| | | | | |  | | By Erin Durkin and Anna Gronewold with Jonathan Custodio | Presented by 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East | As protests raged in June, Mayor Bill de Blasio and the City Council announced they would slash $1 billion from the budget of the NYPD, in part by removing the officers who patrol city schools from the police department. It was a nice big number, but it wasn't really true, as POLITICO soon revealed by reading the budget documents. The school safety agents would not be moved out of the NYPD this fiscal year. Now, another sign of just how misleading those budget claims were: Not only are the school officers still part of the NYPD, but the police department is discussing hiring two new classes of nearly 475 school safety agents in March and June. That would cost a cool $20 million, as our Madina Touré reports. City Council members were none too pleased to hear about those plans during a hearing on reducing police presence in schools. "It is outrageous that they, first of all, lied to this institution and quite frankly did not invest the resources where our kids need them the most," Council Education Chair Mark Treyger said. "This is going to be a major issue in our budget season." The Council is weighing a bill that would mandate that the NYPD be fully removed from school safety by June of 2022. But the union that represents the agents is fighting the effort, saying it would put the school security workers, who are mostly Black women and Latinas, as well as students in danger. "The politicians think they know what is happening in our schools, but in reality, they know nothing at all," Teamsters Local 237 president Gregory Floyd said. And it's already budget season, with the Council set to weigh a preliminary budget proposed by de Blasio, so the issue will be a hot potato once again. 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? No public schedule available by press time. WHERE'S BILL? Distributing food at Elmhurst Hospital and appearing on WNYC's Brian Lehrer show. QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I've had one five-minute conversation my entire life with Governor Cuomo, a few weeks ago when he called me just to congratulate on a TV program appearance." — Dr. Michael Osterholm, who Melissa DeRosa had referred to as one of Cuomo's "chief advisors", said on PBS ABOVE THE FOLD: "FEDERAL prosecutors in Brooklyn sought data this month on nursing-home deaths from Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration , people familiar with the matter said, after the administration took months to respond to a separate inquiry by the Justice Department. The prosecutors' request seeks the number of New York nursing-home deaths due to Covid-19 and when and where they occurred, as part of a broader inquiry into the state's handling of the pandemic in those care settings, the people said. One person said federal prosecutors requested the nursing-home death data after Mr. Cuomo's top aide, Melissa DeRosa, told state lawmakers last week that the administration had held off on releasing the information to an earlier Justice Department Civil Division probe because the state feared the information would be politicized by the Trump administration. Rich Azzopardi, a senior adviser to Mr. Cuomo, said Thursday the Justice Department has been looking into the nursing-home issue for months. 'We have been cooperating with them, and we will continue to do so,' Mr. Azzopardi said. 'We will have no other comment on this matter.' A spokesman for prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York declined to comment." Wall Street Journal's Sadie Gurman and Jimmy Vielkind | | | | A message from 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East: For far too long, we have tolerated poor quality and profiteering in New York's nursing home industry. Albany needs to pass reform now to make sure nursing home owners are spending taxpayer money the way it's meant to be spent – on providing residents with the hours of quality care they need. We need your voice to make sure our loved ones are receiving quality care. Learn more about how you can help at https://investinqualitycare.org/take-action/ | | |
|  | WHAT CITY HALL'S READING | | "AFTER WARNING that draconian cuts to public transit could be on the way, including a 40 percent decrease in subway service, New York transit officials on Thursday said they had avoided major reductions for the next two years after a new infusion of federal aid and better-than-expected tax revenue helped steady the system's finances. The improved financial outlook was a major dose of good news for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates New York City's subway and buses and two commuter rail lines and has experienced a steep drop in fare after the pandemic emptied public transit of riders. The authority had warned of drastic service cuts, not just to the subway but also to buses, in part to pressure Congress into providing more help. A $1.9 trillion stimulus package that President Biden is urging Congress to approve includes up to $30 billion for public transit." New York Times' Christina Goldbaum MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO called for a full Department of Justice investigation into Gov. Andrew Cuomo's handling of the coronavirus pandemic in New York nursing homes, and called Cuomo's alleged threats against a state lawmaker typical of the governor's "bullying" tactics. "That's classic Andrew Cuomo. A lot of people in New York state have received those phone calls. The bullying is nothing new," de Blasio said Thursday on MSNBC's Morning Joe. "It's very, very sad. No public servant, no person who's telling the truth should be treated that way." Assemblymember Ron Kim (D-Queens) said Cuomo called him and threatened to publicly destroy him if he did not change his statements about a Cuomo aide's admission that the administration had deliberately withheld information on the full death toll at nursing homes. POLITICO's Erin Durkin "MAYORAL CANDIDATE Andrew Yang voiced an unwavering defense of New York City yeshivas on Thursday — wading into a controversy over the legal right to a quality education versus perceived infringement on religious freedom. During a candidate forum sponsored by the politically liberal New York Jewish Agenda Thursday, the leading candidate outflanked his competitors in siding with yeshivas that have been in a years-long cold war with city officials. 'If a school is delivering the same outcomes, I do not think we should be prescribing rigid curricula,' Yang said in response to a question from moderator Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers. 'I will also say that when I was in public school we studied the Bible for a month — Bible as literature. It was good enough for my public school. I do not see why we somehow are prioritizing secular over faith-based learning.'" POLITICO's Sally Goldenberg and Madina Touré — Yang began his appearance at an Upper East Side political club Thursday night with a shoutout to Council Member Brad Lander. It was an odd acknowledgment, considering Lander represents several neighborhoods in a different borough. Yang praised the Brooklyn lawmaker's work on legislation to combat sidewalk scaffolding before introducing himself to the Four Freedoms Democratic Club. As Gotham Gazette's Ben Max later pointed out via tweet, Yang appears to have confused Lander for Council Member Ben Kallos, who represents the Upper East Side and considers sidewalk sheds to be a scourge upon the city. — Joe Anuta "NEW YORK CITY will run a pilot program to test electric-scooter share systems for at least a year in an 18-square-mile section of the East Bronx, transportation officials said Thursday. "In a lot of ways it's the perfect place to use scooters to improve transit equity," said Paul Steely White, director of public affairs at Superpedestrian, a micro-mobility company that has applied to participate in the program scheduled to start in the spring. Mr. White noted that the area, home to 570,000 people, is popular with many essential workers who struggle with some of the city's longest commutes because of poor mass-transit connections. City officials said they would evaluate how well scooters serve the area's Black and Latino residents, who make up 80% of the population, as well as the area's 25,000 New York City Housing Authority residents." Wall Street Journal's Paul Berger "THE LAST TIME there was an open mayoral election in New York City, an independent committee spent roughly $900,000 to help take down the presumptive front-runner, paving the way for Bill de Blasio's victory. Eight years later, another onslaught of barely regulated money is heading New York's way, with super PACs poised to play an outsize role in the race for mayor the most important election in recent city history. Business-friendly organizations have already raised millions of dollars. At least one candidate, Raymond J. McGuire, has a dedicated super PAC. And now progressive groups are getting in on the act, creating their own super PACs to supplement their on-the-ground and social media efforts. The rising tide of independent spending highlights the fierce debates unfolding across the political spectrum about how to manage the city's post-pandemic recovery and what its future should look like." New York Times' Dana Rubinstein and Katie Glueck | | | | GET TRANSITION PLAYBOOK TO 100K: In three months, our scoop-filled Transition Playbook newsletter has grown from zero to more than 90,000 subscribers. Find out what's really happening inside the West Wing, who really has the ear of the president, and what's about to happen, before it occurs. Transition Playbook chronicles the people, policies, and emerging power centers of the Biden administration. Don't miss out, subscribe today. And once you do, we'd be grateful if you could spread the word to your friends and colleagues, or, even better, post about Transition Playbook on Facebook or Twitter using this link: politico.com/newsletters/transition-playbook | | | | |
| | WHAT ALBANY'S READING | | REP. TOM REED was pulled off on the side of an upstate New York road, somewhere along the 40-mile stretch between Ithaca and Corning, being berated for about 45 minutes straight. On the other end of the line: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. "I've never seen something like it," Reed (R-N.Y.) said in an interview. "I've heard about the wrath and his anger, and that was the one time where I received it personally." It was 2017 and Republicans in Congress were pushing through a tax overhaul with significant implications for New York. The Democratic governor was incensed about the bill — particularly its cap on the federal dedication for state and local taxes, a provision that remains a perpetual source of Cuomo's ire — and was lobbying hard for the congressional delegation to oppose it. Reed, who backed the legislation, said Cuomo's anger seared itself in his memory for how over the top it was, tattering their professional relationship since. "That leadership gets old," he said. "I think people — New Yorkers — get sick of it." … Similar experiences for other New York political figures, only a fraction of which are public knowledge, have become commonplace in recent years and transcend political affiliation and other dividing lines. Many describe receiving angry calls late in the evening, or at other inopportune times, and being unable to get off the phone with New York's most powerful official. Warnings and browbeating aren't unusual, say those familiar with the governor's approach. … Now, Cuomo's cut-throat tactics — already the stuff of legend in Albany's halls of power — have been on full display as the Democratic governor faces his biggest firestorm in years over his administration's handling of nursing home fatalities during Covid-19 and his unsparing treatment of lawmakers who have dared to step out against him. POLITICO's Nick Niedzwiadek and Anna Gronewold — Wednesday's outburst, the sort of rebuke Cuomo typically saves for private phone calls or public statements signed by his aides, appeared to signal to his growing list of critics that his memory is long and his aim is sharp. That wasn't lost on some Democratic lawmakers, who said the governor's comments only increased tensions in Albany. Cuomo's attacks could alienate more members of his own party and create an opening for his Democratic opponents to strike harder. "It's very 'Donald Trump' to divert, change the message, throw something out there like there is a whole other news thing," said Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou, a Manhattan Democrat. "In reality there's one news thing: A lot of people died. The numbers were hidden and a lot of people who had to make decisions couldn't make those decisions because the information was wrong." POLITICO's Anna Gronewold and Marie J. French — The voice you were waiting for, Alec Baldwin, has weighed in: "If Cuomo threatened Ron Kim's career, Cuomo should resign." — THE STATE Assembly's Republican conference is introducing a resolution to begin the process of impeaching Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a three-term Democrat. The move, which has no chance of being approved given the solid Democratic majorities in both houses of the New York Legislature, is a sign that Cuomo's critics continue to feel emboldened as the governor remains embroiled in controversy over his decisions about the spread of Covid-19 in nursing homes….One of the most ironclad rules of Albany is that the Assembly does not pass measures of significance sponsored by the minority party. It has been many years since a Republican has been the sponsor of a new law that does anything more than rename a few blocks of a state road in their district after a veteran. Even if the idea of impeachment gains ground, it's all but guaranteed that Democrats will be responsible for deciding how that will proceed. A handful of longtime Cuomo critics in the Democratic Party have said that impeachment might eventually be on the table, but the party's leadership has not yet seriously entertained the possibility. POLITICO's Bill Mahoney "THE CUOMO ADMINISTRATION's controversial directive for nursing homes to accept COVID-19 patients amid the pandemic likely did lead to a spike in resident deaths, an analysis of its own data revealed Thursday. The study by the nonprofit Empire Center for Public Policy tied 'several hundred and possibly more than 1,000' fatalities to the since-rescinded March 25, 2020, order that critics have blamed for spreading the coronavirus among vulnerable seniors. The analysis also suggests the controversial mandate is 'associated with' more than one in six of 5,780 nursing deaths statewide between late March and early May." New York Post's Nolan Hicks and Bruce Golding "NEW YORK state lawmakers are considering an unprecedented form of wealth tax as they search for revenues to plug a budget hole exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. A growing coalition of unions, progressive advocacy groups and Democratic officials has endorsed a slate of six revenue bills, including a so-called mark-to-market tax on billionaires, which would require them to pay capital-gains taxes each year as their assets appreciate, even if they don't sell. The tax menu also includes increases to income and capital-gains taxes as well as a proposed tax on financial transactions. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, proposed a $1.5 billion income tax hike as part of his $193 billion budget plan, but hasn't embraced a mark-to-market tax. Democrats who control the state Assembly and Senate said all measures — including the mark-to-market tax — remain on the table in fiscal talks." Wall Street Journal's Jimmy Vielkind #UpstateAmerica: Rachel Ray is rebuilding her Lake Luzerne house that was destroyed in a fire. | | | |   | | |
| | TRUMP'S NEW YORK | | "AS THE MANHATTAN district attorney's office steps up the criminal investigation of Donald J. Trump, it has reached outside its ranks to enlist a prominent former federal prosecutor to help scrutinize financial dealings at the former president's company, according to several people with knowledge of the matter. The former prosecutor, Mark F. Pomerantz, has deep experience investigating and defending white-collar and organized crime cases, bolstering the team under District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. that is examining Mr. Trump and his family business, the Trump Organization." New York Times' William K. Rashbaum, Ben Protess and Jonah E. Bromwich | | AROUND NEW YORK | | — The city is advising New Yorkers to wear two face masks to protect against Covid-19 infection. — Vaccine shipments to the city were delayed because of a winter storm. — Mayoral candidate Ray McGuire released a criminal justice plan that seek to create a new deputy mayor for public safety and have social services workers respond to mental health calls. — A former Andy King staffer settled her lawsuit against the city over the ousted City Council Member's misconduct, but her claims against King are still pending. — Start-Up New York companies could lose tax incentives and face suspension after they followed executive orders, closed their offices and worked from home. | | | | NEW – "THE RECAST" NEWSLETTER: Power dynamics are changing. "Influence" is changing. More people are demanding a seat at the table, insisting that all politics is personal and not all policy is equitable. "The Recast" is our new twice-weekly newsletter that breaks down how race and identity are recasting politics, policy, and power in America. And POLITICO is recasting how we report on this crucial intersection, bringing you fresh insights, scoops, dispatches from across the country, and new voices that challenge "business as usual." Don't miss out on this important new newsletter, SUBSCRIBE NOW. | | | | |
| | SOCIAL DATA BY DANIEL LIPPMAN | | HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) … Andrew Ross Sorkin … Tamara Hinton … Howard Stringer … Tucker Warren … The New Yorker's Sarah Stillman … Samantha Zalaznick … Julie Terrell Radford … Fox News' Louis Tartaglia … Capital One's Joe Vidulich is 35 … Chase Kroll … Ginny Neel … John Stanton … Laurie M. Tisch is 7-0 ... Alan Tisch is 33 ... Barry Zubrow is 68 MEDIWATCH — Per Talking Biz News: "Alexis Swerdloff is now deputy editor at New York Magazine. Previously, she held the post of Strategist editor at the publication." | | | | A message from 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East: New York State is experiencing a nursing home crisis. The heroes who take care of our loved ones in New York's nursing homes are trying desperately to take care of their residents without sufficient resources and support, leaving residents without the hours of care they need. And the hours of care a nursing home resident receives is directly correlated with resident outcomes. As NY Attorney General found, the underlying poor conditions in nursing homes worsened the COVID-19 pandemic's toll. Instead of hiring enough staff and providing enough equipment and other resources, operators are cutting corners and hiding profits by using multiple corporations to operate the same home.
New York lawmakers can act now and join states like Massachusetts and New Jersey in making sure that the nursing home industry is spending taxpayer dollars on patient care, not profits. Learn more about how you can fight for nursing home reform at https://investinqualitycare.org/take-action/ | | |
| | REAL ESTATE | | "IT'S JUST TWO paragraphs, buried toward the end of the nearly 4,000 pages making up Governor Andrew Cuomo's proposed state budget for 2022. Yet critics say this obscure budget measure could undermine one of the most ambitious local climate laws in the world: New York City's Local Law 97, which requires the city's big buildings to slash their greenhouse gas emissions 40% over the next decade and 80% by 2050...New analysis of Part R suggests the proposal's impact could be even larger than critics initially feared. In a letter sent yesterday to Cuomo and leaders of the state legislature, four environmental, planning and trade groups estimate that Part R would allow so many renewable energy credits (RECs) that building owners could meet all of their emissions targets until at least 2030 without making any upgrades to their buildings." New York Focus's Colin Kinniburgh
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