| | | | |  | | By Erin Durkin, Anna Gronewold and Julian Shen-Berro | Presented by CVS Health | Whether she meant to or not, Gov. Kathy Hochul dropped some big news in this week's gubernatorial debate: Congestion pricing in Manhattan is not going to happen any time soon. And the governor, though she blamed the delay on federal hurdles, sounds just fine with that. "This is not going to happen over the next year under any circumstances. But now is not the right time," she said. What's going on here? The plan to charge drivers to enter central areas of Manhattan — and raise billions of dollars for the MTA — was approved in Albany more than three years ago. Hochul supposedly supports it. The Biden administration supposedly does too. But as the various parties pass around a political hot potato, it keeps not happening, and cars from other parts of the city keep driving into Manhattan for free. When congestion pricing first passed, there was the Trump administration to blame for delays. The MTA complained that the administration would not tell them what kind of environmental study to do, so the project languished. But the Biden administration gave the green light soon after taking office. That triggered an environmental study the MTA said would take 16 months, a timeline already criticized by congestion pricing supporters as too long. Now, in June 2022, it is 16 months later. But the MTA said that extensive technical questions could throw off its timeline. Enter Hochul, who said the feds "have now put other, I'll just call them, hurdles that we have to overcome." But she showed no enthusiasm for speeding up the process either, saying she's focused on getting commuters back into Manhattan. This is an issue that differentiates her from at least one of her primary opponents. While Rep. Tom Suozzi supports a one-year delay, New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams wants congestion pricing "now." This is all looking a little fishy to backers of the first-in-the-nation congestion charge. "They are still hiding behind federal delays even though they're all from the same party and all supposedly on board with this," said Nicole Gelinas, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute who specializes in urban economics. "The questions the federal government asks shouldn't be insurmountable for the MTA to answer pretty quickly. It doesn't seem a massive conspiracy theory that they're doing this slowly on purpose." IT'S THURSDAY. 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? Making an announcement and appearing on WAMC northeast public radio. WHERE'S ERIC? Appearing on Good Day New York, NPR Morning Edition and MSNBC's Morning Joe, meeting with HRH Princess Astrid and the Belgian Delegation, appearing on Pix 11, making an announcement with Hochul, speaking at the BMCC commencement, hosting a cannabis roundtable and hosting a reception for the Puerto Rican community. You know, a Thursday.
| | A message from CVS Health: New Yorkers want the lowest prescription drug costs possible and CVS Health's pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) team is delivering for them. With big drug companies continually increasing the price of prescription drugs, we negotiate lower prescription drug costs for employers, consumers and working families across the state. That saves New Yorkers and employers tens of millions of dollars each year so they can continue to provide affordable coverage that keeps their employees healthy. Learn more. | | | |  | WHAT CITY HALL IS READING | | Proposed schools cuts are last 'big fight' as Adams, Council near budget deal, by POLITICO's Madina Touré: With city budget negotiations coming down to the wire, the Adams administration's proposal to slash school spending by $215 million has emerged as a major sticking point between the mayor and City Council, POLITICO has learned. The union representing New York's teachers, and two people familiar with the negotiations, say the cuts could threaten an anticipated Thursday handshake budget deal. "That's gonna be the big fight right now," Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, said in an interview, adding that Council is "not happy" with Adams' proposed cuts. "Everyone's concerned with education." A source familiar with the fiscal talks called it the "singular point of contention" remaining. "NYC Mayor Adams testifies before Congress to push for new gun restrictions to stem mass shootings: 'It's high noon in America,'" by New York Daily News' Michael McCauliff and Dave Goldiner
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New York Mayor Eric Adams testifies during a House Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing on gun violence on June 8, 2022. | Jason Andrew/The New York Times via AP, Pool | — Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia told them a "good guy with a gun" won't always stop heavily armed shooters. " 'Safety' Spurs Remote Meetings for City Management While Staff Must Work in Person," by The City's Yoav Gonen: "While many municipal workers balk at Mayor Eric Adams' demand they work full-time from the office, some city boards and commissions are continuing to hold public meetings and hearings virtually — citing safety concerns about the spread of COVID-19. On Tuesday, the city's Board of Health voted unanimously to continue meeting virtually in the near future, with an agency lawyer saying the panel could vote to resume in-person meetings in August or September 'when it feels safer, perhaps, to meet in person.' The meeting, held via Zoom, was streamed to the public on YouTube." "NYC veterans' services boss, James Hendon, won't lose job over fundraising violation: Mayor Adams' administration," by New York Daily News' Chris Sommerfeldt: "The head of the city Department of Veterans' Services won't lose his job for violating a local fundraising law, a spokeswoman for Mayor Adams said Wednesday. James Hendon, an Army veteran who has served as the department's commissioner since 2019, was found by the city Conflicts of Interest Board on Wednesday to have inappropriately solicited a $100,000 donation from a software company executive who had business before his agency in 2020." " Hundreds Have Left N.Y. Public Defender Offices Over Low Pay," by The New York Times' Jonah Bromwich: "Hundreds of staffers have left New York City's public defender organizations over the past year, fed up with low pay, which they say undervalues their public service and puts them on an uneven footing with the prosecutors whom many of them face in court each day. The Legal Aid Society, New York's largest provider of criminal and civil services for indigent clients, has lost 10 percent of its staff, or about 200 people over the past 12 months, a 73 percent jump from the organization's 2021 attrition rate."
| | WHAT ALBANY'S READING | | "Slate of Insurgent Candidates Focused on Climate Seizes on Failure of State Bill," by Gotham Gazette's Samar Khurshid: "The failure to act has provided renewed vigor to several candidates running in the primaries this year who had already been centering climate action in their campaigns, many of them challenging incumbent Democrats. They say that the state must take immediate and extraordinary action as the adverse effects of climate change continue to worsen, especially to meet the green energy requirements in the state's landmark 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA). The candidates and activists they are aligned with say the most egregious failure at hand is the Build Public Renewables Act (BPRA), which picked up serious momentum as climate activists and elected officials rallied for it as the session was coming to a close." Spectrum's Luke Parsnow: "Out of the game himself, Andrew Cuomo's past rivals remain in political arena" New York Department of Financial Services issues new guidelines for stablecoins , by POLITICO's Sam Sutton: The New York State Department of Financial Services has set new guidelines for stablecoin businesses following market turmoil triggered by the collapse of a digital token whose value had been pegged to the dollar. With Congress still grappling with how to regulate the popular digital assets, DFS Superintendent Adrienne Harris on Wednesday issued new standards requiring issuers to maintain a stockpile of high-quality reserve assets that would allow their tokens to be redeemed on a one-to-one basis with the U.S. dollar. "Troy councilwoman pleads to federal criminal charge in ballot-fraud case," by Times Union's Brendan J. Lyons: "A Troy councilwoman on Wednesday pleaded guilty to a felony criminal charge in U.S. District Court, becoming the first person snared in a federal grand jury investigation examining widespread ballot-fraud allegations in Rensselaer County. Councilwoman Kim Ashe-McPherson, 61, a Republican who chairs the council's public safety committee and has been a councilwoman in North Troy for more than seven years, waived indictment by a grand jury and admitted to fraudulently submitting absentee ballots in last year's primary and general elections as she sought re-election to the City Council. As part of her guilty plea she also agreed to resign from her City Council position within 30 days." "Ex-Senate employee accused of cockroach-spreading conspiracy," by Times Union's Robert Gavin: "An ex-state Senate employee fired after her arrest Tuesday allegedly created an intentional distraction in City Court to enable pest-possessing activists to release hundreds of cockroaches in the Morton Avenue courthouse, court documents say. The brouhaha led court officials to close down the courthouse for the rest of the day and summon exterminators to vanquish the insects." #UpstateAmerica: Hilary Swank was filming a movie in Albany and still had time to find and deliver a woman's lost puppy.
| | | | A message from CVS Health:   | | | | | TRUMP'S NEW YORK | | "Trump and his kids, Don Jr. and Ivanka, set to testify in New York attorney general investigation starting July 15," by CNBC's Dan Mangan: "Former President Donald Trump and two of his adult children are tentatively set to begin testifying as part of a civil investigation of the Trump family business by the New York attorney general on July 15, a court filing revealed Wednesday. The agreement to testify by Trump and Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump is conditional. The testimony would not start on that date if a New York state appeals court issues a stay of a judge's order that the Trumps must answer questions under oath by investigators for Attorney General Letitia James."
| | FROM THE DELEGATION | | Redrawn lines in congressional race cost one candidate endorsements, despite misleading lit, by POLITICO's Sally Goldenberg: Changes to congressional district lines that upended the election cycle across the state this year have created a new complication for one incumbent: Two people who previously backed Rep. Carolyn Maloney's reelection have since bowed out, but still appear on campaign literature. City Council Member Carlina Rivera was the first name listed on a blast fundraising email Team Maloney sent out featuring her backers Tuesday evening, and state Committee Member Louis Cholden-Brown is named on Maloney's campaign website as an endorser. But both confirmed to POLITICO that once the district lines were redrawn, throwing Maloney into a competitive primary with longstanding Rep. Jerry Nadler of the Upper West Side, they are no longer in her corner. Rivera, through a campaign aide, said she is staying neutral, while Cholden-Brown said he is now backing Nadler. "With New York's Hectic Petitioning Season in Overdrive, is There a Better Way to Get on the Ballot?" by City Limits' Jeanmarie Evelly: "For six weeks starting March 1, Brian Robinson spent most of his days traversing the neighborhoods of New York's 10th Congressional District, which (previously) stretched from Manhattan's Upper West Side to south Brooklyn. The self-described moderate Democrat was vying to get his name on the ballot in this summer's Congressional election, and as required by New York election law, he needed the support of at least 1,250 voters in his party and district to sign what's called a designating petition. ... 'Being out every day, rain, shine, doesn't matter. It was freezing a couple of days. I was just happy to be out there,' said Robinson, who called the process 'exhilarating.'" "On second thought ... Paladino changes story, acknowledges forwarding 'false flag' post," by Buffalo News' Robert J. McCarthy: "Republican congressional hopeful Carl P. Paladino Wednesday changed his story about material on his Facebook page linking recent mass killings in Buffalo and Texas to 'false flag' ideas that claim government involvement in similar tragedies, explaining he now remembers posting the piece authored by a Rochester friend. 'Yes, I did it,' he said. 'I just didn't remember the fact that I published it; I couldn't remember. It was written by Jeff Briggs, a good friend from Rochester. I published it because he is a friend.'" " In Redistricting Shuffle, Over Half a Million New Yorkers Gained or Lost Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, For Better or Worse They Say," by The City's Gabriel Sandoval: "With media attention fixated on candidates for the newly drawn 10th and 12th Congressional Districts in Manhattan, it's possible to forget that borders for the U.S. House of Representatives have been rearranged across the boroughs. This includes areas of Brooklyn, Queens and The Bronx, repped by such high-profile Congress members as Ritchie Torres (D-The Bronx), Nydia Velazquez (D-Brooklyn/Queens/Manhattan) and Grace Meng (D-Queens), as well as one of the nation's most well-known progressive politicians, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-The Bronx/Queens)."
| | AROUND NEW YORK | | — School districts across the state are falling short on required mental health training, according to a report by state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli. — The Biden administration designated an underwater canyon 100 miles off the coast of New York City as a national marine sanctuary. — The state has begun holding meetings to discuss what's next for shuttered North Country prisons. — Ellen V. Futter will step down after nearly 30 years as president of the American Museum of Natural History. — Homeless encampments under a 15-block stretch of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway have faced more than 60 sweeps by the city so far this year. — "Fairy tale farms" sought by wealthy city residents during the pandemic are driving up real estate prices in the Hudson River Valley. — Family and friends of Julio Ramirez gathered in Hell's Kitchen Wednesday, continuing to seek answers in the mysterious death of the 25-year-old social worker. — Republican state lawmakers are proposing a constitutional amendment to allow voters to recall district attorneys.
| | SOCIAL DATA BY DANIEL LIPPMAN | | HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Axios' Margaret Talev … Newsweek's Ramsen Shamon … Candi Wolff of Citi … Ashley Bahnken … Haley Cohen Gillland … Miles O'Brien … Robert Heath Townsend Jr. … Brad Gallant … Deloitte's Alyson Chwatek … Zac Petkanas of Petkanas Strategies … Marvin Kalb ... Letty Cottin Pogrebin MAKING MOVES — Chris Policano is joining Rubenstein as executive vice president. He is the former chief communication officer for Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz. … Julie Bero has joined the city Department of Transportation as chief strategy officer. She previously worked in the mayor's office. … Tusk Strategies has promoted both Matt Munsil and Dani Frese to Vice President, and Annie Roome to Senior Associate. … Raphaella Baek has been promoted to be product manager for digital wealth at Citi. ... Emily Norman is joining the Democratic Data Exchange as CEO. She previously led analytics and product for New York City's Covid response team and is a DNC, Obama, Cory Booker and DSCC alum. MEDIAWATCH — Madeline Marshall has joined the Wall Street Journal as a senior video journalist on the video explainers team. She most recently was a video news producer at Vox. WEEKEND WEDDING — Catherine Hicks, a Trump White House alum who recently left Brunswick Group and is an incoming MBA candidate at Columbia Business School, recently married Rick Cosgrove, a principal at Veritas Capital and a Goldman Sachs alum. The couple, who met at a bar in New York 6 years ago, wed at Skibo Castle in Dornoch, Scotland. Pic ... Another pic SPOTTED on Wednesday morning at the Yale CEO Summit at the New York Public Library where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke by video for an hour and took questions: Jeff Sonnenfeld, Jane Fraser, Albert Bourla, Lloyd Blankfein, Dina Powell McCormick, Hamdi Ulukaya, Farooq Kathwari, Danny Meyer, Ralph Reed, Lally Weymouth, Jonathan Greenblatt, Marc Ein, Brad Karp, Richard Edelman, Bob Diamond, Mark Penn, Ukrainian Ambassador to UN Sergiy Kyslytsya and Joel Meyers.
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Learn more. | | | | | Real Estate | | "More People Are Moving to Manhattan Than Before the Pandemic," by Bloomberg's Sarah Holder and Marie Patino: "Now, that migration out of many NYC neighborhoods has reversed. In fact, even as the city's population is still decreasing, more households are moving into Manhattan now than were moving in before the pandemic in 2019, according to moving data provided by Melissa, a global data intelligence and address analytics company. 'New York City had one of the largest declines in the first stage of the pandemic and one of the fastest rebounds,' said Rob Warnock, a senior researcher at the rental search platform Apartment List. The largest US city still faces a tough road ahead with overall population declining, low office return figures threatening business survival and fear of crime cited as a deterrent to moving to the city. But the data show how the most extreme migration patterns have already started to reverse, making last year's dip seem like a pandemic-era blip." | | | | 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 | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
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