| | | | | |  | | By Erin Durkin and Anna Gronewold with Jonathan Custodio | An Albany truth: The budget process is never easy. A 2021 revision: This year is looking to be especially rough. One day before the Legislature is supposed to start its new session, the big names on the state's progressive left are announcing a coalition and campaign called Invest In Our New York, which promises that raising revenue from the richest individuals and corporations will be their top priority in 2021. They're starting later today outside Gov. Andrew Cuomo's New York City office and are planning a multi-punch rollout with events in Albany, Rochester and Long Island this week. It's a direct counter to the past and current budgeting practices of the governor, who has for months held off on addressing the fiscal strain he says the pandemic has caused and instead chosen to wait on the federal government for aid. Even if Washington sends money, Invest In Our New York (and Speaker Carl Heastie ) says a one-time infusion of federal aid won't address the annual needs required to rebuild the economy, nor will it provide the life raft localities need right now. Cuomo's already shot down some of the proposals that the new coalition is pushing, saying they won't raise enough money and won't come as quickly as it is needed. To be clear, most of the concepts aren't new, but the craving from legislative leaders for their promised rewards is. Regardless of the feasibility of the proposals, the coalition shows how lines are being drawn early and publicly among the state's Democrats, who, despite snagging a big supermajority in the Senate this year, will vary on just how adventurous they're willing to be to raise money. Adding to the strain is the fact that *any* new budget proposal should inherently be based on how much money the state has and projections of how much it will have in the future. The problem? Neither of those numbers seem to be available. In related news, the first event of session to adjust to the "new normal" is the annual State of State address, which the governor coyly announced would "start" Monday, Jan. 11. He declined to go into detail about how the speech — typically an Albany event packed with every who's who in New York politics — will be different this year because he wants "a little bit of suspense," he told reporters Monday. "Not ominous — it's going to be good," Cuomo promised. 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? No public schedule available by press time. ABOVE THE FOLD: "NEW YORK, the onetime center of the pandemic, faced a growing crisis on Monday over the lagging pace of coronavirus vaccinations, as deaths continue to rise in the second wave and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo came under mounting pressure to overhaul the process. The small number of vaccine recipients is particularly striking in New York City, where roughly 110,000 people — in a city of more than eight million — have received the first of two doses necessary to help prevent serious cases of the disease. That is about a quarter of the total number received by the city... Mayor Bill de Blasio called on the Cuomo administration to allow the city to inoculate a broad array of essential workers and New Yorkers who are 75 and older. The vaccinations are currently limited to health care workers and those living and working at nursing homes. 'There's lots more we can do if we have both those categories approved,' Mr. de Blasio said at a news conference on Monday... Mr. Cuomo rejected any notion that his administration was at fault, asserting that the problem was a local issue, and urging Mr. de Blasio and other local leaders who oversee public hospital systems to take 'personal responsibility' for their performance." New York Times' Jesse McKinley, Luis Ferré-Sadurní and Emma G. Fitzsimmons | | | | GET THE BIG PRE-INAUGURATION SCOOPS IN TRANSITION PLAYBOOK: Inauguration Day is quickly approaching. Is the Biden administration ready? Transition Playbook brings you inside the transition and newly forming administration, tracking the latest from Biden world and the transition of power. Written for political insiders, this scoop-filled newsletter breaks big news and analyzes the appointments, people and emerging power centers of the new administration. Track the transition and the first 100 days of the incoming Biden administration. Subscribe today. | | | | |
|  | WHAT CITY HALL'S READING | | "NEW YORK SCHOOLS will no longer have to close if the coronavirus positivity rate in the surrounding community exceeds 9%, Gov. Cuomo announced Monday — a reversal of July state guidance that would have required schools to close when community infection rates hit 9%. Now, districts in communities with higher-than-nine-percent community infection rates will be allowed to keep their schools open if they can show through testing of students and staff that the positivity rate in schools is lower than that of the surrounding community, Cuomo said. The Monday announcement likely removes the last major obstacle to Mayor de Blasio's plan to avoid another system-wide community spread increases. The citywide positivity rate over a seven-day span was 9% Monday by city figures, but only 6.24% by state numbers." New York Daily News' Michael Elsen-Rooney — The United Federation of Teachers wants schools to close if the 9 percent threshold is met. WHEN THE first wave of coronavirus crested in New York City, it carried the legislative branch along with it. Spurred by confusion from the de Blasio administration, the City Council rose to new political prominence this spring it used to muscle in on the mayor's power. But since then, the body has taken a noticeable turn out of the limelight. A caustic budget fight, term limits and political ambitions created fissures in the Council at the same time questions of the pandemic became more complex. And with lawmakers blown from their perch, they have had far less impact on how the mayor and governor guide the city through a second wave — and the fallout for the next year. POLITICO's Joe Anuta "AMEER ALONZO, Agnissan Achi and Silas Adedokun say they have no idea who State Sen. Brian Benjamin is — but city campaign finance records show them each giving the Harlem politician $250 in November 2019 as he readied a run for city comptroller. That came as news to the three men. 'I'm struggling to make ends meet. So I never made a penny, a cent of a donation. I saw the letters stating I made a what — a $250 donation?' Achi said when contacted by THE CITY... The three men — and a toddler — are among 23 individuals who were recorded as giving donations to the Benjamin 2021 campaign fund via an intermediary named Michael Murphy. Each name is associated with a $250 money order, Campaign Finance Board records show. THE CITY variously called and knocked on doors for each of the donors, listed in campaign records as residing in every borough except Staten Island. Under New York City's recently enhanced public campaign financing program, the first $100 of each of those donations is potentially eligible for $800 in taxpayer-supplied matching funds. Donations must come from the named contributor's own funds." The City's Clifford Michel "TWENTY MONTHS after Kawaski Trawick was shot and killed by an officer, the New York Police Department has disclosed the nearly full footage of what happened . It shows not only the shooting itself, which the department released footage of last month, but also the minutes afterward. Other officers converged on the building in the Bronx after the officer who fired at Trawick reported 'shots fired.' Many of the arriving officers activated body-worn cameras, which captured what they said. 'Who's injured?' a sergeant asks as she arrives in front of Trawick's door. Two officers respond in near-unison: 'Nobody. Just a perp.' As ProPublica detailed last month, Trawick was shot just 112 seconds after officers arrived at his apartment. A more experienced, Black officer had tried to stop his younger, white partner from using force." ProPublica's Eric Umansky SUMMER VACATION could be a thing of the past, if mayoral hopeful Eric Adams gets his way. Adams, the Brooklyn Borough President, proposed a full-year school year as part of a slate of campaign promises released this week. Remote learning would allow city public schools to stay in session all year long, Adams said. "We have to stop doing things the way we've always done them merely because we've always done them," he said in an interview. "The reason children are off for two months is because of an agrarian calendar. That doesn't exist anymore." If elected, he said he would make summer instruction mandatory for students... The transition to remote life forced by the coronavirus pandemic is the impetus for another plank in Adams' platform: converting city office buildings into affordable housing. The city should allow many municipal employees to continue working remotely and convert unused offices to income-restricted apartments, the mayoral candidate said. POLITICO's Erin Durkin | | WHAT ALBANY'S READING | | "THE HIGHLY-CONTAGIOUS UK variant of the coronavirus has been detected in Saratoga Springs , marking the first known case in New York State, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Monday. A 60-year-old man recently tested positive for the mutated COVID-19 strain, and is recovering, Cuomo said during an afternoon conference call. 'He appears to be on the mend,' said Cuomo. It's believed that the patient, who was not identified by name, contracted the disease at a jewelry store in Saratoga Springs. Three other people in the store have also fallen ill, though it is not yet clear if they have the UK variant, Cuomo said. He had not traveled recently, suggesting that he contracted the strain from another yet-unidentified person within the community, Cuomo said." New York Post's Bernadette Hogan, Nolan Hicks and Aaron Feis "A LITTLE OVER TWO THIRDS of the moves involving New York households last year were outbound, a higher proportion than any other state except New Jersey , according to data released by United Van Lines on Monday. For the last decade, New York has consistently experienced more out-of-state moves than other states, landing itself on a list of top 10 states experiencing the largest exoduses compiled by United Van Lines, a moving company that tracked over 80,000 interstate moves in 2020. The pandemic changed the reasons why people moved and contributed to New York's climb toward the top of the list. What might be driving this ranking is that Long Island and New York City have experienced drastic movement out, said Eily Cummings, director of communications at United Van Lines. The other main contributing factor sounds much more familiar: baby boomers moving for retirement. Fifty-eight percent of those moving out this year were age 55 and over, according to the United Van Lines data. 'If I know that I want to move when I retire, COVID-19 has accelerated that,' said Cummings. 'Rather than I wait a couple years, I'm going to move this year because I can work remotely.'" Times Union's Claire Bryan "THE HUSBAND of a top aide to State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie is set to plead guilty in his cocaine trafficking case . Orlando Dennis, 32, the husband of Heastie's chief of staff Jevonni Brooks-Dennis, was arrested in January 2020 for his role in a scheme to import and distribute more than 500 grams of cocaine after he and his alleged co-conspirators botched the pickup of a bag carrying three bricks of cocaine at JFK Airport in late 2019. A year later, he's ready to admit his guilt. 'Last week, the government and the defense came to agreeable terms on a plea, which we are currently finalizing the paperwork for,' wrote Jason Goldman, who represents Dennis, on Dec. 28. Goldman declined to comment on the specifics of the plea deal when reached by the Daily News. Federal prosecutors also declined to comment." Daily News' Noah Goldberg #UpstateAmerica: The best bass anglers in the country are coming back to Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence River this summer. | | | | A NEW YEAR MEANS A NEW HUDDLE IS HERE: Huddle, our daily congressional must-read, has a new author! Olivia Beavers took the reins this week, and she has the latest news and whispers from the Speakers' Lobby. Don't miss out, subscribe to our Huddle newsletter, the essential guide to all things Capitol Hill. Subscribe today. | | | | |
| | FROM THE DELEGATION | | "U.S. REP. ELISE Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, will object to the certification of the 2020 election results , joining a growing list of Republican members of Congress who will mark their protest of various election procedures and demonstrate continuing loyalty to President Donald J. Trump. The effort is not expected to alter Trump's impending exit from the White House this month. The action is expected to unfold on Wednesday, when a joint session of Congress will convene to count the Electoral College votes certified by each state. Individual lawmakers can object to Congress's approval of the vote and the decision by some GOP members to do so has divided the Republican party on the eve of two Georgia run-off elections that will decide control of the U.S. Senate. Stefanik, who became one of Trump's most vocal allies in the last year of his presidency, said Monday she would object to the election results 'to protect our democratic process.'" Times Union's Emilie Munson THE TWO candidates for New York's 22nd Congressional District are still hundreds of ballots away from finding out which of them will join the 117th Congress. A state court on Monday began its review of at least 800 outstanding ballots challenged by either Democratic Rep. Anthony Brindisi or his Republican opponent, Claudia Tenney. The district is now without a representative until the counting has concluded. It is the only remaining House race in the country in which no winner has been seated in the new Congress. POLITICO's Anna Gronewold | | AROUND NEW YORK | | — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was the top guest at a fundraiser for Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul. — A hit-and-run driver in Brooklyn killed a four-year-old boy and critically injured another child. — The Queens Place Mall was evacuated due to a bomb scare. — De Blasio ordered the shutdown of a troubled Kew Gardens hotel after a triple shooting on New Year's Day. — The Queens nurse who got the first Covid-19 vaccine received her second dose. — A March 23 special election was declared to fill two vacant City Council seats in the Bronx. — A vice chair of the Brooklyn Democratic party resigned after posting an anti-China online rant. — Infant mortality, along with teen birth rates, hit historic lows in 2018. — Westchester officials are calling on utility companies to upgrade their infrastructure in the wake of summer outages. — Free street parking is becoming harder to find. | | SOCIAL DATA BY DANIEL LIPPMAN | | HAPPY BIRTHDAY: WSJ's Nick Timiraos … Daniel Sieberg is 49 … Josh Galper is 49 … former Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.) is 77 … Mercury's Jake Dilemani … John Solomon … Tom Youngblood … David Bauder MEDIAWATCH — Washington, D.C.-based Government Executive Media Group has bought City & State … Katie Glueck will be the chief political correspondent for the New York Times Metro section. She previously covered the Biden campaign … Nsikan Akpan will join WNYC as health and science editor … Lindsay Peoples Wagner will be the new editor in chief of The Cut, New York Magazine's style and culture website. She has been the top editor at Teen Vogue. MAKING MOVES — Jamarah Hayner will be the manager for Tahanie Aboushi's campaign for Manhattan district attorney. She previously ran the campaign of new Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón. | | REAL ESTATE | | "BEHIND THE TALL grass and sand dunes of Bayview Avenue in South Brooklyn, just beyond the sports fields of Kaiser Park, is an untamed wasteland. There, at the westernmost point of Coney Island Creek, barefoot fishermen stalk the toxin-laced waters with nets to trap passing schools of mullet or cast lines hoping to hook fat bluefish. Robed preachers carrying crosses wade in waist-deep, the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge their backdrop as they dunk parishioners for baptisms. At low tide, to the northeast near Calvert Vaux Park, the rotting ribs of abandoned vessels jut from the shallows, and on steamy summer days, residents of nearby public-housing complexes don swimsuits and cool themselves with a dip — overlooking or ignoring the handful of signs declaring NO SWIMMING. Coney Island Creek zigzags between its namesake peninsula and Gravesend in South Brooklyn. This is the mouth of Coney Island Creek, part of a two-mile tidal estuary that zigzags between the Coney Island peninsula and Gravesend...For years, locals have advocated for a state or federal cleanup, and this past spring, the Environmental Protection Agency began studying the creek for possible Superfund status , a classification that has spurred reclamations including the dredging of the Gowanus Canal. After an initial survey, federal officials have green-lit additional testing at the creek to determine whether some sort of cleanup — state or federal — is warranted." Curbed's Caroline Spivack
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