| | | | |  | | By Erin Durkin , Anna Gronewold and Georgia Rosenberg | It's been a long time coming, but New York City says it's finally going to do composting right. They've said that before, of course. Hoping to succeed where other mayors have failed, Eric Adams rolled out a new compost program that will cover all of Queens starting this fall. As POLITICO has documented , the city is pretty much covered in mounds of trash. That's obvious enough from walking down the street, but the city is getting even further from its goal of zeroing out residential waste by 2030. A big culprit is all those egg shells, coffee grounds and other food and yard waste that make up a third of the city's garbage stream. But efforts to tackle that have hit one roadblock after another. Former Mayor Bill de Blasio nixed the city's program due to a budget crunch early in the pandemic. Despite a campaign pledge, Mayor Adams cut funds for a planned expansion from his budget. Now, Adams says he's devised a system that will increase participation in organics recycling, offering collection service to all 2.2 million residents who live in Queens. Participation won't be mandatory, but a number of steps are in place to simplify the process and encourage composting. All large apartment buildings will be sent brown bins for composting without having to request them, while individual homeowners and those living in small buildings can request one or use their own container. "We designed this program to be the last composting program that we roll out in New York City," Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. "This is by far the cheapest, the most efficient, the easiest for New Yorkers to use." If this works, it could be expanded to other boroughs, but legislation is still pending in the City Council with a veto-proof majority of supporters that would require universal citywide compost collection. 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? Speaking at the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services Threat Assessment and Management Summit and later at the Bay Ridge summer concert series. WHERE'S ERIC? Speaking at a #BetterBuses for Brooklyn rally, meeting with clergy leaders, making a worker protection-related announcement and holding his third Community Conversation on Public Safety. ABOVE THE FOLD — Trump's Mar-a-Lago home raided by FBI in unprecedented move , by POLITICO's Jonathan Lemire, Kyle Cheney and Nicholas Wu: The FBI executed a search warrant at the Mar-a-Lago estate of former President Donald Trump on Monday as part of an investigation into the alleged mishandling of White House records, including potentially classified material, according to two people familiar with the matter. The Florida raid, which one of the people said took "hours," resulted in the seizure of paper records, according to one person familiar with the development, who also noted that Trump attorney Christina Bobb was present during the search. ... The former president was not present at Mar-a-Lago. Instead, he was at Trump Tower in New York City, according to a person familiar with the situation.
| | | | 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 City Hall's reading | | " Adams quietly seeks rush NYC shelter for migrants shipped from border: docs ," by New York Post's Nolan Hicks: "The surge is real — and it is here. The Big Apple is quietly — and quickly — planning to open a sprawling facility in Midtown Manhattan to process and provide housing for the wave of arriving migrants, some of whom are being sent here by Texas and others by the Biden administration, The Post has learned. Mayor Eric Adams' Department of Homeless Services requested Thursday that the city's non-profit shelter operators prepare and submit plans to operate the facility, which must have sufficient space to hold up to 600 households. The charities must submit their plans to DHS by Wednesday and, if selected, they must be ready to have the facility up and operating by next Monday, Aug. 15, according to a copy of the six-page request for proposals that DHS officials transmitted last week." — " NYC Shelter System Awaits Some Immigrants Bused From Texas ," by City Limits' David Brand and Daniel Parra: "After two months on the road and two days on a bus, the men sitting in the concrete courtyard outside New York City's homeless men's intake shelter were hungry. Seven hours earlier, a bus from Texas had deposited the four men, along with a few dozen other recently arrived immigrants, at Port Authority—the latest political stunt by that state's conservative governor, Greg Abbott, in response to the loosening of restrictions at the Southern Border." — Texas officials say they will send additional buses . — Many asylum seekers are applying for IDNYC cards . — "Mayor Eric Adams and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott traded barbs — and blame — Monday following the latest arrival of asylum-seeking Mexican-border migrants relocated from the Lone Star State to the Big Apple." " Holding Court: How Brooklyn's Democratic Party Execs Select the Judges on Your Ballot ," by The City's Yoav Gonen and George Joseph: "On a muggy evening last week at a golf course in southern Brooklyn, more than 200 Democratic Party judicial delegates packed into a large white tent. They'd been elected in June from across the borough to be the people's voice at the annual convention where the party decides on its nominees for Brooklyn's Supreme Court. In reality, however, their choices were predetermined. Two days earlier, Kings County Democratic Party executives had hashed out a single slate of 12 candidates for the delegates to vote up or down on, leaving them no chance to weigh individual contestants for the bench." A Party Promoter, an Activist and a City Councilman by 23, Chi Ossé Isn't Done Yet , by POLITICO's Calder McHugh : When he announced his run for City Council on Juneteenth of 2020, then-22-year-old Chi Ossé looked very much like the avatar of Gen-Z politics. Fashionable — sporting a quintessential black beret, black boots and a lot of Telfar in between — and confident — a bullhorn regularly finding his hands. Progressive and unyielding. Vaguely Instagram-famous. "We're going to defund the NYPD… I DONT SPEAK 🐠[pig]," he wrote on Instagram on June 11, 2020, eight days before his Juneteenth announcement. When he learned that the New York City Council controls the police budget, he decided to take the leap into politics — to change the system. He would force the department to reorder its priorities or lose its cash. | 
Illustration by Helen Green | " OH, RATS! Experts Say Outdoor Dining is Not to Blame for the City's Rodent Problem ," by Streetsblog's Julianne Cuba : "They're just rat-cheting up the NIMBY fight. Critics of outdoor dining are blaming the mostly beloved program for a rise in rats — a cause-and-effect theory now parroted across the media. But several rat experts interviewed by Streetsblog say that outdoor dining is merely a small factor in the recent rat spottings — the city's got much bigger fish to fry when it comes to mitigating its rodent infestation, like how the city disposes of its trash in thin, leaking, smelly garbage bags that line the sidewalks for blocks, creating a welcoming home with abundant food and shelter."
| | WHAT ALBANY'S READING | | " Gov. Kathy Hochul vows data will prove her right in ongoing bail reform feud with NY judges ," by New York Post's Zach Williams: "Gov. Kathy Hochul doubled down Monday in her blame game with New York judges, claiming her administration is busy gathering data to prove her assertion that bail reform laws don't need to be changed any further — the state's justices just need to do a better job. 'What I want to start seeing is the implementation of those laws at all levels. And we're going to be releasing data on whether or not they really are understanding the power and the broad discretion that judges have had before but even more so now,' Hochul said broadly of judges at a Yonkers press conference. Some members of the judiciary have not taken kindly to Hochul blaming them for rising crime or her recent offer to fund more training for them regarding bail changes approved by Albany Democrats in the state budget passed last April." — " Gov. Hochul signs bills boosting tax relief for N.Y. seniors and first-time homebuyers ," by Daily News' Denis Slattery — Hochul signed a bill to stop the state from using the word "inmate" to refer to people in prison. " GOP, farmers looking past overtime tax credit, focused on holding threshold ," by Times Union's Joshua Solomon: "Top state and federal Republican officials on Monday pushed back against a substantial subsidy for farm owners that is intended to cover overtime costs for their workers, asserting the answer is to instead avoid lowering the overtime threshold. 'It's not about changing it to 40 hours and trying to slap Band-Aids on it,' U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin, a Long Island Republican and GOP nominee for governor, said during a news conference at Stanton's Feura Farm, a family run business in southern Albany County. 'We're here today to stand up to do the right thing, not come to fix partially, temporarily the wrong thing if this goes forward. It's not too late to for the state to act to defend its farms.' The state's three-person 'Farm Laborers Wage Board' is expected to deliver a report to state Department of Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon on Sept. 6, affirming its January recommendation to require farm workers — non-management — to be entitled to overtime for work after 40 hours a week. Reardon would have 45 days to make a decision on the recommendation." #UpstateAmerica: A long abandoned building that became an eyesore for Buffalo's Seneca-Babcock neighborhood is finally being demolished .
| | | | 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 . | | | | | | | FROM THE DELEGATION | | " A cryptocurrency billionaire is spending big in New York congressional primaries ," by City & State's Jeff Coltin: "A cryptocurrency billionaire has already spent nearly half a million dollars each in two Congressional primaries — and he could get involved in the high profile 10th Congressional district next. Protect Our Future PAC, which is almost entirely funded by FTX cryptocurrency exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried, has reported spending $498,000 so far on TV and digital ads supporting Josh Lafazan, who is running for the 3rd Congressional District on the North Shore of Long Island and in Northeast Queens. The PAC also spent $396,000 so far on a TV ad and mailers supporting Francis Conole, who is running in the 22nd Congressional District in Central New York." " NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams backs Yuh-Line Niou for NY's 10th congressional district race ," by Gothamist's Elizabeth Kim: "New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams is endorsing Manhattan Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou, a left-leaning candidate in the competitive and crowded contest for a rare open House seat representing one of New York's most liberal swaths… Williams — a prominent progressive city lawmaker who recently came in second in the Democratic gubernatorial primary — is the first citywide elected official to weigh in on the race. Niou, who endorsed Williams for governor, is one of 12 candidates vying for the newly drawn 10th congressional district, covering Lower Manhattan and northwest portions of Brooklyn." " Democrats cower over Carolyn Maloney, Jerry Nadler cage match ," by New York Post's Carl Campanile: "Democratic politicians are either cowering on the sidelines or feebly endorsing two candidates in one primary race thanks to their party's gerrymandering debacle that left them with two party heavyweights — Manhattan Reps. Carolyn Maloney and Jerrold Nadler — vying for the same House seat. 'The 12th congressional district is a horrible situation,' said Laura Bierman, executive director of the New York League of Women Voters. … House Democrats — including lefty socialist firebrand Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — have refused thus far to take sides in the Aug. 23 primary contest. Meanwhile, veteran Manhattan Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, who made history as the first openly gay person elected to the legislature in 1990, is listed as a co-endorser of both Maloney and Nadler, according to the the campaign websites. Planned Parenthood and the National Abortions Rights League have also co-endorsed Nadler and Maloney." " Sen. Schumer boasts big wins for the nation, New York in just-passed climate and spending package ," by New York Daily News' Dave Goldiner and Tim Balk
| | TRUMP'S NEW YORK | | " Trump real estate appraiser hands over thousands of documents to N.Y. AG in civil probe ," by NBC News' Dareh Gregorian: "A commercial real estate firm held in contempt of court for failing to hand over records on its appraisals of several Trump Organization properties to New York's attorney general has turned over nearly 36,000 documents, court filings show. New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron had found Cushman & Wakefield in contempt last month for not producing documents in state Attorney General Letitia James' civil probe into the Trump Organization's business practices and ordered the firm to pay a $10,000-a-day fine until it complied. In a letter to the judge late Friday, James' office said it has now 'received Cushman's production, which amounts to about 35,867 documents since entry of this court's contempt order.'"
| | AROUND NEW YORK | | — The MTA is considering requiring permits for e-bikes and e-scooters on commuter railroads. — New Yorkers are experiencing sticker shock over rising food prices. — U.S. District Judge David N. Hurd will only ascend to "senior status" — which creates an opening on the bench in the Northern District of New York — if his successor is based in Utica. — A judge authorized the United States to seize a $90 million jet belonging to a Russian oligarch. — Manhattan's M102 bus is the slowest in the city . — Health care workers and Bronx residents are protesting Montefiore Health System's plan to close a health clinic in the borough. — Sen. Alessandra Biaggi, who is running for Congress, endorsed Assemblymember Nathalia Fernandez for her state Senate seat.
| | SOCIAL DATA BY DANIEL LIPPMAN | | HAPPY BIRTHDAY: NYT's Julian Barnes and Ken Vogel … New Deal Strategies' Rebecca Kirszner Katz … Bill Burton … former Rep. John Sweeney (R-N.Y.) … Mercury's Dan Bank ... Carla Baranauckas … Hoda Kotb ... Chris Cuomo ENGAGED — Lily Olsen, an artist and model who recently signed with System Agency, proposed to Katherine Bernard, a screenwriter and freelance columnist for New York Times Styles. The couple met on Lex, a text-forward app for the queer community, with the two going to Endswell in Fort Greene for their first date. The couple got engaged on Lambert's Cove Beach on Martha's Vineyard. Instapic ... Another pic WELCOME TO THE WORLD -- Alan Butler, associate VP for wealth management at Morgan Stanley, and Rachael Lighty, senior policy PR manager and head of PR for Amazon's HQ2, recently welcomed Maxwell Elias Butler. Pic
| | Real Estate | | " NYC's public spaces are becoming increasingly hostile toward homeless people ," by City & State's Maia Pandey: "Moynihan Train Hall — the soaring new extension of Penn Station officially opened in 2021 — houses more than two dozen food and retail outlets and services Amtrak and the Long Island Rail Road. Yet, most people in the hall's glass ceiling atrium are huddled on the floor or leaning against walls and railings waiting for their trains. The problem is stark: Outside of booths in the food hall and a ticketed waiting room, seating in the $1.6 billion hall is highly limited. The lack of seating, however, is not entirely unprecedented: Some advocates said the design of Moynihan Train Hall was another part of a multipronged effort to remove homeless people from public spaces in New York City." " Criminal Background Checks May Be Banned in N.Y.C. Housing Applications ," by The New York Times' Mihir Zaveri: "After she was released from prison in 2011, Kandra Clark spent five years sleeping on friends' couches while searching for a new home in New York City. She had a full-time job, but landlords routinely denied Ms. Clark's rental applications, citing background checks that she believed had flagged her fraud-related conviction. Ms. Clark, 37, who is now an executive at a nonprofit group that helps formerly incarcerated people, eventually found a landlord who accepted her application, in Queens, but the process was 'exhausting and defeating,' she said. Now, New York City is likely to join a number of other cities in limiting the ability of landlords to screen tenants based on their criminal records, which could affect thousands of people seeking housing in the city." | | | | 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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