| | | | | |  | | By Erin Durkin and Anna Gronewold with Jonathan Custodio | Presented by Noom | Good news for Queens: The hotspots in the borough where businesses and schools were ordered to shut down because of a spike in Covid-19 cases, will see most of those restrictions lifted after making solid progress in reducing their infection rates. Not so much for Brooklyn: Red zone shutdowns will stay in place for now, keeping nonessential businesses and schools closed and houses of worship under tight limits. Gov. Andrew Cuomo moved to loosen some restrictions two weeks after imposing the first new lockdowns since the spring in an effort to stamp out Covid-19 clusters. Hotspots in Queens will be rebranded as less restrictive yellow zones, where most activities are allowed to continue but schools must do increased Covid-19 testing. In Brooklyn, orange zones where schools had closed and indoor dining was banned will also become yellows, allowing those facilities to reopen. Businesses now cleared to re-open can be up and running today, while schools can open on Monday. But in southern Brooklyn red zone neighborhoods including Borough Park and Midwood, home to the most severe outbreaks in the city, the positive test rate is still around 5.5 percent. There and in Rockland and Orange counties, the most stringent shutdowns will continue. Those areas will have to see a positive test rate under 3 percent after ten days to get out of the red. And the state is playing a bit of a game of whack-a-mole with these outbreaks, Cuomo acknowledged as he identified new areas of concern in two Southern Tier counties near the Pennsylvania border, where yellow and orange zones will be created. "They're going to flare up, and then you run and you put them out. The next day, there's another flare-up somewhere else." IT'S THURSDAY. Got tips, suggestions or thoughts? Let us know ... By email: EDurkin@politico.com and agronewold@politico.com, or on Twitter: @erinmdurkin and @annagronewold WHERE'S ANDREW? In Albany with no public events scheduled. WHERE'S BILL? Holding a media availability. ABOVE THE FOLD: "Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio are often not on the same page when it comes to the coronavirus. It turns out, neither are New Yorkers' feelings about the two Democrats. An exclusive Spectrum News/Ipsos Poll finds that 73% of city residents approve of the way Cuomo is handling the COVID-19 crisis, while 21% do not. While still positive, de Blasio gets lower marks. Fifty-two percent approve of how he's handling it, versus 39% who do not … Cuomo and de Blasio's ratings on COVID-19 track with their overall job approval. In the city, 71% approve of Cuomo's handling of his job as governor, while 21% disapprove. Forty-nine percent approve of de Blasio's handling of his job as mayor, while 43% disapprove." NY1's Emily Ngo | | | | A message from Noom: Introducing Noom, the last health and wellness program you'll ever need. They know the power to build life changing habits comes from within. Their online support system includes a personal goal specialist and support from real people trained in psychology, fitness and nutrition to help users reach their goals. Start your journey today. | | |
|  | WHAT CITY HALL'S READING | | "NEW YORK City Council Member Carlos Menchaca confirmed to City & State that he is running for mayor in the 2021 Democratic primary and will officially announce his candidacy on Thursday. As has been previously reported, Menchaca has filed with the New York City Campaign Finance Board and the announcement has been widely anticipated since Menchaca hinted at it on Twitter earlier this month. Menchaca, who has recently drawn attention for defeating a proposed rezoning of Industry City, represents a diverse, largely Latino district spanning Sunset Park, Red Hook, Greenwood Heights and slivers of Windsor Terrace, Dyker Heights and Borough Park. He is the first Mexican-American elected official in New York State." City & State's Max Kutner "SHORTLY BEFORE 10 a.m. last Wednesday, city investigators opened an investigation into the Ocean Parkway Jewish Center in Kensington, Brooklyn. The city's 311 hotline had fielded multiple complaints about a yeshiva, Mevakshai Hashem, believed to be operating illegally inside the historic building. Five hours later, members of the Mayor's Office of Special Enforcement closed the case, deeming the school a childcare center exempt from the targeted shutdown in neighborhoods with heightened coronavirus rates. In the days since, hundreds of boys have poured into the center at 550 Ocean Parkway each morning, defying state lockdown orders with the implicit blessing of the city task force charged with enforcement. Across Brooklyn's Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods, private schools have managed to skirt oversight from city officials by posing as 'school-age child care programs,' according to community members who spoke to Gothamist." Gothamist's Jake Offenhartz and David Cruz "A GROUP OF fed-up city parents is suing the city over the lack of full time schooling in the nation's largest school system. The families, who will file the class action suit Wednesday, are stressing the damage being wrought by screen-dependent remote learning in making their demand. Crystal Lia, 39, a parent of three, said the format is draining her family of both resources and educational value. 'My husband is a city worker,' she said Wednesday. 'I'm an essential employee, I run a business on Staten Island. We cannot physically teach three kids in three different grades. We cannot afford to pay our bills by staying home with three kids in three different grades.'" New York Post's Selim Algar — "NYC has yet to release attendance data, but schools say many kids aren't showing up." A RECENT RUSH hour morning at one of New York's busiest stations looked nothing like the pre-pandemic days. The chaotic energy at the heart of America's biggest city is now subdued to just a handful of mask-clad workers tunneling their way through the dingy underground corridors. As economies of major cities crawl out of the Covid-19 abyss, transit systems that keep them running are in for an uneven recovery — and as the disease threatens a resurgence in winter months, mass transit systems around the globe are facing potential financial ruin without bailouts from governments that are also in deep fiscal holes. European capitals have collectively recovered half of their usual riders, while major North American cities have seen a much slower return to public transit. But none are close to full ridership after nearly a year, and the dearth is laying siege to transit coffers from New York to Berlin. POLITICO's Danielle Muoio "NEW YORK CITY is in the early stages of preparing to distribute a coronavirus vaccine, an operation it expects to roll out in two phases — the first for essential workers and the most vulnerable, and the second for everyone else. A vaccine has not yet been approved by the federal government, but one is expected within the next several months after adequate trials have been completed." New York Daily News' Michael Gartland "NEW YORK CITY ELECTION OFFICIALS announced with fanfare that early voting sites would be established at two cavernous arenas — Madison Square Garden and Barclays Center. But there was a catch: most people can't use them . Election officials are opening only 18 sites in Queens when early voting starts on Saturday, far less than recommended under state law. And frustration has grown among some voters because their assigned voting locations are farther away and different from the poll site they typically go to on Election Day. New York is carrying out early voting in a presidential election for the first time in its history, an initiative that supporters say will fundamentally change the democratic process in the state and sharply increase voter turnout." New York Times' Luis Ferré-Sadurní | | | | THIS WEEK - NEW EPISODES OF POLITICO'S GLOBAL TRANSLATIONS PODCAST : The world has long been beset by big problems that defy political boundaries, but many of those issues exploded over the past year. Are world leaders and political actors up to the task of solving them? Is the private sector? Our Global Translations podcast, presented by Citi, unpacks the roadblocks to smart policy decisions and examines the long-term costs of the short-term thinking that drives many political and business decisions. Subscribe now for Season Two, launching Oct. 21. | | | | |
| | WHAT ALBANY'S READING | | "NEW YORK is weighing significant changes to its quarantine rules for out-of-state travelers as the prevalence of COVID-19 continues to rise throughout the country, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday. At a news conference, Cuomo suggested the state may swap out its 14-day quarantine order for travelers arriving from high-COVID states with new rules that would require the traveler to complete a rapid coronavirus test." USA Today Network's Jon Campbell "NONPROFITS across New York on Wednesday called on Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to release the remaining $2 billion in federal CARES Act funding as the organizations struggle to stay afloat. When the federal government passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, New York was allocated $5.1 billion to assist the state with covering the direct costs associated with responding to COVID-19, including purchasing personal protective equipment and retrofitting buildings and offices to be socially distanced. Although the remaining federal aid is budgeted for disbursement through the end of the year, nonprofit human service providers said they cannot wait any longer. Laurie McBain, a program manager for Healthy Families of Rensselaer County, said families across their coverage area have increasingly relied on the nonprofit for access to food, diapers, bus passes and other general resources during the public health crisis, and yet they have had to make cuts and may need to make more." Times Union's Amanda Fries "GREENE COUNTY officials say a coronavirus outbreak at the local state prison could have been prevented and are calling on Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to take immediate, swift action to help curb its spread. The outbreak, which has impacted at least 100 inmates and 14 employees of the Greene Correctional Facility, has spread into surrounding communities since it was first detected earlier this month — resulting in the closure of the Greenville Elementary School and an outbreak at an assisted living facility in Ghent, public health officials say. In addition, because inmate infections are counted toward the county's infection rate, movie theaters and event venues in Greene County will be unable to reopen as scheduled Friday, County Administrator Shaun Groden said. 'The 100 inmates that are in Greene are not going to be going to the movies this Saturday, yet that is being held against us and our businesses and our economy,' he said. 'That is wrong.'" Times Union's Bethany Bump — Charting his own course: Rusty Zimmerman, the artist behind Cuomo's infamous posters, is selling copies in his Etsy shop. #UpstateAmerica: At least 60 trucks have crashed into the City of Tonawanda train bridge in the past two decades and yet, the bridge persists. | | | |   | | |
| | ... 2020 VISION ... | | "OUTSIDE POLITICAL groups are pouring millions into the race for Staten Island's swing-district congressional seat — fueling a growing bonfire of negative ads pitting freshman Rep. Max Rose against challenger Nicole Malliotakis. The $7.2 million splurge by political action committees and other groups represents nearly as much as Democrat Rose and Malliotakis, a Republican state Assembly member, have spent so far combined in their bids to represent Staten Island and part of southern Brooklyn, records show. Democrat-dominated New York City's only competitive House race, unfolding in a district that went for Donald Trump in 2016, is drawing national attention — some of it in the form of money propelling the dueling attack-ad blitz." The City's Clifford Michel ELECTIONLAND: POLITICO is partnering with Electionland, a ProPublica project that works with newsrooms to track voting issues around the country. The Electionland project covers problems that prevent eligible voters from casting their ballots during the 2020 elections. Tell us here if you're having trouble voting. | | TRUMP'S NEW YORK | | "THE REPUTATION OF Rudy Giuliani could be set for a further blow with the release of highly embarrassing footage in Sacha Baron Cohen's follow-up to Borat. In the film, [to be] released on Friday, the former New York mayor and current personal attorney to Donald Trump is seen reaching into his trousers and apparently touching his genitals while reclining on a bed in the presence of the actor playing Borat's daughter, who is posing as a TV journalist. Following an obsequious interview for a fake conservative news programme, the pair retreat at her suggestion for a drink to the bedroom of a hotel suite, which is rigged with concealed cameras. After she removes his microphone, Giuliani, 76, can be seen lying back on the bed, fiddling with his untucked shirt and reaching into his trousers. They are then interrupted by Borat who runs in and says: 'She's 15. She's too old for you.'" Guardian's Catherine Shoard "FOR GABRIELA Ramos and her two children, their nightmare began in August of 2019 when during a routine traffic stop in Yonkers, her husband was arrested for driving without a license. He was issued a court date and Ramos bailed him out. After attending their second hearing, Ramos' husband was subject to an arrest by ICE agents outside Yonkers City Court. Despite a yearlong battle to release him, Ramos's husband was deported back to Mexico. 'He was the one who was always there for us, the one who supported us. Life is not the same without him,' she says. Since Trump's election, New York deportations have surged by 150 percent. Between 2016 and 2018, ICE activity in and around New York courthouses spiked from 11 operations to 202 operations, an increase of 1,700 percent...In July, the New York State Legislature passed the Protect Our Courts Act, which would prevent immigration-related civil arrests at New York courts. Governor Cuomo has yet to sign the bill into law. Because of this, immigrant rights activists are fearful that ICE raids will continue unabated." Documented's Amir Khafagy | | FROM THE DELEGATION | | "TWO WEEKS before the election, Democrats are slightly favored to win control of the U.S. Senate, raising the possibility that Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer could swap his title for majority leader in January. Schumer has been working behind the scenes for this outcome for more than a year by recruiting candidates, fundraising, crafting the Democratic message and coordinating efforts between the campaigns of former Vice President Joe Biden and his Senate hopefuls. 'I'm doing everything I can,' Schumer said in a recent interview. 'The best thing to do is to support candidates who really represent their states well, and I think we've been able to do that.' Control of the Senate will be a key determinant of whether a President Biden or President Donald Trump are able to pass legislation, fill their cabinets and appoint judges over the next four years. Schumer as majority leader could also unlock benefits for New York state, particularly access to federal funding." Times Union's Emily Munson | | | | GLOBAL PULSE, GLOBAL PURPOSE: At a high-stakes moment when global health has become a household concern, it is pivotal to keep up with the politics and policy driving change. Global Pulse connects leaders, policymakers and advocates to the people and politics driving global health. Join the conversation and subscribe today for this new weekly newsletter. | | | | |
| | AROUND NEW YORK | | — A new poll finds that 64 percent of New Yorkers see a future for themselves in the city, but few believe the city's recovery will be quick. — Dozens of required statistical reports produced by city agencies have not been produced by recent deadlines. — The city's first "chief democracy officer" quietly resigned in January and has not been replaced. — Data released Wednesday by the city Independent Budget Office showed that 42.5 percent of all the city income tax was paid by the top 1 percent of earners. — A panel that had been missing from a series by artist Jacob Lawrence was hung at the Met after being located in an unsuspecting Upper West Side couple's apartment. — Halloween isn't banned this year, but keep trick or treating all outdoors and kids should wear a face mask in addition to any mask that might be part of their costume. — An 82-year-old woman was struck and killed by a Revel scooter driver. — The home of Randy Mastro, the attorney for Upper West Side residents fighting to move homeless men from a neighborhood hotel, was vandalized. — Counsel to Mayor de Blasio, Kapil Longani, is hosting a new podcast interviewing city officials. — A slate of new lawsuits alleges child sex abuse for several decades at youth residential facility Children's Village in Dobbs Ferry. — Oyster Bay Town officials are not commenting after giving $665,000 in raises to 151 town employees amid the Covid-19 pandemic. — Port Chester officials have decided to disband their village courts to counter budget shortfalls. — Some families faced additional challenges as their children needed to adapt to remote learning. — Asian American New Yorkers had the highest surge in unemployment during the first few months of the pandemic, according to a report. | | SOCIAL DATA BY DANIEL LIPPMAN | | HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Chris Licht, executive producer/showrunner of "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" and EVP of special programming at CBS Corp. … Warren Strobel … Jonathan Prince, VP of comms at Slack, is 53 … Stephanie Cutter, founding partner at Precision Strategies (h/ts Jon Haber) … Ross Barkan … Miriam Calderone ... Samantha Friedman Kupferman ... Adam Parkhomenko … Atlantic Council's Trey Herr … Jenna Lamond … Frank Lowy is 9-0 … Allen Fagin ... Alan Patricof MAKING MOVES — Marian Guerra, former deputy chief of staff and director of legislation and budget for City Council Member Margaret Chin, has been hired by Kasirer LLC as director of government relations, nonprofits. | | | | A message from Noom: Noom is different, it is a new way to get healthy and lose weight that uses psychology and behavior change. Designed by psychologists to prioritize you and your brain, Noom is dedicated to teaching you how your mind works, and why you make the decisions you do, so it is not a temporary fix. Take a quiz at Noom.com to start your health journey today! | | |
| | REAL ESTATE | | "GOVERNORS ISLAND officials are looking for a developer to turn one of the island's historic buildings into a hub for sustainability programs and businesses. The Trust for Governors Island, a nonprofit organization that operates the popular attraction on behalf of the city, said Wednesday it is inviting developers and operators to submit proposals to redevelop one of the island's waterfront buildings. The project is the first step of a broader initiative, announced last month with Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration, to rezone the southern portion of the island and attract a cluster of academic, commercial and cultural tenants dedicated to researching and developing solutions for climate change." Wall Street Journal's Kate King "EIGHT MONTHS into the pandemic, New York keeps right on building. Midtown seems populated entirely by construction workers finishing crash pads for plutocrats who may never show up. The 700-foot Union Carbide Building on Park Avenue is shrinking day by day so its successor, a super-tall JPMorgan headquarters designed by Norman Foster, can rise in its place. The pandemic stilled the frenzy for a while, but by Labor Day, there were 200 million square feet of floor space under construction in the five boroughs...Two office buildings are spectacularly ill-timed : The 1,401-foot-high One Vanderbilt, next door to Grand Central Terminal, is still getting its makeup on, and the more horizontal Dock 72 has been keeping a lonely vigil at the Brooklyn Navy Yard since just before COVID hit. These two nearly vacant buildings, totems of the city's economic hopes, embody the combination of confidence and wishful thinking that is helping New Yorkers get through each week." Curbed's Justin Davidson
| | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment