| | | | |  | | By Erin Durkin , Anna Gronewold and Julian Shen-Berro | | | In making his latest pitch to overhaul state bail laws, New York City Mayor Eric Adams tried to bring the data. At NYPD headquarters, he and police officials trotted out a list of 10 repeat offenders who have racked up hundreds of arrests since bail reform took effect in 2020. He released stats showing that 25 percent of accused burglars were arrested for another felony within 60 days this year, compared to 7.7 percent in 2017. Stats for grand larceny and car theft saw similar jumps. "Our criminal justice system is insane. It is dangerous. It's harmful. And it's destroying the fabric of our city," Adams said. Not that this will change any minds, because in this debate, it's possible to make the numbers say anything you want them to say. The stats that reform supporters cite: According to state data, the rate of rearrests among people released either with or without bail has declined since bail reform went into effect. Among cases that used to be eligible for bail but aren't any more, 2 percent of released defendants went on to be rearrested for a violent felony while their case was pending. And Democrats who disagree with the mayor — progressives and relative moderates like Gov. Kathy Hochul and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie alike — are sounding increasingly aggravated at his campaign since the timing isn't great for his fellow Democrats. The Legislature is not in session and Hochul faces a reelection challenge from a Republican who has made criminal justice laws his top issue — and used Adams' pitch as fodder . (Asked about the awkward timing, Adams said he's been talking about this for a long time.) While Hochul and Adams keep insisting they're on the same page even as they take opposing positions, state Sen. Zellnor Myrie is not holding back. "Let's be 100% clear about what @NYCMayor is doing: using genuine fear and anxiety for political gain," he tweeted yesterday . "It's about the mayor's inability to deliver his promise to his donors. He promised them that he'd be tough and that he'd bring crime down." 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 on illegal guns. WHERE'S ERIC? Making a housing announcement and speaking at the Department of Education and Cornell Blockchain Club's Summer Blockchain Bootcamp.
| | A message from United for Clean Power, Inc.: The time to take action on planet-saving climate change legislation is NOW. Demand true environmental justice from your Democrat colleagues or block the Reconciliation bill. Over the past decade more than 83% of all disasters around the world were caused by extreme weather and climate-related events. A Reconciliation package without comprehensive climate change provisions would be a catastrophic failure. Demand real climate change action in the Reconciliation package, or kill it altogether. | | | |  | What City Hall's reading | | Council speaker pans new district lines , by POLITICO's Joe Anuta: Council Speaker Adrienne Adams panned proposed changes to City Council district boundaries Wednesday, arguing that the preliminary maps prioritize predominantly white Staten Island at the expense of more diverse districts elsewhere in the city. "There are important foundational principles that need to be prioritized in this process, yet the first set of preliminary maps appear to violate these and do not ensure the adequate representation of certain groups of New Yorkers," Adams said in her statement. " NYC frees up $100M in COVID aid for public schools to hire teachers ," by New York Post's Cayla Bamberger: "New York City is making $100 million in existing federal COVID-19 aid available to fund teacher positions in public schools. The measure is meant to help stabilize budgets this fall, after schools facing steep enrollment declines collectively lost hundreds of millions of dollars from their site-based allocations, officials said. 'The truth is that the city is facing a 120,000 drop in student enrollment, which had clear budget implications since February when the preliminary budget was released,' said Mayor Eric Adams in a statement. 'After hearing from principals and other community leaders that they need additional time to adjust to the decline in enrollment, we are announcing greater flexibility in this year's school budget,' he said." A court will mull unfreezing New York's education budget today. Here's what's at stake. , by POLITICO's Julian Shen-Berro, Georgia Rosenberg, Madina Touré: Just weeks before students in the nation's largest school system return to the classroom, a bitter legal battle has thrown the New York City Department of Education into chaos — freezing its $37.6 billion budget budget and leaving its fate in limbo. Today, a court will decide whether to maintain that freeze while the case plays out — a move education officials warn would have a "disastrous" impact on the city's ability to prepare for the upcoming school year. The judge could also determine the case itself, or delay action pending further hearings. The lawsuit, filed by four parents and teachers, alleges that the city violated state law when it bypassed the DOE's governing body to bring its fiscal year 2022-23 budget before City Council, which approved the budget with $215 million in controversial education cuts. " Adams Blames Idle Workers for Grounding Staten Island Ferry. They Beg To Differ ," by The City's Claudia Irizarry Aponte: "Mayor Eric Adams is blaming sudden sharp cuts in Staten Island Ferry service on crews failing to show up for work — while the union representing workers now approaching their 12th year without a contract says captains are getting wrongly blamed. On Wednesday afternoon the city Department of Transportation announced evening rush hour service out of Whitehall Street in Manhattan to St. George would run hourly instead of every 15 minutes. That followed a two-week service reduction last month, which the city said was due to a spike in COVID cases among ferry crew members. Adams said in a statement that the cuts came after 'a significant share of our Staten Island Ferry workforce did not report to work today.'" " NYC Board of Elections sent 17K notices to voters with wrong congressional and senate districts ," by WNYC's Gwynne Hogan: "The Board of Elections sent 17,000 voters registration updates that contained incorrect congressional and state senate districts — three weeks before primary races in those districts — a Board of Elections official confirmed. Vincent Ignizio, the deputy executive director of the board, told Gothamist the confusion occurred because of two different versions of congressional and senate maps the board received at different times during the chaotic redistricting process earlier this year."
| | | | 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 ALBANY'S READING | | Covid-19 protocols in schools to stay the same for fall, Hochul says , by POLITICO's Katelyn Cordero: New York students will return to classrooms under the same guidance they left in the spring: no masks and relaxed social distancing guidelines. Gov. Kathy Hochul said Wednesday there will be no changes to school Covid-19 guidance for kindergarten through 12th grade students returning to classrooms in a couple of weeks. That means students and staff will have the option to wear a mask when they return to classrooms this fall, but will not be mandated by the state. The only mask mandates that remains in New York are at certain health facilities and the state's public transit systems. " Kathy Air: Gov. Hochul leaves taxpayers with $250K tab for flights around NY ," by New York Post's Zach Williams: "When Gov. Kathy Hochul headed home after a downstate campaign rally last April, she didn't drive a car or call an Uber like ordinary New Yorkers. Instead, she beckoned a Beechcraft King Air 200 from Albany to fly her 400 miles west to Buffalo — at taxpayer expense. The flight was part of the high-flying travel habits Hochul has maintained that have cost the public more than $250,000 since she took office last year, according to an analysis of newly-released documents by The Post." CSEA reaches five-year pact with state — here are the details , by POLITICO's Joseph Spector: The state's largest public employees union has a new five-year contract. The Civil Service Employee Association on Wednesday ratified the labor agreement reached with Gov. Kathy Hochul's administration. The agreement with CSEA, which represents more than 52,000 New York State employees, will run until April 1, 2026, and won the approval of more than 80 percent of CSEA members who cast ballots, Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement. "This contract fairly compensates the hard-working men and women of the Civil Service Employee Association who help to deliver critical services to New Yorkers every day," Hochul, who is seeking a full term in November and received the union's endorsement in January, said in a statement.
| | | | A message from United for Clean Power, Inc.:   | | | | | FROM THE DELEGATION | | " Only a Couple of New York Neighbors Can Fight This Nasty ," by New York Magazine's Ross Barkan: "This past November, Carolyn Maloney and Jerry Nadler threw on reflective safety vests to visit the construction site of the latest Second Avenue subway extension. As colleagues and casual friends, they were used to appearing at events together over their past three decades in Congress representing Manhattan's Upper East Side and Upper West Side, respectively. Maloney donned a hardhat and joined Governor Hochul and other officials in the tunnels leading to 125th Street, where the line will eventually terminate. Nadler decided to stay aboveground. Both, though, were happy to be photographed together with Hochul to tout the federal cash flowing into the city. Nine months later, there are no more peppy stunts for the press. The two liberal stalwarts are colliding in an August 23 primary, locked in a war for political survival."
| | The Campaign Trail | | " Paladino, Langworthy spar over campaign's status as Primary Day draws nearer ," by Buffalo News' Robert J. McCarthy: "With less than three weeks before the Republican primary for the 23rd Congressional District, a Wednesday surge of polls and news conferences led to new and furious efforts to define the status of a contest growing in intensity and personal attacks. With candidate Nick Langworthy branding his opponent 'Cowardly Carl,' and Carl Paladino's barbs aimed at 'Lying Langworthy,' Wednesday's developments surrounded a new poll obtained by The Buffalo News showing the pair in a statistical tie and leading veteran pollster Barry Zeplowitz to declare the contest 'wide open.' In turn, Paladino summoned reporters to a late afternoon news conference in Ellicott Square to denounce the survey, calling Zeplowitz a 'big contributor' to the Langworthy campaign because he gave it $99 and had previously worked for Langworthy."
| | TRUMP'S NEW YORK | | " Giuliani Is Unlikely to Face Criminal Charges in Lobbying Inquiry ," by The New York Times' William K. Rashbaum and Ben Protess: "As Rudolph W. Giuliani comes under intensifying scrutiny for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, another legal threat is quietly fading: the criminal inquiry into his ties to Ukraine during the presidential campaign. The investigation, conducted by federal prosecutors in Manhattan and the F.B.I., has examined whether Mr. Giuliani illegally lobbied the Trump administration on behalf of Ukrainian officials who helped him impugn Joseph R. Biden Jr., then expected to be the Democratic presidential nominee. But after nearly three years, that inquiry into Mr. Giuliani, the former personal lawyer to Donald J. Trump, is unlikely to result in charges, two people with knowledge of the matter said."
| | Biden and the Boroughs | | " NY doctors, legislators call on Biden to make monkeypox drug TPOXX easier to access ," by Gothamist's Caroline Lewis: "Advocates and lawmakers are calling for the Biden administration to remove barriers to access for a promising medication called tecovirimat, or TPOXX, as New York's monkeypox outbreak worsens. So far, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has only approved the medication for the treatment of smallpox — though some early studies show TPOXX can help against monkeypox, too. The drug is an antiviral, meaning it tries to keep the virus from thriving once the germ is already harming the body. That's in contrast to the monkeypox vaccine, which tries to stop the disease before it starts." — Rep. Ritchie Torres and City Council Member Shaun Abreu are calling on the state and city health departments to release demographic data on who has received monkeypox vaccines.
| | | | INTRODUCING POWER SWITCH: The energy landscape is profoundly transforming. Power Switch is a daily newsletter that unlocks the most important stories driving the energy sector and the political forces shaping critical decisions about your energy future, from production to storage, distribution to consumption. Don't miss out on Power Switch, your guide to the politics of energy transformation in America and around the world. SUBSCRIBE TODAY . | | | | | | | AROUND NEW YORK | | — A fire sparked by an e-scooter battery in an East Harlem public housing building killed two people including a 5-year-old girl and left a third person in critical condition. — Two college-age sisters from Maryland died in a fire at a Hamptons vacation house. — Two pedestrians were killed in Inwood after two vehicles collided. — The owner of an animal sanctuary was arrested for refusing to return a neighboring farmer's cows. — A heat wave this week could see parts of upstate New York break records set in 1944. — Columbia University researchers are using wastewater to study coronavirus mutations . — New York City mechanics are seeing more rats in cars as rodent complaints have increased during the pandemic. — Rochester's Police Accountability Board received over 100 complaints of police misconduct in its first month of accepting reports.
| | SOCIAL DATA BY DANIEL LIPPMAN | | HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Former President Barack Obama … Bret Baier … House Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) … AP's Seung Min Kim, a POLITICO alum … former U.S. Treasurer Rosario Marin … Nick Wing … CNN's Greg Krieg … Alex Mallin of ABC … CBS' Katie Watson … Sinan Salaheddin … Amelia Irvine … (was Wednesday): Karlie Kloss ... Marv Levy ... Mitchell S. Steir ... Joshua Cherwin WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Liza Pluto, media relations manager at MSNBC, and Evan Lukaske, communications director for Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), on Friday welcomed Mila Rose Lukaske, who came in at 8 lbs 6 oz. Pic ... Another pic MAKING MOVES — Amber Greene is now special assistant to the president for racial and economic justice. She most recently was deputy director for media relations and corporate communications at the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey. MEDIAWATCH — " Reuters US Staff Plan to Strike for First Time in Decades ," by Bloomberg's Josh Eidelson — Jonathan Custodio will join The City as a reporter covering the Bronx. He was previously a fellow and New York City intern at POLITICO.
| | A message from United for Clean Power, Inc.: This is Democrats' last chance to save the planet and if we fail, there may never be another opportunity to rescue the next generation from our mistakes. Our planet is in crisis. The time to take action on real planet-saving climate change legislation is NOW. Demand true environmental justice from your Democrat colleagues or kill the Reconciliation bill. Over the past decade more than 83% of all disasters around the world were caused by extreme weather and climate-related events. Half-measures that compromise are NOT acceptable. We have the power and we have the means to get this done. After November, that may not be the case. A Reconciliation package without comprehensive climate change provisions would be a catastrophic failure. Demand true climate change action in the Reconciliation package, or block it's passage altogether. | | | | | Real Estate | | " Bronx Public Housing Playground Still Closed After Adams Vow to Open ," by The City's Reuven Blau and Candace Pedraza: "On Monday, Mayor Eric Adams vowed to 'immediately' reopen a playground inside a Bronx public housing complex that was closed in early 2019 because of drug dealing in the area — but four days later the kids' park is still closed and nowhere near ready to open according to a city official. 'I cannot subscribe to the theory that someone is committing crime on the playground that we want to penalize the children,' Adams told reporters during a news conference at the beginning of the week. 'That's not acceptable.' 'And those that are closed because of illegal activity that took place, we are opening them immediately,' he added." | | | | 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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