| | | | |  | | By Erin Durkin, Anna Gronewold and Julian Shen-Berro | When the Supreme Court struck down New York's sweeping concealed carry gun law, Democrats sprung into action and passed tough new gun restrictions to replace it. One problem: a court has now overturned large portions of the new law as well. A federal judge ruled that much of the new law, banning guns from sensitive locations and requiring people to fulfill a number of requirements to get a permit to carry, is unconstitutional and violates the Second Amendment. So a ban on guns in Times Square, the subway system, most private businesses, sports arenas and performance venues is out. (The judge let stand a few other gun free locations, like government buildings, houses of worship and schools.) Requirements that anyone who wants a permit to carry a gun sit for an in-person interview, turn over their social media accounts for review, and provide information for the people they live with were also struck down. The order will not take effect for three days, giving the state a chance to appeal. And Attorney General Tish James quickly made clear that she will do so. Gov. Kathy Hochul is taking the ruling personally. "It is deeply disappointing that the Judge wants to limit my ability to keep New Yorkers safe and to prevent more senseless gun violence," she said. But it's a victory for gun owners who are suing for the ability to carry their firearms more broadly in public. And Republicans are cheering, saying Democrats overreached when they tried to replace the previously torpedoed law, which offered permits to carry only for those who could prove a special need to do so. "Albany's political ruling class has repeatedly parroted a false narrative that law-abiding firearm owners are the root of increasing crime in our communities. Nothing could be further from the truth," said Senate minority leader Rob Ortt. IT'S FRIDAY. Got tips, suggestions or thoughts? Let us know ... By email: EDurkin@politico.com and agronewold@politico.com, or on Twitter: @erinmdurkin and @annagronewold PROGRAMMING NOTE: We'll be off this Monday for Indigenous Peoples Day but will be back in your inboxes on Tuesday, Oct. 11. Please continue to follow POLITICO New York. WHERE'S KATHY? In New York City and Monroe County with no announced public schedule. WHERE'S ERIC? Giving a speech about asylum seekers in New York City, holding a media availability, meeting with South Korean business leaders, and speaking at CPC Open Door Senior Center's 50th anniversary dinner.
| | | | JOIN NEXT WEDNESDAY FOR A TALK ON U.S.-CHINA AND XI JINPING'S NEW ERA: President Xi Jinping will consolidate control of the ruling Chinese Communist Party later this month by engineering a third term as China's paramount leader, solidifying his rule until at least 2027. Join POLITICO Live for a virtual conversation hosted by Phelim Kine, author of POLITICO's China Watcher newsletter, to unpack what it means for U.S.-China relations. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | |  | What City Hall's reading | | Council redistricting clears hurdle despite continued objections from City Hall, GOP, by POLITICO's Joe Anuta: In a nearly unanimous decision, the New York City Districting Commission on Thursday sent a set of proposed City Council lines to lawmakers for review. The decision avoids a repeat of last month — when the commission rejected a similar set of lines, following last-minute intervention from the mayor's office — and sends the maps to the next step in the process ahead of an early December deadline. The Council will now have three weeks to mull over the proposal. Lawmakers can ratify it as-is, but they will more likely suggest changes and send the maps back to the commission for another round of public input and revision. "The City Council must expeditiously review these maps and submit its response. They should be free to do so without outside interference," Citizens United Executive Director Betsy Gotbaum said in a statement following the vote. "NYC Council reaches deal to pass contentious Bronx rezoning backed by Mayor Adams," by New York Daily News' Chris Sommerfeldt: "A contentious rezoning proposal for an East Bronx neighborhood is expected to breeze through the City Council — after the area's Council member threw her support behind the plan Thursday following months of tense negotiations and pushback from her constituents. The zoning change plan, proposed by a group of local property owners, opens the door for constructing four new buildings with 349 apartment units, 168 of which will be income-restricted, as well as a new grocery store on a stretch of Bruckner Boulevard in Throgs Neck. The proposal has been up in the air for months, as the neighborhood's Council rep, Marjorie Velazquez, remained opposed to it, pitting her against Mayor Adams, Council Speaker Adrienne Adams (D-Queens) and housing activists who have supported the project." "MTA faces $4.6 billion budget gap in just 4 years: state comptroller," by WNYC's Stephen Nessen: "The MTA's internal projections forecasting a $2.5 billion deficit in 2025 may actually underestimate the agency's dire financial future, according to a new analysis by the state comptroller. With ridership levels still far below pre-pandemic levels and inflation on the rise, the MTA could have an operating deficit of $4.6 billion by 2026 unless the agency finds a new way to bring in money, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli wrote. 'The MTA needs to come up with billions of dollars to pay for operations in the coming years and that puts greater strain on its capital plan to update and repair the transit system. This has to be achieved against broad economic challenges that are increasing costs and threaten a recession,' DiNapoli said in a statement." "Police Vehicle Crashes Into Crowd in Bronx, Critically Injuring 2," by The New York Times' Liam Stack and Téa Kvetenadze : "A Police Department vehicle crashed into another car in the Bronx and careened onto a sidewalk on Thursday, striking a crowd of pedestrians and sending 10 people to the hospital, including a 5-year-old and a 2-year-old, a department official said at a news conference. The official, Jeffrey B. Maddrey, the Police Department's chief of patrol, said two officers were responding to a report of a stolen car when they drove over the double yellow line in the road to get around a vehicle that was in front of them. But their car quickly hit another vehicle and veered out of control, mounting the curb and slamming into a crowd of people. … Chief Maddrey said eight civilians were taken from the scene to nearby hospitals, and two were in critical condition." "NYC officials announce plans to hire counselors, violence interrupters to address school violence," by WNYC's Samantha Max: "As fears about local violence and mass shootings leave many parents worried for their children's safety, New York City officials announced Thursday that they are hiring violence interrupters, mentors, and other community members to help keep students safe. Project Pivot will provide mentoring, career counseling, recreational activities, and violence prevention programming to 138 city schools with high rates of suspensions, chronic absenteeism, and other factors that put students at risk of violence. The initiative is expected to cost $9 million."
| | WHAT ALBANY'S READING | | "Biden visits New York as IBM announces $20B program," by Poughkeepsie Journal's Saba Ali, David McKay Wilson and Erin Nolan: "The President of the United States roamed a warehouse in Poughkeepsie Thursday afternoon. With a warm smile, Joe Biden greeted employees of the IBM facility, shaking hands and asking how they were doing. The site situated in a town of roughly 45,000 is the global company's hub for mainframe development and quantum computing, though IBM's footprint in Dutchess County has decreased in recent decades. 'Where in God's name is it written that we can't be the manufacturing hub of the world?' Biden remarked. 'There's a lot of reasons to be optimistic.' IBM provided one for employees and the region in general Thursday, announcing a $20 billion initiative for its Hudson Valley sites over the next decade." After scandals and setbacks, upstate New York's high-tech sector takes leap forward, by POLITICO's Joseph Spector: The architect of upstate New York's plans for a high-tech industrial corridor was convicted in 2018 in a big-rigging scandal. So too were other upstate developers in similar schemes. The convictions were symbolic of decades of unfulfilled promises to build a nation-leading semiconductor corridor in the once-prospering manufacturing cities that line the New York State Thruway. Corruption marred the Buffalo Billion project; a $600 million photonics center in Rochester is struggling; and a SUNY campus in Utica has gone through several failed developers. Now, visions of an advanced technology center in Albany dating back to Gov. Mario Cuomo in 1993 might actually bear fruit, thanks to a state and federal effort and the dire need for U.S. chip manufacturing. "New state ethics watchdog agrees to chew on old cases," by Times Union's Chris Bragg: "New York's ethics and lobbying commission is rolling over all pending investigations inherited from its predecessor, a move that increases the odds those inquiries will reach conclusions. The seven sitting members of the Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government unanimously voted Thursday that 'any pending matter or inquiry' not closed by the prior agency, the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, 'shall be continued.' According to the resolution, certain legally required steps taken during those investigations will remain 'valid and effective,' indicating that procedures will not have to be redone by the new body. As of Sept. 23, the new ethics body had 32 'open investigations' in motion." "New York's fall marijuana harvest is in, but can you actually smoke it?" by Gothamist's Caroline Lewis: "Some aspiring dispensary owners are worrying this inaugural harvest won't be able to meet consumer demand. The first legal shops in the recreational market will be owned by people with past marijuana convictions or their family members. They will have to compete with both the existing black market — which has been flooded with unlicensed storefronts — and the major corporate players that eventually come on the scene." " Daniel Prude's Family Reaches Settlement With Rochester, N.Y., Following 2020 Police Killing," by The Wall Street Journal's Jimmy Vielkind: "The city of Rochester, N.Y. will pay $12 million to the family of a man who died in 2020 after Rochester Police Department officers restrained him and placed a mesh hood over his head, according to a settlement approved Thursday." #UpstateAmerica: Rochester, the city of Neighborly Love.
| | | | 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. | | | | | | | Biden and the Boroughs | | "New Jersey Governor Seeks to Slow New York's Congestion Pricing Effort," by The New York Times' Tracey Tully, Ana Ley and Patrick McGeehan : "A proposal to curb traffic on Manhattan's busiest streets by adding new tolls has stirred broad opposition from the city's taxi industry and drivers who live outside the area. But its biggest threat now seems to be coming from farther afield: New Jersey. Gov. Philip D. Murphy of New Jersey, who last month asked the transportation secretary to intervene, has now taken his case directly to President Biden, complaining about the added costs for drivers and the inability of the existing mass transit infrastructure to handle extra riders. Mr. Murphy, a Democrat, said he spoke last week at the White House to Mr. Biden, a political ally. He asked that the federal government complete a full environmental impact study before the new tolls are implemented."
| | CAMPAIGN MODE | | Siena poll: Riley holds slim 5-point lead over Molinaro in NY-19, by POLITICO's Anna Gronewold: Democrat Josh Riley was up by 5 percentage points over Republican Marc Molinaro in new polling for New York's 19th Congressional District, a matchup that's considered one of the most competitive races in the nation. A new Spectrum News/Siena College poll of 470 likely voters in the district released Thursday found Riley, an Ithaca attorney, held a 46 percent to 41 percent lead over Molinaro, the Dutchess County executive, in a district that stretches across the Hudson Valley and into the Finger Lakes. That's within the 5 percentage point margin of error for the survey conducted from Sept. 25 to 28. Molinaro's campaign brushed off the results.
| | AROUND NEW YORK | | — Barnard College will offer abortion pills on campus starting next year. — Some city classrooms are still without air conditioning despite the city's claim it has been installed universally. — A man arrested in the fatal slashing of a subway rider was out on supervised release when the crime took place. — A pedestrian was struck and killed by a construction truck in Midtown. — How the New York Metro Weather guy rates the weather. — An immigration judge cleared the way for fake German heiress Anna Sorokin to be released from detention to home confinement while she fights deportation. — The state is finally convening the Child Poverty Reduction Advisory Council. — Hochul signed a trio of bills to strengthen minority and women-owned businesses. — Iranian New Yorkers are organizing to help protests abroad.
| | SOCIAL DATA BY DANIEL LIPPMAN | | HAPPY BIRTHDAY: NYT's Charlie Savage … CNN's Elizabeth Hartfield … GWU's Sean Aday … Chris Krueger of Cowen … Alice Lloyd
| | Real Estate | | "As NYC rents soar, dysfunction in Adams administration fuels housing crisis," by New York Post's Nolan Hicks and Bernadette Hogan: "Mayor Eric Adams' administration has failed to fill key positions at housing agencies, leaving its response to skyrocketing rents and the Big Apple's worsening housing crisis hamstrung, insiders, activists and city officials tell The Post. The mounting frustration comes as affordable housing production plummeted in recent months and as developers struggle to get key city approvals for new buildings while completed projects struggle to get needed inspections and permits to open." " The Rent Is Too Damn High. Blame the Suburbs," by New York Focus's Sam Mellins: "New York City builds less housing per capita than almost any major city in the US, one reason it boasts the country's highest rents. Like other cities, it relies on its suburbs to ease the strain on its housing market. But when it comes to construction, the suburbs on Long Island and in the Hudson Valley are even less active than the city: They build new housing at some of the lowest rates of any suburban region in the country, trailing the city's other suburbs in Connecticut and New Jersey as well as the suburbs of Washington, DC, San Francisco, and Boston. " "Disparity between wage growth, rent increases hits 14-year high in New York," by Crain's Eddie Small: "The chasm between what New Yorkers earn and what they pay in rent is the highest it has been in more than a decade, according to a new StreetEasy report. Rent growth outpaced wage growth in New York by 23% in August, marking the largest gap since the 2008 financial crisis, the analysis says. Rents rose by 13.4% year over year that month, while real wages dropped by 9.1%, according to StreetEasy. Inflation in the metropolitan area was 8.9% in August. 'That's a staggering gap,' StreetEasy economist Kenny Lee said. 'We'll have to pay attention to the incoming data, but falling real wages unfortunately will continue to squeeze renters.'" | | | | 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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