13 minute read
FIRST READ
Signs for a new gun-free zone went up around an expansive definition of Times Square last week, placing strict penalties on anyone found with a gun in that part of the city.
NEW YORK GUN LAWS SNAP INTO PLACE
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A new state law bans the carrying of guns in sensitive areas like government buildings, playgrounds, libraries, parks – and Times Square. Attention on this new measure, however, has brought the actual boundaries of Times Square into dispute. The city’s map that illustrates the boundaries where the strict limit on guns will take effect consists of about three dozen blocks – areas that some New Yorkers haven’t considered actually part of Times Square. The New York City Council recently met to discuss new legislation to officially define the area’s parameters. This is just one aspect of the state’s new Concealed Carry Improvement Act, which New York leaders passed in response to the Supreme Court’s June ruling that New York’s ex-
NEW SIDE GIG?
New York City Mayor Eric Adams is giving tours of his place of work – no, not the Verizon Building. City Hall hosted its first public tour since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Adams was there to kick things off in the 200-year-old building. With his fervid love for New York City and its energy-giving stones, Adams probably makes for a decent tour guide.
– state Sen. Joseph Addabbo Jr., on the unexpected blowback to the legislation he sponsored targeting teens’ use of “whipped cream chargers,” or whippits, via the New York Post
– New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, on requiring the credit card industry to launch a system to trace gun purchases, via the Daily News isting permit requirements were unconstitutional.
ONE YEAR SINCE IDA, WHAT’S CHANGED?
It’s officially been a year since the remnants of Hurricane Ida swept across the New York metro areas, flooding streets, basement apartments and other low-lying areas and killing a total of 50 people in New York and New Jersey. New York City was hit especially hard as record rainfall sured into the streets, overwhelming the sewer system. Many people lost their homes and still bear deep financial and emotional wounds from the disaster. But while New York leaders took to the streets during the Thursday anniversary to commemorate the loss, not that much has really changed. Basement apartment tenants across the city still face many of the same dangers that they did last year after a bill that would have legalized and regulated basement apartments stalled in the Legislature last session. The threat of climate change continues to loom. Still, at least a little progress has been made on other fronts. New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced that the city has taken steps to build more resilient, green infrastructure like curbside rain gardens to absorb stormwater.
NO HOPE FOR RIKERS
Williams, City Comptroller Brad Lander and Council Member Carlina Rivera visited Rikers Island and announced conditions had slightly improved at the troubled jail complex, another incarcerated person died. Michael Nieves was the 13th person to die this year and the third suspected of taking his own life after being held on Rikers Island – a staggering toll that has continued to grow even as the city has done its best to implement reforms in hopes of staying off a federal court takeover. Three corrections department employees were suspended in wake of his death after reports surfaced that they failed to act for at least 10 minutes after Nieves slit his throat with a razor. Also on the incarceration front, twothirds of the City Council have attached their names as co-sponsors of legislation that would ban solitary confinement in New York City jails.
THE 10TH DISTRICT CONGRESSIONAL RACE CONTINUES?
The high-profile race for New York City’s 10th Congressional District may not be over just yet. In the days since Democratic nominee Dan Goldman won with 26% of the vote, many progressive New Yorkers have lamented what could have been. Assembly Member YuhLine Niou – who came in a close second – is reportedly considering a rematch in the general election as the progressive Working Families Party candidate. Given how deep the district’s Democratic support runs, this could be done without opening a path to a Republican victory, still, Niou’s path forward would be an uphill one.
Assembly Member Yuh-Line Niou is considering running in the 10th Congressional District against Democrat Dan Goldman in the November general election on the WFP line.
Robert Zimmerman added to “Red to Blue” program
A competitive congressional race on Long Island is getting an attention boost from national Democrats aiming to defeat an “insurrectionist” Republican candidate.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is adding the race in New York’s 3rd Congressional District – covering parts of Nassau County and Queens – to its “Red to Blue” program.
Running in the district is Democrat Robert Zimmerman, the leader of a public relations business, and Republican investment banker George Santos. Santos, the DCCC asserted, was an “insurrectionist” and “too radical for this district.”
The DCCC cited a video in which Santos bragged about listening to Donald Trump speak in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021. “Something I mention often – I was at the Ellipse on Jan. 6,” Santos said in an interview with Lara Trump in February 2021. “That was the most amazing crowd, and the president was at his full awesomeness that day. It was a front-row spectacle for me.” In a tweet that was geotagged from Washington, D.C., the day after Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempted insurrection, Santos appeared to denounce the action. “January 6th, 2021 will go down as a sad and dark day in our history,” he tweeted. “Our nation needs immediate healing.”
Santos campaign manager Charles Lovett called the DCCC’s criticism of Santos as an “insurrectionist” a distraction. “The DCCC is doing everything they can to try to distract voters from the disasters that Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi’s policies have caused with Robert Zimmerman’s full support,” Lovett said.
The DCCC’s Red to Blue program provides Democratic candidates vying for competitive seats access to the committee’s organizational resources, including help with field operations and fundraising support. City & State identified the race as one of half a dozen competitive seats to watch. The recognition from the DCCC could bring Zimmerman national attention and potentially a fundraising boost.
Several other New York Democrats have also been identified as getting a helping hand from the DCCC’s Red to Blue program, including Bridget Fleming, Jackie Gordon and Max Rose. The current 18th District – like the current 3rd District – is also now represented by a Democrat. A spokesperson for the DCCC said that open seats – which both the 3rd and 18th Districts are – are also included in the program. – Annie McDonough
THE WEEK AHEAD
TUESDAY 9/6
Democratic county committee members in Assembly District 80 are expected to choose a candidate to take Nathalia Fernandez’s spot on the ballot, since she’s expected to go to the state Senate. FRIDAY 9/9
The New York City Council Civil Service and Labor Committee and the Oversight and Investigations Committee hold a 1 p.m. hearing at City Hall on maintaining New York City’s municipal workforce. INSIDE DOPE
The city’s workforce is the smallest it’s been in five years, with many employees quitting over complaints of no flexibility to work from home and low pay. SUNDAY 9/11
New York marks the 21st anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks – just a month after the U.S. killed al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri.
FOLLOW THE TWEETER
WHEN THESE PEOPLE TWEET, NEW YORK CITY AND STATE LAWMAKERS ARE READING.
By Eric Holmberg
Members of the state Legislature and the New York City Council get on New York political Twitter for the same reasons as the rest of us: to stay informed, spar with other users and get the latest hot goss.
So it is insightful to look at who these powerful decision-makers are following and where they’re getting their information. For instance, it’s no surprise that more Assembly members follow Speaker Carl Heastie than any other legislator in the chamber. And City Council Member Justin Brannan’s Twitter account is always ��. Plus, the journalists that are being followed by lawmakers also gain some amount of influence in their own right.
Legislata, a political productivity and information platform, scraped 204 official and personal accounts for state legislators and 90 accounts for City Council members to analyze hundreds of thousands of follows. Here are the top lawmakers and journalists who legislators in each chamber are reading on Twitter.
STATE LEGISLATURE
Top legislative follows ASSEMBLY MEMBERS 1. Carl Heastie (81%) 2. Nily Rozic (59%) 3. Crystal Peoples-Stokes (58%) 4. Latoya Joyner (57%) 5. Richard Gottfried (56%)
STATE SENATORS 1. Andrea Stewart-Cousins (74%) 2. Gustavo Rivera (71%) 3. Liz Krueger (69%) T-4. Brian Kavanagh (68%) T-4. Brad Hoylman (68%)
INFLUENTIAL JOURNALISTS 1. Zack Fink (81%)
NY1 State House reporter 2. Nick Reisman (77%)
Spectrum News state politics reporter 3. Jimmy Vielkind (70%)
Wall Street Journal reporter 4. Susan Arbetter (68%)
Spectrum News political anchor 5. Jon Campbell (63%)
WNYC/Gothamist reporter Andrea StewartCousins
Zack Fink Carl Heastie Justin Brannan
CITY COUNCIL
TOP COUNCIL FOLLOWS 1. Justin Brannan (84%) 2. Adrienne Adams (83%) 3. Keith Powers (82%) 4. Gale Brewer (81%) 5. Carlina Rivera (79%)
Sally Goldenberg
INFLUENTIAL JOURNALISTS 1. Sally Goldenberg (76%)
Politico New York City Hall bureau chief 2. Ben Max (74%)
Gotham Gazette executive editor 3. Errol Louis (71%)
NY1 political anchor 4. Jeff Coltin (70%)
City & State New York City Hall bureau chief 5. Katie Honan (58%)
A Q&A with Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chair and CEO
JANNO LIEBER
As I always say, never bet against New York.
You spoke about “permanent changes” regarding how New Yorkers use public transit after COVID-19 during a press conference last month. What did you mean? I’m not alarmed by the change in work patterns brought on by the pandemic. Some degree of hybrid work is not going away, and we all have to adapt to that new normal. But as I always say, never bet against New York. People want to be in New York – for the best jobs with the best companies, and enjoy all this city has to offer, whether that’s Broadway, sports or nightlife. And they will use the mass transit system to get to their destination.
You said you were “seeding decisionmakers” going into this process of addressing the shortfall. Can you explain what you meant by seeding? So what we did at that board meeting was to raise everybody’s awareness of a few things: One, an updated explanation of what the size of the MTA fiscal cliff was, the structural budget deficit on the operating budget. Two, to make sure everybody understood that this was now going to hit the MTA, the full fiscal cliff was going to hit in 2025 rather than 2026 based on our updated projections. And third, we did identify one major strategy. We’d be addressing the fiscal cliff in a significant way if the Legislature and other stakeholders put together a strategy and path that will … permanently reduce the size of the budget deficit by $800 million. So, when I said “seed,” I said that what we’re trying to do is to “seed” the discussion of what actions we can all take that would help the MTA’s financial problem. And we’re already moving forward with that.
Which policymakers were you directing your comments to? I think we’re talking about all of the leaders of the Legislature. First and foremost, Gov. Kathy Hochul and her team; the team at the state Division of the Budget; the legislative leaders of both houses, state Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins (and Speaker) Carl Heastie in the Assembly and key committee chairs in the state Senate – Finance (Committee) Chair Liz Krueger and (Corporations, Authorities, and Commissions Committee) Chair Leroy Comrie. Also, state Transportation Committee Chair Tim Kennedy in the (state Senate) … as well as Assembly Member Amy Paulin.
The funding gap is pertaining to operations, but will it also impact capital improvements? The operating budget includes a lot of maintenance and preventative maintenance, and the capital budget obviously includes things that maintain the state of good repair, upgrades and key elements. When you try to cut operations and cut capital investment, you can end up with a very bad outcome and we cannot let that happen. – Megan McGibney
Our Perspective
RWDSU Statement: Labor Day 2022
By Stuart Appelbaum, President, Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, RWDSU, UFCW Twitter: @sappelbaum
“The true strength of any union is defined by its values and convictions, and whether it sees itself less as an institution and more of a movement: A movement that isn’t afraid to stand up for decency and dignity and respect, a movement that fights for racial and economic justice, a movement that never loses its sense of outrage at injustice around it.
“At our core, we are a movement for justice, a movement to help lift up those who have been weakened by indifference and neglect, a movement that speaks out for those whose voices too often go unheard, a movement that provides strength for each and every worker, a movement that isn’t willing to accept exploitation as the price of living in a global economy, a movement that isn’t afraid to stand up for a country where dignity and respect and justice will prevail for all working people.
“We are currently in a moment where young workers are fighting back and actively leading campaigns that are inspiring working people across the entire nation. Young workers who have lived through the pandemic are tired of being treated as dispensable by employers who are making billions of dollars off their backs. Just as the Occupy Wall Street movement and the movement for Black lives engaged millions of young people, young people are now taking their activism to the workplace to demand a better life.
“Union approval ratings are at their highest since the 1960s and we owe it to this new wave of organizing for shifting this narrative. We owe it to the Amazon workers in Bessemer Alabama who stood up to Jeff Bezos and shocked the nation. We owe it to the Amazon Labor Union who won their election in Staten Island, the Starbucks workers sweeping the country, REI workers from coast to coast, and every worker who in this moment embodies the phrase ‘enough is enough.’ We know that workers around the country are demanding more and think more positively of unions than they have in decades. It’s up to us in the labor movement to work together with newer generations to change our labor movement to be one that can grow through strong worker militancy, for many decades to come,” said Stuart Appelbaum, President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). www.rwdsu.org
