| | | | | |  | | By Erin Durkin, Anna Gronewold and Téa Kvetenadze | New York City employees — all 340,000 of them — will have to get vaccinated against Covid-19, or submit to weekly testing for the virus. Mayor Bill de Blasio laid down the mandate Monday after days of progressively greater frustration with vaccine holdouts, who are driving the latest surge in virus cases marring the city's comeback summer. "It's quite clear the Delta variant has changed the game. So now it's time to focus on one thing and one thing only — vaccination. No more excuses, no more delays," de Blasio said. That means cops, firefighters, teachers, office workers, and anyone else who gets their paycheck from the city of New York. Some agencies, including the NYPD, have reported dismal vaccination rates, lagging far behind the 70 percent of city adults overall who have gotten at least one shot. The requirement takes effect on the first day of school, and employees who flout it may be placed on unpaid leave. While this isn't an outright vaccine mandate, the goal is to make remaining unvaccinated enough of a hassle that reluctant workers simply relent and get the jab. To the same end, city workers will be required to show proof of vaccination by next week or wear a mask at all times — something that was already technically required for unvaccinated employees but won't be on an honor system anymore. The announcement by the nation's largest city came as its largest state, California, announced a similar mandate for public workers, making it something of a watershed day for a more aggressive approach to vaccination — at least in blue territory. How will it go over? The United Federation of Teachers is fine with it, saying in a statement that the rule "puts the emphasis on vaccination but still allows for personal choice." The largest city workers' union, DC37, however, is crying foul, saying the city can't impose such a mandate without union agreement. "Weekly testing is clearly subject to mandatory bargaining," said executive director Henry Garrido. "New York City is a union town and that cannot be ignored." 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? Appearing on MSNBC's Morning Joe, holding a media availability, holding "office hours" at a Bronx resource fair, and speaking at the Sapolin Awards. | | | | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president's ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | |  | WHAT CITY HALL'S READING | | Ending de Blasio's Cold War: Corporate NYC sees hope in an Eric Adams mayoralty, by POLITICO's Sally Goldenberg and Joe Anuta: Shortly after Eric Adams won the Democratic mayoral primary with support from some of the city's poorest communities, he received a call from an unlikely source. Jamie Dimon, one of the most recognizable titans of Wall Street, phoned the nominee to congratulate him and express interest in working together, someone familiar with the conversation told POLITICO. A few weeks later, Adams hobnobbed with another multi-billionaire when he visited the East Midtown headquarters of Bloomberg LP to chat with its founder and the city's 108th mayor, Mike Bloomberg, according to two people aware of the meeting. And earlier this month, Adams dined at the exclusive Italian eatery Rao's alongside grocery chain magnate John Catsimatidis, a one-time Republican candidate for mayor who praised Adams in a call last week, while taking care to compliment his GOP rival Curtis Sliwa. The interactions are part of Adams' post-primary outreach to New York's civic players. He's pitching a tent wide enough to include unionized hotel and building service workers, Orthodox Jewish leaders and politicians, from members of the City Council to President Joe Biden. At the same time, Adams is signaling that his door is not only open to Democratic Party standard bearers, but also members of the city's business sector who have been in a cold war with Mayor Bill de Blasio since he took office eight years ago. "Homeless People Are Moved From Midtown Hotels Back to Shelters," by The New York Times' Andy Newman: "New York City resumed the process of transferring thousands of homeless people from pandemic hotel rooms back to barracks-style group shelters on Monday, two weeks after a judge halted the moves on the grounds that the city was not giving adequate consideration to people's health. Monday's transfers, which caused confusion outside at least two hotels in Midtown Manhattan, came amid growing concerns over the recent quadrupling in coronavirus cases citywide and over the objections of advocates for homeless people, who said that the city was flouting the judge's orders. "As three yellow school buses and several accessible vans waited outside the Hotel at Fifth Avenue near the Empire State Building, one woman, Dianne Marks, said that she had been told she was being transferred to a group shelter uptown, even though she had applied for a disability exemption known as a reasonable accommodation because of respiratory problems and other health issues. 'I have no idea what is going on,' said Ms. Marks, 57, as hotel residents milled around with their possessions in city-issued trash bags." — "NYC Mayor de Blasio's ex-health czar says he'd put 'entire city' at risk of COVID by booting homeless from hotels," by New York Daily News' Chris Sommerfeldt: "Mayor de Blasio will put 'the entire city' in danger if he moves ahead with kicking thousands of homeless New Yorkers out of hotels they've been staying in during the pandemic, his own former health commissioner plans to warn him, as the Big Apple continues to see an increase in COVID-19 cases driven by the delta variant." "Sliwa rips Adams for praising homeless services head," by New York Post's Abby Weiss and Sam Raskin: "Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa labeled his Democratic opponent, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, 'de Blasio 2.0' for praising the current mayor's homeless services commissioner. 'Steven Banks is the biggest blunder of so many blunders committed by the de Blasio administration. Eric Adams is striking me as if he wants to be de Blasio 2.0,' Sliwa said Monday at a press conference in Manhattan. 'Eric Adams is going to be a carbon copy of the de Blasio administration, which people on the right, the left and the center, all acknowledge has single handedly taken a Miley Cyrus wrecking ball to the city that we love,' the Guardian Angels founder went on." "'Back to Gridlock': NYC Bridge and Tunnel Traffic Returning to Pre-Pandemic Levels as Mass Transit Lags," by The City's Jose Martinez: "Traffic has rebounded to pre-pandemic levels on bridges and tunnels across the city, data shows — spurring concerns that New York is headed 'right back to gridlock' as mass transit use lags. More than 27.9 million vehicles crossed the nine tolled crossings controlled by the MTA last month, according to the transit agency, the most since October 2019, when the number of paid trips hit 28.1 million. Meanwhile, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's six bridges and tunnels logged more than 10.1 million vehicle trips in May, the most since the 10.3 million tallied in December 2019." | | WHAT ALBANY'S READING | | Cuomo questions credibility of attorney general's investigators, by POLITICO's Bill Mahoney: Gov. Andrew Cuomo is questioning the trustworthiness of the lawyers leading state Attorney General Tish James' investigation into several allegations made against him in recent months. "Look at who the independent investigators are," Cuomo said Monday at a press event at Yankee Stadium, referring to the outside attorneys James hired for the probe. "Do a little history, go to Google ... and tell me what you see." James retained Joon Kim and Anne Clark to conduct her office's probe. Kim's resume includes a stint as a federal prosecutor, a role in which he led the case against top Cuomo aide Joe Percoco, who was convicted on corruption charges on 2018 and sentenced to six years in prison. He was also involved in the investigation over Cuomo's shuttering of the Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption in 2014, which did not result in any charges. "Cuomo overhauls COVID rent relief program in wake of criticism and fears of flood of evictions," by New York Daily News' Denis Slattery: "Gov. Cuomo is overhauling the state's problem-plagued COVID rental assistance program, a day after the Daily News highlighted issues facing financially-strapped renters and landlords alike. Officials are relaxing documentation standards for both tenants and landlords and making it easier for building owners with several tenants behind on payments to make claims as the end of the state's eviction moratorium approaches at the end of August. 'The COVID pandemic has taken a tremendous toll on New Yorkers all across the State, and they need rental assistance now,' Cuomo said in a statement. 'To streamline this process, I've directed OTDA to work with their vendor to disburse payments as quickly and efficiently as possible (so) we can deliver billions of dollars in rental assistance to New Yorkers who have been struggling to pay rent due to no fault of their own.'" "Plastic Bag Ban Violators Getting Away with Breaking Law as Enforcers Check Out," by The City's Reuven Blau: "State regulators charged with overseeing the ban on single-use plastic shopping bags are overwhelmed by complaints, with more than 300 reported violators yet to be checked on, data obtained by THE CITY shows. The Department of Environmental Conservation, the state agency that's supposed to enforce the new regulation, has received 500 email complaints from concerned New Yorkers since the law took effect last October, the department said. State investigators have conducted just 195 store visits, issuing 69 warning notices, all to spots in New York City and Long Island, according to the DEC. Only one shop in the seven counties has been hit with a cash-penalty violation for continued disregard of the new law since May 5, the records show." #UpstateAmerica: A treasure worth up to $100 million may be buried somewhere in the Catskills. The owner was a fellow named Dutch Schultz, a noted bootlegger who met an unfortunate end in Newark, N.J., in 1935. | | | | SUBSCRIBE TO "THE RECAST" TODAY: Power is shifting in Washington and in communities across the country. More people are demanding a seat at the table, insisting that politics is personal and not all policy is equitable. The Recast is a twice-weekly newsletter that explores the changing power dynamics in Washington and breaks down how race and identity are recasting politics and policy in America. Get fresh insights, scoops and dispatches on this crucial intersection from across the country and hear critical new voices that challenge business as usual. Don't miss out, SUBSCRIBE . Thank you to our sponsor, Intel. | | | | |
| | TRUMP'S NEW YORK | | Trump ally Tom Barrack pleads not guilty to foreign agent charges, by POLITICO's Erin Durkin: Tom Barrack, a longtime adviser to former President Donald Trump, pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges that he secretly acted as an agent for the United Arab Emirates. Barrack, who chaired Trump's inaugural committee, was arraigned in a federal court in Brooklyn on a seven-count indictment. He appeared along with Matthew Grimes, his former aide, who is charged with two counts. Attorneys for both men entered pleas of not guilty on their behalf. Barrack, a wealthy private equity investor, was released on $250 million bond, mirroring an agreement he reached in California on Friday. Barrack, 74, is charged with failing to register as a foreign agent, conspiracy, obstruction of justice and four counts of making false statements to the FBI. "Wollman Rink's New Prices Criticized by City Leaders," by West Side Rag's Carol Tannenhauser: "It was never a bargain to skate at Wollman Rink, the iconic ice skating rink at the southern end of Central Park. When the Trump Organization ran it — before it was wrested from the former president's company as a result of his alleged part in the January 6th insurrection — it cost a family of two adults and two children, $100 for admission and to rent skates and lockers on a weekend — and that doesn't include food or drinks. In November, when the rink will hopefully reopen, it's going to get even more expensive." | | FROM THE DELEGATION | | "Schumer Announces New York's Latest Semiconductor Deal, to Subsidy Watchdogs' Chagrin," by New York Focus's Julia Rock: "While Congress considers legislation to make historic investments in domestic semiconductor research and manufacturing, New York state and local economic development agencies are continuing a decades-long effort to make the capital region the microchip manufacturing center of the United States. Encouraged by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, state and local authorities are continuing to pour millions of dollars into an industry that has long been subsidized by taxpayer dollars even as it has offshored jobs. Last Monday, Sen. Schumer announced that GlobalFoundries, a semiconductor manufacturing firm owned by Mubadala Investment Company, the United Arab Emirates sovereign wealth fund, is building a new chip fabrication plant near its corporate headquarters in Malta, New York, and expanding an existing plant." | | AROUND NEW YORK | | — A lifeguard at Jones Beach reported being bitten by a shark. — Revel plans to launch an all-electric car-hailing service despite the city's attempt to block the move. — A man allegedly told an Asian woman to "speak English" before pulling her hair and spitting on her on the Upper West Side. — Residents are fighting accessibility upgrades on a stretch of the Rockaway Beach boardwalk. — Beekeeping has become one of the city's buzziest hobbies amid the pandemic. — An inmate on Rikers Island got his hands on a staff logbook and filled it with complaints including a lack of fresh air, fans, guards — and "no f—g cheese." — A Southampton restaurant is raising money to rehome a runaway bull that escaped its farm last week and is still on the run. | | SOCIAL DATA BY DANIEL LIPPMAN | | HAPPY BIRTHDAY: BuzzFeed's Paul McLeod …Neil King … Elliot Schrage … Jonathan Strong … Priscilla Painton of Simon & Schuster … Carolyn Petschler … former Commerce Secretary Don Evans … MSNBC's Denis Horgan … Paul Dranginis … Natalie Raabe of The New Yorker … Sofia Gerard … Jacquelynn Burke MEDIAWATCH — Ben Chapman, formerly the public safety reporter for the Wall Street Journal's disbanded Greater New York section, is now covering national education issues for the paper. … Nicole Lewis is joining Slate as senior editor for the jurisprudence section. She most recently has been a staff writer at The Marshall Project, and is a WaPo alum. … The NYT is shuffling David Halbfinger to be politics editor (most recently Jerusalem bureau chief) and Los Angeles bureau chief Manny Fernandez to be deputy politics editor. Announcement MAKING MOVES — David Helfenbein will soon be starting as VP for public relations at Burford Capital, where he will be serving as the in-house PR lead. He was previously an associate director at Finsbury Glover Hering and is a Hillary Clinton Senate and State Dept. alumnus. WEEKEND WEDDING — Zeke Miller, an AP White House reporter, and Jessie Crystal, a second grade teacher at the Sheridan School, got married Sunday at her family home in Westhampton Beach, N.Y. They were introduced in 2017 by Jessie's sister and brother-in-law, Lara Crystal and Rob Saliterman. Pic | | REAL ESTATE | | It's now or never on de Blasio's SoHo rezoning, by POLITICO's Janaki Chadha: The de Blasio administration is in a race against time on a proposal to rezone the ritzy downtown neighborhoods of SoHo and NoHo — and failure to get the plan done before the end of this year could doom the contentious project under the new City Council. The city's plan would make way for thousands of new apartments and update decades-old zoning rules governing the area, once a thriving artist colony that has since transformed into one of the wealthiest sections of Manhattan. The proposal is currently moving through the formal land use review process with just enough time to reach a City Council vote before the end of the year. Local Council Member Margaret Chin, who is term-limited, has been broadly supportive of the city's efforts, but the person all but certain to succeed her is a vocal opponent, and any delays to the process that extend it into the new year could end up killing the rezoning altogether. "Manhattan lags Chicago, LA in returning to the office," by The Real Deal's Bill Egbert: "For all of Wall Street's drum-beating to march workers back to their desks, Manhattan office buildings have actually been slower to refill than those in Los Angeles and Chicago. The nation's three largest office markets were emptied early last year by the coronavirus, but data show attendance varied wildly among those cities and their industries — and still does. Pandemic lockdowns for all three cities started in the last full week of March 2020, but office use had already plunged the week before as companies proactively sent workers home, according to anonymized data gathered by Brivo, a firm that supplies card-swipe and other technology to 20 million users at 70,000 U.S. locations." | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
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