Public school parents demand a recount

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Jun 21, 2023 View in browser   By Madina Touré, Janaki Chadha and Hajah Bah Presented by Student backpacks hang on the backs of classroom chairs in June 2022 in New York City. | Michael Loccisano/Getty Images This is New York City’s most fiercely contested election you’ve probably never heard of. On Tuesday night, public school parents rallied outside of Gracie Mansion to protest the recent election of candidates from a right-leaning parents group to citywide education councils. Parent Leaders for Accelerated Curriculum and Education (PLACE NYC) has endorsed Republicans like Lee Zeldin for governor and George Santos for Congress. Candidates tapped by the group won close to 40 percent of seats last week on parent councils that represent district issues to superintendents: academics, spending, diversity, etc. PLACE supports keeping the highly controversial Specialized High School Admissions Test and expanding gifted and talented programs— the latter of which is also backed by Schools Chancellor David Banks, who has said superintendents should make decisions about admissions criteria. Critics have blasted the views of some PLACE members who've compared critical race theory to Nazi ideology and called the public school system an “oppressor woke environment where [Department of Education] employees make them pledge allegiance to their LGBTQI+ religion.” Yiatin Chu, co-founder of PLACE, said the group’s been around for four years and is composed of regular, parent volunteers. He called claims that PLACE was affiliated with organizations like the GOP-linked Moms for Liberty “smears that I don’t appreciate.” Tuesday's protest outside Gracie Mansion coincided with a reception Mayor Eric Adams was hosting in honor of the elected parents. Roughly 20 demonstrators demanded a vote recount and an independent audit of the process. They also rallied for an equal application of DOE election rules, charging the department with unfairly disqualifying a non-PLACE parent candidate. Adriana Alicea of Queens says her candidacy was invalidated for supposedly accepting support from a political action committee. She didn’t accept the PAC’s endorsement, Alicea said, she just thanked them for it. DOE spokesperson Nathaniel Styer said state law mandates the agency establish “policies prohibiting political endorsements of and campaign contributions to nominees.” “We take any reported issues seriously and those that arose during the election were investigated and considered based on regulations and state law,” Styer said in a statement, adding that the department would promptly address any other concerns about the vote. IT’S WEDNESDAY. WHERE’S KATHY? Delivering remarks at the High Line-Moynihan Connector ribbon-cutting ceremony and speaking at the United Way and My Brother’s Keeper breakfast. WHERE’S ERIC? Delivering remarks at the 9th international Day of Yoga, making an educated-related announcement at Google Learning Hub, speaking at a Latin American small business task force meeting, attending the New York Life ribbon cutting, speaking at DCAS government “Hiring Hall,” presenting an award at Centurion Foundation's annual fundraiser and delivering remarks at the ANPA 2023 Convention. QUOTE OF THE DAY: “When he came, he came with it real strong,” former New York State Assemblymember Roger Green on his highly contentious, 2000 race against Hakeem Jeffries for a Brooklyn seat in the body. A message from Uber: Uber riders have already paid $629 Million in Congestion Pricing fees while personal cars and Amazon trucks haven’t paid a cent. Even all electric Uber Green cars are charged for Congestion Pricing while gas trucks pay nothing. 14,500 Uber riders have opposed increasing fees on Ubers. Learn More.   ABOVE THE FOLD FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: Here’s another ask for the state Assembly on its final day in session. All five New York City District Attorneys joined sex trafficking victims and their advocates in a letter, asking the body to pass a bill that would eliminate the statute of limitations for sex trafficking crimes and increase the window for survivors to file lawsuits. The state Senate already voted unanimously to pass the bill, sponsored by Assemblymember Jeffrey Dinowtiz. The letter highlights a cruel reality of the existing, five-year deadline: “If a trafficking victim had been preyed upon by three different men — one after another — but only the last was within the five-year window, under current laws the first two will walk free.” —Hajah Bah A SMALLER HOUSING PACKAGE: A significant housing package failed to make it through the state Legislature this year. But several smaller-scale bills aimed at strengthening the state’s rent-regulation system are poised to pass the Assembly by Wednesday after getting Senate approval earlier this month. The legislation would crack down on so-called “frankensteining” in rent-regulated apartments, or instances where landlords are able to combine vacant rent-stabilized units and jack up rents beyond annual guidelines. It would also make it easier for tenants to challenge fraudulent rent hikes, including those that occurred before the sweeping tenant-friendly reforms to the system in 2019. Tenant groups who lamented the collapse of a broader housing deal — particularly, the “good cause” eviction proposal — urged the Assembly to approve the legislation in a letter to Speaker Carl Heastie last week. — Janaki Chadha   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 IS READING Ocasio-Cortez’s Unusual Place in N.Y. City Council Races: The Sidelines, by The New York Times’ Nicholas Fandos: “Two years ago, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez set out to put her imprint on New York City government, using her personal clout and a leadership PAC to boost dozens of left-leaning candidates. Yet as New Yorkers prepare to go back to the polls next week to begin electing a new City Council, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez has been practically invisible.” NYC Mayor Adams unveils plans for asylum application center to assist migrants, by Daily News’ Micheal Garthland Candidates for western Queens City Council seat face off on NY1, by Spectrum News’ Bobby Cuza: “As Julie Won seeks re-election to her western Queens City Council seat, her Democratic opponent, housing organizer Hailie Kim, is taking aim squarely at her vote on last year’s city budget. 'I am running for City Council because crucial services were cut last year,' Hailie Kim said in her opening statement Tuesday during an exclusive debate on NY1.”   A message from Uber:   WHAT ALBANY'S READING Meet the next generation of LGBTQ+ rights activists in New York, By City & State’s Rebecca Lewis: “It took nearly two more decades until New York enacted the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act, which codified statutory protections for transgender New Yorkers into the state’s Human Rights Law. By that time, the Empire State Pride Agenda had disbanded, leaving many to wonder what might take its place. Now, the New Pride Agenda has stepped up to protect and advance LGBTQ+ rights in New York as they are targeted across the country.” Assembly vote unlikely to expand health coverage to residents without legal status, By Spectrum News’ Kate Lisa 46 more asylum-seekers arrive in Western New York; additional arrivals are expected, by Buffalo News’ Sandra Tan & Maki Becker   SUBSCRIBE TO 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 Hakeem Jeffries (left) got his first taste of political combat when he ran two losing campaigns against 20-year Democratic veteran of the New York State Assembly Roger Green (right). | POLITICO illustration/Photos by Wikimedia Commons, Getty Images, The New York Times via Redux Pictures How Hakeem Jeffries Learned to Fight Dirty, by POLITICO’s Calder McHugh: For a politician who hasn’t had a difficult race in a decade, the two early races for the New York state Assembly stand out as moments that shaped his political identity. They provided enough strategic lessons for a dozen political science degrees, featuring everything from feuds over church-based organizing to fights over union support and a messaging battle pitting youth against experience and idealism against familiarity with power. AROUND NEW YORK — New York lawmakers voted to make it easier to challenge wrongful convictions. (Gothamist) — A project was approved to carry offshore wind power from Long Island to upstate. (Newsday) — Chick-fil-A opened its first Westchester location... at a Thruway rest stop. (LoHud) A message from Uber: If you own a townhouse on the Upper West Side, you don’t pay any Congestion Pricing. If you’re a renter in the Bronx you already pay $2.75 in Congestion Pricing on every Uber trip into Manhattan’s congestion zone. Over 165,000 Uber trips start in outer borough low income neighborhoods and end in Manhattan. 14,500 Uber riders have opposed increasing fees on Ubers. Learn More.   SOCIAL DATA BY DANIEL LIPPMAN HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Axios’ Mike Allen … NYT’s Elizabeth Williamson and Elizabeth Dias … Chris Francescani … CNN’s Madeleine Morgenstern … Forbes’ Emma Whitford … Max Clarke … Sam Nunberg … Laura Meckler … Zack Richner … Tanya Singer … Daniel Wagner … George Jahn … Mason Reynolds … Daniel Ahn … (was Tuesday): Josh Raffel … Maggie Shnayerson ... Rabbi Zvi Sobolofsky ... Bob Garfield ... Gregg Birnbaum (h/ts Jewish Insider) WEDDING — Harry Liberman, an attorney at Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP, on June 10 married Keizra Mecklai, an OB/GYN resident at NYU Langone Hospital. The couple met on the Duke Debate team a decade ago, when she had to argue against a speech he made in order to try out for the team. They got married at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass. Pic Real Estate To Improve Public Housing, New York City Moves to Tear It Down, by The New York Times’ Mihir Zaveri: “NYCHA is set to announce on Wednesday that it is moving forward with a $1.5 billion plan to tear down the Fulton Houses and Elliott-Chelsea Houses in Manhattan and replace them with new high-rise apartments for the residents who live there, after it became clear that replacing the deteriorating buildings would cost about as much as rehabilitating them.”   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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