| | | | | |  | | By Erin Durkin and Anna Gronewold with Jonathan Custodio | Presented by AT&T | Mark your calendars: Indoor dining will likely be shut down in New York City if rising Covid-19 hospitalizations don't stabilize in the next five days, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. The new restrictions could take effect in the city by Monday, while in the rest of the state, indoor dining would be reduced from 50 percent capacity to 25 percent. In another set of new metrics — and yes, the goal posts have been shifting here quite a bit — the state will shut down all nonessential businesses in a region if its hospitals are on track to fill 90 percent of their capacity within three weeks. "If we don't get the rate under control, and you are going to overwhelm your hospitals, we will have to go back to shutdown," Cuomo said. "Overwhelming the hospital system means people die on a gurney in a hallway." The governor said he does not expect hospitalizations to stabilize, and some critics say there's no sense in waiting to impose restrictions that appear to be inevitable as infection rates continue to rise. "It's so painful to see @NYGovCuomo making the exact same preventable mistakes he made in March, that proved to cost lives needlessly," Public Advocate Jumaane Williams tweeted. On the other side, the restaurant industry argues that Cuomo's data show most infections are coming from small private gatherings. "Another forced government closure of New York City restaurants will cause an irreversible harm on even countless more small businesses and the hundreds of thousands of workers they employ, especially if it is not coupled with financial relief," said Andrew Rigie of the NYC Hospitality Alliance. Without help, many restaurants say they won't survive another shutdown — joining so many businesses already claimed by the pandemic. The state's efforts got a high-profile seal of approval, however, from one Dr. Anthony Fauci, who appeared with Cuomo via video. But Fauci's predictions were grim, noting that hospitalizations stemming from ill-advised Thanksgiving gatherings will peak around the same time people begin to travel for Christmas. "You have a surge upon a surge," he said. IT'S TUESDAY. 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. | | | | 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 | | NEW YORK CITY was deep in its battle to suppress the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic when it announced an ambitious program to stop the disease from spreading inside cramped apartments: it would offer free hotel rooms for people infected with Covid-19 to safely separate from their families. But as a second wave bears down on the city — driven in large part by people contracting the disease at home — statistics show that few New Yorkers have made use of the hotel rooms. Out of 101,929 people infected with Covid-19, tracked by the city's contact tracers since early June, only 611 have checked into hotels after being referred by tracers, according to data reported by the city, which goes through mid-November. Others who have used the hotels include New Yorkers who have the virus and called a hotline on their own, people who are quarantining because they may have been exposed by a close contact and some travelers returning from out of state — for a total of about 3,500 stays. A large majority of New Yorkers who get the coronavirus have instead opted to ride it out at home. And infections passed between family members and roommates appear to be a major source of Covid-19 spread as disease numbers spike: At least one in five cases are tracked to household transmission, according to figures released last week. "When we talk to people, we tell them unequivocally: Your best option is to come to the hotel," said Amanda Johnson of the city's Test & Trace Corps. "We are very outspoken about this, but we are not draconian." POLITICO's Erin Durkin "NEW YORK CITY reopened some of its public schools on Monday for a second time this academic year, nearly three weeks after the nation's largest district stopped in-person instruction over rising Covid-19 cases. Some parents of students who were allowed to return said they were relieved that classes were resuming. But they said they were wary of Mayor Bill de Blasio's pronouncement that he expects in-person instruction will continue uninterrupted for the remainder of the academic year. At P.S. 105 in the Bronx, Teddy Caceres dropped off his third-grade daughter and pumped his fist in the air in celebration. Mr. Caceres, who is studying to be a day trader, said that it is much easier for him to work when his daughter is in school and that she learns more in person. But he fears it might close again. 'It's been day-by-day,' he said. 'You really don't know if you're going to get a call from the teacher saying school is canceled… I hope it doesn't close again but I'm worried.'" Wall Street Journal's Ben Chapman, Leslie Brody and Katie Honan "A SURGE IN coronavirus infections in a single unit at Brooklyn's federal jail has sickened more than 50 inmates , leaving some with severe symptoms that include difficulty breathing, while officials rush to separate the healthy from the ill to contain the disease spread, according to inmates, lawyers and new court documents filed Monday. The situation in Unit 73 — the seventh floor unit at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center — is dire, with 55 inmates testing positive for the coronavirus between Tuesday and Thursday of last week, according to numbers from the federal Bureau of Prisons. One sick man described a harrowing scene to his lawyer that included details of some inmates vomiting blood and others laboring to breathe, all while garbage piles up in the infected inmates' cells. 'There are some severely ill people who are not getting medical attention but instead told to 'sip water slowly,'' the man's lawyer, Deirdre Von Dornum, told the Daily News." New York Daily News' Noah Goldberg "A BROOKLYN SYNAGOGUE that was stopped by the state before it could host a massive wedding in October finally succeeded on Monday in pulling off another potential super-spreader event — a jam-packed funeral. The Congregation Yetev Lev D'Satmar went coronavirus rogue for the funeral of 94-year-old former chief Satmar judge Rabbi Yisroel Chaim Menashe Friedman — with up to an estimated 5,000 people cramming the house of worship at 152 Rodney St. in Williamsburg. Bodies were pressed in on all sides and spilled out onto the sidewalk as just a fraction of the Hasidic crowd was seen wearing masks." New York Post's Susan Edelman, Nolan Hicks, Carl Campanile and Kate Sheehy "THE CITY'S HANDLING of ranked-choice voting, the process of listing candidates on a ballot in order of preference instead of picking just one, came under strong criticism from a number of City Council members during a Monday hearing. Ranked-choice voting could dramatically affect next year's mayoral primary. The idea behind the method is to compel candidates to make an appeal to the maximum number of voters — not just their base — fundamentally changing the way politicians have to campaign. But electeds, including Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo (D-Brooklyn), said the city doesn't have enough time and resources to inform voters about the new method — and stands to disenfranchise already disadvantaged communities. 'There is an impossibility to educate people in the amount of time necessary on what ranked-choice voting will mean,' said Cumbo, the Council's majority leader." New York Daily News' Shant Shahrigian FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: City Council Member Brad Lander's campaign for city comptroller has won the endorsement of a group of women elected officials and activists. They include former gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon, Council Members Margaret Chin and Debi Rose, former Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger, and retired federal Judge Shira Scheindlin, who struck down the NYPD's stop and frisk policy. | | | | 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 | | "LOCAL BUSINESS and holiday shoppers might breathe a little easier now that Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has relaxed the state's parameters for tagging a community with the 'red zone' shutdown designation. But how long Erie County and the larger region will be able to stave off the closure of nonessential businesses remains an unanswered question as positive Covid-19 test results and hospitalizations continue to climb. Cuomo redefined the state's parameters for a 'red zone' shutdown Monday, saying that if a region's seven-day average indicates that it will reach 90% hospital capacity within three weeks, the state would institute the closure." Buffalo News' Sandra Tan and Keith McShea — State courts are cutting the amount of in-person matters allowed to go forward, Chief Judge Janet DiFiore said. — The state Health Department put out an urgent appeal for staffers to go to Rockland and Orange counties to perform Covid-19 community outreach and enforce mask and social distancing rules. "A FORMER adviser to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and candidate for Manhattan borough president said working for the governor's office was the 'most toxic team environment' she'd ever experienced . Lindsey Boylan, who worked for the Cuomo administration from March 2015 to October 2018, described her experience in a series of tweets Saturday and claimed that people are 'deathly afraid' of Cuomo. 'Most toxic team environment? Working for @NYGovCuomo,' Boylan wrote in one tweet. In another, she added, 'I've had many jobs. Waitressing at @Friendlys as a teenager was an infinitely more respectful environment. Even when I had bad customers who tipped poorly.' 'If people weren't deathly afraid of him, they'd be saying the same thing and you'd already know the stories,' she said." New York Post's Bernadette Hogan and Natalie Musumeci — On the other hand, "the internet does not disappoint when it comes to Cuomo-themed gifts this season." "MORE THAN 1.2 million New Yorkers got their unemployment insurance through a federal program that is set to expire at year's end, a crucial safety net for people out of work due to the coronavirus pandemic. Two critical unemployment programs that were part of the federal COVID bailout earlier this year are expiring Dec. 26, leaving about 12 million workers in the nation facing an uncertain future as Congress looks to negotiate a deal in the coming days. And few states have more on the line than New York. The 1.2 million New Yorkers got benefits last month from the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, ranking second among states behind only California. And another 717,000 got their unemployment from Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program, according to federal labor statistics. 'Despite this worsening economic picture, many critical support programs that were put in place earlier this year have already expired and the few remaining ones are set to expire just days after Christmas,' Gov. Andrew Cuomo wrote to Congress leaders Nov. 22. 'This is simply unacceptable and must be rectified.'" USA Today Network's Joseph Spector #UpstateAmerica: Erie County bowling alleys are feeling the pinch because people can't imbibe while bowling. | | | |   | | |
| | ... 2020 VISION ... | | "JUDGE Scott DelConte had sharp words Monday for both sides in a court hearing that could decide whether Republican Claudia Tenney will defeat incumbent Anthony Brindisi in New York's 22nd Congressional District. More than a month after election day, DelConte is considering how to proceed with an election so far marked by errors and delay. The issues with various counties' attempts at counting arose over two days of hearings about what the judge should do with 809 contested ballots. Brindisi, a Democrat, is asking for a partial recount after, for example, Oneida County election officials admitted losing track of disputed ballots that had been marked with sticky notes. Those notes apparently fell off the ballots before a court hearing. Tenney's lawyers are asking the judge to order counties to certify the election now, cementing her lead of just 12 votes in an election where more than 318,000 votes were cast. This is the only election still contested of all 435 Congressional Districts. DelConte heard arguments for about an hour on Monday from attorneys for both parties. He announced that he will soon issue his written ruling. But his line of questioning during the hearing gave some insight into problems he sees with both candidates' arguments." Syracuse.com's Patrick Lohmann | | FROM THE DELEGATION | | "U.S. SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER announced Monday he has successfully gotten his $25 billion domestic computer chip manufacturing bill included in the final version of the fiscal 2021 defense budget . It remains unclear, however, if President Donald Trump will sign it. The bipartisan bill, which Schumer originally called the American Foundries Act and first attached to the defense bill back in July, would support U.S.-based computer chip manufacturing in order to ensure that the U.S. military will continue to have access to a domestic chip supply. The bill would greatly aid a variety of computer chip makers in upstate New York, including GlobalFoundries, IBM and Cree, which is building a new chip fab outside Utica with financial assistance from New York state." Times Union's Larry Rulison "NEW YORK SEN. Charles Schumer is asking President-elect Joe Biden to cancel up to $50,000 in debt for federal student loan borrowers as soon as he is sworn in. At a Midtown, Manhattan news conference Monday, Schumer, joined by New York congressmen-elect Ritchie Torres, Mondaire Jones, and Jamaal Bowman, said Biden could do this by using existing executive authority under the Higher Education Act. 'I have spoken to him,' Schumer said of Biden, 'I have told him how important it is, he is considering it,' adding that the president-elect is researching whether he has legal authority to cancel this debt by executive order. 'I believe when he does his research he will find that he does.'" NY1's Juan Manuel Benitez | | | | JOIN WEDNESDAY - BATTLING INFORMATION CHAOS IN A PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS: The extraordinary pace which scientists, doctors, epidemiologists, and hospital staff are working to fully understand the coronavirus can sometimes lead to the wrong information getting published and more accurate information being buried. Join POLITICO for a virtual deep-dive conversation on strategies for improving the flow of accurate and timely findings during a public health crisis. Tune in and hear the executive conversation between POLITICO CEO Patrick Steel and Surescripts CEO Tom Skelton. REGISTER HERE. | | | | |
| | AROUND NEW YORK | | — A farewell to 500 businesses that have closed during the pandemic. — The city has built just 0.8 miles of new busways since de Blasio announced a plan for new routes in June. — Skiers and snowboarders from New York will need to quarantine before they head to their favorite resorts in Vermont this year. — De Blasio and Cuomo decried the actions of a Staten Island pub owner who slammed his car into a sheriff's deputy as he tried to evade arrest for illegally operating his establishment. Video shows the moment he rammed the officer. — The OMNY fare payment system is expected to be installed at every subway station by the end of the year. — The MTA insists it has gotten overtime spending under control since an Empire Center report exposed outrageous earnings of workers, some of whom were hit with federal charges. — Democratic Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins was reelected leader of her conference, which grew into a supermajority this year. — Oyster Bay is warning of scammers putting up fake clothing donation bins to turn a profit. — Suffolk County police released new images in its probe of the Gilgo beach killings, marking the first news conference related to the case in years. — Gun violence continues to plague New York City, with 11 people shot on Sunday and at least one fatality. | | SOCIAL DATA BY DANIEL LIPPMAN | | HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Sabrina Siddiqui, WSJ reporter and CNN political analyst … Ann Coulter is 59 … former World Bank President Jim Yong Kim is 61 … Rachel Sklar … Lizzie O'Leary … Marc Burstein, senior executive producer at ABC News … Brie Sachse, managing director and head of external affairs at Siemens … Elyse Perlmutter-Gumbiner, NBC News White House producer … Honey Sharp … AP's Pablo Martínez Monsiváis … Brooke Lorenz, senior comms manager at CBS … Long Ellis … (was Monday): Michael Steinhardt ... Jonathan M. Tisch turned 67 ... Tom Frieden turned 6-0 ... Hannah Goldfield ... Jordan Blashek MEDIAWATCH — Marc Lacey, national editor at the NYT, will become an assistant managing editor for Live next year. IN MEMORIAM — Former top NYPD lawyer Larry Byrne died at age 61. | | | | 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 | | A NATIONAL CIVIL RIGHTS group is backing a lawsuit that alleges New York City's longstanding policy of guaranteeing "community preference" in the affordable housing lottery is discriminatory . The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law filed a proposed amicus brief Monday in support of the lawsuit, filed by the Anti-Discrimination Center, that alleges the policy perpetuates racial segregation in housing. The practice, which dates back to the 1980s, reserves half of the apartments deemed affordable in a given development for people already living in the surrounding community district. The Lawyers' Committee, founded in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy, wrote in the brief that the city's arguments in support of the policy, if upheld, would represent a significant setback for fair housing protections. POLITICO's Janaki Chadha "THE YANKEES are playing hardball with a Bronx parking lot operator that's failed to pay millions owed to taxpayers — charging the company is effectively obstructing big plans for a soccer stadium and affordable housing. The Parks Department is threatening to terminate its lease with Bronx Parking Development Company LLC over the outfit's defaults on $237 million in bonds issued in 2007 by the city Industrial Development Agency, documents show. Meanwhile, Yankees officials contend the company is stalling a move that could help pull it out of the red: a deal that includes razing a four-level parking structure on 153rd Street to make way for a 25,000-seat soccer stadium for NYCFC. The plan also would provide for 2,000 units of affordable housing nearby, in the heart of the South Bronx." The City's Gabriel Sandoval "EIGHT YEARS AGO, New York City officials unveiled plans to build one of the world's largest Ferris wheels and a sizable outlet mall to flank the home of a New York Yankees minor-league affiliate on Staten Island — projects they predicted would breathe life into the borough's economically distressed northern shore. The news was hailed by a Connecticut-based investment group that purchased the Staten Island Yankees in 2011 and took control of a city lease to operate Richmond County Bank Ballpark. The group's partners envisioned then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg's 14-acre public-private redevelopment plan boosting the unprofitable team's attendance by drawing additional foot traffic to the waterfront, including riders of the nearby ferry between Staten Island and Manhattan. Instead, construction delays and cost overruns hindered the New York Wheel and Empire Outlets projects—and now it is unclear whether the ballpark will host a minor-league baseball team next year." Wall Street Journal's Rich Calder
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