| | | | | |  | | By Erin Durkin and Anna Gronewold with Jonathan Custodio | Presented by Harry's | It snows every year, but there's never been a year like 2020. So with up to a foot of snow expected in New York City starting later today, perhaps the biggest snowstorm in several years, an evergreen chore of municipal management poses some unique challenges. Beleaguered restaurants are girding for another blow, just days after they were required to shut down indoor dining. Under the city's snow alert, they've been ordered to stop outdoor dining in roadways today as of 2 p.m. While the closure order will be lifted when the storm has passed, restaurant owners are worried about snow damaging the structures they invested big money into building. There's also worry around the city's snow plows, whose drivers' new training on maneuvering around curbside eateries will be put to the test. And here's a sad one for the kids: Snow days are over. Thanks to remote learning, they're now a thing of the past, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday. The children are not pleased. In-person school will be open today, and the city will make a decision about Thursday sometime this evening, but kids who learn remotely will be expected to log in regardless. The Sanitation Department will be cleaning up from the storm after enduring a round of budget cuts earlier in the year due to the pandemic-driven financial crisis. While de Blasio said he didn't expect the budget cuts to affect the city's ability to clear snow, it could mean dirtier streets: Sanitation has said that with fewer workers, trash and recycling pickup will be affected when there's major snow. IT'S WEDNESDAY. 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? Holding a media availability and observing Covid-19 vaccinations at Elmhurst Hospital. QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I've gotten so many emails and so many texts from people who said that they [had been] hesitating. Now everybody wants to get to the front of the line." — Long Island Jewish Medical Center critical care nurse Sandra Lindsay, the first New Yorker to get the coronavirus vaccine ABOVE THE FOLD: Congressional leaders closed in on an agreement to provide a new tranche of coronavirus relief on Tuesday , haggling deep into the night over how to spend hundreds of billions of dollars before adjourning for the year. "We're making significant progress and I'm optimistic that we are going to be able to complete an understanding some time soon," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as he left the Capitol after a day of furious negotiating... Top lawmakers vowed that they would not head home for the year until they pass a coronavirus relief deal... While the congressional leaders did not publicly discuss details, their discussions were prompted by a $748 billion proposal from centrist senators to spend on small businesses, education, vaccine distribution, health care and beefing up unemployment benefits. Republicans have said they want to jettison talks over a liability shield and $160 billion for state and local government, though Democrats have yet to concede defeat on the local funding issue. POLITICO's Heather Caygle, Burgess Everett and Marianne LeVine | | | | A message from Harry's: Introducing Harry's new, sharper blades: From past experience with other brands, we've grown used to razor innovations often leading to higher price tags. Not this time around. Men's grooming startup Harry's just came out with their sharpest blades ever—without raising prices, breaking the traditional pattern of upcharging used by many razor companies. Learn more about Harry's new, sharper blades and how you can give them a try, 100% risk-free. | | |
|  | WHAT CITY HALL'S READING | | "SHUT IT DOWN, but not until Santa comes to town. Mayor de Blasio said Tuesday that a full shutdown of non-essential city businesses is needed to dull the impact of a second coronavirus wave, but he'd prefer to see it begin after Christmas. The decision to shut down is ultimately up to Gov. Cuomo, but de Blasio over the past two days has emphasized the need to institute one because of stubbornly high COVID transmission rates that could threaten to spread hospitals too thin. On Tuesday, de Blasio revealed COVID stats that remain at unwanted levels. The number of new cases taken over a seven-day average stood at 2,813 — five times the city's acceptability threshold of 550. The COVID positivity rate also remained high at 5.51%, above the city's 5% threshold..."We're going to need to do some kind of shut down in the weeks ahead," he said. "There may be some adjustments ... but I think it's very much going to resemble what we saw in the spring — essential work only." If that were to be implemented, de Blasio said his "nomination" would be for it to begin right after Christmas." New York Daily News' Michael Gartland — The UFT objected to keeping schools open if a stay-home order is imposed. "THE FIRST SHIPMENT of the vaccine arrived at a loading dock in Queens shortly after sunrise on Monday. The head pharmacist for one of Northwell Health's hospitals, who had been tracking the package, opened the 63-pound box, packed in dry ice. He took out a single vial. From that vial would come five doses. After preparing the vial, staff members put it in a cooler, and drove it 25 minutes east to Long Island Jewish Medical Center, where a news conference had been hastily moved up. A nurse, Sandra Lindsay, was waiting to get the first shot. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's office teleconferenced in. But it was not until just after 9 a.m., right before the broadcast began, that someone on the governor's team said that it appeared they were not only about to administer the first dose in the state, but the first in the country. 'The silence in that room was deafening,' said Joe Kemp, communications officer for Northwell. 'Hospital workers, Cuomo's people. Every one of us realized at that minute, just how profound that was going to be. We were putting a woman on the moon. It was a lunar landing.'" New York Times' Sharon Otterman — 73 health care workers received their Covid-19 vaccines on the first day of distribution in the city. "THE NEW YORK City Campaign Finance Board (CFB) on Tuesday awarded $17.3 million in public matching funds to 61 candidates for office, kicking the 2021 municipal election into high gear. All of city government is on the ballot next year, starting with June party primaries, and most current officeholders can't seek reelection due to term limits. The public funds payment is the first in the 2021 cycle, under new voluntary campaign rules that match qualifying donations at an 8-to-1 ratio and come with significantly lower individual contribution limits...In the crowded Democratic mayoral primary, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and Comptroller Scott Stringer were the only candidates to receive public funds, meeting the dual thresholds required to qualify. By July, a mayoral candidate had to raise at least $250,000 from a minimum of 1,000 donors who are New York City residents. Adams' fundraising has so far eclipsed the entire field, and he received nearly $4.4 million in public funds. As of July, he had about $2.2 million in his campaign account...Stringer received just over $3.3 million in public funds, and had about $2.3 million in his campaign account in July." Gotham Gazette's Samar Khurshid "NEW YORK's world-famous restaurant industry is facing death by a thousand bureaucratic cuts — but they're not going down without a fight. Hundreds of restaurant owners, workers and industry leaders held a rally in Times Square Tuesday morning to protest Gov. Andrew Cuomo's recent closure of indoor dining and demand a bailout that'll save their livelihoods. 'Save our restaurants! Save our jobs!' the protesters bellowed from Father Duffy Square before leading a march across town to Cuomo's Midtown East office where they briefly blocked traffic...The protestors demanded Cuomo offer a bailout for the struggling industry and also pointed to the federal Restaurants Act — a bill that would provide $120 billion to the industry — as the saving grace restaurants across the country need." New York Post's Reuven Fenton and Gabrielle Fonrouge FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: New York City will host a virtual summit today of cities from around the country to set priorities heading into the Biden-Harris administration. They plan to push for expanded immigrant rights and inclusion of immigrants in Covid-19 recovery plans. The Cities for Action session will feature 38 cities, including Boise, Idaho; Dodge City, Kansas; Houston, Texas; Los Angeles, California; Louisville, Kentucky; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; St. Paul, Minnesota, and Tucson, Arizona. "Cities and counties are clear: immigrants make our communities stronger and more resilient. We welcome an end to xenophobic and hateful federal policies of the past," said Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs commissioner Bitta Mostofi. | | | | TODAY - TALKING TRANSITION WITH SENATOR CASEY: From Janet Yellen to Antony Blinken to Lloyd Austin, President-elect Joe Biden is building his Cabinet. What can we infer from Biden's nominations so far? Which of his nominees will face the toughest confirmation obstacles in the Senate? Are progressives satisfied with his choices? Join POLITICO for our first Transition Playbook: Live edition featuring Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), who will break it all down. REGISTER HERE. | | | | |
| | WHAT ALBANY'S READING | | "UNION OFFICIALS are joining the chorus of voices calling on New York to increase taxes on the wealthy to address the state's dire fiscal situation. Nearly a dozen labor unions and the New York State AFL-CIO want to see lawmakers return to the Capitol before the end of the year to pass higher income taxes on the state's richest residents, a move that could help raise roughly $7 billion to $9 billion in revenue and offset the economic strain of the coronavirus crisis. 'It is encouraging that legislators are considering returning to session this month to ask the wealthiest New Yorkers to do their fair share to address the deep state budget crisis brought on by the pandemic,' union leaders said in a statement. 'But now is definitely the time for bold action. Without billions of dollars in additional revenues, there will be disastrous cuts in schools, health care and public services — and not nearly enough funds to bail out those devastated by the pandemic — renters, small landlords, small-business owners, restaurant owners.'" Daily News' Denis Slattery "CUOMO estimated Monday that the current rate, New York next month could have more than double the amount of people in hospitals and another 3,500 people dead. New York still leads the nation with about 35,000 confirmed and suspected COVID deaths after being first hit in the U.S. by the virus in early 2020. 'We have got to stop that momentum or else our hospital system will be threatened,' de Blasio said Monday on CNN. 'That's worth putting restrictions in place for: protect our hospitals, right at the point when we can beat this thing, save lives, protect hospitals, turn the page over the next month or two. Then I think our economy comes back very, very strong.'" USA Today's Joseph Spector "REPUBLICAN lawmakers are seeking to strip Gov. Andrew Cuomo of his emergency COVID-19 powers . Cuomo's emergency powers were granted last spring by the state Legislature, allowing him to rewrite, suspend and even create new laws in the name of preserving public health throughout the pandemic. But the Assembly GOP conference argues the governor's authority should be trimmed, penning a letter Tuesday to state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Westchester), Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt (R-Lockport) and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-The Bronx) arguing certain steps he's taken — like the second round of indoor dining suspensions in New York City — go beyond his jurisdiction. 'It's constant fatigue I'm hearing from constituents. When are we going to stop this one-person rule in New York?' Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay (R-Syracuse) told The Post. 'When you see policies like another closing of indoor dining in New York City, that is going to make more restaurants and bars go out of business, it seems like we are going over this again.'" New York Post's Bernadette Hogan "A CITY of Rochester investigation into Daniel Prude's death was released on Tuesday. The report from the Office of Public Integrity clears Mayor Lovely Warren, James Smith, as well as communications director Justin Roj, corporation counsel Tim Curtin, and three other staffers. OPI Director Tim Weir reports the office found no evidence that any employee within its jurisdiction violated city or departmental policies or ethical standards with respect to their actions in response to the death of Daniel Prude. The OPI report did, however, say it found several opportunities for operational improvements, like centralizing staff to manage foil requests." Spectrum's Jim Aroune #UpstateAmerica: You know all about the Genesee Brewery Keg Tree tradition. This year, the brewery wants you to build your own. Haven't made it through multiple kegs? Doubtful, but Genesee bottles and cans work too. | | | |   | | |
| | TRUMP'S NEW YORK | | "A STATE judge ruled Tuesday that the Trump Organization must turn over documents related to a property whose tax abatements were being investigated by New York Attorney General Letitia James' office. The Trump Organization previously claimed the documents were protected by attorney-client privilege. Amy Carlin, an attorney for the Trump Organization, argued Tuesday that the Trump organization had 'every expectation that those communications would be confidential,' regarding discussions about a property in Westchester County involving an engineer. The attorney general's office argued that the documents were not privileged, in part, because the Trump Organization had 'waived privilege' when it disclosed certain documents to the IRS to 'gain benefit,' said attorney Eric Haren with the attorney general's office." CNN's Sonia Moghe | | | | JOIN THURSDAY - CLOSING THE HEALTH CARE GAP: Another Covid-19 outbreak is taking a significant toll on the health of the Latino community. As President-elect Joe Biden prepares to assume office, how will his administration address the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on communities of color, particularly Latinos? Join POLITICO for a virtual conversation on the policy, economic and cultural barriers Latinos confront in accessing quality health care and how the pandemic can create an opportunity to identify solutions. REGISTER HERE. | | | | |
| | AROUND NEW YORK | | — The Covid-19 vaccine will not be mandatory for NYPD officers. — Cuomo aide Ali Zaidi is heading to the Biden administration to work under former EPA chief Gina McCarthy, who Biden chose as the first-ever national climate adviser. — Cuomo vetoed a bill that would have given local governments more control over sand mines. — A new law in New York blocks federal immigration enforcement officials from making arrests at courthouses without a judicial warrant. — State Attorney General Tish James sued to compel The Geo Group , the private company that owns the Queens Detention Facility, to comply with subpoenas related to its handling of Covid-19. — The Administration for Children's Services severed ties with a Columbia University researcher over his past writings on pedophilia. — Outgoing Hudson Valley state Sen. Jen Metzger has no regrets. — Incoming Assemblymember Kenneth Burgos (D-Bronx) is an amateur bodybuilder looking for legislative action. — Albany County DA David Soares says it's unsafe to continue grand jury hearings as the pandemic worsens. — Cuomo signed a law banning the sale of Confederate flags and swastikas on state property, but said tweaks may be needed because of First Amendment concerns. — City Council Member Vanessa Gibson is set to enter the race for Bronx borough president. — The MTA is avoiding doomsday budget cuts, for now. — New Yorkers are flocking to buy more expensive Christmas trees this holiday season. | | SOCIAL DATA BY DANIEL LIPPMAN | | HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Jake Sherman is 35 … Peter Orszag, CEO of financial advisory at Lazard … POLITICO's Rebecca Rainey … CNN correspondent Phil Mattingly is 37 (h/ts Rachel Adler) … Lesley Stahl … David Crook … Kendall Breitman… Judith Giuliani … Jenni LeCompte, managing director at the Glover Park Group (h/t Theo) … CNN's Liz Turrell and Jason Seher … Boston Globe's Liz Goodwin … Joan Lowy … Melissa Wisner MAKING MOVES — Cory Epstein is the new communications director at Transportation Alternatives. He was previously spokesperson for Citi Bike. MEDIAWATCH … VARIETY: "Too Much Information? Former 'CBS Evening News' Producer Seeks Role as 'News Concierge,'" by Brian Steinberg: "News junkies often develop a tight relationship with a favorite TV anchor or cable-news outlet. Mosheh Oinounou hopes some of them will turn instead to a 'news concierge.' "The former executive producer of 'CBS Evening News' is among the many journalists discovering they don't need a traditional media apparatus — say a TV-network control room or a giant printing press — to serve up information and analysis. Some reporters are taking to independent newsletters via companies like Substack. Oinounou has found a perch for himself on Instagram, where he helps everyone from random followers to a handful of celebrities make sense of current events. He even takes requests to help explain specific topics. Joe Jonas is among those asking him questions." | | | | A message from Harry's: Harry's just came out with its sharpest blades ever. But what do sharper blades mean for you? Well, guys who shave four times a week say that, with Harry's new blades, their eighth shave is as smooth as their first. And yet, Harry's didn't raise prices—not even a little. Harry's new, sharper blades are (still) just $2 each for an 8-pack. But you don't have to take our word for it. Snag a Trial Set and decide for yourself. (And remember: if you don't love your shave, just let them know and get a full refund. That's their 100% Quality Guarantee at harrys.com). | | |
| | REAL ESTATE | | "THE NEW YORK state legislature is a house divided when it comes to extending protections against eviction. The state Senate is pushing a blanket moratorium on all residential evictions for an indefinite period, according to sources, but the state Assembly opposes the measure. The move to block all residential evictions would be a departure from the legislature's approach in recent months. Lawmakers have ceded control to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has preferred to extend existing legislation." Real Deal's Georgia Kromei "AFTER MORE than a century of toxic pollution, Brooklyn's infamous Gowanus Canal is finally being cleaned up. This November, the Environmental Protection Agency kicked off the first phase of its plan to dredge the entire length of this industrial waterway , scooping out the thick layer of 'black mayonnaise' which has settled at its bottom. A small fleet of barges and tugboats is now removing this noxious sediment, which is laced with heavy metals and carcinogenic chemicals. Dredging and capping the Gowanus Canal is expected to take at least a decade to complete, and is just one part of the EPA's larger Superfund cleanup process, which began in 2010. The canal's coastline is also now being remediated to keep buried toxins from seeping out into the water, with workers excavating polluted soil and putting in new bulkhead barriers. The first phase of this cleanup is taking place at the northern end of the 1.8 mile canal, in its most densely populated area, giving local residents a close-up view of this $1.5 billion project." Gothamist's Nathan Kensinger "MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL Inc. is permanently laying off 850 employees from its hotel in Times Square , another sign that the hotel industry in New York City remains significantly hobbled by the coronavirus pandemic. Marriott recently told the workers that they will be let go March 12, nearly a year after more than 1,200 employees at the New York Marriott Marquis were furloughed as rising coronavirus infections prompted the closure of nonessential businesses and tourist spots. Those who remain on staff are either working or are expected to return to work soon, a Marriott spokeswoman said. 'These are actions we never thought would become necessary at our location,' the hotel's general manager wrote in a Dec. 9 letter to laid-off workers reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. 'The unprecedented severity of the Covid-19 crisis, however, has forced the location to make these difficult decisions.'" Wall Street Journal's Kate King
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