| | | | | |  | | By Erin Durkin and Anna Gronewold with Jonathan Custodio | Presented by Uber | David Dinkins, New York City's first — and so far, only — Black mayor, died Monday night. He was 93. His death comes just weeks after his wife of more than 60 years, Joyce Dinkins, also passed away. Dinkins' history-making win in 1989 came after he had risen through the ranks of Harlem politics, having served in the Assembly and Manhattan borough president. But his time in office was marked by racial strife, high crime, protests by police officers , and longstanding fiscal trouble. Responding to public safety concerns, Dinkins setup a large increase in the number of police officers. But he faced the biggest crisis of his mayoralty when a dayslong riot engulfed Crown Heights after long-held tensions between Black residents and Hasidic Jewish community suddenly snapped when a young Black child was struck and killed by a car. The whole event is still seared on the city's consciousness and can send a shiver down your spine. Voters rejected Dinkins' bid for a second term, losing to Rudy Giuliani, who he had narrowly bested four years earlier. He liked to call New York City a "gorgeous mosaic," a term he employed in his inaugural address and again in the memoir he released in 2013, "A Mayor's Life: Governing New York's Gorgeous Mosaic." An understated figure in between the bombastic Ed Koch and Giuliani, he became a respected statesman in his post-mayoral years, and supporters and detractors alike are remembering him as a kind and decent man. One of his proteges, Bill de Blasio, who worked for Dinkins at City Hall, will join the rest of the city in mourning him. IT'S TUESDAY. Editor's note: Dinkins was the first politician — let alone mayor — to shake my hand. It was circa 1990 or 1991, and I was one of a couple dozen kids at my elementary school in Greenwich Village to get the same treatment. He actually resembled one of my grandfathers. Years later I looked back at that moment and realized it's probably where my interest in politics got seeded. 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? No schedule available by press time. WHERE'S BILL? Appearing on WCBS and Hot 97 and holding a media availability. PROGRAMMING NOTE: New York Playbook will not publish on Thursday, Nov. 26, and Friday, Nov. 27. Please continue to follow POLITICO New York. ABOVE THE FOLD: For days, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has been preaching a message of sacrifice during the holidays, warning New Yorkers that Thanksgiving gatherings could be dangerous as virus cases spike across the nation, and beseeching them to reconsider their plans to help stem the rising tide. So it was surprising when Mr. Cuomo announced on Monday afternoon that he had invited his 89-year-old mother, Matilda, and two of his daughters to celebrate a very Cuomo Thanksgiving with him this week in Albany. The news of the family dinner came during a radio interview in an offhand answer to a question about the upcoming holiday. 'My mom is going to come up and two of my girls,' the governor said on WAMC, adding, 'The plans change. But that's my plan.; Mr. Cuomo's plans would quickly change again, but not soon enough to avoid a barrage of condemnation from his most frequent critics. 'His arrogance and hypocrisy knows no bounds,' Representative Elise Stefanik, an upstate Republican who was recently re-elected to a fourth term, wrote on Twitter. 'Do as I say, not as I do.'" New York Times' Jesse McKinley and Luis Ferré-Sadurní | | A message from Uber: CA voters & app workers voted overwhelmingly to protect workers' flexibility and provide new benefits. Time for New York to follow, see how here. | | |
|  | WHAT CITY HALL'S READING | | "NEW YORK'S GOVERNOR said he is reopening an emergency COVID-19 field hospital on Staten Island as the number of infections keep climbing, the first such facility in the state to relaunch since the state partly tamed the pandemic over the summer. The temporary hospital on the grounds of the South Beach Psychiatric Hospital cared for 200 patients in spring, when New York City's hospital wards were overwhelmed with seriously ill and dying coronavirus patients. Now, Cuomo said officials are concerned it might be needed again, as the virus has spread in the borough at a faster rate than in the rest of the city. Staten Island has averaged 209 new cases of COVID-19 per day over the past seven days — up 86% from two weeks ago. "The hospitals have contacted us, and they say they need emergency beds on Staten Island," Cuomo told reporters at a briefing at his Manhattan office Monday. Staten Island University Hospital now has about 100 COVID-19 patients at its two campuses — up from numbers in the 30s a few weeks ago, though far short of the roughly 300 at the peak in late April." Associated Press's Marina Villeneuve — The southern part of Staten Island has been designated an orange zone, where indoor dining, schools, hair salons and gyms must close. Washington Heights and Hamilton Heights have become a yellow zone, which comes with more modest restrictions. — The city missed two state deadlines to amass a 90-day supply of personal protective equipment for hospitals. "A PARTY THAT sparked outrage among the city's political class due to a failure to adhere to COVID rules featured one guest who's vying to be the next mayor. That man, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, confirmed through a spokesman on Monday evening that he attended the now-infamous 50th birthday party of New York Building Congress head Carlo Scissura. The admission comes after Adams last week publicly accepted the apology of a top deputy who attended the party. Photos from the shindig, which was first reported by the Daily News last week, show maskless revelers schmoozing in close quarters at a time when the city recently closed public schools and the state is contemplating further restrictions because of an increase in coronavirus cases. Sources told The News that New York State Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte, the leader of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, was also in attendance at the event. She did not immediately respond to messages." New York Daily News' Michael Gartland — The congregation that hosted an indoor wedding where more than 1,000 maskless guests celebrated in cramped quarters is being hit with a $15,000 fine for the "amazingly irresponsible" event, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Inside City Hall Monday night. The city's health department also sent the congregation, Yetev Lev D'Satmar in Williamsburg, a written warning about future indoor gatherings. "There are clear rules in place to save lives across the city. This gathering was not only illegal, it was deeply immoral as lives were put at risk in a blatant disregard of the law and public health," mayoral spokesperson Bill Neidhardt told POLITICO. POLITICO's Sally Goldenberg AT A TIME of unprecedented economic calamity and sky-high unemployment, the de Blasio administration's budget grew during the first quarter of the fiscal year as better-than-expected tax revenues and billions in expected federal stimulus dollars gave City Hall officials more spending money. The city's budget is now $92 billion, according to an annual November update released Monday, marking an increase of $3.8 billion more than the fiscal plan adopted in June. Specifically, tax revenues are up by $748 million, and the city added $3.2 billion to its ledger from federal sources, most of which are grants or stimulus money that officials predict will pay for past and future contact tracing efforts, medical equipment purchases and food for hungry New Yorkers. The mayor traced the root of the relatively good news to several federal programs including the $1,200 personal checks and business programs that in total steered $40 billion into New Yorkers' pockets, according to figures from his budget office. POLITICO's Joe Anuta and Sally Goldenberg "POLLY TROTTENBERG, a key member of New York City's leadership team, is leaving her post as transportation commissioner next month, a critical departure for Mayor Bill de Blasio as he grapples with some of the gravest political, economic and managerial challenges New York City has faced in a century. In her seven-year tenure, Ms. Trottenberg has presided over the mayor's Vision Zero program to reduce traffic fatalities, populated New York City with speed cameras and lined streets with bike and bus lanes. She has tangled with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo over subway funding, and tangled behind the scenes with the mayor over street space. But she has also absorbed countless blows on Mr. de Blasio's behalf, as transportation advocates have decried the quality of the city's cycling infrastructure and the mayor's commitment to street safety." New York Times' Dana Rubinstein "AS NYC APPEARS all-but-certain to be placed under new state coronavirus restrictions, Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday laid out a phased approach to reopen schools after they closed last week. Under his strategy, students with disabilities—who attend the city's District 75 schools—would head back to school first under the staggered strategy. Then, early childhood education programs under 3-K and Pre-K programs, followed by elementary school students. Middle and high-school students would seemingly come after that, de Blasio indicated. 'We'll keep building from there,' the mayor told reporters on Monday. The strategy lacked many details—something the mayor himself acknowledged as the city nears a testing positivity rate that would send it into an 'orange zone' under Governor Andrew Cuomo's micro-cluster approach.:" Gothamist's Sydney Pereira — UFT president Michael Mulgrew told members he now supports closing and opening schools in specific parts of the city based on their local positive test rate, rather than a citywide closure based on the 3 percent trigger. — A new lawsuit charges that the city owes thousands of special education students hours of services they haven't received since the pandemic upended the public school system. | | | | TRACK THE TRANSITION: President-elect Biden has started to form a Cabinet and announce his senior White House staff. The appointments and staffing decisions made in the coming days send clear-cut signals about Biden's priorities. Transition Playbook is the definitive guide to one of the most consequential transfers of power in American history. Written for political insiders, it tracks the appointments, people, and the emerging power centers of the new administration. Track the transition and the first 100 days of the incoming Biden administration. Subscribe today. | | | | |
| | WHAT ALBANY'S READING | | SENATE MAJORITY LEADER Andrea Stewart-Cousins says that her conference will have a supermajority of at least 42 members in 2021, ensuring that Democrats will have an unprecedented share of the power in the state Legislature. "It will be the biggest Senate majority conference in the history of New York state," Stewart-Cousins said at the Capitol on Monday. "We defended seats downstate, and we made incredible gains, we have flipped seats upstate and in Western New York, and you have to consider that's extraordinary because of the gerrymandered way the districts are drawn." Democrats have been saying for well over a year that their goal was to come out of November's elections with at least 42 members. That gives them a two-thirds supermajority, meaning they won't need to rely on Republican support to override one of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's vetoes. And it also means that they have unfettered ability to draw new district lines in 2022, assuming their supermajority is still intact — at least three members are running for local office in New York City next year. POLITICO's Bill Mahoney — Most voters in New York want Gov. Andrew Cuomo to keep the emergency powers that have enabled him to unilaterally direct the state's response to the Covid crisis, a Siena College Research Institute poll released Tuesday morning found. "THE NEW YORK attorney general, Letitia James, on Monday accused the Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo and three bishops connected to it of engaging in a yearslong cover-up of sexual abuse by priests in violation of church policy and state law. The lawsuit is the first state legal action against the Catholic Church in New York since a new wave of abuse investigations began in 2018, and it is the culmination of just one of eight inquiries, one for each Catholic diocese in the state. The other seven inquiries are ongoing and could yield further lawsuits. The lawsuit represents what prosecutors believe is a novel legal strategy: The state will attempt to use civil laws, in particular those governing religious charities and their fiduciaries, to sue a Catholic diocese for failing to follow church policies enacted in 2002, after a series of investigative reports by The Boston Globe thrust the sex abuse scandal into public view. It also may also raise questions about religious liberty: In addition to restitution and changes in the way the diocese handles sexual abuse claims, the lawsuit seeks to ban two bishops from management roles in any charitable organization — a demand that may draw pushback from those who believe this encroaches into church autonomy." New York Times' Liam Stack "AS CORONAVIRUS positivity rates have been rising throughout New York, 1,713 of the state's 35,834 prisoners had tested positive for COVID-19 as of Friday, comprising 4.78% of the total prison population. Recent outbreaks have occurred in Wyoming, Elmira, Green Haven, Fishkill and Shawangunk correctional facilities. Public health experts have warned that to reduce transmission of the virus, prisons should be reduced to 50 percent capacity. So far, Governor Andrew Cuomo has ordered the release of people imprisoned for low-level non-violent convictions who were within 90 days of their release, cancelled low-level parole violations, and released pregnant or postpartum women who were within 180 days of release, leading to the freedom of 3,109 New Yorkers. One power Cuomo has used sparingly during the pandemic, and throughout his decade as governor: clemency." Gothamist's Victoria Law "AS STATE EMPLOYEES are asked to return to offices amid a surge in coronavirus cases across New York, some are questioning whether COVID-19 protocols and infrastructure upgrades are being followed . Employees in multiple state agencies who spoke with Capitol Insider on the condition of anonymity detailed concerns by workers that remain unresolved, including whether air filtration units have been upgraded in leased office space or if diagnostic testing is being done for residents in state-run juvenile facilities. 'It doesn't seem that the same air filtration systems have been provided to state employees in all leased office space (as of yet),' an Office of Children and Family Services employee wrote. Employees at Highland Residential Center, a juvenile justice facility in the Hudson Valley, say calls for COVID-19 testing for all residents prior to arrival along with issues getting both residents and staff to wear masks have not been addressed." Times Union's Amanda Fries #UpstateAmerica: Daddy Al, the man who donated this year's Rockefeller Christmas tree that's been the subject of much online ridicule, is tired of talking about the tree. | | A message from Uber: In order to raise the standard for independent work for all, government and business need to work together. That's why Uber created our Working Together Priorities, which can help people who earn through app-based work receive more security, protection, and transparency. This work is already underway in California, where voters overwhelmingly approved Prop 22. | | |
| | FROM THE DELEGATION | | "SENATE Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has managed to visit each of New York's 62 counties this year even amid the COVID-19 pandemic. It's the 22nd year the Democrat has done so in a row. In light of the pandemic, he opted for one-on-one meetings instead of meeting with large groups. Schumer told The Associated Press on Monday that he's tried to use what he's learned from visits with health care workers, small business owners and other constituents to shape federal COVID-19 packages." Associated Press' Marina Villeneuve | | AROUND NEW YORK | | — "New York nightlife never stopped. It just moved underground." — Some rich New Yorkers are hiring people to stand in those hours-long Covid-19 testing lines for them. Some lines are now up to six hours. — Eleven candidates have filed to run for the Queens City Council seat vacated by Rory Lancman in a Feb. 2 special election, which will be the first city election to use ranked choice voting. — Council Speaker Corey Johnon's missing cat Mousse has been found. — A group of wealthy New Yorkers has stepped in to save the iconic Astor Place Hair Stylists barber shop from going out of business after nearly 75 years. — The NYPD will increase its presence in the subways after a series of attacks pushing people onto the tracks. — Rep. Nydia Velazquez endorsed attorney Shekar Krishnan for a Queens City Council seat. — More seals are being seen on city beaches, but you shouldn't pick them up, feed them or otherwise disturb them. — The Cuomo administration "will work with districts" to reimburse schools for coronavirus-related transportation costs. — Spectrum and the Buffalo Bills are teaming up to provide internet to Buffalo students at home. — The federal government approved the sale of the Indian Point nuclear power plant to Holtec for decommissioning. — Many New York City film and television crews have returned to shoot series slated for the 2019-2020 season. | | | | DON'T MISS THE MILKEN INSTITUTE FUTURE OF HEALTH SUMMIT 2020: POLITICO will feature a special edition Future Pulse newsletter at the Milken Institute Future of Health Summit. The newsletter takes readers inside one of the most influential gatherings of global health industry leaders and innovators determined to confront and conquer the most significant health challenges. Covid-19 has exposed weaknesses across our health systems, particularly in the treatment of our most vulnerable communities, driving the focus of the 2020 conference on the converging crises of public health, economic insecurity, and social justice. Sign up today to receive exclusive coverage from December 7–9. | | | | |
| | SOCIAL DATA BY DANIEL LIPPMAN | | HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Tyler Goodspeed, acting chair of the Council of Economic Advisers (h/t Rachael Slobodien) … Jared Cohen (h/t Dina Powell McCormick) … Rachel Witkin of "Hardball" … NYT's Marc Santora … AP's Nasser Karimi … Paul Tagliabue is 8-0 … Sally Susman … Tom LoBianco … Krystal Ball is 39 … Chris Crane MEDIAWATCH — Shelly Banjo will be the new New York City bureau chief for Bloomberg News. MAKING MOVES — Glomani Bravo-Lopez is joining Zach Iscol's mayoral campaign as policy and political director. He has been a staffer for City Council Member Steve Levin and is a Marine combat veteran. ENGAGED — Varun Anand, a Hillary Clinton 2016 campaign alum who is now GM of employee benefits at Newfront Insurance, proposed to Hannah Smith, who leads West Coast government relations at Grubhub. The couple met in New York three years ago at a going away party of a mutual friend who worked with Varun on the Clinton campaign and who worked with her on the Obama campaign. He proposed on the cliffs in Mendocino, their favorite place in California. Pic ... Another pic | | REAL ESTATE | | "THE STATE'S highest court rejected a community coalition's bid to revive its legal fight against Inwood's rezoning, likely ending a two-year battle over the fate of the neighborhood. The New York Court of Appeals on Monday denied a motion by Northern Manhattan is Not for Sale seeking to appeal an appellate panel's reinstatement of the rezoning. Because the appellate court's July decision was unanimous, the coalition needed permission from the Court of Appeals to continue its challenge." Real Deal's Kathryn Brenzel "CITY TAX collectors are looking to the sky for more revenue — proposing the use of flying drones to do property assessments with an eye on setting up their own pilot certification program. But experts say New York City needs to modernize its drone laws before the plan can take off. Municipalities around the country have used drones for inspections and public safety for years. But New York City is notoriously restrictive in allowing drone flights, thanks to a seven-decade-plus law limiting takeoffs and landings of aircraft to approved airports." The City's Peter Senzamici "FOR LEGIONS OF hungry New Yorkers, the name Gloria conjures images of steaming goat curry, jerk chicken, and fried chickpeas dribbling out of craggy flatbread. Located on Nostrand Avenue and Sterling Place in Crown Heights, Gloria's Caribbean Cuisine has served up authentic Trinidadian dishes from a colorful corner shop for nearly two decades...Then last week, Gloria's went dark. Overnight, the bright green facade and its fading palm tree signage vanished, exposing bare plywood underneath. The news prompted a rush of mourning online — 'this one hurts,' read one representative tweet — and on the street beyond the shuttered gate...The actual impetus for the restaurant's closure stems from a byzantine legal battle, spanning nearly 20 years and more than a dozen civil court judges, attempting to get to the bottom of a seemingly straightforward question: Who owns 764 Nostrand Avenue?" Gothamist's Jake Offenhartz
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