The local paper for the Upper East Side
WEEK OF MARCH INSIDE THE BOX ◄P.12
22-28 2018
CYNTHIA NIXON’S GUBERNATORIAL GAMBIT POLITICS The actor-activist and consummate Manhattanite says farewell Miranda, throws her hat in the ring. But can she take down the incumbent pol who may be the most powerful man in the state? BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN
It is now official: Conjuring up her humble upbringing — living in a onebedroom, fifth-floor Yorkville walkup with a single mom — lifelong New Yorker Cynthia Nixon declared on Monday that she was running to unseat Governor Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary. “I love New York,” she said in a gauzy, two-minute political video statement unveiling her candidacy. “New York is my home. I’ve never wanted to live anywhere else.” As the camera portrayed her descending into a subway station, waiting on a platform, taking a train, walking purposefully down city streets, she got straight to the point. “Our leaders are letting us down,” Nixon said. She didn’t mention any names. But she briefly explored themes that have been the calling card of her No. 1 political ally and top Cuomo nemesis, Mayor Bill de Blasio, saying that the Empire State has become the “most unequal state in the entire country with both incredible wealth and extreme poverty.” And she demanded, “How did we let this happen?” Nixon’s response to her own rhetorical question: “Something has to change,” and she called on “government to work again on health care, ending mass incarceration, fixing our broken subways.” It wasn’t particularly subtle. “We
Police seized over 200 electric bicycles in the first six weeks of 2018, often posting photos of confiscated e-bikes to social media. Photo: NYPD, via Twitter
Mayor Bill de Blasio and first lady Chirlane McCray visit backstage with Cynthia Nixon after watching the actor in a performance of“The Little Foxes” at the Samuel J. Friedman Theater in Midtown Manhattan on May 12, 2017. Nixon announced Monday that she is bidding for the Democratic nomination in the New York governor’s race. Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office are sick of politicians who care more about headlines and power than they do about us,” she said. “It can’t just be business as usual anymore.” Does she have a chance? Well, Nixon’s announcement came out on the same day a Siena College poll found Cuomo would trounce her by a 66-to19 margin among registered Democrats. On the other hand, consider another series of numbers that are retro and stark and could possibly portend change in a political climate shifting toward the empowerment of women: Starting with George Clinton in 1777 and continuing all the way up to Cuomo, New York has had 56 governors in 241 years — and not a single one has been a woman.
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More than 2,000 governors have held office across the U.S. since the founding of the republic – and all but 39 have been men, according to data provided by the Center for American Women and Politics. And today? Nearly a century after women got the vote nationwide, the 50 statehouses boast only six women governors — two Democrats and four Republicans, or 12 percent — down from a peak of nine in 2007. Expect that tally to rise, perhaps dramatically, in November, fueled by the #MeToo movement, a surge in political fundraising for women and the drive to fix, or supplant, a broken male-dominated system.
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NYPD E-BIKES CRACKDOWN CONTINUES SAFETY City’s efforts to rid streets of electric bicycles focus on seizures, fines BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
Electric bicycles — outfitted with battery-powered motors that can propel riders at sustained speeds of upwards of 20 mph — have become an increasingly familiar piece of Manhattan’s streetscape in recent years. They’ve become so common that an out-of-towner who didn’t know better could be forgiven for thinking that the motorized bikes, favored by food delivery workers for their speed and ease of mobility, are a fully sanctioned mode of transportation in New York City.
But in spite of their ubiquity, e-bikes are, in fact, illegal to ride on city streets — and the city has gone to increased lengths to stamp out their use. From Jan. 1 to Feb. 11, the most recent period for which data is available, police seized 209 e-bikes and issued 238 moving summonses to e-bike users citywide.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 15 Jewish women and girls light up the world by lighting the Shabbat candles every Friday evening 18 minutes before sunset. Friday, March 23 – 6:53 pm. For more information visit www.chabaduppereastside.com
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