| | | | | |  | | By Erin Durkin, Anna Gronewold and Téa Kvetenadze | It wasn't the Labor Day weekend anyone asked for, but Gov. Kathy Hochul and many of New York's elected officials spent it on clean up duty in the devastating aftermath of Ida's record-breaking rainfall last week. A new batch of federal relief funding was unlocked yesterday as President Joe Biden approved major disaster declarations for parts of New York, Bronx, Queens, Kings, Richmond and Westchester counties. That should send aid money to local governments and to hard-hit home and business owners who will be eligible for housing assistance, home repairs, loans to replace property, crisis counseling, and legal services. The president is scheduled to visit both Queens — home to most of the New Yorkers who died in the storm — and Manville, N.J., to survey damage today. Local pols also spent the holiday weekend attempting to answer questions of what could have been done to prevent the deaths and what was missing from storm resiliency efforts after Hurricane Sandy nearly a decade ago. There were warning signs: The homes where 10 people drowned in their basement apartments had been identified as major risk areas for flooding on a map the city issued in May, THE CITY reported. Mayor Bill de Blasio got an earful from angry Queens residents when he scoped out the damage in Woodside yesterday, with neighbors complaining the city had failed to fix clogged sewers that contributed to the flooding. Other Queens residents say they've been left to fend for themselves with no help after sustaining serious storm damage. The mayor says changes are coming after the city was caught by surprise by Ida's fury: there will be door-to-door evacuations of homes at risk of flooding (although the city has no accounting of where all those mostly-illegal basement apartments are) and preemptive travel bans ahead of severe storms. 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 KATHY? Joining President Biden to tour storm damage in Queens. WHERE'S BILL? Holding a media availability. ABOVE THE FOLD — "Alphonso David, Who Advised Cuomo, Fired as Human Rights Campaign President," by The New York Times' Maggie Haberman: "Alphonso David, the president of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest L.G.B.T.Q. advocacy organization, was ousted by the group's board on Monday night after a report revealing that he had advised former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on how to handle sex harassment allegations shook the organization. Mr. David, the group's first Black president, was terminated 'for cause,' in a vote that followed a joint meeting of the boards of the Human Rights Campaign and its affiliated foundation. In a statement, the co-chairs of the board, Morgan Cox and Jodie Patterson, said they had decided to end Mr. David's role 'effective immediately, for violations of his contract with the Human Rights Campaign.'" |  | WHAT CITY HALL'S READING | | "Asked Whether He's Eyeing A Run For Governor, De Blasio Says He Wants To 'Keep Serving,'" by Gothamist's Elizabeth Kim: "Facing months of speculation, Mayor Bill de Blasio on Friday came the closest he has to date of confirming that he is entertaining, if not actively pursuing, a possible run for New York governor in 2022. Asked about a Politico story that he had reached out to labor groups to gauge their support, the mayor told MSNBC host Willie Geist that he was committed to a life of public service. 'I want to keep working on crucial issues and causes particularly care about things like education for our kids,' he said. 'These are the kinds of things I'm going to devote myself to.' Several hours later, when pressed on the issue by WNYC's Brian Lehrer, de Blasio responded: 'I want to keep serving. I'm going to look at the best way to do that. And that's a decision I'll make in the future.'" — ICYMI: Here's that POLITICO story mentioned above, via our Sally Goldenberg. "Self-Harm Is Exploding In New York City Jails, Internal Numbers Show ," by Gothamist's George Joseph and The City's Reuven Blau: "Internal numbers, obtained by WNYC/Gothamist and THE CITY, show that the rate of self-harm in city jails spiked last summer as COVID-19 ravaged New York and has climbed to historic levels in the months since. Between July and September 2020, the self-injury rate nearly doubled that of the previous quarter. According to the latest available data, covering April to June of this year, city jails recorded 539 incidents of incarcerated people hurting themselves, pushing the rate up to 95 such incidents per every thousand detainees — the highest in the last five years. Meanwhile, the number of detainees is growing while staffing shortages have driven city jails into a near constant crisis mode." "Trying to Find Your Mother's Remains From Ground Zero, 20 Years Later," by The New York Times' Corey Kilgannon: "Last month, two detectives showed up at Nykiah Morgan's Long Island home. Her son, Dante, called her while she was at work. 'They're here about Grandma,' he said. Nearly 20 years ago, Dorothy Morgan, Ms. Morgan's mother, disappeared into the rubble of the collapsed towers, like most of the 2,753 ground zero victims on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. She was working as an insurance broker in the North Tower of the World Trade Center. With no remains, her daughter was never able to give her a proper burial. But now the detectives had arrived with news that the New York City Medical Examiner's Office had just positively identified Dorothy Morgan through advanced DNA testing... "For 20 years, the medical examiner's office has quietly conducted the largest missing persons investigation ever undertaken in the nation — testing and retesting the 22,000 body parts painstakingly recovered from wreckage after the attacks. Scientists are still testing the vast inventory of unidentified remains for a genetic connection to the 1,106 victims — roughly 40 percent of the ground zero death toll — who are still without a match." " Lower Manhattan Rebounded After 9/11, but the Pandemic Erased the Gains," by The New York Times' Matthew Haag and Patrick McGeehan: "The Amish Market opened in 1999 in the shadow of the World Trade Center, one of the few grocery stores and delis for residents and workers in the southernmost tip of Manhattan. Two years later, the 110-story twin towers at the complex collapsed in the Sept. 11 attacks, showering the store in fiery debris and ash. Shuttered after the attacks, the market reopened roughly five years later in a new location a few blocks away. It joined a triumphant comeback as Lower Manhattan was reborn into one of the country's largest business districts, a vibrant residential neighborhood and, with the addition of the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, a tourist destination. The Amish Market boomed, too, its staff doubling to 200 employees and weekly sales surging to more than $160,000. But all that growth evaporated in a matter of days in a far different crisis that has wiped out many of Lower Manhattan's gains since 2001." "NYC Teachers Union Fights For Medical And Religious Exemptions To COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate," by Gothamist's Sophia Chang: "The New York City teachers union has formally requested the state to intervene against Mayor Bill de Blasio's vaccine mandate for all city Department of Education employees, calling it 'draconian' and a violation of due process with less than two weeks to go until the first day of public school September 13th. The union said the city is not cooperating in carving out medical and religious exemptions to the vaccination mandate, which goes into effect September 27th for 148,000 DOE employees. That includes teachers, administrators, cafeteria workers and custodians who must show proof of at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by the effective date." — "COVID makes school lunch complicated in NYC," by Chalkbeat's Christina Veiga — The city Department of Education has awarded $12 million to schools to pay for extra teachers to maintain social distancing protocols. | | WHAT ALBANY'S READING | | — "Entire Time's Up board to step down amid Andrew Cuomo scandal," by New York Post's Emily Crane: "The entire Time's Up board, including Shonda Rhimes and Eva Longoria, are now stepping down — just over a week after the CEO resigned for her role in the Andrew Cuomo sexual harassment scandal. Time's Up announced the shakeup in a statement over the weekend, acknowledging the 'current crisis' engulfing the sexual harassment victims' advocacy group. The nonprofit has been rocked by scandal in recent weeks after it emerged its leaders advised disgraced ex-New York Gov. Cuomo's administration after he was first accused of sexual misconduct last year. CEO Tina Tchen and Time's Up Legal Defense Fund chairwoman Roberta Kaplan both resigned over their roles in the Cuomo scandal. 'We see the current crisis within Time's Up as an important opportunity for growth and change,' the group's statement said." "Gov. Kathy Hochul assembles 'dream team' of downstate diversity," by Buffalo News' Jerry Zremski: "Gov. Kathy Hochul has been in office for less than two weeks, but she has already appointed many of the first-string players in what she calls her 'dream team' — and most of those top appointments look like her in more ways than one. Other than State Sen. Brian A. Benjamin, the lieutenant governor in waiting, they are all women. And like Hochul, they are well-credentialed, ambitious political players who are, for the most part, well-known in the hallways of the State Capitol. But Hochul's appointees differ from the Buffalo-born governor, too. Many are minorities. And every one of Hochul's key appointments so far hails from metropolitan New York, home to more than half the votes in the Democratic primary and general election for governor in 2022. In other words, Hochul is assembling a team that looks like New York State in apparent hope it will help her win a full term." — "Hochul announces worker protections against Covid-19," by Buffalo News' Lou Michel: "Employers in New York State are now required to implement workplace safety plans to protect workers from the airborne transmission of Covid-19. It marks the first time that the state's Hero Act, a law adopted in May to provide greater protections to workers, will be used to combat the highly contagious communicable disease, according to Gov. Kathy Hochul. She announced that the state health commissioner determined the state's Health and Essential Rights Act should apply to the virus. 'While we continue to increase our vaccination numbers, the fight against the Delta variant is not over, and we have to do everything we can to protect our workers,' Hochul said." GOOD NEWS: Amtrak will restore all scheduled service between New York City and Albany-Rensselaer today. Two legislators test positive after special session, by POLITICO's Bill Mahoney: Two members of the New York State Assembly have tested positive for Covid-19, Speaker Carl Heastie said in a statement on Friday. Both Assemblymembers Charles Fall (D-Staten Island) and Inez Dickens (D-Manhattan) "have been vaccinated and are currently quarantining," Heastie said. "We are now in the process of reaching out to other members and staff that they may have been in contact with on Wednesday during session in Albany," Heastie said. "Those individuals are being encouraged to quarantine until they can get a COVID test." Members who were in Albany on Wednesday were required to wear masks while in session. In the Assembly, they voted in shifts, with no more than 30 individuals in the cavernous chamber at one time. Fall and Dickens were part of different shifts, and thus presumably not participating in floor debate at the same time. #UpstateAmerica: Drake name-dropped Western New York's Daemen College in his latest album — 11 years after performing there — and now "school officials are hoping to bring Drizzy back to campus grounds by sliding into his DMs." | | Biden and the Boroughs | | "NY won't cover COVID-related unemployment money when fed programs end: Hochul," by New York Post's Reuven Fenton and David Meyer: "New York will not pay to extend COVID-19 unemployment benefits for the 1.6 million state residents receiving them when the related federal programs expire at the end of Sunday, Gov. Kathy Hochul said. Speaking at an unrelated press conference in Manhattan, Hochul claimed to have her hands tied by both federal regulations and state law, which she said prohibit allocating additional funds while the state is still running a deficit. 'Our unemployment system was so overtaxed last year and a half that we now have an $11 billion deficit, and the state law does not allow us to allocate any increase in resources as long as there is a deficit,' Hochul said." — "As Federal Unemployment Benefits End, Employers Still Struggle To Fill Vacancies," by WNYC's Beth Fertig | | TRUMP'S NEW YORK | | "Trump builds 'turnkey' campaign operation for 2024," by POLITICO's Meredith McGraw and Marc Caputo: Boots on the ground in Iowa. Accelerated fundraising. More national media interviews. A flood of new press statements. A rise in attack ads on the web. With a flurry of activity from his super PAC and hints dropped in private conversations with confidantes and advisers, Donald Trump is signaling a heightened interest in reclaiming the White House — and laying the necessary groundwork to do it. | | AROUND NEW YORK | | — "The Wire" actor Michael K. Williams was found dead in his Brooklyn apartment. — Shootings in the city are down this summer compared to the same period last year. — Police did not give any summonses for riders failing to wear a mask in the subway system in August. — Transit advocates are calling on Hochul to ditch her predecessor's proposed LaGuardia AirTrain. — A farm in Lockport has been given the okay to hire a bowhunter tasked with killing deer that eat its crops, a move blessed by the Common Council. — A scaled down version of the West Indian Day Parade took place despite a previous announcement that it had been canceled. — A bill in the City Council would prohibit landlords from doing criminal background checks of potential tenants. — The Grand Central Oyster Bar delayed its reopening, which had been slated for today. — Central Park 5 member Yusef Salaam is likely to run for the Harlem state Senate seat being vacated by Brian Benjamin. — A tourist from California was seriously injured while standing up in a pedicab attempting to take a photo. — Volunteers are working to protect piping plovers on beaches in the Rockaways. | | SOCIAL DATA BY DANIEL LIPPMAN | | HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Peggy Noonan … BuzzFeed's Zoe Tillman … Shawn McCreesh … MSNBC's Stefanie Cargill … Emerson Collective's Robin Reck … Gregory Zuckerman … Mark Whitaker … Kate Andersen Brower … John Catsimatidis … photojournalist Katie Orlinsky … CBS' Melissa Quinn … Fentress Boyse … NEA's Brandon Rettke MAKING MOVES — James Katz, former New York City Economic Development Corporation vice president and chief of staff, has been tapped to be deputy borough president for Manhattan BP Gale Brewer. Brewer has several land use projects before her, including a proposed rezoning of Soho and a project in the South Street Seaport. Katz will work on Brewer's land use portfolio through the remaining four months of her tenure. … Annie Rosen Pai is now a senior associate at Strategy&. She is a recent graduate of Columbia Business School and is an alum of Christie's. | | REAL ESTATE | | Potential for commercial development further threatens support for SoHo rezoning, by POLITICO's Janaki Chadha: The de Blasio administration's proposed SoHo rezoning has been billed as a way to reduce citywide housing inequities and help diversify one of New York's wealthiest and whitest neighborhoods — but supporters are increasingly raising concerns that the plan could fall short of its affordable housing projections. Proponents of the rezoning — which is projected to make way for thousands of new apartments, a portion of them affordable — say it would represent a sea change in the kind of neighborhood the city is able to prime for new housing development, which up to now has been largely lower-income, majority Black and brown areas. But, due to the way it's currently designed, supporters are saying the plan could end up yielding more office development than the expected housing units. And opponents have seized on that possibility as another reason for why the proposal should be scrapped altogether.
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