11 minute read
FIRST READ
The migrant shelter on Randall’s Island was completed with an initial capacity to house 500 adult men. New York City may spend more than $1 billion on asylum-seekers.
“The rats don’t run this city. We do.”
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– New York City Sanitation Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch, during an announcement proposing an 8 p.m. start time when residents can put their trash on the curb
MIGRANT SHELTER OPENS
After starting to build in the Bronx’s Orchard Beach, then changing course and moving to Randall’s Island in the middle of the East River, New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ administration unveiled a completed tent shelter complex for incoming migrants. The site has the capacity to house 500 adult men to start, but only a couple people arrived on opening day. The mayor said the city will likely spend more than $1 billion on housing asylum-seekers from the southern border, which now number more than 20,000, before the end of the fiscal year.
COVID-19 RATES UP
It wouldn’t be fall in our new post-pandemic reality without an uptick in
EAST SIDE EXCESS
If you ever wonder how the Metropolitan Transportation Authority gets its reputation for inefficiency, look no further than East Side Access. The project connecting Long Island Rail Road trains to Grand Central Terminal is almost here – a decade past schedule and four times over budget at roughly $12 billion. The Daily News reported that the MTA kept separate books on the project, providing its board and the public with a more optimistic report on the project.
– New York City Council Member Shaun Abreu, in the same press conference COVID-19 cases, and test positivity rates are starting to increase in some areas of New York City. According to city data, neighborhoods including Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen, Brooklyn’s East New York, Queens’ Richmond Hill and Staten Island’s Great Kills had seven-day positivity rates of more than 15%. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned of two new variants: BQ.1 and BQ.1.1, which now make up 16% of cases nationwide. At the same time, the newest omicron booster, which was made available beginning in September, has not been very popular. Only about 363,000 New Yorkers had received the new shots as of Oct. 12.
VACANT APARTMENT STOCKPILE
Can you hear it? That faint whisper? That’s the sound of the wind blowing through 88,830 empty rent-stabilized apartments in New York City. You know, the place where more than half of renters are considered rent-burdened, meaning more than a third of their paycheck goes to pay for housing. The City unearthed city and state documents showing the eye-popping number of affordable homes without tenants as of 2021. Advocates said those apartments were being kept off the market intentionally to raise prices. What’s more, the number of rent-stabi-
lized apartments continues to shrink. The City reported there were 927,753 units in 2019, and that was down to 857,791 in 2021.
INNOVATION QNS FIGHT
A proposed Queens housing complex is the latest in a long line of developments to face opposition from the local New York City Council member. The Innovation QNS development would be huge, transforming whole city blocks currently used for parking and large retail stores in Astoria with 12 new towers and about 3,000 new apartments. Council Member Julie Won said she won’t support it because there weren’t enough affordable units included in the plan, even after the developers promised to make 40% of the apartments affordable. The proposal has support from Adams and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, and Richards and Won debated the issue at a testy City Council hearing on Oct. 19 following dueling rallies.
A PODCAST IS BORN
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, climbing back into the public eye with his characteristic determination, dropped the first episode of his new podcast “As A Matter Of Fact … .” Cuomo, who resigned in 2021 after multiple former staffers accused him of sexual harassment, interviewed former Trump Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci. The former governor and the ill-fated presidential spokesperson, neither of whom is currently in public service, lamented political polarization and gridlock.
Innovation QNS, which is a proposal to build 12 towers and 3,000 new apartments in Astoria, is being backed by Queens Borough President Donovan Richards.
State Senate Dems could add two more women of color
In 2020, when state Sen. Samra Brouk won her Rochester area seat, she became the first upstate woman of color in the state Senate. She joined the only two other women of color north of Westchester in the entire Legislature, forming a tiny contingent of three. But that number may soon expand if Democrats Julie Shiroishi in the Hudson Valley and Lea Webb in the Southern Tier emerge victorious on Nov. 8.
Shiroishi, if elected, would join what seems to be a slowly growing trend of upstate women of color running for office, she would make history in her own right as the first Japanese American state lawmaker. “I don’t look like most of the people – any of the people – who have represented this district or really run for office in this area,” Shiroishi told City & State, who is running to represent the 39th District in and around Poughkeepsie. “But that’s why I thought it was important.” Shiroishi is running against Poughkeepsie Mayor Robert Rolison, a white Republican. “I’m aware of my identity; it’s not the only reason that I’m running,” Shiroishi said, noting that the Hudson Valley doesn’t have a large community of Asian Americans. “I want people to focus on my issues and my experience, but … I think it’s important to have people from a range of backgrounds involved in making the decisions that affect our lives.”
For Shiroishi, that background includes growing up in an immigrant family – her mother born in Japan and her father Japanese American. Her father, a union member and truck driver, had been interned during World War II when he and his family lived in California.
Unlike first-time candidate Shiroishi, Webb comes into her state Senate race having served two terms as a Binghamton City Council member. At the age of 26, when voters first elected her, she was already aware that she was a shift away from the area’s typical representative. “One of the things that pushed me to (run), which was a barrier, was the lack of diverse representation,” Webb told City & State. “I didn’t see any folks of color, very limited representation from a gender or gender diversity standpoint.” She feels similarly about her campaign for the 52nd District against Binghamton Mayor Richard David. – Rebecca C. Lewis
THE WEEK AHEAD
WEDNESDAY 10/26
The Assembly Committee on Social Services holds a public hearing at 11 a.m. to examine public assistance benefits due to instability caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and rising inflation. THURSDAY 10/27
Crain’s New York Business hosts a Transportation Forum at 8 a.m. at the New York Athletic Club featuring New York City Transit President Richard Davey and others. SUNDAY 10/30
U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer debates his Republican opponent, conservative pundit Joe Pinion, at 7 p.m. on NY1 and Spectrum TV networks. INSIDE DOPE
Schumer loves holding Sunday press conferences. Now, he’s getting a Sunday debate for a race in which he’s heavily favored to win.
By City & State
Each year, City & State honors 40 talented individuals under the age of 40 who work in New York City government, politics and advocacy. These Rising Stars have already distinguished themselves in the eyes of their colleagues and are on their way to amassing many more noteworthy accomplishments. At a reception, which took place from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at 42 d’Or in midtown Manhattan, attendees gathered to celebrate their close friends or family members who made the list. Several keynote speakers, including Assembly Member Jenifer Rajkumar, wowed the crowd.
Many of the gathered honorees on the New York City 40 Under 40 list.
Sandy & Casey Ryan TaLona H. Holbert and May Boucherak
Assembly Member Jenifer Rajkumar
NYC 40 Under 40
Celebrating the Rising Stars of city government, politics and advocacy.
Dan Goldman
42 d’Or was an exciting venue for this year’s event.
Define ‘striking distance’
Lee Zeldin is gaining in the polls, and politicos are abuzz about whether he poses a real threat to Gov. Kathy Hochul.
By Rebecca C. Lewis
APAIR OF newly released polls paint very different pictures of the state of the race for governor in New York. Numbers out of Siena College have Gov. Kathy Hochul leading Rep. Lee Zeldin by 11 percentage points. Meanwhile, a poll from Quinnipiac University found a much narrower margin of victory, giving the incumbent Democrat just a 4 percentage point lead. That’s a stark difference between two polls put out on the same day. But neither poll alone tells the whole story of what’s happening in the race for governor.
The Quinnipiac poll shocked political observers when it came out given that it predicted the closest outcome of any major public polling of the race so far. What’s more, it found 37% of New York City voters backed Zeldin, well above the 30% threshold in the deep-blue city viewed by the GOP as necessary for statewide victory. And while the 11 percentage point lead the Siena poll gave Hochul still represents a comfortable margin of victory for the governor, it would be the closest in decades. And it’s a significant decrease compared to the Siena poll from last month, which had her up by 17 percentage points.
Both new polls were conducted after a high-profile shooting that occurred outside of Zeldin’s Long Island home and left two teens injured. Political observers aren’t necessarily surprised to see the gap between Hochul and Zeldin closing, with a Marist College poll from earlier this month showing a 10-point difference that seems in line with the new Siena poll. But the situation for Democrats may not be as dire as the Quinnipiac poll may suggest. “I don’t dispute that the likelihood is
– Jake Dilemani, Democratic consultant with Mercury
that Zeldin has tightened the race from a month ago,” Bruce Gyory, a lobbyist with Manatt, told City & State. “But that it’s down to 4%?” He pointed out the difference in sample groups between the Siena and Quinnipiac polls, with the latter including fewer Democrats. The Quinnipiac sample would indicate a lower-than-average turnout from voters on the left, whereas the Siena sample group was more in line with recent electoral trends. “That leaves me a little suspicious,” Gyory said, noting that Quinnipiac infamously released a poll that showed Carl Paladino only 6 percentage points behind former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2010. Cuomo won his first term that year in a landslide.
Despite the wonky polling science that might leave one to question the Quinnipiac poll, it and other recent surveys still reveal a trend that Hochul would do well to take seriously. “Polls always tighten,” Camille Rivera, a Democratic consultant with New Deal Strategies, told City & State. “It does however show that (Hochul) needs to amp (up) her ground game and crime is what is moving the numbers unfortunately.” The Quinnipiac poll found crime to be the top issue for likely voters in New York, with inflation second on the list. That, however, differs from both the recent Marist poll and the Siena poll from last month, which both had inflation as the biggest concern, followed by threats to democracy.
What has become apparent is that abortion rights, which Hochul has made a cornerstone of her campaign, is not a major motivating factor for voters. That has been consistent across public polling so far. “The problem looks like choice has not been the silver bullet among suburban women,” Jake Dilemani, a Democratic consultant with Mercury, told City & State. And it benefits the right to have inflation at the top of voters’ minds. “Historically, in the modern era, voters have ascribed better performances to Republicans than Democrats on crime and the economy,” Dilemani said. “And (those) issues are the two most salient.”
The Hochul campaign responded to the new polling in a statement sent to reporters. “Despite $8 million in outside spending from right-wing groups pushing baseless lies, Governor Hochul maintains a double-digit lead against her opponent,” campaign spokesperson Jerrel Harvey wrote. “Even in today’s Quinnipiac poll, which substantially undercounted Democrats, Governor Hochul continues to receive support from fifty percent of New Yorkers and we are confident in our ability to turn out voters in every community.” At an event on Oct. 18, Hochul told reporters that she wasn’t paying attention to the poll numbers and that she approaches every race as if she were “the underdog.”
But more than anything else, the new polls and the changes from just a month ago suggest that the race is far from over, even if new numbers have begun to turn more in Zeldin’s favor. Just as the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade threw a wrench in Republican electoral politics across the country in the months that followed, another major development could steer the race for governor in yet another direction. “I think this race is teetering between being a comfortable double-digit win … for Hochul, or dropping down to a closer race in the 5% range,” Gyory said. ■
Recent polling has put Rep. Lee Zeldin just a few percentage points behind Gov. Kathy Hochul.
