Donohue said. “The other sectors that are making the largest contributions to CO2 have not had the same attention.” One Democratic lawmaker who is watching the legislation closely agrees with Donohue that all industry sectors should
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work in concert toward meeting the state’s carbon reduction goals. “What about airplanes? What about buildings? What about transportation?” said the lawmaker, who would only speak on the condition of anonymity. The lawmaker said that the bill may have to be tweaked and raised concerns about relying too heavily on the state Department of Environmental Conservation alone to regulate the energy industry. Anne Reynolds, the executive director of Alliance for Clean Energy New York, which represents the renewable energy industry, has an entirely different concern. While she said the Climate and Community Protection Act “takes an economywide approach” and that her organization would be “happy if it passed,” she is more worried about the sluggishness of the state’s approval process for large-scale renewable energy projects. “We need something to help renewables investments in the shorter term,” she said. “In the real world in New York, we’re having trouble getting projects sited.” Currently, the state Public Service Commission has only approved one renewable energy project under the siting board that reviews them. There are two reasons for the clogged system, according to Reynolds. “The state’s siting process, designed for traditional power plants, is too long and cumbersome,” she said. “New York’s goals require a major acceleration of wind and solar construction, but the state has the same number of people processing applications and that just doesn’t add up.” The greatest challenge to the bill will likely come from the business community. Darren Suarez, director of government affairs at The Business Council of New York State, acknowledged the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But in an email, he stated unequivocally that “the Climate and Community Protection Act will not reduce our future risks from climate change.” Suarez said the technology is not currently available to meet the requirements of the legislation without hurting the state’s economy. Iwanowicz strongly disagreed. “Every time I’m on the Mass Pike, and I mean this literally, I see more energy projects being built along the rights of way of the Mass Pike and on the lands adjacent to it. They are going gangbusters for solar. And the reason is their commitments are already in law.”
T
HE LATEST National Climate Assessment released in November makes it clear that climate change is going to be enormously expensive, no matter how the state decides to address it. Investments in new technology like geo-
December 17, 2018
THE ENVIRONMENTAL AGENDA WATER QUALITY
WATER QUALITY CONTINUES to be an ongoing issue in New York. Last year, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law the $2.5 billion Clean Water Infrastructure Act in order to begin repairing and replacing aging water infrastructure across the state. “I regard it as a down payment on an urgent necessity, not a complete project,” said Assemblyman Steve Englebright, chairman of the Environmental Conservation Committee. He added that he plans to continue having discussions with the commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Conservation about the implementation of the provisions in the law. Julie Tighe, president of the New York League of Conservation Voters, said that water contaminants like PFOA, PFOL and 1,4-Dioxane are still a concern in certain parts of the state. She also said her organization wants to see more done about lead in water, particularly in schools.
RECYCLING
TIGHE SAID RECYCLING is a major priority for her organization, noting that China changed the world market when it stopped recycling the rest of the world’s plastics. She said that this has started to cause some problems for certain municipalities. “But it creates confusion for the consumer,” Tighe said. “So we’d like to see a big public education campaign associated with educating the public about how to recycle right.” Food waste, which makes up 18 percent of solid waste in the state, also falls under the umbrella of recycling. Right now, most of the food goes to landfills, but state Sen. Todd Kaminsky, the incoming chairman of the Environmental Conservation Committee, hopes that might change. “It seems to me like a crazy thing not to address,” Kaminsky said. “You have a lot of hungry people who should be able to eat food that may not exactly be marketable, but is certainly edible.” The Food Waste Prevention and Diversion Act would require state agencies to divert their food waste away from landfills, but the legislation hasn’t passed or made it into the state budget.
thermal and battery storage will be costly and will result in worker displacement and economic disruption as the state transitions off fossil fuels. But the costs that come from doing nothing in response to climate change will be much greater. Still, the climate bill is going to be a tough sell, politically. Veteran Albany political strategist Bruce Gyory recognized that there is a “practical, economic and moral imperative to deal with climate change.” But he pointed to concerns that the new Democratic majority in the state Senate could be vulnerable. “You have to be cautious about how the bill impacts those marginal members in the suburbs and upstate, especially in the Senate,”
OFFSHORE DRILLING
EARLIER THIS YEAR, Cuomo introduced the Save Our Waters bill in order to prevent potential exploratory offshore oil and gas drilling by President Donald Trump’s administration. Although the bill passed in the Assembly, it stalled in the Republican-controlled state Senate. Englebright said that the Assembly will pick the legislation back up in the new session, which may have a better chance of passing now that Democrats control both houses of the state Legislature. “We are very concerned that New York waters not be used to support, land and waters, not be used to support this wrongheaded initiative,” Englebright said.
RESILIENCY
AS THE STATE contends with stronger storms as the result of climate change, resiliency will be an important topic of conversation in this and upcoming sessions. Englebright said right now, those conversations are very preliminary and fully formed policy has yet to emerge to address issues like rising sea levels. “It’s going to be costly,” Englebright said. “We’re just beginning, I think, in that area to explore what needs to be done.” Kaminsky said that he and Englebright have not had a chance to speak about this or other issues yet, but he expressed support for more public discussions about resiliency efforts.
PLASTIC WASTE
A PROPOSED PLASTIC bag ban is a perennial issue in Albany that will more than likely emerge once again in the 2019 session. After shooting down New York City’s plastic bag tax in 2017, which would have needed state approval, Cuomo in April proposed his own statewide plastic bag ban. However, that legislation, which was only ever introduced in the state Senate, never advanced. Kaminsky said that with Democratic control of state government, the issue will certainly be an important point of discussion. “I think it’s fair to say there’s a general understanding of a problem that needs to be corrected,” Kaminsky said. He added a few other lawmakers had approached him about the topic, but that the conference as a whole has not yet decided on the specific direction it will take. He suggested the issue of plastic waste and a potential plastic bag ban may be well-suited for outside input through public hearings.
he warned. “Are you unwittingly triggering something that could be labeled a tax?” While all the stakeholders contacted for this article believe that humans are contributing to global warming, they are at odds over how aggressively to address the issue and who should act. In her testimony to the Tompkins County Legislature in November, biologist Sandra Steingraber made an uncomfortable observation, one that will likely be remembered this coming session in Albany: “Hard sacrifices lie ahead. But they become bigger the longer they are delayed.”
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Susan Arbetter is the host of WCNY’s “The Capitol Pressroom.”
New Year/New Energy:
Ambitious Long-Term Goals Start with Concrete Action Today By Anne Reynolds The new year brings new hope for building renewable energy in New York State. Gov. Cuomo’s aggressive goal of achieving 50% of our electricity from renewable resources by 2030 puts New York in a Nation-leading role. But we are in danger of coming up short if we can’t get more projects built, making the even more robust target of eliminating fossil-fuel generated power by 2050 elusive. The Alliance for Clean Energy New York (ACE NY) is excited to welcome the 2019-2020 Legislature to Albany. Our members -- renewable energy developers, energy efficiency companies and environmental groups -- look with anticipation to the new political lineup in the Capital. The Senate’s
new leadership and many new members face a challenging and unprecedented opportunity to act. ACE NY member companies are ready and able to invest in New York’s path to a clean energy future through the construction of renewables in the state, such as wind power, solar energy, and offshore wind. How can we get to 50% clean power by 2030? A successful plan to achieve 50% renewable power has four parts. First, we need to keep the existing renewable energy generators operating and selling their output here. Second, we need to craft and implement a pathway to achieve the ambitious energy efficiency goals assumed in the Clean Energy
Standard calculations. Third, we need to ensure that rooftop and community solar will flourish by guaranteeing adequate and predicable compensation. Fourth – and most important – we need to build far more grid-scale renewable energy generation and we need to build it almost 5 times faster than we have for the last decade. This is doable, but will require sustained commitment to the pragmatic details of getting projects not only into the pipeline, but built. Let’s remember that ambitious long-range goals start with concrete action today. In New York, this requires a more efficient, timely and well-staffed implementation of Article 10 of the Public Service Law to review and permit projects. This,
and the actions outlined above, are the necessary complements to the excellent policy foundation provided by the Clean Energy Standard. Our collective success will mean new jobs, a stronger economy, cleaner air, and real steps to a livable climate for all New Yorkers. Anne Reynolds is the Executive Director of the Alliance for Clean Energy NY
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S ET T ING THE AG ENDA
INFRASTRUCTURE
CONGESTION PRICING, TAKE TWO Everyone agrees the MTA needs more money. If only the Democrats could agree on how to get it. by Zach Williams
G
OV. ANDREW CUOMO has appealed to divine intervention in two notable ways in recent months. One was when he promised during his re-election campaign that he would serve out a third term as governor rather than run for president in 2020. “The only caveat is if God strikes me dead,” he said. The second instance came in October when the governor described one way to secure billions of dollars in new funding for the beleaguered Metropolitan Transportation Authority. “God is going to send down $33 billion. It’s going to descend from the clouds.” In the absence of that, Cuomo said, there is congestion pricing. “We have to get it done,” he said. “We have to get it done next year.” He has re-emerged as the most high-profile proponent of congestion pricing since Democrats won large majorities in the state Senate and Assembly in November. Many lawmakers agree that it is the only realistic way to provide much of the billions of dollars needed to repair
the New York City subway system, but not all Democrats are on board. These opponents – including outer-borough lawmakers – say that the idea unfairly affects their constituents and whether they succeed or fail in stopping congestion pricing in the coming years could determine whether one-party rule in Albany can bring a solution to the subways. Key to any deal would be incoming state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, who, along with Cuomo, will likely decide the fate of congestion pricing in budget negotiations this spring. Heastie has said he supports some form of congestion pricing, and Stewart-Cousins has signaled a willingness to reconsider the issue. “We obviously do need a sustained revenue source for the MTA. There’s no question about it,” she said during a November appearance on “The Brian Lehrer Show.” “We will be fighting towards finding that sustainable revenue for the MTA because it is important to all of us.”
The underlying idea behind congestion pricing is to charge drivers who enter Manhattan’s central business district – in previous proposals that has been about $11 per car and $25 per truck. That would raise an estimated $1 billion or so each year that could help pay for new signals, increased accessibility at subway stations and other improvements outlined in the Fast Forward plan put forward by Andy Byford, the president of New York City Transit, an agency within the MTA. But about $40 billion over a decade is needed to modernize and repair the subway system. “Congestion pricing will go a lot towards our needs. Will that suffice? No,” Byford said at a recent New York City Council hearing. “We still will need other mechanisms.” Additional funding could come in a number of ways. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has long championed a so-called millionaires tax – which Cuomo has derided as a non-starter in the state Legislature – as a better way to fund the subways, and the mayor has been lukewarm on Cuo-
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mo’s efforts to get the city to increase its funding for the subways. Some proponents of recreational marijuana legalization, such as New York City public advocate candidate Melissa Mark-Viverito and Council Speaker Corey Johnson, have suggested that tax revenues from the drug could be directed toward the subways, The New York Times reported. “Why would we not try to include as many funding streams as possible without having to raise taxes, which a lot of people quite frankly are afraid of doing,” state Sen.-elect Alessandra Biaggi told the Times. Those fears could doom proposals to help fund the MTA by
December 17, 2018
increasing gasoline, sales or income taxes, or fees on auto registrations. Congestion pricing has a particular appeal to transportation advocates not only because it can raise money for the MTA, but also because it discourages people from driving through the crowded streets of lower and midtown Manhattan, decreasing road congestion and improving safety for pedestrians and cyclists. “It hits a lot of birds with one stone,” said Tom DeVito, director of advocacy at Transportation Alternatives. The nonprofit is one among dozens of groups that are pushing for congestion pricing as part of the Fix the
Subway Coalition. The looming battle over congestion pricing comes after proponents failed to pass the idea during budget negotiations in the early spring. Ultimately, lawmakers could only agree on imposing a surcharge on for-hire vehicles, which some – especially taxi drivers under financial distress – want to postpone until a more “comprehensive plan” for congestion pricing is put in place. Adding to the headwinds against congestion pricing are the concerns of outer-borough and suburban legislators. Queens Assemblyman David Weprin, a leading opponent of the congestion pricing
INFRASTRUCTURE ISSUES DESIGN-BUILD
IN A TYPICAL state project, the design process and construction work are contracted separately. Design-build project procurement, however, saves time and money by doing them together, cutting down on the bureaucratic costs of a project. However, its use in New York City and by a number of state agencies is restricted by the state, and efforts to expand it have moved slowly in the state Legislature. Projects like the new Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge indicate that it can be effective on high-profile projects – and there is no shortage of projects at the city level that could take advantage of a practice that has long been used by certain state bodies – including the state Thruway Authority and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Additionally, this year’s state budget added new authorization for design-build in New York City, specifically for new jails to replace Rikers Island, the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway reconstruction and public housing projects. Assemblyman Michael Benedetto, a Bronx Democrat, said that he will take his time before reintroducing a bill in the upcoming year that would allow more projects to be done with design-build. He said that pause is not due to opposition from other lawmakers but rather identifying which projects to highlight for design-build authorization. “I would want to talk to the city and see what projects they are keen on and once I discuss with them those projects then I may form a new bill and introduce that,” he said.
PREVAILING WAGE
WHILE LAWMAKERS HAVE focused their attention elsewhere, representatives of the construction industry have continued to highlight their opposition to prevailing wage requirements. These rules mean that contractors have to pay workers a minimum pay rate while working on publicly funded construction projects. Some have blamed such requirements for making construction in New York so expensive. A 2017 report from the Empire Center for Public Policy stated that the prevailing wage requirement increased costs on public construction projects by as much as 25 percent. But with Democrats in control of both houses of the state Legislature, it is unclear whether there is any appetite in Albany to confront the issue, especially considering how unions have traditionally been a core Democratic constituency.
PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS
SOME ADVOCATES SAY that New York should go a step further and adopt full-fledged public-private partnerships – which can go beyond the relatively limited design-build process by continuing the involvement of a private entity after construction – since their use is only authorized for certain agencies. Proponents say that such partnerships – also known as P3s – allow for greater innovation in public works and can also improve quality. It remains to be seen how strongly Cuomo will push for an increase in public-private partnerships in next year’s budget negotiations, but progress on the issue would be a welcome development, according to Jamison Dague, director of infrastructure studies at the Citizens Budget Commission. “I would hope during the next legislative session that you see an acknowledgement that it’s time to untie the hands behind the back of these folks managing large capital investments,” he said.
THE SCAFFOLD LAW
THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY has also sought to keep alive efforts to reform the state Scaffold Law, which makes construction companies liable for work site injuries. Opponents say that the law is no longer needed because there is a greater social safety net now compared to when the law was first enacted. Assemblyman John McDonald III said that he will continue to advocate for a bill that would enact “proportionate liability,” which would make workers in some circumstances also responsible for construction accidents if they are deemed negligent. It will likely be an uphill battle to pass such a bill, especially since no state Senate sponsor has come forward yet, but McDonald said it does not have to be an issue that pits businesses on one side and labor on the other – though he said it can be difficult to persuade the public on the issue, even though it could ultimately reduce construction costs. “The problem is for the average person,” he said. “They can’t see how they’re going to feel it in their wallet. This is arguably the No. 3 top cost driver for doing business in New York state, and at the end of the day, as much as people like to blame building owners, it’s the consumer – it’s the residents – that ultimately pay the bill.”
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“We have to get it done. We have to get it done next year.” — Gov. ANDREW CUOMO
effort last year, said that he still opposes the idea. “It would just be an additional tax and burden on middle-class people and businesses,” he said. Instead, he would rather see a 1 percent commuter tax pay for repairs to the subways. However, Weprin’s idea could have trouble winning support from suburban Democrats who say that taxes are already too high for their constituents, many of whom face higher tax bills in the upcoming year because of the federal tax plan that capped the deduction of local and state taxes. Furthermore, Hudson Valley and Long Island Democrats say that they have MTA-related infrastructure needs in their own areas, which are serviced by the Long Island Rail Road and the Metro-North Railroad. “My concern is with any type of congestion pricing that’s not being allo-
cated to the areas that need it most,” said state Sen. David Carlucci, who represents a district in Rockland and Westchester counties. Though Democrats have some disagreements on how to fund the MTA, there is widespread agreement that some sort of solution is needed in the upcoming session, especially since the party will no longer have Republicans to blame if they fall short. Some lawmakers remain optimistic that one way or another a plan will emerge among Democrats to fix the subways. “I feel like we have diversity,” said incoming Hudson Valley state Sen. Jen Metzger. “But I also feel that the other new senators that I’ve met are eager to work together so I really feel confident that we will have a productive session.”
Whether that approach will ultimately result in an agreement on congestion pricing remains to be seen, but thus far the loudest voices talking about fixing the subways are fixated on the concept as the place to start. Chief among them is Cuomo, a governor who has a reputation for pushing hard for ideas that he supports. As the next legislative session approaches, the governor has not wavered from vows to move as fast as he can on congestion pricing, and lawmakers say how he approaches the issue will likely set the course for the upcoming debate. “Everyone agrees that the MTA has capital needs that are large,” Weprin said. “We will see what the governor proposes in his State of the State address and his budget address and that may set the agenda on the matter.”
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S ET T ING THE AG ENDA
TECH
KEEPING UP with the CUTTING EDGE As New York charges forward on tech, a wave of legislation rises in its wake. by Annie McDonough
B
ETWEEN REGULATING technology giants, facilitating new kinds of transportation and keeping the executive branch in check, New York legislators have a lot on their plate when the new session begins in January. “Technology moves very fast, and it moves a lot faster than democracy moves,” said state Sen. Robert Ortt, a Western New York Republican. “That’s one of the tensions … for us, to try to keep up on these issues, to the point where you’re making legislation that has a real-time impact.” Here are just a few of the issues lawmakers will try to keep up with next year.
AMAZON’S HQ2
When Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced New York’s deal to bring part of Amazon’s new headquarters to Long Island City, Queens, lawmakers in Albany and City Hall alike felt ripped off. When legislators convene in January, there’s sure to be some blowback to the deal – in particular, the nearly $3 billion in city and state subsidies – and some are planning
action that could prevent similar deals in the future. State Sen. Michael Gianaris is already planning to introduce two pieces of legislation. The first would address reports that Amazon employees were buying real estate in Long Island City prior to the HQ2 announcement, aiming to curb that kind of insider dealing. The second responds to New York’s secret negotiations with Amazon by banning governments from entering into nondisclosure agreements with private companies. Those two bills may just be a starting point for critics of the Amazon deal like Gianaris. “I don’t think that it’s the end of my proposals on the subject,” the Queens senator said. “Oftentimes what happens is when you have a situation like this, where the curtain is pulled back on poor policy, it gives us a great opportunity to fix things going forward.”
AIRBNB
The vacation rental website is embroiled in a series of conflicts with New York City over the city’s ability to monitor
rental units. But while the New York City Council passed legislation to require the disclosure of the names and addresses of Airbnb hosts, advocates for more oversight of the tech company in the state Legislature are falling behind. Last session, Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal introduced a similar bill to force short-term renters to disclose more information, and while the bill stalled, it may have the opportunity to gain new ground in January. “Airbnb is basically stealing units of housing that have now become places for tourists to rent rather than permanent New Yorkers,” Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal said. “With Airbnb’s expansion and continued disregard of the law, our efforts and my efforts have just increased because there’s a lot to do to make sure that we keep these units for regular New Yorkers.”
E-BIKES
As the New York City Council revs up its efforts to legalize most electric bicycles and electric scooters, the state Legislature is again playing catch-up. While e-bikes are legal to own in New York state, they’re illegal to
December 17, 2018
operate because e-bikes are still classified as motor vehicles. State Sen. Thomas O’Mara introduced a bill last year to change that, officially classifying e-bikes as bicycles, meaning that riders wouldn’t have to register them with the state Department of Motor Vehicles. While O’Mara’s bill passed in the Senate, it died in the Assembly. Still, O’Mara is hopeful that the bill will pass when he reintroduces it in January. “The legislation has received strong bipartisan support in the Senate in the past and I’m hopeful that we can try to continue to move it forward,” he wrote in an email. “It’s a commonsense action to simply clarify the legal status of e-bikes for the sake of riders and law enforcement alike and, at the same time, enhance business for local bicycle shops and bicycle manufacturers in New York State.”
CHARTER’S STATUS
In July, the state Public Service Commission revoked its approval of the merger between Charter Communications and Time Warner Cable, alleging that Charter had failed to follow through on its promise
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to provide broadband internet access to underserved areas. Now, months later, the PSC is still in negotiations with Charter on how the company will exit New York. Tensions are heating up as a January deadline approaches, but one lawmaker representing some of those underserved areas is prepared to introduce legislation to ensure that commitment is fulfilled. “The goal is high-speed internet access,” state Sen. Robert Ortt said. “I don’t care if it’s Charter, I don’t care if it’s Verizon, I don’t care whoever it is. We need to have a plan and a solution.” While Ortt supports the PSC’s decision to hold Charter accountable, it’s equally important, he said, for the state Legislature to have greater oversight of whatever provider is tasked with building out broadband service to rural areas. “With the state Senate flipping to majority control for the Democrats, one of the concerns is that many of their members are from New York City and urban areas, and that they’re going to focus on those areas,” Ortt said. “Many of the leaders, Sen. (Andrea Stewart-)Cousins as well as Speaker
(Carl) Heastie, they said, ‘We’re going to work for all of New York state.’ This is a great opportunity for them to prove that.”
REVENGE PORN
A bill to make revenge porn – the dissemination of sexually explicit images without the subject’s consent – a crime came close to finally passing, until dying at the eleventh hour. While the bill, which is sponsored by state Sen. Phil Boyle, has passed in the Senate for the past six years, new provisions added last year led to disagreements in the Senate and Assembly about exactly how far the legislation should go. A provision that would allow victims to sue platforms like Google over the dissemination of these kinds of images led to support for the bill to split. Boyle is “cautiously optimistic” about finding a compromise on the bill next year, and he’s pushing for one that doesn’t hold internet platforms liable for its users’ actions. “Almost every other state does it,” Boyle said of this type of legislation. “New York should not be the last state in the country to protect our citizens from revenge porn.”
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December 17, 2018
S ET T ING THE AG ENDA
LABOR
Out with GOLDEN, In with GOUNARDES Chairing the committee on public sector unions is a daunting responsibility for a freshman legislator. by Zach Williams
B
ROOKLYN DEMOCRAT Andrew Gounardes has not served a day yet as a state senator, but things are already going his way in Albany. The Dec. 11 announcement that he will chair the state Senate Committee on Civil Service and Pensions has set him up for big things. Not only will that position give him oversight of many issues important to his constituents, it will also empower him to develop relationships with public sector unions – a powerful constituency that could determine his political longevity as well as that of the Democratic Senate majority. That might seem like a lot of responsibility to give a freshman lawmaker, but a few factors made Gounardes an obvious choice. He represents southern Brooklyn, which has a sizeable number of public sector workers; he already has existing connections to organized labor; and – perhaps most importantly – has an eagerness to master nitty-gritty policy details that affect
hundreds of thousands of public employees statewide. It might not be the most glamorous position to hold, but the committee appointment shows that Democratic leaders are eager to see if Gounardes has the right stuff to become a top-notch lawmaker. “It’s an important committee for the conference as a whole to have good relations with organized labor,” said Bruce Gyory, a Democratic political consultant. “It’s also a reflection of their confidence in Gounardes.” Union issues are not new for Gounardes, whose experience includes years serving as a trustee of the New York City Employees’ Retirement System. His state Senate campaign also leaned heavily on the support of organized labor, including endorsements from New York State United Teachers, the Teamsters Local 814 union and 32BJ SEIU. “It’s all about protecting the financial security of our workforce,” he told City & State. But he concedes that he still has much to learn about the statewide and local
W
e want to thank Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance and his hard working staff for protecting vulnerable workers and exposing the underbelly of non-union construction.
By enforcing the law, the District Attorney allows responsible contractors who generate middle class jobs with lifelong careers to compete on a level playing field. May 16, 2018
Queens Construction Company, Payroll Firm Underpaid Workers: Manhattan DA July 13, 2018
Construction Company Pleads Guilty To Manslaughter, Pays Full Restitution To Workers August 5, 2015
d Construction Firms Charge in Death of Worker at Meatpacking District Site Parkside Construction indicted for $1.7 million in wage theft and $7.8 million in workers’ compensation insurance fraud.
SSC High Rise convicted of manslaughter for the death of Juan Chonillo, wage theft, and insurance fraud
at a conCarlos Moncayo (left) was killed (right). Courstruction site on Ninth Avenue ct’s office tesy of New York attorney distri
Carlos Moncayo was killed in a 2015 trench collapse and DA Vance is working to raise the $10,000 maximum penalty for corporate conduct leading to death or injury.
SUPPORT CARLOS’ LAW Local 46 is committed to keeping New Yorkers safe on and around construction development in NYC. Local 46 Metallic Lathers & Reinforcing Ironworkers Business Manager: Terrence Moore Business Agents: Michael Anderson, John Coffey, John Clausman and George Fernandez President: Jerry Strehle 1322 Third Avenue @ East 76th Street New York, NY 10021 • 212-737-0500 • www.ml46.org
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December 17, 2018
issues that will come before the committee in the coming months. In recent days, he has been setting up meetings, hiring staff and “talking to folks” in preparation for the position. “I’m sure I’ll be a quick study,” he added. That will require getting up to speed on a wide range of matters, both big and small. These include high-profile issues like ensuring that 9/11 first responders get the health care they need and finding ways for government departments to offer salaries and benefits that are competitive with the private sector. Then there are more parochial issues, whether it is helping Nassau County emergency medical technicians get better disability benefits or figuring out how to loosen up employment restrictions for retired New York City correction officers. While these are not the biggest issues facing the state, they can have an outsized impact. Successfully tending to these issues can win Gounardes friends in organized labor, help fellow Democrats in their districts and even garner some goodwill from Republicans. While organized labor has long been a strong supporter of the Democratic Party at the national level, that has not necessarily been the case in New York
state politics. “I think labor has been an important ally on a bipartisan basis of both houses of the Legislature,” Gyory said. This tendency to work with the party in power means that there is also a political opportunity for incumbents who can remain in the good graces of public sector unions. That will be especially true for Gounardes in his southern Brooklyn district. “It’s always been a family community,” said Assemblyman Peter Abbate Jr., whose district overlaps with Gounardes’ Senate district. “Firefighters, sanitation workers, police officers, you know, civil service workers.” In the Assembly, Abbate leads a similar legislative committee overseeing the civil service, chairing the Committee on Government Employees since 2002. Together, Gounardes and Abbate will continue the dominance of southern Brooklyn on such issues. State Sen. Marty Golden – the Republican incumbent whom Gounardes unseated by a slim margin – is a good example of how attention to civil service issues can pay off in the long term. Golden was a prolific legislator on the committee in his four terms as chairman. In the past year, for example, he sponsored bills on a wide range
of matters from efforts to improve disability retirement options for deputy sheriffs to a bill that would shake up how child welfare staff can be hired. He may have been a controversial figure in state politics, but he had a Senate record filled with pro-union legislation that helped him get elected time and time again, often with the help of unions like the AFL-CIO, who are not known as the biggest GOP boosters. Now, it is Gounardes’ turn to enjoy the political opportunities that come with chairing the committee – if he can rise to the challenge. “You got to make sure you balance well and understand the ramifications of each one of the bills and the costs and how you are going to make it work,” Golden said. If Gounardes can keep the unions happy, he can help his constituents, help his party keep its hold on the state Senate – and he can help establish his political longevity by taking advantage of an opportunity that fell into his lap before he even took office. “It’s a great committee for somebody with a district like that to connect with voters by saying, ‘I’m protecting your pension and your rights,” Gyory said. “Absolutely a vote generator.”
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SHIFTING THE PARADIGM OF PROCUREMENT For too long, New York State’s construction workers were forced to work under conditions that included the “public works loophole.” Despite public subsidies, private developers are able to skirt New York State prevailing wage laws, and deny construction workers their fair wages. This year, the New York State Legislature and Governor have the opportunity to close this loophole with the passage of language to clearly define public work. New York is in a building boom, both upstate and down. From residential, to infrastructure, to commercial development, shovels are in the ground and thousands of workers are helping propel our state forward with this development. To spur these developments, New York State leverages our tax dollars, in the form of, but not limited to, direct subsidies, tax abatements, exemptions, bonds, and pilots. Unfortunately, when giving away our hard-earned tax dollars to for-profit developers and contractors, New York doesn’t include wage standards. Construction workers on publicly subsidized projects can be paid as little as $10.40 an hour, the minimum wage in New York State. A prime example of this injustice is Related Companies’ Hudson Yards, a development that has received BILLIONS of dollars in taxpayer subsidies, yet lacks basic wage requirements. For the largest construction project in the country to have received such an abundance of public money, without so much as a wage or benefit standard attached to it is unconscionable. The Legislature has the power to shift the paradigm of procurement in New York and ensure we are getting the maximum return on investment for our tax dollars. Demanding developers pay area-standards wages when using our tax dollars to build is the bare minimum. Paying fair wages won’t disenfranchise, or prevent development, rather it will do the opposite. It will ensure we are developing communities in a smart way that staves off the forces of displacement, exploitation, and gentrification, with strong, middle class family sustaining wages. Wages that won’t equate to six-figure salaries, but solid, middle class incomes that allow people to support themselves with dignity and respect. This year on April 1st, the Legislature has the opportunity to do the right thing and close the “public works loophole” by clearly defining public work. It’s time to do right for the people who build our state. Patrick Purcell Executive Director Greater New York / New York State Laborers-Employers Cooperation and Education Trust
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“It’s all about protecting the financial security of our workforce. I’m sure I’ll be a quick study.”
THE LABOR LIST A NUMBER OF labor-related bills didn’t advance in the 2018 state legislative session, but are nonetheless expected to be up for discussion next year. “There are going to be a lot of labor issues – for the public sector and the private sector – that we will be diving deeper into with a Democratic (Assembly), Senate and governor,” said state Sen. Diane Savino, who served as the ranking member of the Senate Labor Committee this year.
— state Sen.-elect ANDREW GOUNARDES
PUBLIC WORKS REFORM
CONTRACTORS AND DEVELOPERS are required to pay their workers prevailing wages on public works projects – but in New York, just what constitutes a “public work” is a bit of an open question. For years, state legislators have been trying to define public works as any project that receives any amount of state funding. In 2018, a public works reform bill passed in the Assembly, but stalled in the state Senate Finance Committee. In March, 18 business groups wrote to Cuomo expressing their opposition to the bill. They argued that expanding the definition of public works would “result in less economic development across New York State and needlessly waste taxpayer dollars.” Given the scope of Cuomo’s statewide infrastructure redevelopments, public works reform will remain a pressing concern in the new year.
ELEVATOR SAFETY
IN 2012, state Sen. John Bonacic introduced a bill that would require anyone involved in the mechanics of elevators – such as designers, construction workers, operators and inspectors – to be licensed by the state labor commissioner. The bill was approved by the Senate Labor Committee and passed by the Assembly, but failed to advance in the Senate Finance Committee. Bonacic reintroduced the bill four more times, without any luck. Earlier this year, Bonacic announced his retirement, but according to state Sen. Diane Savino, the push for elevator safety legislation will still be a legislative priority come January. Savino replaced Bonacic as sponsor of the bill when she reintroduced it in March 2017.
December 17, 2018
FARMWORKERS’ RIGHTS
THE FARMWORKERS FAIR Labor Practices Act, which would grant farmworkers collective bargaining rights, workers’ compensation and unemployment benefits, was approved by the Senate Labor Committee in February and then died in the Senate Agriculture Committee. In March, the Daily News argued that Republicans were responsible for the bill not making it to the floor, but Savino argued that it isn’t a partisan issue. “It continues to be controversial across both parties,” she said. “If you’re an upstate member and you represent a farming community, there’s a real concern on what a farmers bill of rights would do to the farming industry.”
NEW YORK HEALTH ACT
THE NEW YORK Health Act, which has the support of the Assembly, would establish a single-payer health care system in the state. The message of state-funded “Medicare-for-all” was particularly salient in Democratic campaigns across the country during the 2018 elections, but public sector unions in New York are worried about how the bill might affect their members. The Municipal Labor Committee, which represents public sector unions in New York City, has raised concerns about losing full coverage options and welfare funds. Unlike the Assembly, the state Senate did not pass the bill in 2018, but Democratic newcomers have been expressing their support.
C LO U D S O N N E W YO R K ’ S E N E R GY H O R I ZO N By ARTHUR “JERRY” KREMER
L
ooking ahead as the new year approaches, the dark clouds are gathering over our energy horizon. Let’s start with the ill winds represented by the many taxes and fees that comprise nearly 25 percent of our utility bills, making them among the highest in the country. Lowerincome New Yorkers and small businesses are disproportionately hurt by these charges. Reducing or eliminating them must be a priority for our legislators in 2019. Then there’s the growing thundercloud presented by the impending closure, by 2021, of the Hudson Valley’s Indian Point nuclear power plant. Replacing its 2,000 megawatts of baseload power is achievable, but it will require completion of both the Cricket Valley and CPV Valley natural gas facilities — yet approvals are still pending for the pipelines needed to fuel these plants. Finally, looking even further out on the horizon, we see the lofty goals of the Clean
Energy Standard — requiring that New York generate half its energy from renewables by 2030. This is a bold and admirable plan requiring enormous wind and solar projects that must overcome both “Not In My Back Yard” opposition and huge financial hurdles. Siting and building renewables, and updating our aged and fragile transmission grid, takes years — and time is rapidly running out. New York’s growing businesses and consumer demands, including electric cars, require clean, affordable, reliable energy in abundance — produced for New Yorkers, by New Yorkers. We must mobilize now to ensure that our brightest energy future — and a new year is the perfect time to start. Arthur “Jerry” Kremer served in the New York State Assembly from 1966 to 1988, where he was the chairman of the Ways & Means Committee for ten years. He now serves as chairman of the New York Affordable Reliable Electricity Alliance (AREA), a diverse coalition of business, labor and community leaders and organizations.
WWW.NYAREA.ORG SPECIAL SPONSORED SECTION
December 17, 2018
City & State New York
S ET T ING T HE AGENDA
BACK from the DEAD
Five issues that have stalled in Albany – and could return with a vengeance in 2019. by Zach Williams
O
NE-PARTY RULE in the state Legislature means that it falls to Democrats to tie up a lot of legislative loose ends in 2019. Sports betting is just one issue that was left unresolved in the 2018 legislative session. There is also the state DREAM Act, voting reforms, closing the LLC loophole and speed cameras – all issues that were debated in 2018 and failed to pass in the state Senate. While action might come sooner rather than later for some of these issues, action on any or all of them could have profound effects on the state. Here’s where things stand on these issues and what could happen in the upcoming year.
STATE DREAM ACT
This could be the year that immigration advocates finally get the state DREAM Act passed. In contrast to a federal bill with the same name, the state bill would allow immigrants in New York who entered the country illegally to pay in-state tuition at public universities and ensure that they are eligible for state financial aid programs. The Assembly has passed the bill and Cuomo signaled that he would sign it, but Republican control of the state Senate in recent years stalled its progress. Democrats are hopeful that they can pass the bill in 2019.
SPORTS BETTING
With some states legalizing sports betting, state lawmakers are trying to get New York in on the action. “In New York, sports betting is on its back with its feet and arms sticking in the air,” Assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow told The Associated Press in November. Among the sticking points are the tax rate on sports betting and whether legalizing mobile betting for daily fantasy sports would require a constitutional amendment. A 2013 state law authorized sports gambling at four commercial casinos in upstate New York, but the state Gaming Commission still has to finish crafting rules for how sports betting would work now that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in May that states could authorize it. Legalizing mobile sports betting may require a new state law, although there’s some dispute over that point. Hopes are high that the state Legislature will succeed where it failed in the past. At this point, it remains to be seen how high a priority the issue is for lawmakers.
VOTING REFORMS
Incoming state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins has said voting reforms are on the table next year. In particular, she wants to see early voting
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happen by the 2020 elections. Other changes like automatic voter registration and same-day registration are also in the mix. “We don’t have so many things that we could have to make voting easier,” she told WAMC. “Those kinds of reforms will be among the very first.” Like many other issues, bills aimed at reforming voting were bottled up by the GOP majority in the state Senate. With Democrats now in control of the chamber, a new coalition of advocacy groups has said the time has come to transform New York from being one of the most restrictive states for voting to one of the most progressive. “Early 2019 enactment of these critical, foundational reforms that would change the way Albany operates can and should be the first of many sizable victories for the people of New York under new leadership,” reads a Nov. 26 letter from the Fair Elections for New York coalition to Cuomo and state legislators.
LLC LOOPHOLE
Now that state legislators appear to be getting a pay raise, pressure is increasing to have them close the LLC loophole. This allows people to circumvent campaign contribution limits by donating as much as $65,100 each election cycle by channeling it through limited liability corporations. Cuomo and other Democrats have said for years that they want to close the loophole in principle, but now they have to put their money where their mouth is. “Supposedly legislators and the governor agree on closing the LLC loophole,” wrote The Buffalo News editorial board. “How that happens is the question.”
SPEED CAMERAS
It took a legislative sleight of hand to keep speed cameras on near New York City schools this year. An executive order issued by Cuomo, however, did not solve the problem – it merely punted the issue to next year. But with Democrats now in control of the state Legislature, proponents of speed cameras are optimistic that they can pass legislation at the state level that would renew the authorization of cameras outside more than 100 schools. The marginalization of state Sen. Simcha Felder and the defeat of outgoing state Sen. Martin Golden also removes two antagonists of speed cameras from the legislative equation. Proponents are not only hoping to renew the program but also expand it. “I don’t get a sense that there is strong opposition, either in the city at this point, or certainly outside the city,” said Tom DeVito, director of advocacy at Transportation Alternatives. “We expect the legislation to move forward expanding and extending the speed camera program.”
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December 17, 2018 For more info. 212-268-0442 Ext.2039
legalnotices@cityandstateny.com Notice of Formation of Arena Group Solutions Llc. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/25/18. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: InCorp Services, Inc., One Commerce Plaza, 99 Washington Ave Ste 805A, Albany, NY 122102822, also the registered agent upon whom process may be served. Purpose: any lawful activities. BETSY DAITCH MARKETING ADVISORS, LLC filed with SSNY 08/08/2018. Office loc: NY County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Betsy Daitch Marketing Advisors, LLC, Attn: Betsy Daitch, 527 Third Avenue, Suite 210, New York, NY 10016. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.
Notice of Formation of Cross River Farm LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with SSNY on 11/5/18. Office: Westchester County. SSNY designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to LLC: 540 Cross River Road, Katonah, NY 10536. Purpose: any lawful act or activity. ZOE & KATE LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with SSNY 9/17/2018. Office loc: NY County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to LLC: 235 East 95th ST, Apt. 34G, NY, NY 10128. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose. Notice of Formation of SOAP BOX CLEANING SERVICE, LLC filed with SSNY on 6/01/18. Office: Westchester County. SSNY designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to LLC: 150 Parkway North - Unit 1F, Yonkers, NY 10704. Purpose: any lawful act or activity.
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Holly Corbett Represents LLC. Arts. of org. filed with the Secretary of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/16/2018. Office loc : New York County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against it may be served. The post office address to which the SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC served upon him/ her is 7014 13th Avenue, Suite 202, Brooklyn, NY 11288. The principal business address of the LLC is 420 West 46th st, NY NY 10036. Purpose: any lawful act or activity
December 17, 2018 Notice of Qualification of Division7, LLC, Fictitious Name: Division7 NY, LLC. Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/10/18. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 10/05/18. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o eResidentAgent, Inc., 99 Washington Ave., Ste. 805A, Albany, NY 12210, also the registered agent upon whom process may be served. Address to be maintained in DE: 1013 Centre Rd., Ste. 403S, Wilmington, DE 19805. Arts of Org. filed with Jeffrey W. Bullock, Secy. of State - Division of Corporations, John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., - Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19001. Purpose: any lawful activities.
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Notice of Formation of Kiamie 44 East, LLC. Arts of Org. filed with New York Secy of State (SSNY) on 10/29/18. Office location: New York County. SSNY is designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 31 E. 32nd St, NY, NY 10016. Purpose: any lawful activity. Accolade HR, LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with SSNY 10/30/2018. Office loc: NY County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, Attn: Elissa P. Domnitz, 80 East End Ave Apt 6F, NY, NY 10028. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose Notice of Qualification of FANATICS RETAIL GROUP FULFILLMENT, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/05/18. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Florida (FL) on 11/26/08. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. FL addr. of LLC: 1201 Hays St., Tallahassee, FL 32301. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, Clifton Bldg., 2661 Executive Center Circle, Tallahassee, FL 32301. Purpose: Any lawful activity.
TROY KRISTENSEN, L.P. (“LP”) filed Certificate of Limited Partnership w i t h the Secretary of State of New York (“SSNY”) on 11/5/2018. LP office location: Westchester County. SSNY is designated as agent upon whom process against LP may be served. SSNY shall mail process to LP, c/o Municipal Housing Authority for the City of Yonkers 1511 Central Park Avenue Yonkers, New York 10710. The name and address of each general partner is available from SSNY. The latest date upon which the LP is to dissolve is 12/31/2099. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose. M DeLeo Insurance Agency, LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with SSNY 11/01/2018. 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: Maria De Leo, 36 Leggett Place Staten Island N.Y. 10314. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose. Notice of Formation of ATEM LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/29/18. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543, regd. agent upon whom and at which process may be served. Purpose: Any lawful activity. TROY KRISTENSEN GP, LLC (“LLC”) filed Articles Of Organization with the Secretary of State of New York (“SSNY”) on 9/21/2018. LLC office location: Westchester County. SSNY is designated as agent upon whom process against LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: LLC, c/o Municipal Housing Authority for the City of Yonkers 1511 Central Park Avenue Yonkers, New York 10710. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose. Notice of Formation of Izoline North America LLC filed with SSNY on 10/29/2018. NY office location: Kings County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Michael Ziskin, 2670 National Drive, Brooklyn, NY, 11234. Purpose of LLC: Any Lawful Purpose.
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Notice of Qualification of 3BM1 Restaurant Management, LLC. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 10/25/18. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in DE on 7/5/18. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: 990 Spring Garden St., Ste. 600, Philadelphia, PA 19123, principal business address. DE address of LLC: c/o Universal Registered Agents, Inc., 12 Timber Creek Ln., Newark, DE 19711. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: all lawful purposes. Notice of formation of Eagle Strong Group, LLC was filed with SSNY on March 29, 2018. Office location: Richmond County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of process to P. O. Box 100372, Staten Island, NY 10310, Attn: Mark Oyelaja. Purpose: Any lawful act or activity. DEVELOPING MINDS ADVENTURE CASTLE, LLC, Arts of Org. filed 9/13/2018. Office Loc. Westchester County, SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, Attn: Wendy White, 112 Cooper Drive #1A, New Rochelle, NY 10508. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose. Notice of Formation of Adellis Property Group LLC. Arts of Org. filed with New York Secy of State (SSNY) on 11/5/18. Office location: New York County. SSNY is designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 300 Park Ave, NY, NY 10038. Purpose: any lawful activity. Notice of Formation of DDP1 LLC. Arts of Org. filed with New York Secy of State (SSNY) on 9/13/18. Office location: New York County. SSNY is designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 405 Lexington Ave, NY, NY 10174. Purpose: any lawful activity. Notice of Formation of HCCI Victory Plaza Member LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with NY Dept. of State on 10/26/18. 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 Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement, Inc., 256 W. 153rd St., NY, NY 10039, principal business address. Purpose: all lawful purposes.
Notice of Formation of DEP International LLC. Arts of Org. filed with New York Secy of State (SSNY) on 10/26/18. Office location: New York County. SSNY is designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 71 W. 23rd St, Fl. 17, NY, NY 10010. Purpose: any lawful activity. Notice of Formation of NORTHGATE P R E S E R V A T I O N CLASS B, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/13/18. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 60 Columbus Circle, NY, NY 10023. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207. Purpose: Any lawful activity Notice of Qualification of NET@WORK CLOUD SOLUTIONS, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/13/18. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 06/12/18. Princ. office of LLC: 575 Eighth Ave., 10th Fl., NY, NY 10018. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Secy. of State, John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: IT Consulting. Notice of Formation of TUCKERBELL & Company LLC. Articles of Organization filed with the Secretary of State of NY (SSNY) on September 28, 2018. Office locations: Westchester County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against it may be served. The Post Office address to which the SSNY shall Mail a copy of any process against the LLC served upon him/her is: Johnathan Tucker. The principal business address of the LLC is: 15 Belle Ave 1st Fl, Ossining, NY 10562. Purpose: any lawful act or activity
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PUBLIC and LEGAL NOTICES / CityAndStateNY.com
December 17, 2018
Notice of Qualification of 632-634 East 11th Street Owner LLC. Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/31/18. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 03/27/18. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o Slate Property Group, LLC, 38 East 29th St., 9th Fl., NY, NY 10016, Attn: Martin Nussbaum. Address to be maintained in DE: National Registered Agents, Inc., 160 Greentree Dr., Ste. 101, Dover, DE 19904. Arts of Org. filed with the DE Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activities. NOTICE OF FORMATION of AA 733 Amsterdam LLC. Art. of Org. filed with the Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/9/18. 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: 111 8th Ave, NY, NY 10011. Purpose: Any lawful act Notice of Qualification of 308 East 38th Street Sole Member LLC. Authority filed with NY Secy of State (SSNY) on 8/25/17. Office location: New York County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 8/24/17. SSNY is designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 152 W. 57 St, Fl. 17, NY, NY 10019. DE address of LLC: 1013 Centre Rd, Ste 403B, Wilmington, DE 19805. Cert. of Formation filed with DE Secy of State, 401 Federal St, Ste 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activity. Notice of Formation of 480-4B LLC. Arts of Org. filed with New York Secy of State (SSNY) on 11/16/18. Office location: New York County. SSNY is designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 336 W. 37th St, Ste 200, NY, NY 10018. Purpose: any lawful activity. Notice of Formation of Kaleidoscope Creative Partners LLC. Arts of Org. filed with New York Secy of State (SSNY) on 11/9/18. Office location: New York County. SSNY is designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 521 5th Ave, Ste 1804, NY, NY 10175. Purpose: any lawful activity.
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AOG Design, LLC Notice of formation of Limited Liability Company (“LLC”). Articles of Organization filed New York Sec. of State (“NYSS”) 11/16/2018. Office loc. New York County. NYSS designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. NYSS shall mail a copy of any process to c/o The LLC, 348 West 36th Street, New York, New York 10018. There is no specific date set for dissolution. Purpose: to engage in any lawful activity or act. Name and Business Address of Organizer is John R. Marvin, Esq., 44 West Market Street, P.O. Box 151, Rhinebeck, NY 12572.
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Notice of Formation 144 King Street, LLC Arts of Org. Filed with Secy. of State of NY 11/16/18. Ofc Loc.: West Co. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to The LLC, 980 Broadway #638, Thornwood, NY. Purpose: Any lawful activity. NOTICE OF FORMATION Strategic Intelligence LLC. Art. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 7/25/18. Location: Westchester. SSNY designated as agent for service of process on LLC. SSNY shall mail a copy of process to: LLC, 62 Frederick Ln, Scarsdale, NY 10583. Purpose: Any lawful purpose. Notice of Formation of ZHPH LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/13/18. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Philip J. Michaels, c/o Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP, 1301 Ave. of the Americas, NY, NY 10019. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Notice of Formation of WEST 30TH SERVICES MANAGEMENT LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/07/18. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 208 W. 30th St., Ste. 701, NY, NY 10001. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the addr. of its princ. office. Purpose: Any lawful activity.
Notice of Qualification of SABAL CAPITAL PARTNERS, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/16/18. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 07/31/15. Princ. office of LLC: 4 Park Plaza, Ste. 2000, Irvine, CA 92614. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: c/o CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Jeffrey W. Bullock, Secy. of State, John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Commercial real estate mortgage loan origination. LITTLE BLACK BARN FARM, LLC, Art. of Org. filed with SSNY 11/27/2018. Office loc: Westchester County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, Attn: Andrew B. Christopherson, Esq., 111 E. Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 1800, Milwaukee, WI 53202 Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose. Notice of Formation of Vatine LLC. Arts of Org. filed with New York Secy of State (SSNY) on 10/15/18. Office location: New York County. SSNY is designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 750 Park Ave, Apt 9B, NY, NY 10021. Purpose: any lawful activity. Notice of Formation of FIFTH AVENUE CAPITAL V LLC. Arts of Org. filed with New York Secy of State (SSNY) on 8/14/18. Office location: New York County. SSNY is designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 521 5th Ave, Ste 1804, NY, NY 10175. Purpose: any lawful activity. Notice of Qualification of JL HAMBURG 1301, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/15/18. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 11/13/18. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.
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Notice of Formation of LUMINARY PRODUCTIONS, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/16/18. 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 12207-2543. Purpose: Any lawful activity.
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NOTICE OF FORMATION of NYC Ferry Fleet, LLC filed with the Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 10/30/18. Office location: New York County. The principal business address of the LLC is: 110 William Street, New York, New York 10038. SSNY has been designated as the agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail service of process (SOP) to c/o New York City Economic Development Corporation, 110 William Street, New York, New York 10038. New York City Economic Development Corporation is designated as agent for SOP at 110 William Street, New York, New York 10038. Purpose: any lawful purpose. BEAR MOUNTAIN MANAGEMENT, LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with SSNY 10/09/2018. Office loc: NY Westchester County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, Attn: Alicia Crawford, 100 S Bedford Road, Suite 340, Mount Kisco, NY 10549, Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose. Notice of Formation of 43 Kingston Avenue Investors LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/16/18. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 64 2nd Ave., 2nd Fl., NY, NY 10003. Purpose: any lawful activities. Notice of Formation of 43 Kingston Avenue HPG Sponsor LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/16/18. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 64 2nd Ave., 2nd Fl., NY, NY 10003. Purpose: any lawful activities.
Notice of Qualification of Parcel B West Moderate Income LLC. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 11/9/18. Office location: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 777 W. Putnam Ave., Greenwich, CT 06830. LLC formed in DE on 11/7/18. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: Cogency Global Inc., 10 E. 40th St., 10th Fl., NY, NY 10016. DE addr. of LLC: 850 New Burton Rd., Ste. 201, Dover, DE 19904. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: all lawful purposes. Notice of Qualification of Parcel B West Affordable Opportunity Zone Fund LLC. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 11/9/18. Office location: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 777 W. Putnam Ave., Greenwich, CT 06830. LLC formed in DE on 11/7/18. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: Cogency Global Inc., 10 E. 40th St., 10th Fl., NY, NY 10016. DE addr. of LLC: 850 New Burton Rd., Ste. 201, Dover, DE 19904. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: all lawful purposes. KH AGC Holding LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with SSNY 10/18/2018. Office loc: Westchester County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to The LLC, Attn: Adam Brodsky, 3 W 57th Street, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10019. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose. PEACH AND BLUP, LLC, filed with SSNY 8/6/2018. Office loc: Richmond County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: United States Corp. Agent, Inc., 7014 13th Avenue, Suite 202, Brooklyn, NY 11228 Notice of Formation of Muckroe Properties LLC. Art. Of Org. filed with SSNY on 11/20/18. Offc Loc: Westchester Cty. SSNY desig. as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC, c/o James Sheerin, 32 Major Applebys Rd, Ardsley, NY 10502. Purpose: Any lawful purpose
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Notice of Auction Notice of Auction Sale is herein given that Citiwide Self Storage located at 45-55 Pearson Street, Long Island City, N.Y. 11101 will take place on WWW. STORAGETREASURES. COM Sale by competitive bidding starting on January 4, 2019 and end on January 11, 2019 at 10:00 a.m. to satisfy unpaid rent and charges on the following accounts: Contents of rooms generally contain misc. #3A14 – Steven Broiles -Unit contains: Canned food, 15 crates, 10 boxes, coffee and tissue; #3L24 – Andres Helm - 10+ bags, boxes, luggage, shopping cart, misc. furniture; #9C32 – Spencer Brownstone Gallery – Nothing visible. The contents of each unit will be sold as a lot and all items must be removed from the premises within 72 hours. Owners may redeem their goods by paying all rent and charges due at any time before the sale. All sales are held “with reserve”. Owner reserves the right to cancel sale at any time. Notice of Qualification of Granite Bridge Partners GP I, LLC. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 8/8/18. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in DE on 6/5/18. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: The LLC, 350 Park Ave., 23rd Fl., NY, NY 10022, principal business address. DE address of LLC: c/o Cogency Global Inc., 850 New Burton Rd., Ste. 201, Dover, DE 19904. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activity. NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A LICENSE, SERIAL # 1314874 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 988 MANHATTAN AVE BROOKLYN, NY 11222. KINGS COUNTY, FOR ON PREMISE CONSUMPTION. SIRE RESTAURANT GROUP LLC. NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A LICENSE, SERIAL # 1314848 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 197 GRAND ST NEW YORK, NY 10013. NEW YORK COUNTY, FOR ON PREMISE CONSUMPTION. MARGHERITA CORPORATION.
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CityAndStateNY.com / PUBLIC and LEGAL NOTICES
Notice of Qualification of Granite Bridge Partners LLC. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 8/8/18. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in DE on 8/17/17. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: The LLC, 350 Park Ave., 23rd Fl., NY, NY 10022, principal business address. DE address of LLC: c/o Cogency Global Inc., 850 New Burton Rd., Ste. 201, Dover, DE 19904. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activity. Notice of Qualification of Granite Bridge Private Equity Fund, L.P. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 8/8/18. Office location: NY County. LP formed in DE on 6/12/18. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LP upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o Granite Bridge Partners GP I, LLC, 350 Park Ave., 23rd Fl., NY, NY 10022, principal business address. DE address of LP: c/o Cogency Global Inc., 850 New Burton Rd., Ste. 201, Dover, DE 19904. Name/address of genl. ptr. available from NY Sec. of State. Cert. of LP filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activity. PUBLIC NOTICE NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, PURSUANT TO LAW, THAT THE NYC DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS WILL HOLD A PUBLIC HEARING ON WEDNES DAY, DECEMB ER 26, 2018 AT 2:00 P.M. AT 42 BROADWAY, 5TH FLOOR, ON A PETITION FOR BLUE BOTTLE COFFEE, INC. TO ESTABLISH, MAINTAIN, AND OPERATE AN UNENCLOSED SIDEWALK CAFÉ AT 279 AMSTERDAM AVE IN THE BOROUGH OF MANHATTAN FOR A TERM OF TWO YEARS. REQUEST FOR COPIES OF THE REVOCABLE CONSENT AGREEMENT MAY BE ADDRESSED TO: DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, ATTN: FOIL OFFICER, 42 BROADWAY, NEW YORK, NY 10004.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A LICENSE, SERIAL # 1315019 FOR WINE & BEER HAS BEEN APPLIED FOR BY THE UNDERSIGNED TO SELL WINE & BEER AT RETAIL UNDER THE ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE CONTROL LAW AT 628 HUDSON ST NEW YORK, NY 10014. NEW YORK COUNTY, FOR ONPREMISE CONSUMPTION. HUDSON CAFÉ MIR & MG LLC.
Notice of Formation of ISO VENTURES LLC filed with SSNY on 10/22/18. Office: King’s County. SSNY designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to LLC: 1 North 4th Place, #25A, Brooklyn, NY 11249. Purpose: any lawful act or activity. Notice is hereby given that a license, number 1315064 for a restaurant wine has been applied for by the undersigned to sell wine and beer at retail in a restaurant under the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law at 500 W 33rd St., Unit#RU419, New York, NY 10001 on premises consumption. Shake Shack New York LLC d/b/a Shake Shack Notice of Auction Notice of Auction Sale is herein given that Access Self Storage of Long Island City located at 2900 Review Avenue, Long Island City, N.Y. 11101 will take place on WWW. STORAGETREASURES.COM Sale by competitive bidding starting on January 04, 2019 and end on January 11, 2019 at 12:00 p.m. to satisfy unpaid rent and charges on the following accounts: Contents of rooms generally contain misc. #230-George Laws; 2 black bags, large plastic tote, 1 folding chair, #455-Sandro Gomes; 5 small boxes, 1 luggage, 1 metal table, 1 office chair, 2 chairs, ironing board, 1 twin box spring, 1 bar bell, 1 bottle of tide detergent, 1 bottle of down and 1 clothing rack., #465-Brandie Hopstein; 2 full size box springs, 1 Queen mattress, 1 luggage, 5 bags, 1 purse, 1 bag of shoes, 2 makeup cabinets and 1 piggy bank, #2429-Sydny Frowner; 20 bags, 15-20 plastic totes, electronic keyboard, and a small end table, #3427-Brian Lemna;10 small boxes, 1 pair of sneakers, 1 guitar case, 1 rain coat, 1 microwave, and one DC comic poster, #6218-Rachel Rendeiro; Cooler, plastic totes, toaster oven, picture frames, clothes, and misc. items. The contents of each unit will be sold as a lot and all items must be removed from the premises within 72 hours. Owners may redeem their goods by paying all rent and charges due at any time before the sale.
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December 17, 2018 W Capital 1 LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with SSNY 12/06/2018. Office loc: NY County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, 119 W. 24th Street, New York, NY 10011. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose. BWH Group LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with SSNY 12/06/2018. Office loc: Kings County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, 1252 East 19th Street, Unit 2A, Brooklyn, NY 11230. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose. PUBLIC NOTICE New York City Dept. of Consumer Affairs Notice of Public Hearing Notice is hereby given, pursuant to law, that the NYC Department of Consumer Affairs will hold a public hearing on WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2018 AT 2:00 P.M. at 42 Broadway, 5th floor, on a petition for NINO AQ LLC to ESTABLISH, MAINTAIN, AND OPERATE an unenclosed sidewalk cafe at 3501 DITMARS BLVD ASTORIA, NY 11105 IN THE BOROUGH OF QUEENS FOR A TERM OF TWO YEARS. REQUEST FOR COPIES OF THE REVOCABLE CONSENT AGREEMENT MAY BE ADDRESSED TO: DEPT. OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, 42 BROADWAY, NEW YORK, NY 10004 ATTN: FOIL OFFICER Notice of Formation of 3Z Compost, LLC filed with SSNY on September 11, 2018. Office: NY County. SSNY designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to LLC: 2373 Broadway, 1621, NY, NY 10024. Purpose: any lawful act or activity. SKYLAB ENGINEERING, PLLC, a Prof. LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 11/29/2018. Office loc: NY County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, 31-15 14th Street, Long Island City, NY 11106. Purpose: To Practice The Profession Of Engineering. Notice of Formation of CashBooks, LLC filed with SSNY on July 13, 2018. Office: NY County. SSNY designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to LLC: 4308 Broadway New York, NY 10033 Purpose: any lawful act or activity.
NOTICE OF SALE OF A COOPERATIVE APARTMENT PLEASE TAKE NOTICE: by Virtue of default under Loan Security Agreements, and other Security Documents, issued by THE CHASE MANHATTAN BANK C/O CHASE MANHATTAN MORTGAGE CORP., as Secured Creditor, George Nelson, DCA# 1300011 or John Leonard, DCA # 2069708, will sell at public auction, with reserve, on the steps of the Kings County Supreme Courthouse, 360 Adams Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201, on January 22, 2019 at 11:00 am, 841 shares of the capital stock of Turner Towers Tenant Corp. (A Cooperative Housing Corporation), issued in the name of Steven Rosen and Lee Bantle, and all rights, title and interest in a Proprietary Lease to Apartment 9K located at 135 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11238. Sale held to enforce (the) rights of THE CHASE MANHATTAN BANK C/O CHASE MANHATTAN MORTGAGE CORP., as Secured Creditor, who reserves the right to bid. Ten percent (10%) Bank/Certified check payable to Leopold & Associates, PLLC, as attorneys for THE CHASE MANHATTAN BANK C/O CHASE MANHATTAN MORTGAGE CORP., 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) and subject to Co-Op approval. Dated: November 29, 2018 Leopold & Associates, PLLC 80 Business Park Drive Suite 110 Armonk, New York 10504 (914) 219-5787 THE ANNUAL RETURN OF THE FRANKLIN FUND FOR THE YEAR ENDED June 30, 2018 is available at its principal office located at FARKOUH, FURMAN & FACCIO LLP 460 PARK AVENUE, 12TH FL, NEW YORK, NY 10022 for inspection during regular business hours by any citizen who requests it within 180 days hereof. Principal Manager of the Foundation is SHEILA FRANKLIN LIEBER. Notice of Qualification of 545 Broadway Associates LLC. Authority filed with NY Secy of State (SSNY) on 11/21/18. Office location: New York County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 11/9/18. SSNY is designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 1740 Broadway, Fl. 15, New York, NY 10019. DE address of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Formation filed with DE Secy of State, 401 Federal St, Ste 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activity. Erica Leigh Horowitz LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with SSNY 3/14/2017. 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, 1967 Wehrle Drive, Suite 1 #086 Buffalo, NY 14221. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.
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Notice of Formation of Spin It Up Sports, LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/06/18. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 245 East 58th St., Apt 4B, NY, NY 10022. Purpose: any lawful activities. Notice of Formation of 1625 Church Ave LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/29/18. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 1625 Church Ave LLC, 200 West 60th St., Apt. 18C, NY, NY 10023. Purpose: any lawful activities.
Notice of Formation of Bnd Realty LLC. Arts of Org. filed with New York Secy of State (SSNY) on 11/13/18. Office location: New York County. SSNY is designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 55 Broadway, Fl. 3, NY, NY 10006. Purpose: any lawful activity.
J PROP REALTY 66B L.L.C. filed with SSNY 10/09/2018. Office loc: NY County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: United States Corporation Agents Inc, 7014 13th Avenue Ste 202, Brooklyn NY 11228. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose Notice of Formation of Floridean Realty II, LLC. Arts of Org. filed with New York Secy of State (SSNY) on 12/6/18. Office location: New York County. SSNY is designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 551 5th Ave, Ste 2500, NY, NY 10176. Purpose: any lawful activity. Notice of Formation of Photography by Bonnie Lautenberg LLC. Arts of Org. filed with New York Secy of State (SSNY) on 11/28/18. Office location: New York County. SSNY is designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 521 5th Ave, Ste 1804, NY, NY 10175. Purpose: any lawful activity. A. REBECCA KELLY LAW PLLC filed Articles of Organization with the Department of State of NY on 5/18/2018. Office Location: County of New York. The Secretary of State of NY (“SSNY”) has been designated as agent of the PLLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of any such process served to: The LLC, 64 W. 15th St., Apt. 6W, NY, NY 10011. Purpose: any lawful act. Notice of formation of Franks Tribe LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the Sect’y of State of NY (SSNY) on 5/24/2018. Office location, County of New York. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, 155 Wooster St., Apt. 7F, New York, NY 10012. Purpose: any lawful act.
PUBLIC NOTICE AT&T proposes to collocate antennas on the buildings at 119 West 57th St (tip heights 150’) (20182175), and 230 Central Park South (tip heights 202’ & 207’) (20182225), New York, NY. Interested parties may contact Scott Horn (856-809-1202) (1012 Industrial Dr., West Berlin, NJ 08091) with comments regarding potential effects on historic properties.
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December 17, 2018
PUBLIC and LEGAL NOTICES / CityAndStateNY.com
UNCLAIMED FUNDS! Insurance companies We can publish unclaimed funds for you quickly, easily and efficiently.
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CityAndStateNY.com
December 17, 2018
CITY & STATE NEW YORK MANAGEMENT & PUBLISHING CEO Steve Farbman, President & Publisher Tom Allon tallon@cityandstateny.com, Comptroller David Pirozzi dpirozzi@cityandstateny.com, Business & Operations Manager Patrea Patterson, Administrative Assistant Jenny Hochberg
Who was up and who was down last week
PRODUCTION Art Director Andrew Horton, Senior Graphic Designer Alex Law, Junior Graphic Designer Aaron Aniton, Digital Content Coordinator Michael Filippi, Digital Content Coordinator Ariel Tu
LOSERS DAVID CARLUCCI The state senator managed to hold onto his seat during the great IDC Ousting of 2018. And now, Carlucci has even been named the chair of a committee, despite his former allegiance. Sure, he hadn’t been ranking member of the Committee on Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities, and this was not one of the five other committees he sat on. But Carlucci is arguably in a better position chairing a full-fledged committee than his former IDC colleague Diane Savino (see the “Losers” this week.)
OUR PICK
OUR PICK
WINNERS
The subways are falling apart, and there’s nowhere near enough money to fix them. Lots of New Yorkers are smoking pot, even if it’s technically illegal. So … why not kill two birds with one stone (pun intended) and simply tie the otherwise unrelated issues together, using the revenue from legalizing and taxing recreational marijuana to make the trains finally show up on time? That might make us all winners.
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, Digital Director Derek Evers devers@ cityandstateny.com, Copy Editor Eric Holmberg, Staff Reporter Jeff Coltin jcoltin@cityandstateny.com, Staff Reporter Zach Williams zwilliams@cityandstateny. com, Editorial Assistant Rebecca C. Lewis rlewis@ cityandstateny.com
SIMCHA FELDER The man in the middle was in high demand for years in a closely split state Senate where both Republicans and Democrats needed his vote. Now the Dems got their revenge on the turncoat, kicking Felder to the curb by denying him a committee chairmanship for the upcoming session. To add to the indignity, Democrats kept the lowly Libraries Committee chairmanship unfilled. Would’ve been a good fit for a man who managed to be veeewy, vewy quiet about speed cameras.
ADVERTISING Vice President of Advertising Jim Katocin jkatocin@ cityandstateny.com, Account/Business Development Executive Scott Augustine saugustine@cityandstateny.com, Event Sponsorship Strategist Danielle Koza dkoza@ cityandstateny.com, Sales Associate Cydney McQuillanGrace cydney@cityandstateny.com, Junior Sales Executive Caitlin Dorman, Junior Sales Executive Shakirah Gittens EVENTS events@cityandstateny.com Sales Director Lissa Blake, Events Manager Sharon Nazarzadeh, Senior Events Coordinator Alexis Arsenault, Marketing & Events Coordinator Jamie Servidio, Director of Events Research & Development Bryan Terry
Vol. 7 Issue 48 December 17, 2018
Is
THE REST OF THE WORST
GREG FLOYD
MICHAEL COHEN
The Teamsters boss got NYCHA workers a raise, now they’re working weekends.
He’s about to serve three years in prison, but at least he’s glad to be free of Trump!
JAMES O’NEILL
BILL DE BLASIO
DOMINIQUE SHARPTON
ALAIN KALOYEROS
DAVID SOARES
DIANE SAVINO
A judge ruled to keep NYPD discipline records under wraps, so officers can keep ripping babies away from moms willy-nilly. We just wish we could all win $95K every time we hurt an ankle walking around NYC. The DA’s association got the state to stop lawmakers from investigating prosecutors.
There’s plenty of blame to go around for the NYPD’s baby-yanking, but most are happy to let de Blasio bear the brunt. Seems rigging the Buffalo Billion gets you more prison time than rigging a presidency. Want to chair a committee? Loyalty to Jeff Klein gets you exactly zilch in 2019.
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.
Corey Johnson
A L R E A DY M AYO R ?
CIT YANDSTATENY.COM
@CIT YANDSTATENY
CLIMATE CHANGE. CONGESTION PRICING. THE DREAM ACT. WILL THE DEMOCRATS OWN 2019? December 17, 2018
Cover photo Amy Lombard
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