Gotham Gazette

The Place for New York Policy and politics

CITY

City

The Week Ahead in New York Politics, November 5


New York City Hall

New York City Hall


What to watch for this week in New York politics:

Tuesday is Election Day! Be ready to vote.

Catch up on all of Gotham Gazette's election coverage here.

See what races you'll be voting in and which candidates you'll get to choose from by using the interactive election guide from Gotham Gazette, WNYC and City Limits.

Read up on the three (New York City-only) ballot questions here.

Monday will be a big get out the vote day, with final rallies and pitches from candidates and campaigns, and then it all comes down to getting people to the polls on Tuesday. There's a great deal at stake this election, both at the state and federal levels. Read Gotham Gazette's 10 Things to Watch on Election Day in New York.

And while it is the main event, there's more than just Election Day this week, of course - see our day-by-day rundown below.

***Do you have events or topics for us to include in an upcoming Week Ahead in New York Politics?
e-mail Gotham Gazette editor Ben Max: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.***

The run of the week in detail:

Monday
On Monday at noon, “Mayor de Blasio will deliver remarks at the Goddard Riverside Senior Center...In the evening, the Mayor will appear live on NY1’s Inside City Hall” in the 7 and 11 p.m. hours.

During Monday’s Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC radio (10 a.m.-12 p.m.), Gotham Gazette’s Ben Max and Dr. Christina Greer of Fordham University will preview Election Day in New York at 11 a.m. Their segment will be followed by a debate between City Councils Members Helen Rosenthal and Brad Lander over the three ballot proposals.

At the City Council on Monday:
--The Subcommittee on Landmarks, Public Siting, and Maritime Uses will meet at 10:45 a.m. to discuss the Bartow Ave Animal Shelter proposal.
--The Committee on Land Use will meet at 11 a.m.

The New York State Board of Regents will meet on Monday and Tuesday.

The case over the Trump administration including a citizenship question on the 2020 Census will be heard starting Monday in federal court in Manhattan.

At noon Monday, members of the Council’s Black, Latino, and Asian Caucus will join architect Rodney Leon and others to rally against the “racist act of vandalism” at the site of the African Burial Ground Monument which occurred on Thursday.

Tuesday
Tuesday is Election Day. Polls in New York City open at 6 a.m. and close at 9 p.m. Vote!

Mayor de Blasio and other special guests will join the Max & Murphy live-audience election night show at the Commons Cafe in downtown Brooklyn. The show will air on WBAI radio (99.5FM) and at wbai.org from 5-7 p.m. and will include the mayor, City Council Member Jumaane Williams, and others, and audience participation. Seating is limited, but there are seats still available.

Wednesday
At 9 a.m. Wednesday, City & State will host “Tech in New York” at the NYIT Auditorium on Broadway on the Upper West Side. Speakers will discuss “the course of government tech, connected citizens, digital policy and the future of our city and state.” The City’s Deputy CTO, Jeremy Goldberg, will deliver the opening keynote. Other speakers will include City Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez; Cordell Schachter, CTO of the City’s Department of Transportation; and Tariq Habib, Chief Information Security Officer at the MTA.

From 5-6 p.m. Wednesday, Max & Murphy will air during its usual weekly slot on WBAI radio, and will include discussion of the election results. Tune in at 99.5FM or wbai.org.

At 6 p.m. Wednesday, Transit Center will host “Activists Running Transit” at One Whitehall Street, discussing how having transit riders of diverse backgrounds create transit policy can produce better outcomes. Panelists include David Jones, President of the Community Service Society and an MTA Board Member, and Flozell Daniels, President of the Foundation for Louisiana and Board Chair of the New Orleans Regional Transportation Authority.

At 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, New York City Transit President Andy Byford will hold a “community conversation” for Bronx residents on the Fast Forward plan at Hostos Community College.

Thursday
At the City Council on Thursday: the Committee on Higher Education will meet at 10 a.m. for an oversight hearing regarding “career services and job placement at the City University of New York.”

At 6 p.m. Thursday, City Council Member Keith Powers and Assemblymember Dan Quart will host a discussion on bail reform in New York at PS 198 on the Upper East Side. They will be joined by a panel consisting of former Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman, Insha Rahman of the Vera Institute, Julio Medina of Exodus Transitional Community, and Nicole Follmann of the Brooklyn Community Bail Fund.

At 6 p.m. Thursday, the New York City Bar Association will host “Pilots, Plans, & Promises: Is Desegregation Possible in New York City’s Schools?” Speakers include Matthew Gonzales, Director of the School Diversity Project at New York Appleseed; Richard Kahlenberg, senior fellow at the Century Foundation; City Council Member Brad Lander; Emily Liss, Chief of Staff at DOE’s Division of Early Childhood Education and Student Enrollment; and Dennis Parker, Director of the ACLU’s Racial Justice Program.

At 6:30 p.m. Thursday, the Vera Institute will host Kerry Kennedy, president of RFK Human Rights and the spearheader of the recent mass bailout at Rikers, for a discussion “examining the living legacy of her father’s work to end the criminalization of poverty, the future of bail reform, and the movement and impact surrounding existing efforts to end cash bail.”

At 6:30 p.m. Thursday, the Museum of the City of New York will host “Activist New York: The Next Generation.” Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman will moderate a panel of young activists discussing their work in the city. The panel will consist of Brea Baker, a juvenile justice activist and Program and Youth Coordinator at the Gathering for Justice; Ramon Contreras, an anti-gun violence activist and founder of Youth Over Guns; and Hebh Jamal, an anti-Islamophobia activist who is New York Youth Director of the Muslim American Society.

Friday and the weekend
Mayor de Blasio may make his weekly appearance on WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show at 10 a.m. Friday.

***
Have events or topics for us to include in an upcoming Week Ahead in New York Politics? E-mail Gotham Gazette executive editor Ben Max any time: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (please use "For Week Ahead" as email subject).

***
by Ben Brachfeld and Ben Max
@GothamGazette

What's the [DATA] Point? 3, with Cesar Perales, Charter Commission Chair


whats the data point


What's The [Data] Point? Episode 58 -- 3, Cesar Perales, chair of the mayor’s 2018 charter revision commission [You can download What's The [Data] Point? wherever you get your podcasts, including on iTunes]

cesarpicCesar Perales, chair of Mayor Bill de Blasio's 2018 Charter Revision Commission, joined the podcast to discuss the commission's work and the three ballot proposals it put forth that go before voters on Election Day: Tuesday, November 6, which deal with campaign finance reform, creating a civic engagement commission, and term limits for community board members, among other details.

Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think: Ben Max of GG (@TweetBenMax), Maria Doulis of CBC (@MariaDoulis). Listen below or download wherever you get your podcasts!

***
by Ben Max, Gotham Gazette
     

Read more by this writer.

Nearly 160,000 New Democratic Voters in 7 Months; 22,000 New Republicans


30833380106 11c5de4882 h

New Yorkers line up to vote (photo: Edwin Torres/Mayor's office)


Close to 160,000 New Yorkers registered with the Democratic Party in the last seven months, according to the latest enrollment numbers released by the State Board of Elections on Thursday, compared with just over 22,000 voters who joined the Republican Party and close to 113,000 who registered but did not pick a party affiliation. In total, there were 12.7 million registered voters across the state, an increase of about 300,000 since April.

The numbers were released, as they typically are on November 1, just a few days before New Yorkers head to the polls on Tuesday to cast ballots for governor and other statewide positions, as well as members of the state Legislature and U.S. House of Representatives, among other seats. Democrats are hoping to keep control of all the statewide positions on the ballot as well as the state Assembly, while flipping control of the state Senate and enough House seats to contribute to a takeover of that chamber nationally.

Democrats have long maintained an overwhelming registration advantage in the state and that has only been growing in recent years, likely in part in response to the Trump presidency and the Republican-led Congress. Prior to going to the polls in November 2016, there were 6.18 million registered Democratic voters statewide. They have grown to 6.36 million, of which 5.78 million are active registered voters and 579,000 inactive voters.

Republicans have not fared as well. There were 2.84 million voters registered with the party in November 2016, increasing by only about 6,000 more voters in the latest numbers. Of those, 2.63 million were active voters while 212,000 were inactive. Unaffiliated voters, commonly referred to as “independents,” numbered 2.72 million two years ago and have increased to 2.75 million, with 2.48 million active voters and 270,000 inactive ones.

Most of the minor parties did not see drastic change over the last four years. The Independence Party did add about 10,000 new voters to its base, reaching total of just above 491,000, and notably the Green Party added nearly 6,000 new members to its small base, reaching slightly over the 31,000 mark.

Voter turnout also surged in primary elections this year -- there was a congressional primary in June and the state primary in September -- with several competitive Democratic races but few Republican ones. New York has more often than not seen low turnout at the polls, a trend that most expect will change this year particularly as Democrats are turning out in increasing numbers amid a nationwide “blue wave,” the electoral impact of which is yet to be seen in full, with November 6 set to show its actual impact.

In the four years since the last statewide election, voter enrollment increased by almost 900,000, including nearly 520,000 new Democrats, about 73,000 new Republicans and more than 280,000 new unaffiliated voters.

***
by Samar Khurshid, senior reporter, Gotham Gazette
     

Read more by this writer.



Print Friendly and PDF

Editor's Choice


Gotham Gazette: New York Voters Approve $4.2 Billion Environmental Bond Act
New York Voters Approve $4.2 Billion Environmental Bond Act
Gotham Gazette: 
New York City Voters Approve Racial Justice Ballot Measures
New York City Voters Approve Racial Justice Ballot Measures
Gotham Gazette: 
Housing Development in New York City Slows to a Crawl as Officials Debate Tax Incentives
Housing Development in New York City Slows to a Crawl as Officials Debate Tax Incentives
Gotham Gazette: 
City Council Examines Low Voter Turnout, Moving Local Elections to Even Years City Council Examines Low Voter Turnout, Moving Local Elections to Even Years