De Blasio & Heastie (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)
It is easy to mistakenly think there is only one thing Mayor Bill de Blasio wants from state lawmakers before they conclude the dwindling legislative session in Albany. Negotiations over an extension of soon-to-expire mayoral control of New York City schools have sucked most of the oxygen from the proverbial room -- though not the room, of ‘three men’ fame, which sat empty for months, until Monday -- leaving little time and attention for de Blasio’s other top priorities needing state action.
So it was again on Monday, when de Blasio, Comptroller Scott Stringer, City Council members, union representatives, and others rallied at City Hall to, as the mayor put it, call on “the Senate, the Assembly, and the Governor” to “get together and pass mayoral control now!”
Like the past two years, when the mayor was granted consecutive one-year extensions, the de Blasio administration has moved allies to hold press conferences, write op-eds, make phone calls, and rally to push for mayoral control. It amounts to a great deal of effort and energy and political capital expended on one policy matter, albeit an extremely important one affecting over 1 million students, their parents, teachers, and others, while the rest of the de Blasio Albany agenda sits somewhat neglected.
The mayor does have other priorities for the legislative session scheduled to end Wednesday, and while he has found some time to publicly advocate for a couple of them, his representatives are working relationships in Albany to move several key items.
Those priorities include more school-zone speed cameras, a change to regulations allowing the city to expand contracting with minority- and women-owned businesses, the city being given the authority to use the more efficient “design-build” approach for major capital projects, like an overhaul of part of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, and a package of electoral reforms that would make voting easier in New York.
While mayoral control is locked in intense political jockeying and electoral reforms are mostly dead on arrival due to opposition from the Republican-controlled state Senate, the de Blasio administration is somewhat optimistic about getting at least some of what it wants on the other three items: design-build, M/WBE contracting, and speed cameras. In each of the three instances, the administration and its allies in the state Legislature have adjusted bills in order to garner more support and, they hope, reach compromise.
Albany being Albany, it’s never clear what will get done when the buzzer sounds on a budget or legislative session. Governor Andrew Cuomo has largely been absent from the capital and recently said he doesn’t see much of significance, including an extension of mayoral control, happening this week. Cuomo held his first “leaders meeting” of the session on Monday at the Capitol with Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan, and Independent Democratic Conference (IDC) Leader Jeff Klein, which could be a sign that Cuomo is engaging and ready to broker some deals among the now ‘four men in the room.’
De Blasio said Monday at City Hall that he “sat down with the Governor last Wednesday at length” and discussed mayoral control, as well as other topics. When Gotham Gazette asked the mayor for more about what he had said to the governor, de Blasio said, “I asked him to lead. I said we need you to step up and be the one that brings everyone together. We understand there’s differences between the Assembly and the Senate. We understand they’re held by different parties. That’s why we have a Governor.”
The next day, the governor said on a press conference call that “Where we’re at right now, mayoral control does not have the support to pass.” The following day, he said on NY1 television that his guess would be the Legislature reconvenes toward the end of the year to pass emergency tax extenders and gets mayoral control reestablished then. It’s not clear if the governor meant these remarks or if he was just looking to make de Blasio sweat. De Blasio indicated Monday he wasn't sure why Cuomo would characterize the mayoral control situation that way, but that they had not agreed on a public script coming out of their meeting.
According to de Blasio administration representatives, a breakthrough on mayoral control, which is being held up by Senate Republicans who want to tie it to an expansion of charter schools, and other big ticket items could pave the way for the annual bevy of deal-making on other things. Cuomo is also supportive of both extending mayoral control and increasing charter schools, whereas the Assembly Democrats are opposed to any expansion of charters.
Cuomo does like to make deals, and his involvement in end-of-session negotiations could signal that the annual “big ugly” of last-minute legislation could be bigger and uglier than some may have expected or the governor himself predicted. One caveat is that Cuomo does not have any signature legislation he is pushing, though there are a handful of issues he has weighed in on, including support for a bill to help victims of childhood sexual assault report their abusers.
The de Blasio administration has not been resigned to defeat on its priorities, instead continuing to work to leverage relationships, tweak bills, and build support. Department of Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg is heading back to Albany Tuesday for further discussions with legislators about both speed cameras and design-build. (Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina is also heading to Albany Tuesday to advance the mayoral control discussion.) Intergovernmental affairs staff members have been working the halls and offices of the Capitol in order to make sure that support remains strong or grows for key pieces of the de Blasio agenda.
When asked if the mayor would be making a journey to Albany this week, a de Blasio spokesperson said the mayor's schedule isn't released in advance. De Blasio is scheduled to hold a town hall meeting Wednesday night in Chinatown at about the same time that final deals might be negotiated in the capital. The mayor said on NY1 Monday night that if Senator Flanagan wanted to talk education policy he would happily take his call or go to Albany to talk with him.
While the de Blasio administration has its top five major priorities, there are other items of interest at play, including what the administration believes will be a victory on expanded property tax exemptions for seniors and people with disabilities who own homes. Notably, de Blasio has not mentioned his "mansion tax" proposal lately, and no one from the administration indicated to Gotham Gazette that it is still a top priority, despite the fact that de Blasio made it a focus as state budget negotiations progressed and promised to push for it after a budget deal was announced that did not include the surcharge on large residential real estate transactions that the mayor would use to subsidize affordable housing for senior citizens.
Instead, the mayor has spent more time on electoral reform, recently holding two tele-town halls on electoral reform, the second featuring 15,000 participants, the mayor said on the call. There is little optimism, however, that any of the signature proposals like early voting or same-day registration will pass. There is some hope for electronic poll books, but even agreement on instituting that fairly minor advancement, which holds the promise of reducing lines at polling places, appears elusive. The Legislature did already pass reforms to conditions for poll-site workers, creating split shifts in an effort to attract more candidates to the temporary jobs and increase productivity.
De Blasio participated in a rally at City Hall calling for more speed cameras in school zones, a piece of his Vision Zero street safety program. The city wants hundreds more cameras after what it says has been a successful prior expansion. The relevant bill has been amended to drastically reduce the number of cameras the city would be able to install, and would allocate 150 new cameras over three years, at 50 per year. The administration and its allies also adjusted other aspects of the bill, like adding signage to alert drivers of the cameras, in order to build support from skeptical legislators.
A main force behind the speed camera legislation is State Senator Jose Peralta, a member of the Independent Democratic Conference from Queens. The key, according to a de Blasio administration official, is getting the blessing of the Senate GOP conference’s three New York City-based members: Andrew Lanza, Marty Golden, and Simcha Felder. When the three agree to legislation that affects the city, Majority Leader Flanagan is often deferential, as he has publicly stated.
Another IDC member, Senator Marisol Alcantara, of upper Manhattan, is leading the Senate push on the M/WBE legislation, which would allow the city to award larger contracts to M/WBEs without a competitive bidding process. The city threshold would be raised closer to the state allowance (from $35,000 to $150,000). It’s a similar ask to that of design-build.
State government has utilized design-build to save time and money on big infrastructure projects and New York City wants similar power to streamline the process by awarding one contract for project design and execution, instead of engaging in separate processes and contracts. While the city would ideally be granted blanket authority, it has narrowed its ask to an initial eight projects, covered in one bill sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Lanza, a Staten Island Republican. Sen. Golden has his own design-build bill that only covers two projects. If the city is granted authority to use design-build, which has a groundswell of support from business and labor leaders, it will probably be for somewhere between the two and eight projects.
“Design Build has the potential to save taxpayers millions of dollars and shave years off projects,” said de Blasio spokesperson Freddi Goldstein, in a statement to Gotham Gazette. “If the State can use it for amusement parks and ski resorts, we should be able to use it to repair emergency rooms and build NYPD training facilities.”
Indeed, Cuomo has repeatedly touted the state’s use of design-build to save time and money, but he has not shepherded through city permission.
In the end, much, if not all, of de Blasio’s priorities rely on Cuomo, his antagonist and rival-in-chief. “[T]he Governor, when he puts his mind to something, he can be very, very effective,” de Blasio said Monday.
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by Ben Max, Gotham Gazette
@tweetBenMax @GothamGazette
Council Member Vincent Gentile (photo: William Alatriste/City Council)
The City Council’s Committee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing on Monday to discuss three bills, including one which would require the Department of Investigation to conduct an annual public outreach campaign to inform New Yorkers about how to identify corruption and use the resources of the DOI to file corruption complaints.
The Department of Investigation, the city’s independent watchdog agency, is responsible for investigating wrongdoing by city agencies, officers, elected officials, and entities and individuals who do business with the city. Intro. 1618, sponsored by Council Member Vincent Gentile, chair of the committee, would require that the DOI launch annual advertising campaigns intended to educate the public about its anti-corruption efforts, as well as require the department to file an annual report detailing the complaints received and disaggregate them by “agency, month, type of misconduct, and the mechanism through which the complaint was submitted.”
“I commend the commissioner and the department for committing valuable resources to raising awareness of the importance the public plays in assisting the DOI in weeding out corruption,” Council Member Gentile said in his opening statement.
In 2016, the DOI launched a series of ads on city buses and subways with slogans such as “Bribery and corruption are a trap. Don’t get caught up,” and “Get the worms out of the Big Apple,” to encourage New Yorkers to report instances of corruption through its complaints hotline. The campaign cost $312,000, financed through asset forfeiture funds from defendants of DOI investigations. Within the first four months of the 2017 fiscal year, complaints filed to the DOI increased by eight percent compared with the number of complaints filed in 2016. The DOI cited the 2016 outreach campaign as the main reason for this increase. Gentile’s proposed bill would expand the campaign to print, radio, and other public forums.
Representatives from DOI were invited to testify at Monday’s hearing, but Commissioner Mark Peters was unable to attend. Other DOI staff were in attendance but did not testify. When Council Member Rory Lancman asked about the commissioner’s absence, Council Member Gentile stated, “I don’t know the particulars” and noted that “the Department of Investigation has indicated to me that they will send a letter to the Council by the end of this week, which will be used as testimony as part of this record.”
In an email to Gotham Gazette, a DOI spokesperson said, "DOI agrees with the City Council about the importance of public outreach and is working with the Council on the details of this legislation."
Brandon Muir, executive director of Reclaim NY, a non-profit organization aimed at increasing transparency in government, was the only member of the public to offer testimony on the potential impact of the bill. “As a strong defender of the taxpayer in New York, it will be important for the campaign to identify and make public specific metrics that judge the efficacy of the ad campaigns," he said. "Consistent citizen oversight relies on citizens understanding that the rules of the game exist.”
Council Member Gentile asked Muir if he believed an increase in advertisements would actually help in combatting fraud and corruption. “Of course, and I would look to ‘See Something, Say Something,’” Muir said, referring to the Department of Homeland Security’s national ad campaign that seeks the public's help in identifying potential terror threats. “I mean, that’s now something I think I’ve heard on Saturday Night Live, it’s become such a popular moniker,” Muir added.
But Muir also acknowledged that the success of the DOI's campaign would largely be determined by whether or not citizens would continue to stay involved in the oversight process in the long term. “I think we need to look at it in the context of an ongoing effort to increase transparency,” he said, “not just a one time statement or a one time bill.”
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by Amanda Tukaj
@atukaj @GothamGazette
This article has been updated.
New York City Hall
What to watch for this week in New York politics:
This week all eyes are on Albany as the last three scheduled days of the legislative session are Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. The session could extend to the end of the week, but no one expects it to go beyond that. The most pressing issue for New York City and the de Blasio administration, among several top priorities, is an extension of mayoral control of city schools. The legislation allowing mayoral control is set to expire at the end of the month. State Senate Republicans are willing to make a deal with Assembly Democrats that extends mayoral control but also expands the number of charter schools allowed in New York. So far, Democrats have not relented. Mayor de Blasio is holding a rally at City Hall Monday to push for an extension - see details below.
There are a variety of other issues that could see resolution in Albany this week, including controversial legislation related to victims of childhood sexual abuse that would allow victims more time to report such abuse and create a one-time window for victims to report past abuse. Governor Andrew Cuomo has repeatedly thrown cold water on the notion of anything significant getting done, saying that most everything of importance was achieved in the budget or has no resolution in sight. The latter includes government ethics reform and voting reform.
As always, there's a great deal happening all over the city, with many events to be aware of - see our day-by-day rundown below.
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The run of the week in detail:
Monday
The New York State Legislature will be in session on Monday in Albany.
At 11 a.m. Monday “Mayor de Blasio will deliver remarks at a rally urging Albany to extend mayoral control of the New York City school system immediately. The Mayor will be joined by labor leaders, clergy, business and civic leaders, advocates and elected officials. This event is open press.” Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña will be among those to give remarks.
“In the evening, the Mayor will appear live on NY1’s Road to City Hall.,” during the 7 and 10 p.m. hours.
At 8:30 a.m. Monday, mayoral candidate Paul Massey will meet and greet voters on Centre Street between Chambers and Worth Streets. At 11:15 a.m., he will hold a media availability on infrastructure at the 4/5/6 Brooklyn Bridge subway stop and then ride the subway back to his office.
At 8:30 a.m. Monday, the New York City Bar Association will host its 2017 “Diversity and Inclusion Conference.” The conference will “focus on three discrete areas: the current state of LGBT, immigrant, and disability rights; the role of lawyers as individual and institutional activists; and strategies for initiating courageous conversations on the intersections of race, religion, gender identity/sexual orientation, and other affinity groups.”
Gov. Cuomo will make an announcement at Penn Station Monday morning at 10 a.m. He'll then head to Albany.
At 10 a.m. Monday, Council Member Rafael Espinal and nightlife advocates will hold a rally and press conference at the City Hall steps, prior to the Consumer Affairs Committee’s hearing on creating an “office of nightlife” and discussing “outdated” cabaret legislation.
At the City Council on Monday
--The Committee on Housing and Buildings will meet at 10 a.m. to discuss several proposed laws addressing issues such as mandatory inclusionary housing, financial assistance to developers, and lead.
--The Committee on Oversight and Investigations will meet at 10 a.m. to discuss proposed laws relating to “having an inspector general within the department of investigation who would monitor only the department of homeless services and the human resources administration,” “requiring that the department of investigation conduct public outreach campaigns and issue annual reports on complaints received,” and “requiring the department of investigation to complete vendor name checks for city vendors thirty days prior to the commencement of a contract.”
--The Committee on Immigration will meet at 10 a.m. for an oversight hearing regarding “Supporting New York City’s DREAMers and “DACA-mented” Youth” as well as to discuss a resolution calling for the state to pass the New York State DREAM Act and for the federal government to pass the BRIDGE Act.
--The Committee on Fire and Criminal Justice Services will meet at 11 a.m. to discuss several proposed laws relating to streamlining the bail process
--The Committee on Governmental Operations will meet at 1 p.m. to discuss a proposed law relating to “timing of a disclosure report for candidates for public office.”
--The Committee on Consumer Affairs will meet at 1 p.m. for an oversight hearing regarding “enforcement of New York City’s Cabaret Law,” as well as to discuss a proposed law “establishing an office of nightlife and a nightlife task force.”
--The Committee on Civil Rights will meet at 1 p.m. for an oversight hearing regarding “discriminatory harassment claims received by the Commission on Human Rights in the last year” and efforts to address this, as well as to discuss resolutions calling on the state and federal government to expand anti-discrimination and hate crime statutes to include gender identity as a protected class.
On Monday in Albany, “Albany legislators will spend a day in the life of a car wash worker. They will wash cars in front of the Capitol building and receive (representative) pay stubs of what they might earn for their day’s work. Carwasheros, members of RWDSU, Make the Road NY, and New York Communities for Change will rally in support of passing S.2664-A/A.2967-A, which will end sub-minimum wages for car wash workers.” Participants will include “Senators Jesse Hamilton, Diane Savino, Marisol Alcantara and James Sanders Jr., Assemblymembers Michaelle Solages and Pamela Harris, Stuart Appelbaum (RWDSU President), Carwasheros and members of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, Make the Road New York, and New York Communities for Change.”
At noon Monday, the NYC Coalition for Educational Justice will hold a “Juneteenth Action” protest at the steps of City Hall to demand Mayor de Blasio “put racial justice at the forefront of his second term education agenda.”
At 1 p.m. Monday at Stonewall National Monument, Christopher Park, “New York City Public Advocate Letitia James and New York State Assembly Member Daniel O’Donnell will hold a press conference in support of O’Donnell’s “Bathroom Bill,” A6500. The bill would require all single stall restrooms in New York State to be gender-neutral.”
At 6:30 p.m. Monday, City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito will speak at “The Center’s Garden Party ‘A Taste of Pride’” at Hudson River Park’s Pier 84.
At 7:30 p.m. Monday at Divine Bar in Bushwick, the Brooklyn Young Democrats will host a candidates’ forum for Democratic candidates in Northern Brooklyn City Council races and the District Attorney race.
Tuesday
The New York State Legislature will be in session on Tuesday in Albany.
At the City Council on Tuesday
--The Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises will meet at 9:30 a.m.
--The Committee on Public Housing will meet at 10 a.m. for an oversight hearing “examining NYCHA’s restructuring of Tenant Participation Activities (TPA) funds.”
--The Committee on Mental Health will meet at 10 a.m. to discuss a proposed law relating to “requiring the department of health and mental hygiene to submit a plan for serving the behavioral health needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning persons.”
--The Committee on General Welfare will meet at 11 a.m. to discuss proposed laws relating to “requiring information on medical health services in shelters.”
--The Committee on Environmental Protection will meet at 1 p.m. to discuss a proposed law relating to “exemptions from air conditioning prohibitions.”
--The Committees on Small Business and Veterans will meet jointly at 1 p.m. for an oversight hearing regarding “supporting veteran entrepreneurship and employment” as well as to discuss proposed laws relating to “access to online business tools,” a “small business workforce development plan,” and a “state of small business survey.”
--The Subcommittee on Planning, Dispositions, and Concessions will meet at 1 p.m.
--The Committee on Education will meet at 2 p.m. to discuss a proposed law requiring DOE to “distribute information regarding the gifted and talented programs and exam,” as well as to discuss a resolution to “convene a task force to assess the cultural relevance of state learning standards across subject areas.”
At 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, Black, Latino, and Asian Caucus Co-chairs Robert Cornegy and Ritchie Torres, and Council Member Jumaane Williams will host a celebration of Caribbean heritage at the City Council chambers.
At 6 p.m. Tuesday, Comptroller Scott Stringer will host a celebration of Pride Month and a “changemakers award ceremony” at Macy’s Herald Square in Manhattan.
At 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, City & State will host an event at the Hilton Albany recognizing its 2017 “Albany 40 Under 40” honorees. Gotham Gazette’s Rachel Silberstein is among the honorees.
Wednesday
The New York State Legislature will be in session on Wednesday in Albany. This is the final scheduled day of the legislative session.
The full City Council will have a stated meeting at 1:30 p.m. at City Hall on Wednesday. The meeting is expected to be prefaced, as usual, by Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito’s pre-stated press conference.
Also at the City Council on Wednesday, the Committee on Land Use will meet at 10 a.m, and the Committee on Finance will meet at 10 a.m.
At 8 a.m. Wednesday, Lt. Gov Kathy Hochul will open the NY Solar (+Storage) Summit at John Jay College.
At 10 a.m. Wednesday, the City Planning Commission will hold a public meeting at Spector Hall.
At noon Wednesday, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt will join the Manhattan Institute for a discussion on “The EPA After Paris.”
At 6 p.m. Wednesday, Citizens Union will host its 2017 “Spring for Reform,” recognizing New York changemakers. This year’s honorees are New York journalists. Citizens Union board member and Daily Beast editor-in-chief John Avlon will moderate a panel focusing on the media and its role in democracy, featuring Juan Gonzalez of Democracy Now!, Nomiki Konst of The Young Turks, Azi Paybarah of Politico New York, Gabe Pressman of WNBC, Grace Rauh of NY1, and Harry Siegel of the Daily Beast.
At 6 p.m. Wednesday, the Urban Land Institute will host a panel discussion on “Zoning the City.” New York City Planning Commission Chair Marisa Lago will deliver the keynote address. The panel will consist of industry experts discussing “affordable housing, the East New York Rezoning, the Midtown East Rezoning, and how zoning might help resolve some of the city’s greatest challenges.”
At 6 p.m. Wednesday, the Panel for Educational Policy will hold a public meeting at Prospect Heights High School in Brooklyn.
At 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Mayor de Blasio will hold a town hall at the Chinatown YMCA and University Settlement. Town hall co-hosts will be area representatives: Congressional Rep. Nydia Velazquez, City Council Member Margaret Chin, and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer.
Thursday
At the City Council on Thursday
--The Committees on Contracts and Economic Development will meet jointly at 10 a.m. for an oversight hearing regarding “assessing efforts to increase the participation of minority-and women-owned business enterprises in construction projects” as well as to discuss a proposed law related to the “participation of minority-and-women owned business enterprises” in tax-abated real estate development projects.
--The Committee on Transportation will meet at 11 a.m. to discuss proposed laws relating to “gratuity for black car and luxury limousine service” and regulations regarding restored streets.
--The Committee on Juvenile Justice will tour “South Bronx NeON” at 2 p.m.
At 5:30 p.m. Thursday, the CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute will host a forum on how technology will “influence food workers in the next 10 years.” The event will take place at the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy.
At 6 p.m. Thursday, the Samuel J. Tilden Democratic Club and Town & Village will host a debate at Seafarer’s and International House for City Council candidates in District 4, an “open” seat being vacated by Dan Garodnick. Candidates will include Democrats Keith Powers, Marti Speranza, Jeffrey Mailman, Bessie Schachter, Vanessa Aronson, Rachel Honig, and Alec Hartman, along with “progressive conservative” Melissa Jane Kronfeld.
At 6:30 p.m. Thursday, the New York City Bar Association will host a panel discussion on “Women of Color in Local and State Government,” discussing “barriers minority women face working in government,” as well as opportunities. Panelists will include Matilde Roman, Chief Diversity Officer of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation; Vilda Mayuga, Chairperson of the State Department of Labor’s Industrial Board of Appeals; and Nneka J. Martin, Agency Attorney for the FDNY.
At 7 p.m. Thursday, a set of sponsors for the upcoming mayoral debates will hold a town meeting for Brooklyn residents to voice their concerns, which could be addressed in the debates. The meeting will take place at the Brooklyn Public Library at Grand Army Plaza.
At 7:30 p.m. Thursday, BRIC TV will host a town hall “on the future of the Women’s Rights Movement.” Brian Vines of BRIC TV will moderate. Panelists include City Council Member Laurie Cumbo, Women’s March Co-Chair Tamika Mallory, Third Wave Fund Executive Director Rye Young, and poet Mahogany Browne.
Friday and the weekend
At 9:30 a.m. Saturday, the Metropolitan Black Bar Association will host the “I Am A Solution” town hall meeting and “legal solutions roundtable” focusing on immigration at the Maysles Documentary Center in Harlem. The event is co-sponsored by the New York State Attorney General’s office.
The Pride Parade will take place on Sunday, starting at noon.
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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