Mayor de Blasio & BP Brewer (photo: Brewer's office)
Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer is forming an independent expenditure committee to try to defeat two public referenda on the November general election ballot that would impose term limits on community board members and create a new citywide civic engagement agency under the control of the mayor’s office.
Last month, the charter revision commission created by Mayor Bill de Blasio approved three ballot questions to present to voters on November 6. The first would significantly reduce campaign contribution limits and make small but significant enhancements to the Campaign Finance Board’s public matching funds program, which incentivizes small-dollar fundraising. Brewer has not taken a position on that proposal.
[Read: Mayoral Charter Revision Commission Puts Three Questions on November Ballot]
On the other two questions, however, the Manhattan borough president is ardently opposed, and is mobilizing people and money to persuade New York City voters to defeat them.
Question two creates a centralized Civic Engagement Commission, with a majority of members appointed by the mayor, to coordinate citywide efforts on participatory budgeting, community engagement, and to provide technical assistance to the city’s 59 community boards.
Question three, the most controversial of the proposals, would limit the number of terms community board members can serve while also reforming the recruitment and appointment process that borough presidents use to fill board rosters.
Brewer insists both those questions are misguided, and is forming a committee called “Vote No on 2 & 3” to campaign against them.
“These proposals would be a real—and in some cases dangerous—disruption to the way Community Boards protect our communities,” she wrote in an email blast to supporters from her personal email account, soliciting funds for the incipient committee and urging recipients to spread the word. (Elected officials are not allowed to advocate for or against ballot proposals in their official capacity under state law and per guidance from the Conflicts of Interest Board.)
Though the committee does not yet seem to be registered with the state Board of Elections, a sign-up web page declares that it is “an official NYS independent expenditure committee, made up of volunteers, some belonging to Community Boards and some not, who think Proposals 2 & 3 are bad news for neighborhoods and a giveaway to developers and City Hall.” Asked for clarification, a spokesperson for the committee did not respond.
Brewer argues, as have other opponents, that community board term limits would lead to a brain drain of experienced and engaged community board members to the benefit of lobbyists and developers looking to exploit communities without facing pushback. In particular, she said, community board members with know-how on complicated land use and zoning issues would be kicked out.
“It would have the effect of allowing developers and their lawyers—who are never term limited!—to dominate development negotiations, because those long-time members will be gone,” Brewer wrote. “And on long-term city projects like street redesign or sustainability, newly-appointed community board members would have little influence over long-term projects. Every Board’s institutional memory would be wiped out.”
In a statement, Matt Gewolb, executive director of the charter commission, emphasized the testimony received from across the five boroughs, urging the commission to make community boards more diverse, reflective of the neighborhoods they serve, and to give them additional resources. “The Commission's proposals are designed in response to this community input,” he said. “As the Commission has described in its reports, the proposal seeks to strike a reasonable balance between retaining valuable institutional knowledge and providing opportunities for new voices to have a seat at the table.”
Brewer, however, insisted that the proposal is “redundant” since the borough presidents and City Council members that apppoint community board members are themselves limited to serving two terms each. She also took issue with the proposed duties that the Civic Engagement Commission would have in assisting community boards, seeing it as an encroachment on the powers of the borough presidents who currently perform those roles.
The Manhattan borough president isn’t alone in her opposition. Of the five borough presidents, only Brooklyn’s Eric Adams has come out in support of community board term limits, which supporters say would diversify the boards, providing more representation for younger people and people of color. The other three -- Ruben Diaz Jr. in the Bronx, Melinda Katz in Queens, and Staten Island’s James Oddo -- all oppose the second and third questions.
In a statement through a spokesperson, Adams said, “This is what democracy is all about. I applaud my colleague and friend Borough President Brewer for making her voice heard.”
Brewer ended her appeal by urging supporters to vote against the two proposals and also to testify against them at several forums scheduled over the next week by the charter commission to educate voters. Last month, she also took her message to the 2019 charter revision commission, urging it to reverse the mayor’s commission’s proposals if they are approved by voters. “Community Boards are our first line of offense in promoting neighborhood planning and our first line of defense in protecting neighborhoods from developers who seek only maximum profit from their work in our communities,” she said at the September 27 hearing of the commission that will put proposals on next year’s general election ballot, and on which she appointed one member as part of a process created by legislation she and Public Advocate Letitia James moved through the City Council.
Asked last week about the possibility that the 2019 commission could negate the mayor’s commission’s work, mayoral spokesperson Seth Stein said in an email, “We’re not going to predict what the Council Commission will do, and will review any proposals.”
[Read: Mayoral Charter Revision Commission Puts Three Questions on November Ballot]
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by Samar Khurshid, senior reporter, Gotham Gazette
@samarkhurshid @GothamGazette
Note - this article has been updated.
Kelly Jin (photo via the mayor's office)
After a yearlong vacancy in the position, Mayor Bill de Blasio named Kelly Jin as the city’s new Chief Analytics Officer and Director of the Mayor’s Office of Data Analytics. Jin, who started in her new position on Monday, replaced Amen Ra Mashariki, who left the position in 2017 to work in the private sector at mapping firm Esri.
While tasked with helping the mayoral administration effectively use data in governing, the position’s most notable concrete responsibility is managing the city’s open data program, wherein city agencies upload datasets to a public portal accessible online to everyone, as required by law. The program began in 2012 under former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and was expanded significantly by the de Blasio administration through the “Open Data for All” plan.
The Open Data Portal currently hosts over 2,200 datasets from 98 different city agencies. The most recent annual report from the agency, filed last month, showed 629 datasets having been added by 38 different agencies, including data on taxi and for-hire vehicle trips, intimate partner violence at the community board level, and a large-scale measure of poverty in the city.
Agencies from the NYPD to the Department of Education to 311 have datasets on the portal, with some agencies having more than others. However, the program has faced criticism for not doing enough to ensure that agencies upload their datasets on time, and for the generally slow progress that has been made.
“Our data analytics team is a crucial part of bringing important city initiatives to life, tracking their progress, and finding new ways to understand the city through data,” de Blasio said in a statement about Jin’s addition to his team. “I know Kelly has the experience and the drive to use our data resources to help City Hall and city agencies make better decisions and craft better policies, as well as manage the largest Open Data program in the country.”
Jin was most recently the “Director of Results-Driven Government” at the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, a philanthropic enterprise that promotes making decisions in government, science, and other areas by following evidence. She previously worked at the White House as a policy advisor to the US Chief Technology Officer under President Obama, and before that led the City of Boston’s Data Analytics Team.
In a Tuesday interview with Gotham Gazette, Jin identified improving data infrastructure and integration of data between agencies as goals for her tenure with New York City. She also said she would seek to create better implementation tools, and use data to help agencies make better decisions.
“What I’ve learned across all the different orgs is that executives and leadership of the various agencies, they’re looking for help around decision-making at the executive level,” Jin said. “So, this is really, ‘how can we use evidence and data and summarize that,’ because this is not waiting a few months to hear about results, but is really about there are priorities, clear priorities here within the city and with the mayor that this team is already tasked with and helping to get data into the hands of executives, so that they can ask and answer better questions.”
Jin noted work the unit has done with the Department of Transportation on Vision Zero as an example of the kind of data-driven policymaking she’d like to see expanded.
Jin, who reports to the Director of the Mayor’s Office of Operations, Jeff Thamkittikasem, also noted that, since she only began working in the city this week, she hopes to set up meetings with agency officials to discuss plans for more effective compliance with open data targets and deadlines, and gain insights into the intricacies involved with the office and open data.
“I think that it is setting up some initial meetings on my end,” Jin said. “I hope to get with those particular agencies pretty soon here as I get started.”
The 19-month long vacancy in the position Jin now holds apparently did had little impact on the work of the seven person-strong team she’s now leading in terms of the Open Data Portal: the 629 datasets published in 2018 represent a nearly fourfold increase over the 170 datasets released in 2017; 2016 saw 150 datasets uploaded to the portal. There are major deadlines to meet.
“The team, over the last year-and-a-half, has worked closely with the Mayor’s Office of Operations, and so when it comes to reporting and compliance on open data, I know that the team has pushed forward on that work in partnership with the agencies to release different datasets,” Jin said.
Jin said that she hopes to travel across the city to learn how data can be used to improve people’s lives, and said she would like to hold town hall meetings, something Mashariki also did.
“I’m open to ideas. If there’s a quote from me here, it’s I’m open and have open ears for additional ideas,” Jin said. “I think right now, the possibilities here of getting out and talking to different stakeholders, and town halls, definitely going to be doing a circuit through the different boroughs to get a better understanding of what data and what policies are impacting folks.”
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by Ben Brachfeld, Gotham Gazette
@GothamGazette
New York City Hall
What to watch for this week in New York politics:
This Tuesday marks just three weeks until Election Day, November 6. Campaigns for state-wide and state and federal legislative seats, among others, are in full swing and will only intensify this week. While some debates take place, others have yet to be scheduled. We've already seen one debate in the state comptroller race, which aired Sunday night on Manhattan Neighborhood Network, and this week will feature a televised debate in the lone competitive congressional race in New York City, that in New York-11, which is currently represented by Congressional Rep. Dan Donovan, a Republican being challenged by Democrat Max Rose. There's also the lone debate coming up on Sunday, October 21, between U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat, and her Republican opponent Chele Farley.
We are waiting on word of any debates in the races for governor and attorney general. Governor Andrew Cuomo, the incumbent Democrat, has yet to agree to debate his four opponents (Republican Marc Molinaro, Green Howie Hawkins, Libertarian Larry Sharpe, and independent Stephanie Miner), and while Letitia James, the Democratic nominee for attorney general, has said she will definitely debate, no debate has yet been agreed upon and announced in that race -- James faces candidates including Republican Keith Wofford and Green Michael Sussman.
Along with the statewide races, the battles for control of the State Senate and U.S. Congress are key to this election season in New York. Democrats are hoping to flip both houses and appear to have a lot of positive momentum. They need to simply net one seat in the State Senate, while roughly ten are thought to be in play. Democrats need to flip about two dozen House seats across the country, and a handful of New York races could play into that effort.
While elections will be a major focus this week and through Election Day, there's also government happening, especially in New York City, where there aren't city-level elecitons this year and the City Council has a busy week. There are Council and other events to be aware of - 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?
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The run of the week in detail:
Monday
At 11 a.m. Monday at Madison Square Garden, Mayor Bill de Blasio will "attend and deliver remarks at the NYPD graduation ceremony." Later, the mayor will make his weekly appearance on NY1’s Inside City Hall in the 7 and 11 p.m. hours.
At the City Council on Monday:
--The Committee on Civil and Human Rights will meet at 10 a.m. for an oversight hearing regarding “discrimination against MASAJS (Muslim, Arab, South Asian, Jewish, and Sikh) communities.”
--The Committee on For-Hire Vehicles will meet at 10 a.m. for an oversight hearing regarding “accessibility in the taxi and for-hire vehicle industries.”
--The Committee on Fire and Emergency Management will meet at 1 p.m. for an oversight hearing regarding “New York City’s Emergency Management Strategic Plan,” as well as to discuss a proposed law relating to “the posting of hurricane evacuation zone and evacuation center information in multiple dwellings.”
--The Committee on Women will meet at 1 p.m. to discuss proposed laws relating to maternal accommodations at places of employment and public spaces, as well as a law relating to “reporting on maternal mortality and morbidity.”
The New York State Board of Regents will meet on Monday and Tuesday.
At 9 a.m. Monday, NYU Steinhardt will host Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza for a discussion with NYU professor Lisette Nieves “on his career and vision for public education in New York City.” The event will take place at the Rosenthal Pavilion at NYU’s Kimmel Center.
At 9:30 a.m. Monday, "Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul Delivers Remarks at NYS Canals Conference" on Staten Island.
At 10 a.m. Monday at City Hall, “One year after #MeToo went viral, New York State still refuses to commit to holding public hearings on sexual harassment and abuse. Instead, NYS pushed through laws without input from victims. In order to pass the strongest protections, workers across all industries must be afforded the opportunity to be heard.“ Participants will include the Sexual Harassment Working Group; “Common Cause New York; Eleanor’s Legacy; New York Transgender Advocacy Group; Council on American-Islamic Relations; Senator Liz Krueger; Assembly Members Dan Quart and Richard Gottfried; Rockland County District Attorney Candidate Patricia Gunning; and Democratic Senate Candidates Zellnor Myrie and Andrew Gounardes.”
At 11 a.m. Monday, First Lady Chirlane McCray "will deliver remarks at The New York Soccer Initiative’s Soccer Day ribbon cutting ceremony" at Hostos Lincoln Academy of Science in the Bronx. At 6:30 p.m., McCray "will attend Between the Lines: For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Politics" at Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
At 2 p.m. Monday, members of Vocal-NY will meet with officials at City Hall to discuss a demand that Mayor de Blasio set aside 10 percent of units in his affordable housing plan for homeless New Yorkers. The members will include Nathylin Flowers, who recently confronted Mayor de Blasio at the Park Slope YMCA to ask why his plan only sets aside 5 percent of units for homeless New Yorkers.
At 2 p.m. Monday, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer will speak “at a press conference on the SCAR Act” at City Hall Park.
On Monday at 5:30 p.m. at Queens Borough Hall, “The Queens Borough Board, chaired by Borough President Melinda Katz, will hear a presentation from Andy Byford, the president of MTA New York City Transit, regarding his agency’s plans to improve the City’s mass transit system. Mr. Byford will provide an update on the progress of “Fast Forward: The Plan to Modernize NYC Transit”, the mass transit turnaround plan that New York City Transit released in May 2018. Mr. Byford noted at an August town hall meeting in Jamaica that the Fast Forward plan envisions a 10-year, $37 billion investment.”
At 5 p.m. Monday, "Comptroller Scott Stringer, the National Action Network, elected officials, faith leaders, community leaders and advocates will hold a press conference to reject bigotry and violence following an attack involving a hate group in Manhattan on Friday night. Over the weekend, news reports showed disturbing video of the assault that occurred on the Upper East Side." The press conference will take place at the northwest corner of East 84th Street and Third Avenue and will include Stringer, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, City Council Member Keith Powers, Assembly Member Dan Quart, and others.
At 5:30 p.m. Monday, "Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams will host a community-wide conversation at the site of last Wednesday's “Cornerstone Caroline” viral incident in Flatbush, encouraging Brooklynites to publicly share their views on the importance of diversity and respect following days of local outrage from a woman falsely accusing a nine-year-old boy of groping her at the Sahara Deli Market. Video footage of the episode, which has been received millions of views online, has galvanized public concerns over racial tolerance in Brooklyn and across the country."
At 6:30 p.m. Monday, the Mayor’s Charter Revision Commission will hold a “public education forum” at the Jewish Center of Jackson Heights to provide information on and explain the commission’s three proposals on the November ballot to Queens residents.
Also at 6:30 p.m. Monday, "members of the New York City Advisory Commission on Property Tax Reform will hold a public hearing in Brooklyn to listen to people who pay property taxes directly or indirectly. To ensure the Commission hears from all those interested, speakers will be given no more than three minutes to present testimony or comments. Commission members may use additional time to ask questions." The commission was a creation of Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Council Speaker Corey Johnson.
At 6:30 p.m. Monday, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, U.S. Rep Jerrold Nadler, and 9/11 Environmental Action will host a town hall meeting “to connect downtown residents and workers with the two programs established by Congress under the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act.” The town hall will take place at the Borough President’s office in the Manhattan Municipal Building.
At 6:30 p.m. Monday, schools Chancellor Richard Carranza will attend a town hall meeting of Educators for Excellence-New York at Museum of the City of New York.
At 7 p.m. Monday, Comptroller Stringer will host a town hall at CUNY Law School in Long Island City.
Tuesday
At the City Council on Tuesday:
--The Committee on Housing and Buildings will meet at 10 a.m. to discuss several proposed laws relating to a variety of issues, including community land trusts, accessibility, and transparency for tenants regarding construction and work in dwellings.
--The Committee on Cultural Affairs will meet at 1 p.m. to discuss several resolutions honoring certain historical figures, including Rosa Parks, Roberto Clemente, Casimir Pulaski, and Tadeusz Kosciuszko, as well as to declare November 11 as Polish Independence Day.
--The Committee on Education will meet at 1 p.m. for an oversight hearing regarding “DOE’s Office of Pupil Transportation,” as well as to discuss several proposed laws relating to school bus transportation and a resolution “calling upon the New York State Education Department to require, implement and enforce more extensive training and tracking of the training of school bus drivers and attendants who transport students with disabilities.”
At 9 a.m. Tuesday, the Center for New York City Affairs will host “The Impact Of NYCHA Conditions On Health, Education, And Child Welfare” at the New School. The event will “discuss how living in public housing affects child welfare involvement and identify community-driven strategies to promote change.” Columbia University’s Cindy Bautista-Thomas will moderate a panel consisting of Ray Thomas of Little Sisters of the Assumption, NYCHA resident and housing activist Michele Holmes, and Educational Video Center’s Steven Goodman.
At 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, the Assembly Standing Committees on Codes, Health, Governmental Operations, and Alcoholism & Drug Abuse will meet jointly at 250 Broadway for a public hearing to “seek input on proposals to legalize, regulate and tax adult use of marijuana in New York.” The hearing will be the first of four statewide hearings on the issue.
At 11 a.m. Tuesday, the Senate Standing Committees on Labor, Agriculture, and Economic Development will meet jointly at 250 Broadway for a public hearing to “examine the Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises program, and consider potential legislative solutions to create a more effective and efficient program to enhance New York’s business climate.”
At 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, the mayor’s Charter Revision Commission will hold a “public education forum” at the Michael J. Petrides School in Todt Hill, Staten Island to provide information on and explain the commission’s three proposals on the November ballot to Staten Island residents. [Read: Mayoral Charter Revision Commission Puts Three Questions on November Ballot]
At 7 p.m. Tuesday, NY1 will host U.S. Representative Dan Donovan and Democratic challenger Max Rose for a debate to represent the 11th Congressional District. NY1’s Errol Louis will moderate, along with other journalists. The debate will take place at the College of Staten Island’s Williamson Theatre.
Wednesday
The City Council will hold a full-body "stated meeting" at 1:30 p.m. at City Hall. It is likely to be preceded by a press conference led by Speaker Corey Johnson.
Also at the City Council on Wednesday: the Committee on Rules, Privileges, and Elections will meet at 11:30 a.m. to discuss two mayoral appointments: Steven Kest to the Taxi and Limousine Commission, and Raj Rampershad to the City Planning Commission.
At 8 a.m. Wednesday, Crain’s will host City Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg for a “Business Breakfast Forum” at the New York Athletic Club. Trottenberg will discuss “Vision Zero...the issue of congestion, and the L-pocalypse.” The discussion will be moderated by Erik Engquist of Crain’s and Emma Fitzsimmons of the New York Times.
At 9 a.m. Wednesday, City & State will host “Rebuilding New York” at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Battery Park City, discussing New York’s biggest infrastructure crises and potential solutions. Speakers will include Queens Borough President Melinda Katz; Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer; City Council Members Robert Cornegy, Ritchie Torres, and Ydanis Rodriguez; Assemblymembers Carmen de la Rosa and Nicole Malliotakis; MTA President Pat Foye; Gateway Program Development Corporation President Steven Cohen; Jonathan Bowles, Executive Director of the Center for an Urban Future, and others.
At 10 a.m. Wednesday, the City Planning Commission will hold a public meeting at 120 Broadway.
At 5 p.m. Wednesday, this week’s Max & Murphy show will air on WBAI radio -- 99.5FM and wbai.org -- and will be focused on the battle over control of the New York State Senate. Guests will include Senator Michael Gianaris of Queens, who heads the Democrats’ Senate campaign efforts.
At 6 p.m. Wednesday, Sanctuary for Families, the New York Immigration Coalition, and Proskauer Rose LLP will host “Lives in the Balance: Eviscerating Asylum Protection for Victims of Gender Violence” at the offices of Proskauer Rose in Times Square. The event “will bring together experts to address the Administration’s decision to drop asylum protections for domestic violence victims.” The panel will include U.S. Rep Carolyn Maloney; Lori Adams, Director of Sanctuary for Families’ Immigration Intervention Project; Judge Amiena Khan, Executive Vice President of the National Association of Immigration Judges; Lisa Koenig, a partner at Fragomen Worldwide; and William Silverman, a partner at Proskauer Rose.
At 6 p.m. Wednesday, TransitCenter will host “Fair Fare Enforcement?” at One Whitehall Street in Lower Manhattan. Panelists will discuss the pros of all-door boarding on buses, as well as the potential for racialized policing that comes with fare enforcement by transit police. TransitCenter Deputy Executive Director Tabitha Decker will moderate a panel consisting of Darryl Irick, President of MTA Bus Operations at New York City Transit; Laura Weins, Director of Pittsburghers for Public Transit; Jason Lee, Program Manager of Technology at the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency; and Harold Stolper, a senior economist at the Community Service Society.
At 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, the Mayor’s Charter Revision Commission will hold a “public education forum” at the Metropolitan College of New York in the South Bronx to provide information on and explain the commission’s three proposals on the November ballot to Bronx residents. [Read: Mayoral Charter Revision Commission Puts Three Questions on November Ballot]
Thursday
At the City Council on Thursday:
--The Committee on Economic Development will meet at 1 p.m. for an oversight hearing regarding “Freight NYC,” as well as to discuss a resolution “calling on the Federal Aviation Administration to amend the North Shore helicopter route to extend further west to cover Northeast Queens.”
--The Committee on Technology will meet at 1:30 p.m. for an oversight hearing regarding the city’s “annual Open Data Plan.”
On Thursday, the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings will partner with Staten Island Borough President Jimmy Oddo and City Council Member Joe Borelli to bring a “neighborhood pop-up court” to Staten Island, at Staten Island Community Board 3. The initiative allows individuals with outstanding summonses to present their case to a hearing officer before their official court date, at a local institution rather than at the hearing office.
At 6:30 p.m. Thursday, the Mayor’s Charter Revision Commission will hold a “public education forum” at Gregorio Luperon High School in Washington Heights to provide information on and explain the commission’s three proposals on the November ballot to Manhattan residents.
[Read: Mayoral Charter Revision Commission Puts Three Questions on November Ballot]
Friday and the weekend
On Friday, Mayor de Blasio may make his weekly appearance on WNYC's The Brian Lehrer Show at 10 a.m.
At 7 p.m. Sunday, NY1 will host Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Republican challenger Chele Farley for a U.S. Senate debate at Skidmore College. NY1’s Errol Louis will moderate.
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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).
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by Ben Brachfeld and Ben Max
@GothamGazette