| | | | |  | | By Anna Gronewold, Sally Goldenberg and Zachary Schermele | Presented by Ørsted and Eversource | We survived Week One of joint budget hearings with marathon sessions on taxes, economic development, transportation, education and public safety. It’s clear that changes to the state’s bail laws will remain a major talking point this legislative session, but the scope of safety concerns across New York spans further than that. Here are a handful that caught lawmakers’ attention and will emerge in the weeks to come: — Judges are getting away with bad behavior by simply resigning: Commission on Judicial Conduct Administrator and Counsel Robert Tembeckjian told lawmakers that “at least twice a year or some times more” a judge they have been investigating avoids consequences because they leave office, sometimes even after a disciplinary hearing has been held. The CJC is not allowed to make investigations public until after disciplinary action has been taken, and has very limited jurisdiction over judges that retire or resign. That meant that Tembeckjian could really only talk in hypotheticals ~around~ ethical questions asked about former Chief Judge Janet DiFiore, who was reportedly under investigation when when she resigned last year. Senate Deputy Majority Leader Mike Gianaris and Senate Judiciary Chair Brad Hoylman-Sigal have introduced legislation to address the issue. — Family courts are struggling for good legal representation: The state is doing better at providing required representation in criminal matters — it’s legally mandated from a 2015 settlement (Hurrell-Harring et al. v. State of New York) — but it’s not keeping the same pace with family court. And the state’s progress on fulfilling its requirements for assigned counsel could be hindered if there isn't state funding for Gov. Kathy Hochul’s suggested rate raises for public defenders, Patricia Warth, director of the New York State office of Indigent Legal Services told lawmakers. The governor’s proposal would push the pay raises to cities and counties, where officials are never thrilled about another mandate passed their way, according to Warth. — Volunteer firefighters need help: Of New York’s more than 1,700 fire departments, more than 1,600 are volunteer departments, Homeland Security and Emergency Services head Jackie Bray said in her testimony. From 1998 to 2021, the number of volunteer firefighters in New York decreased from 110,000 to 75,000. More than three-quarters of volunteer fire departments have fewer firefighters than they did two decades ago just as calls increased by 29 percent in that same time. Hochul’s trying to create a $10 million Volunteer Firefighter Training Stipend. She also wants to change the law to allow municipalities to provide nominal stipends of their own to volunteer firefighters for emergency response. There’s more to come. The social services hearing is today, environmental conservation is tomorrow, and mayors will arrive in Albany to plead for funds during the annual Tin Cup day on Wednesday. IT’S MONDAY. Got tips, suggestions or thoughts? Let us know ... By email: agronewold@politico.com and sgoldenberg@politico.com or on Twitter: @annagronewold and @sallygold WHERE’S KATHY? In Rochester talking about Finger Lakes investments in her state budget. WHERE’S ERIC? In New York City with no public events scheduled. QUOTE OF THE DAY “While we recognize the global image of the Empire State Building, it is undeniable that New Yorkers deserve better than our most famous building joining in the celebration of our rivals,” wrote Mark Levine, the Manhattan borough president, and City member Keith Powers in a letter Sunday as the building was lit up again for the Philadelphia Eagles.
| | | | A message from Ørsted and Eversource: New Yorkers are building an equitable clean energy industry. Learn more. | | | |  | What City Hall's reading | | FIRST DEPUTY SHAKEUP: Yume Kitasei, who served in several roles in the de Blasio administration, is returning to city government as chief of staff to First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright. And Meaghan Brown, Wright’s current chief of staff, is taking on a new role as chief of external relations for the deputy mayor. Kitasei, who will start this week, brings more than a decade of city government experience to her role: Under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, she was chief of staff to the first deputy mayor for operations, director of the city legislative affairs division and deputy chief of staff to the first deputy mayor. Brown has been Wright’s chief of staff since the beginning of the administration, and previously worked with Wright at nonprofit United Way as an executive vice president. She will now serve as a liaison to the private and philanthropic sectors, according to City Hall. “Meaghan Brown has shown herself to be an invaluable asset to our city over the last year and, in this new role, she will be able to work even more efficiently and effectively with all of our vital public-private partners,” Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement. “I’m also excited to welcome Yume Kitasei back to public service and thrilled have to her government expertise here at City Hall.” — Joe Anuta The most expensive street in America gets the Eric Adams treatment by POLITICO’s Danielle Muoio Dunn: Elected leaders are eager to draw people back to the area that has seen steep declines in foot traffic since the start of the pandemic, threatening tax revenue that funds essential city services and a hospitality industry that’s a major driver of tourism and jobs. But they must weigh any changes against the street’s function as a major transportation artery for hundreds of thousands of bus riders with connections to several subway lines. “Remote Work Is Costing Manhattan More Than $12 Billion a Year,” by Bloomberg’s Emma Court and Donna Borak: “Losing $12.4 billion a year translates into missed sales for restaurants, retailers and other businesses that drive New York’s economic engine. Office vacancies pose a multibillion-dollar crisis for America’s biggest office real estate market. The transit system’s finances are in free fall. Chief executives like Goldman Sachs Inc.’s David Solomon and JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Jamie Dimon are growing impatient with workers. And the fiscal threat to tax revenue verges on the existential: What is the value of a city when workers don’t need to be there anymore?” “As Subway Ridership Rebounds, Some Women Are Reluctant to Return,” by The New York Times’ Ana Levy: “Many women riding New York’s subway have stories of being leered at or harassed and have become used to raising their guard on public transit. Now, some women say safety concerns, which climbed among passengers during the pandemic, have pushed them to find other ways of getting around.”
| | | | 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 | | “Suicides persist in New York's prisons and jails,” by Times Union’s Melissa Manno: “The New York Commission of Correction concluded investigations on at least 90 inmate suicides at state prisons and local jails between 2016 and 2021, according to records provided to the Times Union.” “Landlords want the Supreme Court to overturn NY’s rent reg laws. What happens next?,” by WNYC’s David Brand: “A handful of lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the decades-old rent laws have wound their way through the federal court system and could reach the U.S. Supreme Court. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down two of the lawsuits on Monday, citing prior case law and even a past Supreme Court decision unanimously upholding rent stabilization laws.” PUBLIC COMMENT on New York’s proposed adult-use cannabis regulations were due by midnight, as the state continues its gradual rollout of the marijuana industry. We’re expecting critiques of "true party of interest rules," which some dispensary hopefuls worry will restrict their ability to raise funding. The proposed regulations also bar existing medical marijuana operators from entering the adult-use market for the first three years of sales. What's next: New York City’s third adult-use dispensary is opening their doors today — Union Square Travel Agency at 62 E 13th St. While the space isn’t completely built out yet, the retailer — located in a former Chase bank — is using a smaller section of its dispensary to open to the public while it continues construction on the larger space off of Broadway. — Mona Zhang #UpstateAmerica: By some metrics, the hamlet of Lily Dale is the most unusual place in the state.
| | | | A message from Ørsted and Eversource:   | | | | | BIDEN AND THE BOROUGHS | | TWU TICKED: The head of the Transport Workers Union of America said he would vehemently oppose efforts to install de Blasio as the successor to Labor Secretary Marty Walsh. “At the heart of the matter he’s absolutely anti-union, regardless of what anyone says, and anti-blue collar workers in particular,” John Samuelsen told POLITICO. While president of the union’s largest local branch, Samuelsen soured on de Blasio early in his first term, leading TWU to become a thorn in the mayor’s side throughout his tenure — and even dogged him outside the five boroughs in the runup to his 2020 presidential bid. Samuelsen said he’d much prefer Deputy Labor Secretary Julie Su to de Blasio or fellow New Yorker Sean Patrick Maloney, as Democratic powerbrokers try to line up a successor amid Walsh’s expected departure to run the NHL Players’ Association. “She’s highly qualified to do the job; she’s been invaluable to Marty,” he said of Su. “Why would Biden throw [aside] a highly talented woman doing the job for a Sean Patrick Maloney or a Bill de Blasio. It makes absolutely no sense and would even be insulting.” The former mayor did not return a request to respond to Samuelsen’s comments. — Nick Niedzwiadek | | AROUND NEW YORK | | — NYSUT President Andy Pallotta will retire from his leadership post in April. — New York’s pension fund is still going up. — Ride-hail companies have been claiming a bigger share of the fare ever since drivers began receiving a city-guaranteed minimum wage in 2019. — FDNY officials are furious about leaked meeting minutes. — The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York is investigating whether the Mount Vernon school district mishandled federal grant money.
| | | | DOWNLOAD THE POLITICO MOBILE APP: Stay up to speed with the newly updated POLITICO mobile app, featuring timely political news, insights and analysis from the best journalists in the business. The sleek and navigable design offers a convenient way to access POLITICO's scoops and groundbreaking reporting. Don’t miss out on the app you can rely on for the news you need, reimagined. DOWNLOAD FOR iOS– DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID. | | | | | | | SOCIAL DATA BY DANIEL LIPPMAN | | HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Chip Smith … Bloomberg’s Stacie Sherman … Reuters’ Mike Spector … Blackstone’s Elizabeth Lewis … George Kundanis of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ office … Danielle Vaghi … Samantha Slater … Fox News’ Cailin Kearns … Nick Baer … (was Sunday): Eugene Daniels … Jon Finer … Treasury’s Megan Apper … Jim VandeHei … WaPo’s Chris Suellentrop … CNN’s Maria Awad … WSJ’s Rachel Feintzeig … Ben Sherwood … Marc Caputo … NYT’s Maya King … Matthew Nadherny … Robert Zeliger … Anna Miroff … (was Saturday): Dan Barry … Steven Roberts … Rob Hendin … Evan Siegfried … ProPublica’s Stephen Engelberg … Alix Simnock ... David B. Stern MAKING MOVES — Renaldo Muñiz, previously with the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, is joining Anat Gerstein, Inc. as a senior account executive today. … Paul Steely White, longtime former executive director of Transportation Alternatives, has been hired as the new executive director of Parks and Trails New York. WEEKEND WEDDING — Katie Hunt, co-founder of Showfields and The Fund, on Friday married Gregg Pichler, director of projects at Koral Brothers, at San Cristobal Hotel in Todos Santos, Mexico. The couple met via a mutual friend’s post on Instagram. Pic … Another pic WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Lindsey Edinger, a litigation associate at Kirkland Ellis, and Chris Crane, a staff engineer at health tech company Cedar, on Monday welcomed Alice Cynthia Crane, who came in at 8lbs 4oz, 21.5in long. She is named after two of her great grandmothers and her great aunt. Pic ... Another pic FOR YOUR RADAR — “The ‘CEO of Anti-Woke Inc.’ Has His Eye on the Presidency: Vivek Ramaswamy leaves the boardroom for a barn in Iowa to test out his businessman-turned-culture-warrior brand on rural conservative voters,” by Daniel Lippman in POLITICO Magazine
| | | | A message from Ørsted and Eversource: What does it take to build an equitable clean energy industry?
It takes partnership.
Sunrise Wind is built on partnership. Partnership between the world’s leading offshore wind developer, Ørsted, and national energy experts, Eversource.
And partnership with the unions, schools, and community groups that are essential to delivering one of the state’s biggest infrastructure projects. | | | | | Real Estate | | Hochul faces an ‘uprising’ over her plan to build new housing in NYC suburbs, by POLITICO’s Janaki Chadha: The New York City suburbs nearly cost Gov. Kathy Hochul her job. Now, far from treading with caution, she’s pushing a proposal that may be radioactive in the bedroom communities that dot the region: A plan to mandate more housing in those suburban counties, some of the nation’s largest and wealthiest.
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