| | | | | |  | | By Erin Durkin and Anna Gronewold with Jonathan Custodio | Presented by AT&T | Take a look at that shiny new legislative session calendar you printed on Tuesday. Now mark each blue-shaded box as a day where we'll be discussing ways to save and raise money. New or increased taxes — "none of them good, but some better than others" — are likely coming in New York regardless of whether Congress comes through with more cash, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said this week. New York is staring down budget hole this fiscal year of at least $8 billion and probably double that the next. The exact numbers change depending on who is talking and when, but lawmakers we've chatted with over the past month say the coming session, despite its normal-ish 60-day length, is looking to be another emergency response series. Even issues that would seem separate will be viewed and voted on through the pandemic lens, and for some bills, that could be the key to momentum. One of these is a tax on the state's wealthiest residents — something the Assembly has supported for years but the Senate is newly open to and Cuomo has actively avoided. Now, with direct federal aid to states still a point of contention in a congressional stimulus package, the measure's advocates are escalating the attacks on its resistors. Fifty liberal economists wrote a letter to Cuomo and the state's legislative leaders promoting a tax on billionaires they say would earn $23.3 billion right away. AOC has publicly called for it. The Zoom conferences are being held to call for a December session and public displays of wealth discrepancies are up in Central Park. Our friends across the river have already decided to make millionaires pay more. There's still the question around the proposal's constitutionality and timing, but for a wealth tax and a handful of other big-ticket items, a new framing ("We're dead broke") might be just the push some folks in Albany have been waiting on for years. IT'S FRIDAY. 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? Holding a Covid-19 briefing. WHERE'S BILL? Holding a media availability and appearing on WNYC's Brian Lehrer show. ABOVE THE FOLD: Congressional leaders are barely talking. Renegade centrists are trying to cut a deal that Republicans don't like. And the president is predominantly focused on overturning an election that he lost. It's the latest evidence Washington is broken : at the peak of the worst public health crisis in a century, the White House and Congress are struggling to deliver another round of relief. And time in the lame duck is quickly running out... It's still two weeks before Christmas, plenty of time in congressional parlance to roll together a $1.4 trillion year-end spending bill with hundreds of billions more in Covid aid. Maybe, somehow the bipartisan group finds success and bridges partisan chasms on money for local governments and shielding businesses from litigation. Or perhaps party leaders come out of their shells and cobble together a deal at the last moment... Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), a leader of those [bipartisan] talks, suggested Congress may need to punt disagreements on liability and local government aid until next year. POLITICO's Burgess Everett, Heather Caygle and Sarah Ferris | | | | A message from AT&T: AT&T's and WarnerMedia's New York family is here for your family: supporting reentry pathways for formerly incarcerated New Yorkers, helping sustain culture in New York, funding arts and technology education for students in need, and providing childcare for kids to safely learn and play. Learn more about some of the local organizations we're working with at https://northeastregion.att.com/states/newyork/. | | | |  | WHAT CITY HALL'S READING | | "AT LEAST 19 children contracted lead poisoning while living in public housing apartments that NYCHA supervisors falsely claimed had been properly cleaned of lead paint, according to the city Department of Investigation. The kids, all under age 6, lived in 18 of the hundreds of apartments that managers running the authority's lead paint-abatement unit said had undergone work approved by employees authorized by the federal government to handle removal of the toxin. In fact, a three-year DOI probe found, workers with the necessary credentials were forced to sign off on cleanup jobs they hadn't overseen. DOI's report, released Thursday and spurred by a whistleblower, found 900 cases between 2016 and the summer of 2018 in which NYCHA lied — swearing to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that the apartments had been abated under the watchful eye of a qualified supervisor. 'NYCHA managers involved in the lead abatement process had a total disregard for the facts, for the law and integrity, and most importantly for the well-being of NYCHA residents,' DOI Commissioner Margaret Garnett said in a statement." The City's Greg B. Smith "STATEN ISLAND'S soon-to-depart congressman, Max Rose, is already eyeing his second act in New York City politics — becoming Gotham's mayor. The one-term Democratic lawmaker filed paperwork with the city's Campaign Finance Board late Thursday to begin raising money for a potential 2021 mayoral bid and to opt into the city's generous public financing system if he launches a campaign. Rose's filing came just weeks after he conceded a hard-fought and often bitter race for reelection to Republican Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis." New York Post's Nolan Hicks and Carl Campanile — Andrew Yang would bring celebrity status, fundraising prowess and an online army of devoted loyalists to the New York City mayor's race, which he's likely to jump into soon. But the one-time presidential candidate faces a tough fight in the country's largest city. Some candidates in the already crowded field have spent their careers cultivating relationships with voters and the city's political machinery... "It's incredibly flattering that people are interested in my running. I love New York dearly; it's played an enormous role in my life and my wife's life and our kids go to school there," Yang, who lives in Manhattan, said in an interview. "So I'm just looking for how I can do the most good and I believe I'll have a decision staked out in the next number of weeks." POLITICO's Erin Durkin, Sally Goldenberg, and Eugene Daniels — Scott Stringer has hired Micah Lasher as his campaign manager and Maria Martinez as deputy campaign manager. Pollster Jefrey Pollock and consultants Mark Guma, Rebecca Katz and Camille Rivera are also joining his team. "NIKOL BURGOS Sevilla works as a server in Brooklyn's Prospect Heights neighborhood. She says that, since going back to work, she makes approximately two-thirds what she did before the pandemic. The shifts, though, bring far more stress, as new concerns, new responsibilities, and new COVID rules have transformed the job into something entirely different. 'It's exhausting to use so much energy to be polite and nice to people who don't care,' she says of customers who ignore the COVID regulations. 'Everyone is burned out because we've now all become bouncers, weird nurses taking people's temperatures, and babysitters — "Please don't stand up!" "Please wear a mask."' She has no choice but to enforce the rules, even as customers actively try to flout them, because her bar will be fined thousands of dollars if they're in violation. As the pandemic wears on, many of New York's restaurant and bar workers say that this year is taking a deep mental and physical toll on them." Grubstreet's Chris Crowley "THE CITY COUNCIL passed a bill Thursday enabling artists to perform on the streets of New York. Under the new 'Open Culture' program sponsored by Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Queens), artists will be able to apply for permits to stage ticketed shows outdoors. The program, modeled on the city's popular outdoor dining program, is set to take effect March 1. 'The joy that comes from everyday New Yorkers listening to music, dancing to music, hearing comedy, listening to opera has been virtually shut off completely,' Van Bramer said at an online press conference. 'Artists need to be paid for the work that they make,' he added. 'This is going to allow that to happen.' The legislation, which Mayor de Blasio supports, passed unanimously." New York Daily News' Shant Shahrigian "ACKNOWLEDGING THE inconsistent and rocky school year for New York City's public school students due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a plan Thursday to address educational loss and achievement gaps — starting next year. 'The foundation will be laid through this school year to get ready for a very different school year that begins in September,' de Blasio said at his press briefing Thursday. 'In September, there will be a new normal.' The 2021 Student Achievement Plan will commence with diagnostics measuring how students are doing with educational benchmarks in September, said Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza at the press briefing. De Blasio emphasized this will not be high-stakes testing, but rather assessments for teachers to understand their students' needs." Gothamist's Sophia Chang and WNYC's Jessica Gould — A Queens elementary school was forced to close just a day after reopening because of multiple Covid-19 cases. | | | | TRACK THE TRANSITION & NEW ADMINISTRATION HEADING INTO 2021: President-elect Biden is pushing full steam ahead on putting together his Cabinet and White House staff. These appointments and staffing decisions send clear-cut signals about Biden's priorities. What do these signals foretell? 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 | | "IN SPITE of the high stakes, New York state officials have been calculating positivity on a flawed basis, according to several experts. The criticism stems from the state's decision to fold in a type of rapid test known as antigen tests, which are less sensitive than polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests. 'That's not what the professional guidance is,' said Dr. Jay Varma, Mayor Bill de Blasio's top health adviser. 'It's not what the WHO does or the CDC or the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists does.' The Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, which advises the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and other health agencies, has said that a positive antigen test should be considered a probable case of COVID-19, not a confirmed case. In turn, the CDC has defined its positivity rate as based on PCR tests only." Gothamist's Elizabeth Kim — Hospitalizations due to the coronavirus pandemic have topped 5,000 patients once again. "OF THE DEATHS, about 45% hit during a two-week stretch as infections spiked last month inside nursing homes, offering an early warning of the virus' renewed assault on long-term care facilities just days before the expected arrival of 170,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine in New York as soon as this weekend. And while state government plans to prioritize all 170,000 initial doses for nursing home residents and staff, the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine involved requires each person to take two doses separated by 21 days to build up immunity, meaning New York nursing homes will remain at risk into January. In many ways, the mounting coronavirus infections in nursing homes, including thousands of workers, underscored the importance of a dire push underway to save lives with the end of the pandemic in sight. 'Because of the exhaustion among workers and because many facilities didn't learn lessons from the early part of the pandemic, I'm very worried that this second wave could be disastrous for nursing home residents,' said Richard Mollot, executive director of the Long Term Care Community Coalition." USA Today Network's David Robinson "THE STATE is delaying 20% of Tuition Assistance Program funding to public and private colleges statewide, according to an internal state memo, and the schools and the Cuomo administration fear it could become permanent. A Nov. 30 memo from the state Higher Education Services Corp. said colleges and universities, already financially strapped because of the coronavirus pandemic, must assume the cost of the state's delay and not reduce students' TAP grants at this time. 'The 20 percent temporarily withheld are not cuts to student awards, but rather a change in the payment schedule made to schools ... at this time, the remaining 20 percent of payments for affected academic years will remain temporarily withheld,' the memo said. The $931 million Tuition Assistance Program is the state's main college financial-aid tool, and its grants are aimed at helping lower-income families and individuals. " Newsday's Michael Gormley AS 2020 COMES TO AN END, advocates for various causes are making last-minute pushes for Gov. Andrew Cuomo to sign bills lingering on his desk. Of the 413 measures passed by the Legislature this year, 73 are awaiting action . That includes a batch of 31 sent to Cuomo last week and will need to be signed or vetoed by next Wednesday and another 42 that will be sent his way in the coming weeks. If past years are any guide, somewhere about a third of these will not become law. There's nothing stopping the Legislature from sending him the bills that are either straightforward and simple or subjected to three-way negotiations before they're passed as soon as they're done with the year's session. Pretty much everything that winds up on the governor's desk in the summer is signed. But on the more complex measures on which there aren't any preexisting agreements, the governor's office needs some time to review the language. And if he's not inclined to sign them, legislators will use all the time they have to negotiate some form of a compromise amendment to tweak the language that will be passed in the next year's session. POLITICO's Bill Mahoney #UpstateAmerica: Western lowland gorilla Amari bade farewell to the Buffalo Zoo to start a new family in Atlanta, as staff hope to ensure her species' survival. | | | |   | | |
| | FROM THE DELEGATION | | "REP. ELISE STEFANIK is one of two Republican members of Congress from New York formally supporting a lawsuit brought by Texas officials seeking to overturn President-elect Joe Biden's victory in the Nov. 3 presidential election. Stefanik, the Schuylerville Republican heading into her fourth term in Congress, was joined in signing onto the amicus brief by Long Island GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin, as well as dozens of other congressional Republicans from around the country. The lawsuit is being brought by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton against four states where Biden, a Democrat, won relatively narrowly: Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin. Election officials in those states have already certified Biden as the winner over outgoing Republican President Donald J. Trump, who has refused to concede defeat even after a string of legal losses brought by his campaign and Republican allies." Times Union's Chris Bragg SENATE Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called on Republicans Thursday to drop plans for a hearing centering on alleged "irregularities" in the 2020 presidential election. The hearing, called by Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chair Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, just two days after members of the Electoral College meet to cast their 306 electoral votes for President-elect Joe Biden and 232 for President Donald Trump. All 50 states and the District of Columbia have already certified their tallies, but Trump is continuing to push baseless allegations of voter fraud in battleground states where Biden won. Most Republicans are still refusing to acknowledge Biden won the election. "When is this nonsense detrimental to our democracy going to end?" Schumer said on the Senate floor. "To use a Senate committee to spread misinformation about our own elections, it's beyond the pale." POLITICO's Andrew Desiderio | | | | JOIN TODAY - A PATH TO CLEANER SKIES: Before the pandemic, increased demand for air travel resulted in rising global emissions. Then, Covid-19 changed everything. As airlines start to recover from the resulting financial fallout, what is happening with the use of cleaner jet fuel, investments in technology, and international pacts to cut the airline industry's carbon footprint? Join POLITICO for a conversation on the future of air travel, climate change, and sustainability, as well as an executive conversation between POLITICO CEO Patrick Steel and United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby. REGISTER HERE. | | | | |
| | AROUND NEW YORK | | — Three Democratic candidates for Manhattan district attorney are endorsing a platform pushed by groups on the left that calls for a steep reduction in prosecutions and in the budget and influence of the DA's office itself. — Evidence of racist practices by a former Queens prosecutor who sought to remove Black, Latino and Jewish jurors led to two convictions being overturned. — The Brooklyn Democratic Party has devolved into infighting. — Mariah Kennedy Cuomo is deep in the #MaskUp campaign to inspire designer mask-wearing. — LISTEN: To Assemblymember Sean Ryan (D-Buffalo) tell the Capitol Pressroom about his move to the state Senate. — An Adirondack Park Agency board member is resigning with harsh criticism of the DEC's priorities. — For some school districts, getting rid of snow days is still a step TOO FAR. — Members of an East Village church burned in a fire aided residents of a shelter next door also displaced by the blaze. — Federal authorities busted the owners of a chain of New York nail salons Thursday for allegedly defrauding the government of $13 million of Covid-19 relief loans. — New York's hottest club is... whale watching. — The NYPD's first substantiated complaint of biased policing came against a school safety agent. | | SOCIAL DATA BY DANIEL LIPPMAN | | HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Kara Swisher, contributing NYT opinion writer and host of the "Sway" and "Pivot" podcasts … Margaret Hoover, host of PBS' "Firing Line" … Quartz's Annabelle Timsit … Gideon Resnick, co-host of Crooked Media's "What A Day" podcast … Jessica Seale, digital director at the Small Business Administration … ESPN's Kelly Cohen MEDIAWATCH — Kate Nocera will be an editor on Axios' newsdesk. She previously was D.C. bureau chief for BuzzFeed. | | | | A message from AT&T: For years, AT&T's and WarnerMedia's New York family has been there for your family, supporting organizations that create opportunity for low-income communities and communities of color. Over the past decade, we've contributed over $10 million to programs that connect underserved populations to the arts and technology education and training they need to help them succeed in college and in their careers.
This year, when the pandemic struck, we were there for our neighbors; supporting the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, a New York City institution, through COVID-related shutdowns; contributing $500,000 to the YMCA to set up free, in-person childcare for working families across the five boroughs, and; helping the Osborne Association to connect families with incarcerated loved ones. Learn more about these and some of the other organizations AT&T and WarnerMedia are supporting at https://northeastregion.att.com/states/newyork/ | | |
| | REAL ESTATE | | "AFTER MONTHS of pushback and delays to a key vote, the City Council has approved plans to remake the Flushing waterfront with a 13-tower luxury complex. While the agreement comes with improved labor standards, there are still pathetically few affordable units (just 90 across the entire campus) making it a disappointing deal. The 29-acre project — set to include 1,725 apartments and roughly 900 hotel rooms — teetered on the edge of failure this fall with several City Council members opposing the deal without higher-wage jobs and more affordable housing, despite the support of local Councilmember Peter Koo. The proverbial dam broke this week with a deal between the developers, elected officials, and labor unions for a spate of new commitments, and on Thursday, the Council clinched the project with a 39-to-5 vote and one abstention." Curbed's Caroline Spivack
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