Mayor de Blasio (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)
Heading into 2017, his re-election year, Mayor Bill de Blasio moved to eliminate several “distractions,” as he called them, attempting to clean up potentially self-sabotaging messes of his first term so that he can make as clear a case as possible for a second.
De Blasio came under fire -- and law enforcement investigations -- for behaviors that he has largely eliminated in the run-up to his re-election bid. While he can’t make the investigations, and resulting grand juries, go away by changing course, ahead of 2017 he did close his controversial political nonprofits; cut back on meetings with lobbyists; remove his top outside advisor from government meetings; and create a new policy on disclosure of emails with his non-government confidantes.
The mayor continues to maintain that he and his associates did nothing wrong, instead touting his level of disclosure and only acknowledging that he moved away from certain behaviors because they had become distractions from the work at hand.
“I don’t think anything we did was inappropriate,” de Blasio said at a recent press conference when Gotham Gazette provided him with three examples as a pattern of behavior changes and asked if he shouldn’t have been more proactive in holding himself to the new, higher standard.
“I do think they’ve become distractions and I’ve been honest about it,” the mayor said in reference to the Campaign for One New York, meetings with lobbyists, and including consultant Jonathan Rosen in government meetings.
The mayor said that stopping a certain behavior doesn’t always mean acknowledging it was wrong. Sometimes, he said, “you can say practically it just became such a distraction that we’re not going to do it even though we don’t think -- very, very clearly -- we don’t think we did anything wrong at all.”
On the other hand, one ongoing distraction de Blasio has done little to defuse, leaving it on the table for his detractors, is his gym routine, whereby on many mornings he travels from Gracie Mansion on the Upper East Side to his Park Slope YMCA, then to City Hall. The mayor often does not arrive at City Hall until the late morning, a major departure from his two immediate predecessors, who were known for their early arrivals and cabinet meetings. De Blasio is quick to point out that he is constantly working, including from the car and the stationary bike.
De Blasio again gave the tabloids and his critics fodder on Monday when he said it would not make sense for him to use the new Second Avenue subway, which now gives him a subway stop fairly close to his residence, to get to work because he often goes to Brooklyn first.
Candidates who have already started their campaigns to unseat de Blasio regularly cite the mayor’s ethical, legal, and management challenges. The Campaign for One New York, meetings with lobbyists, his gym habits, and more are touchpoints hit in early campaigning by Democrats Sal Albanese and Tony Avella, and Republican Paul Massey.
While in 2015 the mayor addressed a major problem and distraction from real city business of his first year when he started to regularly arrive on-time to events, he has not moved to eliminate the gym distraction. When presented with that discrepancy on social media in September, a top de Blasio aide explained the difference. Eric Phillips, the press secretary, called being late “a process problem, not a worldview.” He added, “One's fixable, the other doesn't need to be.”
“I think he’s lazy and he’s mired in conflicts of interest,” said Albanese, a former City Council member from Brooklyn who’s run for mayor twice before, on NY1’s Inside City Hall.
“When you're the mayor, you're a city manager, you're responsible for all the agencies, and I don't think the mayor is paying any attention to running the city,” said Avella, a state Senator from Queens, during his Inside City Hall campaign-launch appearance.
The gym and other criticisms withstanding, unless there are criminal charges brought against his top aides or the mayor himself, de Blasio is going to be very tough to beat in 2017.
During a soft launch period of his re-election bid, he’s rolled out early endorsements from several labor unions and elected officials. He and his team are focused on securing his Democratic base of white progressives and people of color -- if he can get his base to turn out strong, he’ll be a lock in the primary and a heavy favorite in the general. The city is experiencing low crime and high employment, and de Blasio has instituted universal pre-kindergarten, new affordable housing requirements, and other significant policies.
It is still to be seen which other opponents may emerge, and whether Albanese, Avella, or Massey can show enough campaigning, policy, and fundraising potency to be considered a legitimate threat.
While de Blasio’s 2017 opponents and other critics will continue to point to the “distractions” that the mayor has worked to remove from the equation, de Blasio is likely to maintain that he and his associates did everything above board -- and in the interest of noble causes like pre-K -- and point out that he went above and beyond legal requirements with openness on things like donors to his aligned nonprofits and meetings with lobbyists.
“I have said thousands of times that disclosure is the main street of this whole issue – in all this, everything we’re talking about,” de Blasio told Gotham Gazette last week at the news conference. “We proactively disclosed situations where city-registered lobbyists lobbied me on a city matter. No previous mayor ever did that. We did it proactively. Not because you guys were clamoring for it. We did it because we thought it was the right thing to do. I had done that previously as public advocate.”
The mayor continued:
“We proactively – not because the law required it – disclosed donations, for example, Campaign for One New York. I believe that if the disclosure is there it is a further guarantee of the public’s ability and the media’s ability to look into the situation. I never felt in any of those meetings that I had that anything was inappropriate because I listened and I’m going to make my own choice. It has nothing to do with whether I know someone a long time or any other fact. I’m going to make the choice I think is right for the people.”
“But it’s all out in broad daylight. So, I don’t think anything we did was inappropriate. I do think they’ve become distractions and I’ve been honest about it. And again I think – I understand why someone might say, well, wait a minute, if you stopped doing something therefore you must’ve thought it was wrong. No. That’s just not intellectually consistent. Sometimes that’s true in life. Other times you can say practically it just became such a distraction that we’re not going to do even though we don’t think – very, very clearly, we don’t think we did anything wrong at all. We thought we did everything appropriately. But why go through the hassle. Let’s just get back to business. So, that’s what was governing our thinking.”
***
by Ben Max, Gotham Gazette
@tweetBenMax @GothamGazette
De Blasio & Stringer in 2014 (photo: Rob Bennett/Mayor's Office)
There’s overlap in those who have bundled campaign donations for Mayor Bill de Blasio and Comptroller Scott Stringer, a review of campaign finance documents shows.
According to records from the New York City Campaign Finance Board, through the most recent filing period for the 2017 city election cycle, six individuals have bundled donations for both de Blasio and Stringer. Bundling involves collecting money from different parties and delivering it together to a campaign.
The six overlapping bundlers for de Blasio and Stringer are employed by six major legal, lobbying, and real estate firms, most of which have city business or clients with city business: Brown & Weinraub PLLC; Brown Harris Stevens; Capalino & Company; Connelly McLaughlin & Woloz; Greenberg Traurig; and Rudin Management Company.
Additionally, there are two other examples of firms -- Abrams Fensterman and MacAndrews & Forbes -- where a set of two employees has one de Blasio bundler and one Stringer bundler.
Bundlers at large firms often gather contributions from colleagues at their firms, typically through fundraising events. High-powered individuals and firms are known to donate to high-powered politicians, so the firm names are not surprising, nor is the fact that the entities involved are helping raise money for both de Blasio and Stringer, despite the rivalry between the two Democrats. Stringer is considering whether to run for re-election as comptroller or to challenge de Blasio.
“There are people who donate to civic causes, to political campaigns, just as a group of people who donate, and you turn to those people,” de Blasio said at a recent press conference when he was asked about donors to his now-defunct nonprofit, the Campaign for One New York, which took in hundreds of thousands of dollars from entities with city business. “That has nothing to do with how you make decisions about their interests,” de Blasio added.
While the mayor was discussing the Campaign for One New York, not his re-election campaign, his comment does apply to campaign fundraising, where many of the same names come up time and again.
The bundlers and their bundled donations mentioned here are for 2017 campaign accounts, from January 2014 through the filing period ending July 11, 2016. The next Campaign Finance Board filing deadline is January 17 -- these filings, the first of the city election year, will shed additional light on donors and bundlers to de Blasio, Stringer, and many other municipal candidates.
Seven of the ten individuals involved in the aforementioned bundling for de Blasio and Stringer through July also show up in the city’s “Doing Business” portal, which tracks entities that have city business or clients with city business. The city’s campaign finance law limits donations from those with city business to just $400 per candidate campaign, but their bundling of money from other donors is not limited.
Until de Blasio recently signed a new regulation into law, money bundled by those with city business was eligible for public matching funds through the city’s campaign finance system. Those bundled donations are no longer eligible for matching funds, whereby the city matches the first $175 of donations six-to-one, up to a certain threshold. The system is meant to encourage candidates to seek small contributions from entities that don’t have city business.
The bundling for both de Blasio and Stringer and doing-business classification applies to David Fensterman and Frank Carone of the law firm Abrams Fensterman: Fensterman bundled $9,900 for de Blasio and Carone bundled $4,900 for Stringer.
Other overlapping bundlers on the doing-business list include James Capalino of government relations firm Capalino & Company, bundled $44,940 for de Blasio and $16,800 for Stringer; David Weinraub of the law firm Brown & Weinraub PLLC bundled $2,100 for de Blasio and $7,000 for Stringer; Michael Woloz of Connelly, Mclaughlin & Woloz PR, bundled $16,650 for de Blasio and $4,950 for Stringer; Edward Wallace of the law firm Greenberg Traurig bundled $13,150 for de Blasio and $12,300 for Stringer; and, William Rudin of the real estate firm Rudin Management, bundled $25,150 for de Blasio and $9,900 for Stringer.
The overlapping bundlers without doing-business classification include William Zeckendorf of the real estate firm Brown Harris Stevens, who bundled $2,800 for de Blasio and $23,400 for Stringer. And in another pairing of bundlers at the same firm, MacAndrews and Forbes, Chris Taylor bundled $29,7000 for de Blasio and Danya Perry bundled $4,750 for Stringer.
Overall, through July 11, 2016 Stringer received the most campaign cash through all bundlers (not just overlapping bundlers): $573,153 to de Blasio’s $499,520. Through that filing, de Blasio does have more total contributions: $2,307,523.45 to Stringer’s $1,713,866.89. The next filing is expected to be quite large, especially for de Blasio, as campaign season continues to ramp up and the city primaries are just nine months away.
While Stringer is weighing a mayoral run, he’s in part wating to see what comes of the two grand juries reportedly considering evidence against de Blasio associates, in part related to fundraising activities, though not for de Blasio’s electoral campaigns. While things could easily change, at this point many people are still expecting Stringer to run for re-election as comptroller.
Frank Carone, of Abrams Fensterman, and his colleague, Howard Fensterman, are among the people with that hunch, and it suits them, Carone told Gotham Gazette. Carone bundled $4,900 for Stringer in 2015, and Fensterman bundled $9,900 for de Blasio in late 2015 and early 2016. Reached by phone, Carone was quick to clarify where his and Fensterman’s mayoral loyalties lie: “At this point, we're supporting exclusively for mayor, Mayor de Blasio, both Howard and myself. And we'll continue that, and we'll also support Scott for comptroller.”
When asked about the tension some bundlers might find themselves in if Stringer runs for mayor, Carone said, “You really have to follow your heart to tell you what's best for the city. Hopefully everyone acts that way. It's just like sports or anything else, it's OK for a bit of competition.”
Carone also explained where some of his support for de Blasio stems from, saying that the two have “been active in Brooklyn politics for a very long time…[de Blasio] has been to my family functions and we've socialized outside of politics.”
Other bundlers also have personal relationships and friendships with the two candidates -- both de Blasio and Stringer are long-time New York City politicians. Many of the bundlers, no matter how close to de Blasio or Stringer, also have the motivation of their businesses and the importance of having good relationships with powerful figures and those close to them. Requests for comments from other bundlers were either not returned or comment was not provided.
According to Bill Cunningham, the managing director of DKC Public Relations and a former communications director for Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the bundling overlap for Stringer and de Blasio is likely routine fundraising for a city election cycle. Cunningham pointed out that “many people that contribute to mayors also contribute to comptroller. Because those are the two citywide offices that actually have fairly substantive workloads.”
The crossover bundlers to de Blasio and Stringer do a variety of kinds of business. For example, both de Blasio and Stringer received bundled donations in 2015 from James Capalino of the government relations firm Capalino & Company, which has represented high-profile clients like Airbnb and Uber. Capalino has become the city’s top-earning lobbyist since de Blasio took office -- the two are longtime associates. Connelly Mclaughlin & Woloz provide similar services for major city sectors and trade unions. Abrams Fensterman, Brown & Weinraub, and Greenberg Traurig have all represented either the New York City government or clients who have interests in what the government oversees, like zoning laws and industry regulations.
Rudin Management, which is involved in many transactions and projects, is developing a 675,000 square feet of working space in the Brooklyn Navy Yard along with Boston Properties and WeWork. (WeWork also bundled $68,750 for de Blasio’s campaign - but none for Stringer’s so far - and de Blasio’s campaign has spent $15,900 so far on rented campaign office space from WeWork.)
Kenneth Sherrill, professor emeritus of Political Science at CUNY, said that many big funders like to “hedge their bets” with incumbent candidates. Sherrill did note that Letitia James, the public advocate, has not had quite the same machine rallying behind her campaign -- James has repeatedly indicated she is running for re-election and has been a steady de Blasio ally, unlike Stringer.
James, who is a virtual lock for re-election, has raised $71,800 from bundlers for her campaign through July. Sherrill did point out that the “public advocate has less power than the mayor or the comptroller,” and donors may not be as compelled to raise funds for a candidate who doesn’t offer quite as much government access.
There are no overlaps between major bundlers for de Blasio and any other candidate who has announced their candidacy for mayor. In fact, no other announced mayoral candidate has received funding through bundlers (again, through July 11).
Both Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. and City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito -- each of whom has a 2017 campaign account but has not declared an office -- have received campaign money through bundlers. Mark-Viverito, a de Blasio ally who is term-limited out of office at the end of 2017, has also reportedly hinted at running if de Blasio does not to seek re-election for whatever reason. Diaz Jr. can run for reelection to his current position, but, like Stringer, has been a vocal de Blasio critic and rumored mayoral candidate. The law and government lobbying firm firm Davidoff, Hutcher, and Citron is the only firm that employs bundlers for all three candidates; law partner Sid Davidoff bundled $18,400 for de Blasio, and attorney Arthur Goldstein bundled $7,100 for Mark-Viverito, and $1,500 for Diaz Jr.
Fundraising numbers reported in January will add to the 2017 picture significantly. It will also give further indication of how much preparation and flexibility certain candidates and potential candidates have.
“Having money in the bank in case you decide to run for something is good,” said Cunningham, of DKC. “But [Mark-Viverito] doesn't have to decide to run for mayor. If Stringer decides to run against the mayor in a primary, she can opt to run for Comptroller. If [Letitia] James decides to run for another office, Melissa could run for Public Advocate. Or she could not run for anything. But having money in the bank, even if it's not the same amount that the mayor has, allows you to think through all of those possibilities.”
***
by Elena Burger, Gotham Gazette
@GothamGazette
Mayor de Blasio (photo: Edwin J. Torres/ Mayor's Office)
At the end of 2015, his second year in office, Mayor Bill de Blasio held a two-hour roundtable with members of the media to promote his administration’s accomplishments, reflect on his tenure, and field whatever questions the 20-or-so assembled journalists wanted to ask.
There was a multi-page handout from City Hall with “de Blasio Administration” and “YEAR TWO ACCOMPLISHMENTS” across the cover page, followed by sections on “Housing & Homelessness,” “Management & Economy,” “Education,” “Public Safety,” and more.
De Blasio approached the end of his third year as mayor quite differently.
The administration promoted some of its accomplishments on social media, but as 2016 came to an end there was no City Hall roundtable or document of accomplishments circulated to the press. The mayor didn’t even make a December 30 appearance on WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show in his usual Friday morning slot. Instead, Public Advocate Letitia James made the 10 a.m. segment.
At a December 29 press conference in Times Square to discuss NYPD security for New Year’s Eve, the mayor did take about 27 minutes of media questions on a variety of topics, including his reflections on the year and plans for the year ahead. Prior to that, the administration released a promotional video on Twitter that quickly raised several questions, including how it could be the only summation of the year put out by City Hall.
The approach by de Blasio and his team makes some sense given how difficult 2016 was for the mayor, whose year was dominated by controversy, including law enforcement investigations into his behavior and that of his allies, a disappointing attempt to influence the presidential election, a growing homelessness crisis, and other challenges. De Blasio’s never strong relationship with the press corps also soured in 2016 as the mayor became more frustrated with the questions and coverage he was getting, and thus moved to limit how often he takes media queries.
People close to de Blasio said they were more than ready to see 2016 end, though it’s not clear that 2017 promises to be better. Much rests on the fate of those law enforcement investigations and the two grand juries that are reportedly hearing evidence related to actions taken by de Blasio associates. The mayor has maintained that he and his allies acted legally and no one in de Blasio’s close orbit has been charged with a crime.
Still, de Blasio’s decision not to discuss and promote in more depth the progress made during 2016 and his three years in charge is somewhat surprising, as the end of the calendar year is a natural time for summing up, reflecting, and looking ahead. A detailed end-of-year discussion is also an opportunity to highlight whatever good news and accomplishments the mayor may want to bring attention to, present relevant data points, and clarify and defend administration policies.
City Hall wasn’t without things to boast, and the de Blasio administration did email a recap of accomplishments to a list of community leaders and allies on December 19, but it was not sent to members of the media or promoted publicly as a document.
A spokesperson for de Blasio acknowledged the email, which was forwarded to Gotham Gazette by a recipient, but did not reply when asked why it was not sent to members of the press.
“We communicate directly all the time with neighborhood stakeholders, city leaders, activists and agenda allies,” emailed Eric Phillips, de Blasio’s chief spokesperson. “It’s important to keep those involved in our work aware of our progress and aware of what we need to do in the days ahead.”
Phillips also cited “the many continuous days of social media we did sharing this work” when asked why the administration did little to publicly discuss its accomplishments as 2016 concluded.
At a December 20 press conference, Gotham Gazette asked de Blasio if he planned to hold a year-end roundtable like the year before. “I don’t think we’ve thought about that yet. So we’ll think about that,” de Blasio said, before calling on another journalist.
Phillips didn’t answer when asked how many stakeholders received the December 19 email.
Before a bulleted list of more specific markers of progress, the email, which came from Melissa Diaz at City Hall, includes an introductory note:
Colleagues,
Three years into Mayor Bill de Blasio’s tenure, New York City has never been more prosperous than it is right now. 2016 has been a year of record job growth, significant gains for students on state exams, a second historic rent freeze, driving crime to historic lows, protecting thousands of working families by standing up to bad landlords – and hundreds of other successes.
Our record of delivering for New Yorkers across the city is clear. New York City continues to be at the forefront of fighting for working families, particularly in our city’s unique and diverse economy. As an administration, we have continuously stood alongside those families to create a better and fairer New York, and we look forward to continuing this work in 2017.
In 2016, we built on our record of progress, which is attached and below. As we wrap up 2016, I encourage you to share these achievements with your networks, family, friends, and online.
De Blasio and his spokespeople, both in government and his re-election campaign, regularly point to low crime, more affordable housing, a strong city economy, and universal pre-kindergarten when discussing the mayor’s record. The December 19 email also includes details about city investments in mental health care, NYCHA, transportation, and more (see the full text below).
Meanwhile, de Blasio has repeatedly acknowledged the need to improve his performance in reducing the city’s homeless population. The issue of homelessness was a major focus at the end of 2015 as well -- the December 21, 2015 discussion at City Hall included significant time on the homelessness crisis and efforts de Blasio was leading to combat it. The mayor is still promising more, saying that early in 2017 he’ll outline a more clear vision for New Yorkers.
During the December 29, 2016 press conference, Gotham Gazette asked de Blasio if it would be the last time in 2016 he would take media questions, what mistakes he’d made in 2016, and what he planned to do differently in 2017.
“So, on the first point – this is the last press conference of the year,” de Blasio said. “You know, obviously, at any point you guys can ask about anything about this year or next year, anything you want. So, we put out a lot of information over the course of the year about what we think we’ve achieved and the challenges we’re trying to face and that’s going to be an ongoing conversation.”
He continued:
“[D]o I think I’ve made mistakes? Do I think my team has made mistakes? I think that all the time. I’m very tough on myself. I’m very tough on my team. I think my team will attest to the fact I’m very tough on my team. I want perfection from myself. I want perfection from them.”
“But I make mistakes all the time and then I try and fix them. I try and figure out how I can do better. But I don’t make it a point to sort of self-flagellate nor to exaggerate when something goes right. I try and keep an even keel. I would say [inaudible] sort of snapshot the year, I feel good about the most important things and I feel, still, frustrated that despite a lot of efforts around homelessness we haven’t gotten where we want to go.
“So, the easy answer is – I’m thrilled crime is going down while stop-and-frisk continue to go down. I’m thrilled that we’ve built more affordable housing at a record pace. And I’m thrilled that the graduation rate has gone up. These are the things that are the most important to everyday New Yorkers and it’s the first obligation of government. But I’m very dissatisfied when it comes to a lot of strategies we’ve put into play to address homeless that still haven’t gotten us where we want to go.
“I’m seeing some real hope now particularly around HOME-STAT. And you saw the report last week. That could be a game changer if it continues that kind of progress. And the shelter census has started to go down a bit which is a good sign. But there’s a whole lot more to do. But that continues to be the number one frustration.”
A little more than a year prior, at the end of 2015, de Blasio gave an opening statement of a few minutes, then responded to dozens of media questions on what he had learned since becoming mayor, what he wished he’d done differently, his goals for 2016 and beyond, and a variety of other topics. The discussion was initially centered on the multi-page handout of accomplishments given to each member of the media.
De Blasio was also asked about his relationship with Governor Andrew Cuomo, the presidential race and his attempts to play on the national stage, and whether he was taking any additional measures to ensure ethical behavior in his administration. A portion of de Blasio’s statement and then several media questions centered on his administration’s fight against homelessness.
“I feel very good about what’s been accomplished over the first two years of this administration,” de Blasio said in his introductory remarks at the 2015 roundtable. “There’s a lot more to do. I think my central message about the future is there’s a lot of our agenda that we have to deepen and implement more fully going into the third and fourth years. But I certainly feel very good about the progress we’ve made over the first two years. And it has really given us a foundation for everything we have to do thereafter.”
Yet, as the third year ended and the fourth year began, de Blasio did not create an opportunity to delve into the progress his administration has made on a variety of goals, open himself up to detailed questions, or attempt to set the tone for 2017.
Still, de Blasio has overseen continued drops in crime and his first press conference of the new year, on Wednesday, will focus on those numbers.
***
by Ben Max, Gotham Gazette
@tweetBenMax @GothamGazette
Colleagues,
Three years into Mayor Bill de Blasio’s tenure, New York City has never been more prosperous than it is right now. 2016 has been a year of record job growth, significant gains for students on state exams, a second historic rent freeze, driving crime to historic lows, protecting thousands of working families by standing up to bad landlords – and hundreds of other successes.
Our record of delivering for New Yorkers across the city is clear. New York City continues to be at the forefront of fighting for working families, particularly in our city’s unique and diverse economy. As an administration, we have continuously stood alongside those families to create a better and fairer New York, and we look forward to continuing this work in 2017.
In 2016, we built on our record of progress, which is attached and below. As we wrap up 2016, I encourage you to share these achievements with your networks, family, friends, and online.
THE CITY OF NEW YORK
OFFICE OF THE MAYOR
NEW YORK, NY 10007
Mayor de Blasio believes all New Yorkers deserve a chance to succeed in the greatest city on earth. That means every child gets a quality education, every community is safe, and every New Yorker has an affordable place to call home. In 2016, we built on our record of progress.
ü Equity and excellence in all schools, preparing our students for the 21st century economy.
o About 70,000 kids enrolled in Pre-K, more than triple the 20,000 children who attended before the Pre-K for All expansion.
o 103 reading coaches hired, trained, and on the job to get our students reading at grade level.
o City students scoring much higher on English exams, now in lockstep with NYS peers.
o Dedicated counselors called “Single Shepherds” for 16,000 students from middle school to college.
o 100 schools selected to receive over $3.5 million in new direct funding to build school-wide college and career readiness culture.
o High school graduation rate over 70 percent for the first time ever.
o Eliminated CUNY application fee for qualifying high school seniors.
o Lowest-ever high school dropout rate, and the highest-ever rate of students enrolling in college.
ü Modern approach to public safety – safer streets, safer every day.
o January was the safest January on record – followed by the safest summer, safest September and safest October.
o Expanded neighborhood policing, launched force-wide trainings on implicit bias, alternatives to physical force, and conflict de-escalation à Stop-and-Frisk has declined by 97% from an all-time high in 2011.
o Arrests are down, murders and shootings at historic lows, record low numbers of robberies, burglaries, and auto thefts.
o Vision Zero efforts made 2015 the safest year on New York City streets since 1910, and 2016 is on course to be even safer.
o Opened a state-of-the-art, fully redundant 911 call center to protect the city’s essential emergency response system in the event of disaster.
o Distributed more than 7,000 kits of naloxone, a lifesaving medicine that reverses opioid overdose.
ü Easing financial burden, tackling the affordability crisis, and creating opportunity.
o Fought for New Yorkers struggling to make the rent or find affordable housing.
§ Two consecutive rent freezes (2015 and 2016), keeping rent stable for 2.5 million tenants.
§ 150,000 people benefited from the expanded use of emergency rent assistance.
§ Stood up to bad landlords using all available tools – such as withholding rent and increasing funding for New Yorkers to access legal services – to hold landlords accountable.
§ Evictions down by 24 percent, meaning 21,000 people are still in their homes.
§ Replaced voluntary rules with a mandatory affordable housing requirement in new buildings.
§ On track to build and preserve 200,000 affordable housing apartments over the coming decade, benefitting half-a-million people. This year, the Mayor has secured 15,105 apartments to date. We’ve secured 55,309 affordable apartments since taking office, an all-time high for new, affordable construction.
o Fought for New York City’s homeowners.
§ Proposed a $183 water credit on the water bills of over 664,000 homeowners, in keeping with the City's past efforts to ensure bills stay as low as possible.
§ Saved 35,000 homeowners tens of millions of dollars in flood insurance premiums by working with FEMA.
o Bolstering an economy with good-paying jobs, creating opportunities for people to get ahead.
§ Created 60,000 new jobs in 2016 so far, and nearly 277,000 jobs since the Mayor took office.
§ Unveiled a $500 million initiative, LifeSci NYC, to spur 16,000 new, good-paying jobs and establish New York City as a global leader in life sciences research and innovation.
§ Prohibited City agencies from inquiring about salary history as part of the hiring process.
§ Signed a personnel order to provide paid parental leave to approximately 20,000 New York City employees – putting the City at the forefront of city and state policies around the country.
§ Ensured all custodial workers in public schools make the prevailing wage.
o Fought for New Yorkers who need to get to work on time.
§ Eligible workers can now use pre-tax income to pay for their commuting costs, saving commuters $800 to $1,000 dollars a year.
§ Added 18 miles of new protected bike lanes.
§ Expansion of CitiBike to more New Yorkers, adding thousands of new bikes and hundreds of stations in 2016 across Red Hook, Brownstone Brooklyn, and Harlem.
§ Filled the administration’s one-millionth pothole and made a historic investment in repaving, reducing the need for future pothole repair.
§ Repaved city streets equivalent to the distance between New York City and Miami, Florida.
o Committed to holistic investments in NYCHA communities, home for 400,000 New Yorkers.
§ Across-the-board improvements for safer, cleaner, and more connected communities throughout New York City.
§ Comprehensive roof repairs.
§ Security enhancements, including lights, cameras, and new doors.
§ Technology investments such as broadband and Wi-Fi.
o Fought for the city’s most vulnerable.
§ HOME-STAT fully operational: outreach workers are identifying, engaging, and transitioning homeless New Yorkers to services and, ultimately, permanent housing.
§ Nearly 48,000 New Yorkers moved into permanent housing and avoided or exited shelters through permanent housing programs.
§ About 12,000 more households have been able to receive services from the HomeBase homelessness prevention program in each of the past two years.
ü Launched NYC Well, a 24/7 phone, text, or chat connection to mental health and substance misuse services.
o Convened 1,000 houses of worship to talk about mental illness and addiction, reaching 250,000 New Yorkers.
o Created a system to screen and treat 80 percent of pregnant women and new moms, with a goal of screening and treating ALL pregnant women and new moms for maternal depression.
o Mental health support for every school in the city.
o Placed over 100 Mental Health Service Corps (MHSC) members in neighborhoods with the highest need across the city.
o Launched the first, city-based movement for mental health – Cities Thrive. More than 80 cities have committed to mental health as a municipal policy and programming priority and to federal advocacy.
ü Progressive Governance.
o For three years running, added to the City’s financial reserves, preparing us for any potential shocks to the system.
o Defended New York values. We are #AlwaysNewYork.
o Stood up for the 65,000 hourly employees in the fast food industry who deserve fair notification on their work hours.
o Funded major improvements in city parks and purchased the last site needed to complete the 28-acre Bushwick Inlet Park, fulfilling a promise made to the families of North Brooklyn.
o Expanded graffiti removal, introduced sidewalk power washing in commercial corridors citywide, expanded Sunday and holiday litter basket service, and expanded highway shoulder and ramp cleanup.
o Shattered enrollment expectations for the country's most ambitious municipal identification program, IDNYC.
o Opened the Damian Family Care Center in the Bronx to serve 10,000 community residents.
o Launched the nation’s first government-led citywide ad campaign affirming every New Yorker’s right to use the bathroom consistent with their gender identity.
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