| | | | | |  | | By Erin Durkin, Anna Gronewold and Deanna Garcia | It's officially unofficial: New York City public advocate Jumaane Williams has broken the seal on the Democratic primary for governor by launching an exploratory committee for a 2022 run. What does that mean? "We're going to take some time to run around the state, speak to some folks, open up an advisory committee, open up an account, start talking about policy," Williams told us yesterday. It's not much of a surprise. Williams, who lost to now-Gov. Kathy Hochul in a primary for lieutenant governor in 2018, has been laying the groundwork with an increased presence upstate , summertime fundraisers, and events on topics like gun violence with fellow progressives. He said Tuesday that one of the lessons he learned from 2018 is that he'll need to amp up his "infrastructure" of support if he want to win a statewide race (hence the early start). He's far from the only Democrat with interest in the executive mansion, but even with the timing for a typical campaign announcement already upon them, potential primary candidates have thus far seemed to be operating by an unspoken code: Give Gov. Kathy Hochul a few unbothered weeks in office before publicly threatening her reelection. Williams, when asked about Hochul or the other Democratic opponents he might face, says his campaign wouldn't be about "running against anyone, it's really about running for something." He defines that as creating a better post-pandemic "new normal" in New York, and says that vision requires "making a complete change of who is there, particularly in that position [of governor]." Hochul, who was in Albany for an event honoring fallen police officers but did not take reporters' questions after, was later spotted by a POLITICO reporter while walking into the Capitol. She did not acknowledge a question about Williams' candidacy. 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? In New York City with no public events scheduled. WHERE'S BILL? Appearing on CNN's New Day and holding a media availability. QUOTE OF THE DAY — "I don't need to be reminded of something I already know." — Mayor Bill de Blasio justifying his decision not to speak to any detainees or correction officers when he visited Rikers Island this week. ANDREW CUOMO... has been fishing in the waters off of Long Island. | | | | HAPPENING TODAY - DON'T MISS THIS PLAYBOOK INTERVIEW WITH REP. GOTTHEIMER AS THE HOUSE PREPARES TO VOTE : President Biden's domestic agenda is on the line, with a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill slated for a House vote on Thursday. However, moderate and progressive Democrats remain at odds over a larger, multitrillion-dollar spending package — with the left even threatening to tank Thursday's vote. Join Playbook co-author Rachael Bade for a virtual conversation featuring Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), the leader of the centrists urging his colleagues to take the win Thursday and continue working on the second package in the coming days. REGISTER HERE. | | | | |
|  | WHAT CITY HALL'S READING | | "Eric Adams Dodges City Inspectors Again After Illegal Apartment Complaint on His Brooklyn Building," by The City's Greg B. Smith: "On Friday morning, Democratic mayoral nominee Eric Adams stood before the press in Coney Island, presenting his resiliency plan — which includes bringing illegal basement apartments 'into compliance with city codes and regulations to ensure the safety of residents.' At the same time, Department of Buildings Inspector Badge No. 2701 was knocking on doors and ringing bells a few miles away at a townhouse Adams owns in Bedford-Stuyvesant. The department was trying, once again, to investigate an allegation of an illegally converted apartment in the Lafayette Avenue building. But just as in the previous buildings department visit to that address on the same complaint back in early August, no one responded to the knocks or the ringing. And so once again, a notice advising the owner to call the Department of Buildings immediately to arrange a proper inspection went up on the door." "'They Kept Him Off The Dark Side': Rikers Detainees Say De Blasio Intentionally Ignored Jail's Worst Sites," by Gothamist's Jake Offenhartz: "When Mayor Bill de Blasio emerged from his long-awaited tour of Rikers Island on Monday, he touted the city's progress in restoring order to the jail. Among the clearest signs of improvement, he said, was the creation of a 'better, healthier intake process.' But those incarcerated at Rikers Island allege that de Blasio's perception of the jail's conditions — and the intake process specifically — was intentionally obscured. In phone calls with Gothamist/WNYC, three people currently detained at Rikers reported that the main intake area was cleared out and re-painted ahead of the mayor's visit, with many of its inhabitants moved to a smaller secondary location, known as 'segregated intake,' down the hall of the Otis Bantum Correctional Center. While de Blasio visited the freshly painted area and another intake location in a different building, he didn't step foot in the segregated intake facility — a place that building residents say remains dangerously crowded, infested with maggots and roaches, and lacking beds and working toilets." "Hochul orders more remote court hearings in effort to relieve Rikers staffing burden ," by New York Daily News' Michael Gartland and Chris Sommerfeldt: "Gov. Hochul ordered state criminal courts in New York City to expand remote hearings Tuesday to ease the burden on the city's Correction Department, which staffs Rikers Island. ... Hochul's executive order is aimed at using remote hearings to speed up the hearing process and to free up correction officers needed to staff in-person hearings." — FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: De Blasio plans to announce the release of a handful of detainees at Rikers today under a work release program, according to a source with knowledge of the move. On Monday, POLITICO reported that de Blasio was drawing up a list of eligible people, likely to total in the dozens. Today's announcement will mark the first tranche of them. De Blasio has cautioned that releases under the 6A program will only modestly contribute to reducing the population at Rikers, and has instead pointed toward state legislation that has already allowed Hochul to order the release of nearly 200 people and will prevent others from going to Rikers in the first place. — Joe Anuta — Police Commissioner Dermot Shea criticized plans for the early release of dozens of Rikers inmates. — The Manhattan DA directed prosecutors to stop asking for bail in certain cases. "Waste firm facing cap on trash hauling employed councilman's son," by New York Post's Nolan Hicks and Kevin Sheehan: "The waste hauler set to benefit from a proposed exemption to the Big Apple's stringent caps on trash hauling employed the son of the lawmaker who led the fight to create the loophole, The Post has learned. The company, Royal Waste Services, hired Councilman I. Daneek Miller's son in August 2017 and he remained on the company's payroll through at least 2019, according to records the company filed with city officials at the time. That means that Miller's son, Coron, was employed by Royal Waste as the lawmaker led the effort in 2018 to kill legislation that initially imposed the caps and for at least one of the years that Miller, himself, says he worked to weaken the reforms." "Some unvaccinated NYPD cops are being threatened with demotion," by New York Post's Craig McCarthy: "Some unvaccinated undercover cops with the NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau have allegedly been threatened with demotion if they don't get the COVID-19 jab — because they can't set up stings in restaurants without a vaccination card, The Post has learned. The cops — at least 10 officers and detectives across the IAB unit — were told by Deputy Commissioner of Internal Affairs Joseph Reznick that they would be kicked back to a precinct if they didn't get the shot, police sources said." | | WHAT ALBANY'S READING | | "New York's Covid-19 Vaccine Mandates Are Working, Officials Say," by Bloomberg's Keshia Clukey and Henry Goldman: "New York Governor Kathy Hochul says a Covid-19 vaccine mandate for health workers that went into effect this week is working to boost vaccination rates, providing a road map to other states that are trying to fight the highly transmissible delta variant. About 92% of nursing home staff in New York had received at least one vaccine dose as of Monday evening, up from 70% on Aug. 15, before the vaccine mandate was announced, according to the governor's office. And 84% of hospital staff were fully inoculated as of Sept. 22, up from 77% on Aug. 10, according to state data Health-care workers statewide were required to get at least their first dose of the vaccine by Sept. 27, as the state continues to battle a rise in Covid cases, especially among unvaccinated people. ... "Hochul signed an executive order on Monday to help alleviate potential labor shortages, directing the state Department of Health to monitor staffing statewide and provide guidance to facilities. The order, among other actions, also allows health-care workers from outside the state, including people who live outside the U.S., to practice in New York, and eliminates barriers for retirees to re-enter the workforce. The governor said she is still monitoring whether to deploy medically trained National Guard members to help if there are shortages." — " On first day, vaccine mandate having varied impacts on hospitals, nursing homes," by Buffalo News's Tom Precious: "Has a staffing crisis erupted at health facilities in New York because of non-compliance by thousands of workers who refused Gov. Kathy Hochul's order — which took effect Monday — that they get vaccinated against Covid-19? Yes. No. Who knows? It became slightly more obvious Tuesday that all three answers are correct in some form, as hospitals and nursing homes rushed to replace non-vaccinated workers with replacements who have moved from in and outside New York to new jobs left vacant by doctors, nurses, technicians and other staff who declined to get vaccinated. "One thing also emerging is clear: Hiring replacement workers from private staffing companies — which are paid premium contracts to lure travel health workers with short-term employment contracts — will be a costly affair for the state's health system. In just the public hospital system alone in New York City, officials reported that 500 replacement nurses were brought in to fill jobs of workers who refused to get vaccinated. And even more clear on Tuesday after the mandate order by Hochul went into effect overnight: Staff losses due to workers who refused vaccinations only exacerbated a staffing shortage crisis that has been reducing access to care for many New Yorkers before and during the pandemic, according to industry insiders." "Gianaris seeks overhaul of judicial nominations to find more diverse candidates," Times Union's Brendan J. Lyons: "State Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris is urging the Commission on Judicial Nomination to look beyond 'career jurists and prosecutors' and to consider a diverse pool of candidates for an impending vacancy on the state's highest court. The vacancy on the Court of Appeals is being created by the retirement of Judge Eugene M. Fahey, who turns 70 this month — the mandatory age of retirement for judges. He will be required to step down from the bench on Dec. 31." " Company that employed Andrew Cuomo daughter in line for major state contract," by New York Post' Bernadette Hogan, Carl Campanile and Bruce Golding : "A consulting company that employed one of then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo's daughters — and later scored a job tied to the state's COVID-19 vaccine rollout — is in the running for a contract to help overhaul the state's embattled Health Department, The Post has learned. Boston Consulting Group executives were interviewed by DOH officials about two weeks ago after responding to an emergency request for proposals issued earlier this year, according to a source familiar with the matter." #UpstateAmerica: "Billions," the best food show on TV right now, is back filming in Albany this week. | | | | BECOME A GLOBAL INSIDER: The world is more connected than ever. It has never been more essential to identify, unpack and analyze important news, trends and decisions shaping our future — and we've got you covered! Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Global Insider author Ryan Heath navigates the global news maze and connects you to power players and events changing our world. Don't miss out on this influential global community. Subscribe now. | | | | |
| | FROM THE DELEGATION | | "MTA facing fiscal peril if infrastructure bill does not pass: DiNapoli," by New York Post's David Meyer: "The MTA faces dire fiscal straits when COVID-19 emergency funding dries up — and may be forced to scale back sorely-needed repairs if Congress fails to pass the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli said Tuesday. Transit officials face a $1 billion deficit come 2025 — yet plan to increase spending by an average of 4.2 percent per year, more than the expected rate of inflation, DiNapoli said in his annual review of the $19 billion-per-year transportation authority." — MTA budget-cutters focused too much on winnowing front-line jobs and largely ignored plans to pare the agency's administrative back-office staff, says the state comptroller's report. | | AROUND NEW YORK | | — Danielle Filson, the top spokesperson for the Department of Education, will be Mayor Bill de Blasio's next press secretary. — The New York Times checks in with Dasani, the homeless Brooklyn girl whose plight captured the city's attention in 2013. She attended boarding school in Pennsylvania but was expelled, and returned to New York where she is taking community college classes. — A garbage truck struck an outdoor dining shed and dragged it about ten feet with diners inside. — The MTA has suspended M21 bus service near the Holland Tunnel 66 percent of weekdays over the past six months due to heavy traffic headed for New Jersey during evening rush hour. — There are still a lot of loopholes in New York's sexual harassment laws. — Local teens are in talks about what to do with Albany's Gen. Phillip Schuyler statue, which mayor Kathy Sheehan ordered removed 15 months ago. — SNAP benefits will increase next month by about $36 per person. — Attorneys for sexual abuse victims are asking a judge to unseal an Albany ex-bishop's deposition, saying that his explanation of the diocese's abuse coverups contain at least one "outright lie." — Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Silwa blamed de Blasio for an Upper West Side shooting. — The Parks Department painted over months of artwork at Allen Bathhouse. | | SOCIAL DATA BY DANIEL LIPPMAN | | HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Bryant Gumbel … Bank of America's A-T Connell ... Barry Weprin ... Melissa DeRosa ... Carlos Watson of Ozy … OECD's Doug Frantz … Sandra Sobieraj Westfall … POLITICO's Ryan Hutchins ... Business Insider's Oma Seddiq … Slate's Will Saletan … NBC's Emma Barnett … Precision Strategies' Laura Gaffey ... Salena Zito of the Washington Examiner and N.Y. Post … Kevin Pérez-Allen of BerlinRosen is 39 … Edelman's Lisa Osborne Ross … Bobby Burns … Alex Goldstick MEDIAWATCH — Felipe De La Hoz is now a contributing member of the New York Daily News editorial board. … Per Talking Biz News: "The New York Times has hired Wall Street Journal reporter Maureen Farrell to cover big money and private capital. She has been covering initial public offerings and capital markets at The Journal." … "Perry Russom joins CNBC as a new correspondent for 'The News with Shepard Smith,' based at CNBC Global Headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey The Emmy award-winning journalist joins from NBC10 and NECN, where he spent five years as a general assignment reporter and most recently as a weekend anchor." | | REAL ESTATE | | "Governors Island will open year-round starting Nov. 1," by NY1's Anna Lucente Sterling: "Governors Island will be open to visitors all year long starting Nov. 1, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday. 'We have a jewel in New York harbor,' said de Blasio. 'We have a place that's magical, that all New Yorkers should experience.' The island will be accessible seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 6:15 p.m. starting Nov. 1. ... The city is also expanding its ferry service to accommodate the change via the South Brooklyn Route. NYC Ferry will provide direct access to the island from Red Hook, Atlantic Ave/Brooklyn Bridge Park-Pier 6, DUMBO/Fulton Ferry and Corlears Hook in the Lower East Side for visitors." "'Unacceptable': Hearing-impaired and disabled tenants rail against deplorable conditions in Lower East Side residence," by amNewYork's Dean Moses: "Disabled and hearing-impaired tenants of a Section 8 housing development on the Lower East Side refuse to stay silent amidst claims of life-threatening neglect. Dozens of residents at 174 and 184 Forsyth St. were in a clear state of emotional distress on Tuesday, Sept. 28. With the aid of a sign language interpreter, the residents — including deaf, partially blind, and wheelchair-bound New Yorkers — pleaded for help in their fight against years of squalid living conditions, with one resident claiming that the situation almost cost her life. 'I would explain to management about a bad smell coming from my stove, but they ignored it,' Elizabeth Walker explained. 'I kept telling them there was a gas smell coming from my stove.'" "Macy's fights to block Amazon from advertising on billboard," by Crain's Natalie Sachmechi: "A turf war is erupting between the largest department store in Manhattan and the world's largest retailer over the rights to advertise on a Herald Square billboard, according to a lawsuit filed recently in state Supreme Court in Manhattan. Macy's is going after its landlord, Kaufman Realty, to block a possible deal with Amazon to use the billboard atop its flagship Herald Square store, claiming that ads from its competitor would cause 'immeasurable' harm to its business, the complaint said."
| | | | 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 | | | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment