13 minute read
FIRST READ
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries with be the new House minority leader next year, which means that New Yorkers will lead both Democratic conferences in Congress.
BROOKLYN IN THE HOUSE
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With Brooklyn’s very own Rep. Hakeem Jeffries officially set to become the next House minority leader – also becoming the first Black lawmaker elected to lead a Congressional chamber in U.S history, the borough is officially having a moment. For the first time in history, Brooklynites hold all three citywide elected positions, and with Jeffries’ election, they now lead Democrats in both the House and Senate. Senate Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer lives a mere mile away from the Bed-Stuy representative. Jeffries, a moderate, faced very little pushback leading up to his election, easily clinching the position without a single challenger. Gov. Kathy Hochul and Adams both offered their congratulations, the latter
CRYPTO CON
Sam Bankman-Fried is, as he put it, “having a bad month.” The disgraced crypto baron and prolific campaign donor – including in New York elections – sold investors on an altruistic community that has since collapsed, as New York magazine noted. But he did keep his interview appointment at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit last week, while Mayor Eric Adams dropped out of the event and went to Greece.
– New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Donna Lieberman in a statement
– New York City Mayor Eric Adams, on paying for his own trip to Qatar, via New York magazine lauding Jeffries as a “good friend” and expressing his excitement that “two Brooklyn kids” will soon be helming both Congress and New York City..
ADAMS’ NEW INVOLUNTARY COMMITMENT POLICY
More seriously mentally ill New Yorkers are likely to soon be taken to hospitals for psychiatric evaluations without their permission – a shift that’s been met with a myriad of emotions as advocates, impacted individuals and elected officials have digested what this might mean. New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced the new citywide policy Nov. 29 in a rare public address, laying out a series of proposed reforms and initiatives while urging compassion for people experiencing homelessness. His directive clarifies that emergency responders can transport people who are presumably suffering from severe, untreated illness to hospitals involuntarily if they are unable to meet their “basic human needs” to the point that they pose a danger to themself. The decision has garnered mixed responses. Some civil liberties and mental health experts view the shift as a welcome step away from incarcerating mentally ill people, while others worry about police involvement. The New York City Police Department was also reportedly caught off guard by the announcement, and have since be-
gun scrambling to implement the plan, according to the New York Post.
A RIGHT TO COUNSEL
With immigration courts facing a historic backlog of over 184,000 cases and more than 27,000 asylum-seekers having recently arrived in New York City, some elected officials are eyeing legislation to guarantee statewide legal representation in deportation proceedings. A coalition of impacted migrant families, immigration advocates and politicians recently rolled out a campaign in hopes of securing legal proceedings for all low-income migrants facing deportation. They believe the proposed legislation, the Access to Representation Act, would go a long way in helping the more than 55,000 people who don’t have legal representation as of October. Some migrants won’t need to wait until the next legislative session for a little relief though – Hochul plans to administer an additional $3 million over the next three years through the state Office for New Americans to give immigrants free legal services.
THE MTA’S ONGOING WOES
Taking public transportation and driving through New York City tunnels could soon become even pricier. Facing a yawning budget deficit due to dwindling ridership, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority plans to raise fares and tolls by 5.5% starting in June – a larger increase than the 4% increase the system has implemented nearly every two years since 2009. That would bring subway fare to $2.90 next year. Leaders of the transportation system recently laid out the figures as part of the MTA’s 2023 budget proposal, which will be voted on next month.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is facing a fiscal cliff and declining ridership. Several solutions to close the budget gap are on the table, including raising fares.
Peter Abbate is still fundraising after losing
Outgoing Assembly Member Peter Abbate Jr. doesn’t think he’d run again for office, even if the Republican who beat him, Lester Chang, were barred from taking office because he might not have lived in Brooklyn for long enough. The Assembly is preparing to vote against seating Chang, which could lead to a special election.
But that isn’t stopping Abbate from holding a fundraiser at the New York State Public Employee Conference convention in Puerto Rico – even though he already has nearly $1 million in his campaign account. Abbate, who chairs the Committee on Governmental Employees, explained to City & State that he holds a fundraiser at the conference every year, and this was scheduled before he lost his reelection bid. So he doesn’t expect much of a party this year. “I’ll sit around with two or three people and probably return the checks or give them to other candidates,” he said.
He expects to have more than $700,000 left in his campaign account after the latest filing. “You can do nice things in the community that I won’t have state grants for,” he said. “Nonprofits, buy a table at their dinner.”
Abbate has his eyes on some future campaigns though. He’s expected to support City Council candidate Wai Yee Chan in the newly drawn City Council District 43, which has a majority Asian population, and oppose Susan Zhuang, who is backed by Assembly Member William Colton, who Abbate accused of making a deal with Republicans. “He sold south Brooklyn out,” Abbate said.
Abbate was one of the several southern Brooklyn incumbent Democrats who lost to Republicans in the midterm elections. But the 36-year incumbent has a decidedly zen attitude about leaving office. “I’m fine,” Abbate told City & State.
So why didn’t Abbate spend more on his own race with so much money in the bank? “I spent over $300,000,” he said. “There comes a point (where) you can’t spend it all. I did five mailings, we did phone calls, we had canvassers out there.” Abbate said that even with that, he saw the writing on the wall. “I thought it was going to be OK until the last month or so. Being out in the street you just saw the anger in the people.” But he feels good about the race he ran, and has something else to be proud of: “My chief of staff became a senator!” Abbate said, about state Sen.-elect Iwen Chu. “That’s my greatest contribution to the Chinese community.” – Jeff Coltin
THE WEEK AHEAD
WEDNESDAY 12/7
The state Senate Committee on Crime Victims, Crime and Correction and the Committee on Judiciary holds a joint public hearing at 10 a.m. on two bills aimed at changing rules for parole eligibility. INSIDE DOPE
Parole has been highly politicized by Republicans, so it’s no surprise this hearing was only scheduled after the election. THURSDAY 12/8
City & State hosts the Government Modernization Summit, starting at 9 a.m. at The Museum of Jewish Heritage in lower Manhattan. THURSDAY 12/8
New York City Deputy Mayor Maria TorresSpringer is interviewed at a Crain’s New York Business power breakfast at 9 a.m. at the New York Athletic Club in Manhattan.
STATE OFTHE STADIUMS
A NEW SOCCER VENUE PROPOSED IN QUEENS HAS SEVERAL MORE CONTROVERSIAL PREDECESSORS.
By Erik Lazo
THE NEW BUFFALO BILLS STADIUM
Projected year built: 2026 Projected cost to build: $1.4 billion
Projected cost to taxpayers: $850 million
When Gov. Kathy Hochul announced she would give the billionaire owners of the Buffalo Bills a public handout of $850 million to help them build a new stadium, she was met with criticism. New York City Mayor Eric Adams recently announced a landmark deal to completely redevelop Willets Point, Queens, into a brand new neighborhood that will not only offer a new soccer stadium for Major League Soccer’s New York City Football Club, but also 2,500 units of 100% affordable housing, a 250-room hotel and a new 650-seat K-8 public school.
As the mayor continues his soccer agenda with a visit to the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, we take a look at some of New York's other sports venues and their financing.
YANKEE STADIUM
Year built: 2009 Cost to build: $2.3 billion
Cost to taxpayers: $1.2 billion
At its inception, it was estimated that Yankee Stadium would cost $1.3 billion to build. This figure ballooned to almost double, when the team requested amenities such as parking garages to compliment the stadium. CITI FIELD
Year built: 2009 Cost to build: $830 million
Cost to taxpayers: $614.3 million
The New York Mets were also recipients of tax-free municipal bonds that the team used to fund the construction of Citi Field. Like the Yankees, public money used to fund the Mets’ stadium came in the form of subsidies and tax breaks.
MADISON SQUARE GARDEN
Year built: 1968 Cost to build: About $100 million in 1964
Cost to taxpayers: $875 million & counting
Since the 1982 deal negotiated by thenMayor Ed Koch, the Garden has been exempted from paying any property taxes. Koch later claimed he thought the tax deal was only supposed to last 10 years. UBS ARENA
Year Built: 2021 Cost to build: $1.5 billion
Cost to taxpayers: $68 million+
A Village Voice investigation found that the land the state leased for the project was not properly assessed. The Buffalo-based Investigative Post reported that the state subsidized other components of the project, to the tune of $68 million.
BARCLAYS CENTER
Year built: 2012 Cost to build: $1 billion
Cost to taxpayer: $860 million
The plan to build the Barclays Center was part of the messy 2004 Atlantic Yards development project that has yet to be completed. A University of Pennsylvania case study estimates the public cost to be around $860 million for the arena alone. NEW YORK CITY FC SOCCER STADIUM
Year built: 2027 Projected cost to build: $780 million
Cost to taxpayers: TBD
The team won’t pay any real estate taxes, but it will have to pay about $4 million annually as part of the 49-year agreement to lease the city land on which the stadium will be built.
A Q&A with Assembly Member
ANNA KELLES
The cryptocurrency moratorium bill was finally signed. At what point did you know Gov. Kathy Hochul was leaning toward signing it? I couldn’t imagine her ever not signing it because the bill was so pragmatic. It was very focused. It was narrow. It created a pathway to both protect our environment and protect our environmental laws, while simultaneously creating a mechanism to not completely prevent the maturing of the industry and interaction with the industry. In my interactions with (Hochul), I knew at least her executive staff, and she respected and understood that (the bill) was well thought through and that it was nuanced. What she said up until the couple days before she actually signed was, “I am looking at it very carefully.” So I knew that the attention that was being given to that bill very closely coincided with how adamant the environmental community and smallbusiness community was publicly about her signing that bill. That was a very strong influence. So to answer your question, probably a couple of days before she signed it, it started becoming clearer because of the questions that they were asking. What do you mean by the questions they were asking? You know, who exactly is this going to impact? What are the comprehensive environmental groups that support it? Really asking for that documentation of where the support is, who the advocates were, so that they could get a solid picture of the landscape of where the support was for the bill.
And this was the governor’s office asking these questions? Yeah. The reason that they wanted to understand it, and I appreciate it, is because there had been a huge outcry (in favor of the bill) from the small-business community over the last couple of months. The comprehensive outreach from the small-business community, I think, in the last six months, was a new push. There had been a lot of small businesses that started to really formally coalesce over the last six months once the bill passed the Senate and the Assembly. And I think that they took that seriously. Because the argument from the industry was that this was bad for business. But if the governor was hearing from a lot of small businesses that they supported this piece of legislation because they were experiencing negative impacts of the large-scale corporate cryptocurrency mining, then it really creates a counternarrative to what the industry was saying. And I appreciated that they were taking that very seriously.
What do you foresee happening after two years, when this moratorium expires? My hope is in two years we will have the (general environmental impact statement) that will give us the data so that any decisions we make moving forward will be data driven, not rhetoric. – Annie McDonough
Our Perspective
Amazon, Recognize Your Workers’ Humanity!
By Stuart Appelbaum, President, Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, RWDSU, UFCW Twitter: @sappelbaum
Amazon’s continued mistreatment of workers sparked huge protests across the globe on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, with workers and activists at 140 actions in over 40 countries bringing attention to the company’s appalling, dehumanizing, and abusive behavior.
The Make Amazon Pay campaign — an international union-led coalition of labor, progressive, and activist organizations — is holding Amazon to account for treating workers as disposable commodities, for its environmental policies and for failing to pay its taxes. The campaign is leading actions — like those on Black Friday — to demand Amazon raise worker pay, create safer workplaces, extend sick leave, provide job security, end union busting, respect workers’ rights, and operate sustainably. The campaign is also demanding that Amazon pay back to society by paying its taxes in full and ending its abuse of tax loopholes.
Protests, demonstrations, and walkouts worldwide focused on how Amazon exploits workers and hurts communities. Workers at 18 distribution centers in France and Germany went on strike. In St. Peters, Missouri, Amazon workers walked off the job at the STL8 distribution center. At the Amazon distribution center in Bessemer, Alabama, where employees have been trying to unionize with the RWDSU since 2020, workers joined community groups and other unions including striking Alabama mine workers in a show of solidarity. And in New York City, dozens of activists protested outside of Jeff Bezos’ $23 million luxury apartment, demanding the Amazon chief’s attention. Amazon workers endure unsafe work speeds, unreasonable work quotas, dangerous work, and insufficient breaks, all of which contribute to the skyrocketing rate of injuries in the industry. Workers’ productivity is monitored so closely that they are afraid to take bathroom breaks.
In New York, the warehouse industry has alarmingly high injury rates. Amazon workers are injured at a rate of six per 100, which is five times the average in New York. While all warehouse work is dangerous, Amazon warehouse workers are 54 percent more likely than others in the industry to get sick or hurt on the job.
It’s a matter of decency, morality, and often literally, life and death. We want Amazon to listen, and we want Amazon to change. Workers from New York to Alabama and from Leipzig to New Delhi want better pay, safer workplaces, and a voice at work. Most of all, they want dignity and respect, and to be treated like humans from a company that can afford to change the way it operates. www.rwdsu.org
