| | | | | |  | | By Erin Durkin, Anna Gronewold and Deanna Garcia | President Joe Biden swooped into East Elmhurst, Queens, on Wednesday, where he surveyed the deadly hit the city took from Hurricane Ida and declared it proof that "this is code red" on climate change. "Climate change poses an existential threat to our lives, to our economy. And the threat is here," Biden said from the neighborhood that suffered severe damage after the remnants of Ida dumped record amounts of rain on the city. "It's not going to get any better. The question: Can it get worse? We can stop it from getting worse." There were two orders of business on the president's trip — to sound the alarm on climate change, and to promise personal assistance to the victims of the deluge, which the federal government has pledged after approving major disaster declarations. "This is America, where I'm standing right now," Biden pronounced, in case there was any doubt on that question. He said the neighborhood's working-class residents are often among the first hurt and the last helped. "That's not going to happen this time." While Biden stumped for his infrastructure package, how all of this rhetoric will translate into action, and specifically concrete steps on the ground in the five boroughs, remains an open question. The president was surrounded by Gov. Kathy Hochul, Mayor Bill de Blasio, Sen. Chuck Schumer and a who's who of other New York pols who are all sounding similar notes on the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and boost resiliency. On at least one key question raised by Ida — what to do about tens of thousands of illegal basement apartments vulnerable to flooding, where New Yorkers drowned in their homes during the storm — the city is essentially throwing up its hands. De Blasio said there would be no enforcement blitz against owners for fear of driving already suffering tenants out of their homes, and the city has no broader plan to address the long-standing issue. "We don't have an immediate solution to this one," he said. IT'S WEDNESDAY. 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 KATHY? Visiting the 9/11 Memorial & Museum with former Mayor Mike Bloomberg in Manhattan, then giving a briefing from her Manhattan office in the afternoon. In the evening, the governor will attend the Prabal Gurung Fashion Show in Lower Manhattan. WHERE'S BILL? Holding a media availability. |  | WHAT CITY HALL'S READING | | "Several Queens Flood Victims Sickened From Exposure To Raw Sewage," by WNYC's Gwynne Hogan: "Several Queens residents who were exposed to raw sewage when floodwaters gushed into their homes during Tropical Storm Ida now say they've suffered diarrhea and vomiting, and at least one person had to be hospitalized. Ivette Mayo's home on 64th Street near 48th Avenue in Woodside took on five feet of water in the basement last Wednesday. As water poured in, she and her husband sloshed around downstairs, shutting down the house's electricity and grabbing whatever family photographs they could salvage. Two days later, she started to feel ill, and by Sunday she couldn't hold down water or Pedialyte, alternating between vomiting and diarrhea all day long. 'Sunday night was just a disaster. I was getting up every 15 minutes,' she said. Her husband took her to the hospital Monday morning where she was given fluids and supplements of magnesium and potassium. She was soon diagnosed with norovirus and e. Coli, she said, two highly contagious waterborne diseases." "Gun violence drops in August — but still at nearly double pre-pandemic levels," by New York Post's Craig McCarthy: "Shootings in the Big Apple plummeted in August compared to the same time last year when gunplay was raging — and officials say that proves the city has 'turned a corner' when it comes to crime. But the number of shootings last month — 167, versus 241 reported during August 2020 — is still nearly double pre-pandemic levels. 'One shooting is too many, and yes, we are fighting high numbers, but since the beginning of the summer, the trend is going down,' Chief of Department Rodney Harrison said Tuesday during the mayor's daily briefing." "How Bullying and Spying on Muslims After 9/11 Spawned a Justice-Seeking Generation," by The City's Claudia Irizarry Aponte: "The weeks and months after Sept. 11, 2001, were marked by a profound sense of both loss and unity, as much of the city banded together in an emotional response to the attacks on the World Trade Center. But for many Muslim, Middle Eastern and South Asian New Yorkers, those emotions led to new reasons to be afraid: Children were harassed on their way to school and taunted as 'terrorists;' immigration crackdowns tore apart communities like Little Pakistan in Brooklyn; and an NYPD surveillance program spied on innocent people in New York and beyond for more than a decade. 'There's a lot of trauma,' associated with the Islamophobic backlash, said 30-year-old Shahana Hanif of Brooklyn, a daughter of Bangladeshi immigrants who is poised to become the first Muslim woman elected to the City Council. But what shines through 20 years later is the organizing within the city's Muslim communities that the era fostered." "More financial relief for New Yorkers Recovering from Ida," by The New York Times' Ashley Wong: "Mayor Bill de Blasio signed an executive order Tuesday eliminating city permit fees for New Yorkers trying to repair their homes following last week's deadly floods. The flooding last week turned many basement apartments into death traps, particularly in Queens, where many low-income and immigrant communities reside in basement homes that are not up to safety codes. Getting permits from the city to do major construction on these homes could set people back anywhere from $100 to $1,200 each, Mr. de Blasio said during a news conference. 'We don't want to see anyone have to pay for a permit who's just been through a horrible disaster,' Mr. de Blasio said." "24-year-old man found dead in cell at NYC's Rikers Island as staffing crisis continues," by NBC New York: "Amid reports of staffing issues at Rikers Island, a 24-year-old man has become at least the ninth person to die at the correctional facility. Authorities are investigating the death of Esias Johnson who was found unresponsive in his cell at the Anna M. Kross Center on Tuesday and pronounced dead at 9:45 a.m., the New York City Department of Correction said. According to DOC Commissioner Vincent Schiraldi, Johnson had recently entered custody on Aug. 7 and he was being held on a fugitive arrest warrant and charged with menacing." | | WHAT ALBANY'S READING | | "Hochul inherits horde of entrenched Cuomo appointees," by New York Post's Carl Campanile and Bernadette Hogan: "Disgraced, ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo may be gone but the long shadow he cast over the New York government empire over a decade — filled with entrenched loyalists — will remain for years. His replacement, Gov. Kathy Hochul, inherits a massive New York bureaucracy filled with key Cuomo appointees over several major agencies, including SUNY and CUNY, the Port Authority, MTA, the Public Service Commission, Empire State Development, the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, among other agencies. In many cases, the Cuomo appointees serve fixed terms and cannot be replaced even if Hochul wants to get rid of them. Then there are Cuomo's numerous building projects in the works pushed by his appointees — including what critics slam as the controversial $2.1 billion 'wrong way' LaGuardia Airport air train project." — ANALYSIS: On Hochul's DFS Pick from The American Prospect's Timi Iwayemi and Max Moran: "One of newly installed New York Gov. Kathy Hochul's first key decisions was naming Adrienne Harris as the head of the state's Department of Financial Services (DFS), which is responsible for regulating the activities of nearly 1,800 insurance companies with cumulative assets of $5.5 trillion and more than 1,400 banking and financial institutions with assets over $2.9 trillion. If confirmed, Harris would be responsible for ensuring prudent financial conduct, robust consumer protection, and anti-fraud measures within New York. But given its role as the nation's — and the world's — financial center, her actions will have a significant impact on regulation and enforcement across the country and around the world. The problem is Harris's own philosophy of regulation. Apparently, Harris just doesn't get why regulators have to be so skeptical of the industry all the time — which makes sense, coming from a fintech executive who's advocated for the industry on both sides of the revolving door." — ICYMI: Comedian Maria DeCotis is back, playing both Hochul and Cuomo in a single spoof. HEADS UP, MASKS BACK ON: "New mask rules in place for state-owned buildings," by Spectrum's Nick Reisman: "Universal masking has returned to buildings owned by the state of New York in counties with substantial or high cases of COVID-19, a spokeswoman for the Office of General Services confirmed Tuesday. At the state Capitol in Albany, signs requiring masking regardless of vaccination status returned to the hallways, and state officials have put similar signs up in other areas of the state with qualifying COVID-19 case rates. 'OGS placed the signs that masks are now required in all state-owned buildings, regardless of vaccination status, if your county has a high transmission rates per GOER's updated policy,' said OGS spokeswoman Michelle Rosales." "Incoming Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin Owns Insider Stock in Firm That Arranges Sky-High Interest Loans," by The City's Greg B. Smith and Clifford Michel : "Newly appointed Lt. Governor Brian Benjamin stands to make a hefty profit from insider stock he holds in a company that arranges loans with interest rates up to 500% and has been sued repeatedly, THE CITY has learned. Gov. Kathy Hochul recently tapped Benjamin for her old job after she succeeded Andrew Cuomo, who resigned amid sexual harassment allegations and other scandals. Benjamin, a Manhattan state senator for the past four years, is set to be sworn into his new role on Thursday. The Harvard Business School grad got the inside edge via his role as a founding board member of Next Point Acquisition Corp., an investment firm that earlier this year bought the oft-sued California firm LoanMe, records show. Benjamin resigned from NextPoint's board in March, but kept his stock." "Ethics agency subpoenaed in investigation of Cuomo's book," by Times Union's Chris Bragg: "Attorney General Letitia James' office has issued a subpoena to the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics for its records on Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's book chronicling his administration's early response to the coronavirus pandemic, the Times Union has learned. The subpoena was issued in connection with a criminal investigation that the attorney general is conducting into whether Cuomo's use of government workers to assist him in writing the book violated any laws. James' issuance of a grand jury subpoena in the matter does not confirm that a grand jury has begun reviewing evidence in the investigation. But it does signal that the investigation into Cuomo's and his staff's potential misuse of government resources for private gain is entering a phase beyond interviews and gathering publicly available records." #UpstateAmerica: A Rochester youth arts program is painting vibrant murals on city basketball courts. | | Biden and the Boroughs | | "800,000 New Yorkers Just Lost Federal Unemployment Benefits," by The New York Times' Matthew Haag and Nicole Hong: "From the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, New York City has been pummeled economically unlike any other large American city, as a sustained recovery has failed to take root and hundreds of thousands of workers have yet to find full-time jobs. On Sunday, the city, like other communities nationwide, was hit with another blow: The package of pandemic-related federal unemployment benefits, which has kept families afloat for 17 months, expired. In short order, roughly $463 million in weekly unemployment assistance for New York City residents is ending, threatening to upend the city's fledgling economic rebound and slashing the only source of income for some to pay rent and buy groceries in a city rife with inequality. About 10 percent of the city's population, or about 800,000 people, will have federal aid eliminated, though many will continue receiving state benefits." | | AROUND NEW YORK | | — NXIVM co-founder Nancy Salzman is being sentenced in federal court today. — The city Department of Correction hired a telemarketing firm to call recent retirees and ask them to come back to work amid a staffing crisis in jails. — Broadway costume shops are getting back to work. — Yonkers-based Hughes Energy says a proposed biofuel plant in Catskill Park would fight climate change. Locals are not enthused. — Ontario County Sheriff Kevin Henderson is being pressured to resign but has "no intention" of doing so. — Manhattan Bird Alert captured a great blue heron devouring a rat in Central Park. — A Brooklyn federal judge ordered that only New Yorkers vaccinated against Covid-19 may serve on an upcoming criminal trial jury. — The Inspector General's office is investigating the state's oversight of Prestige Limousine, the firm involved in a crash that killed 20 people in Schoharie County. — A veteran NYPD officer killed himself at his Queens home. — Out-of-state money is pouring into the New York City mayor's race. | | SOCIAL DATA BY DANIEL LIPPMAN | | HAPPY BIRTHDAY: SKDKnickerbocker's Morgan Hook and Will Brunelle … Andrei Berman … WNYC's Andrew Golis … WSJ's Akane Otani … Alethea Group's Mark Abman … BerlinRosen's Jonathan Rosen … NBC's Maura Barrett … Cheddar's J.D. Durkin … Howard Lorber ... Harry Liberman | | REAL ESTATE | | "Kushner-Kloss condo leads luxury market's busiest late-August week since 2006," by The Real Deal's Erin Hudson: "Manhattan's luxury market just had its busiest week-before-Labor Day in 15 years. Well-heeled buyers signed 23 contracts for residential properties in Manhattan asking $4 million or more last week, according to the Olshan Report, which tracks luxury contracts weekly. That makes last week the busiest final week of August since the report began tracking Manhattan's luxury contracts in 2006. The previous record was 22 in 2014. 'The numbers have been coming down,' said Donna Olshan, the report's author, referring to this summer's signings. '[But] the stats need to be contextualized with what's happened in prior years.' Joshua Kushner and Karlie Kloss' deal to purchase a second penthouse at The Puck condominium was the priciest of the week, by asking price. The 7,241-square-foot unit has four bedrooms and a library, gym, media room and wine cellar. Its three terraces include a yoga lawn, putting green, hot tub and wet bar, according to its listing."
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