Gotham Gazette

The Place for New York Policy and politics

Bill de Blasio

Bill de Blasio

  • At Rivington Hearing, Discussion of Extent of City Hall Mismanagement

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    First Deputy Mayor Shorris testifies (photo: William Alatriste)


    Over the course of a Thursday oversight hearing lasting more than six hours, top officials from the de Blasio administration attempted to explain to the City Council all the missteps that led to a Lower East Side AIDS hospice being sold to a luxury condominium developer with virtually no public benefit.

    Council Member Ben Kallos, chair of the governmental operations committee, said early in the hearing, “Something went very wrong here and we must address issues

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  • City Council Drafting Bills to Regulate Political Nonprofits Like Campaign for One New York

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    Council Member Ben Kallos (photo: John McCarten for the City Council)


    At least three City Council members have made requests to the Council’s bill drafting unit to formulate legislation that would regulate political participation by and with “social welfare” nonprofit organizations. These are political advocacy, or lobbying, groups, which have been the subject of intense scrutiny in New York City of late due to the Campaign

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  • Highlights from the New Mayor's Management Report

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    Mayor de Blasio (photo: Michael Appleton, Mayor's Office)


    On Monday, The Mayor’s Office of Operations released the Mayor’s Management Report for Fiscal Year 2016, which ran from July 1 2015 to June 30 2016. For nearly 40 years, the MMR has been a report card of sorts for city agencies that the public and City Council can use to assess city performance in delivering services to New Yorkers. It now includes over 2,000 reported data

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  • Council to Examine Young Men’s Initiative, a Bloomberg Program & National Model

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    YMI's Cyrus Garrett (photo: @NYCyoungmen)


    In August of 2011, then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg addressed a group of nonprofit and community leaders as he announced the launch of a landmark approach to tackling persistent problems facing young black and Latino men. The Young Men’s Initiative, ...

  • Inside 311, the City’s ‘Front Door’ to Government

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    311 in 2013 (photo via the Mayor's Office on Flickr)


    The vast LED board updated in real-time: 36,529 calls since midnight, it said for a late-afternoon moment one August day. Perched in a high-ceilinged room in Lower Manhattan, the board tallied work done and signified work to be done, with numbers jumping every few seconds as the New York City 311 call center buzzed with the steady hum of staff members speaking into headsets.

    “Hello, and thank you for calling NYC 311.”

    “Did you

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  • James Wins Battle in Long War Over Public Advocate's Legal Standing

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    Public Advocate Letitia James (photo via @TishJames)


    The Public Advocate’s office was created in 1993 to give a voice to everyday New Yorkers and act as checks on the authority of the Mayor and the function of city agencies. Letitia James, the fourth New York City Public Advocate, has made litigation a major tool in her attempt to fulfill the office’s mandates. James, who has a background as an attorney and has hired several lawyers to her staff since taking office in 2014, has fought the city and its agencies in the

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  • Mark-Viverito: New York City is ‘Heading in the Right Direction’

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    Melissa Mark-Viverito (photo: William Alatriste)


    New York City is well on its way to correcting the policies of 20 years of Republican rule, City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito said during an interview last week. Discussing her time as Speaker, upcoming priorities, working with Mayor Bill de Blasio, and more, Mark-Viverito spoke with Gotham Gazette at length in the Speaker’s office at City Hall.

    On a relatively quiet August Thursday, Mark-Viverito addressed a wide range of topics, from her approach to leading the Council through

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  • Justice Department Decision Boosts Push for Private Prison Divestment

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    A recent decision by the federal Department of Justice to scale back and eventually end the use of private prisons indirectly impacted New York City’s pension funds, reducing holding values by millions of dollars and leading to renewed calls from activists for the city to divest from the for-profit corporations that operate these prisons.

    Earlier this month, the Obama administration took a major step against an industry that has long been criticized for its culture of violence, secrecy, and the devaluation of human life: private

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  • Touted Bloomberg Anti-Poverty Incubator Sees New Life in De Blasio Era

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    Above: Mayor Bloomberg speaks (Ed Reed). Below: Gibbs & Doar on panel


    Data-driven Center for Economic Opportunity paves way for workforce development vision in Career Pathways

    On July 14, former Bloomberg Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs and Robert Doar, former commissioner of anti-poverty efforts, participated in a panel discussion in Washington, D.C., fielding questions

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  • The Week Ahead in New York Politics, August 29

    New York City Hall

    New York City Hall


    What to watch for this week in New York politics:

    This pre-Labor Day weekend week is looking like a fairly quiet one in New York politics, though there are a few things to watch for. Mayor Bill de Blasio is due to return Sunday evening from a vacation week traveling throughout New England with his family and could have an active week. The mayor starts the week with one public event on his schedule: he'll be in Queens Monday evening to deliver remarks at the

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  • Increase in Rape Reports Given Little Attention Amid Celebration of Crime Drops

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    Mayor de Blasio at a press briefing (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    “You’re going to hear some numbers that are striking,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio as he began an August 4 press conference on the city’s latest crime statistics. “2016 saw the fewest shootings, the fewest robberies, the fewest burglaries, the fewest

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  • City Housing Commissioner to Return to Teaching, Remain in Government Role

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    HPD Commissioner Been & Mayor de Blasio (photo: Demetrius Freeman, Mayor's Office)


    Commissioner Vicki Been, head of the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), is planning to return to teaching at NYU Law School, Gotham Gazette has learned.

    According to the school’s course offerings, Been will be teaching a Spring semester property law course on Monday and Wednesday mornings, 8:50-10:40 a.m., beginning in January. According to an HPD spokesperson, Been is not leaving the administration.

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  • Additional Information Means 'Ongoing Investigation' into Rivington Deal

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    Mayor de Blasio (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    A bureaucratic procedure gone wrong has turned out to be a major headache for Mayor Bill de Blasio that refuses to go away. Even after two recent and damning investigative reports, one city agency maintains its investigation is "ongoing" given newly turned over information and the state Attorney General is still looking into the matter.

    The lifting of deed restrictions on Rivington House, a nursing home on the Lower East Side of Manhattan,

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  • Bill De Blasio's Resurrection Challenge

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    Mayor de Blasio at Gracie Mansion (photo: Demetrius Freeman, Mayor's Office)


    After several months of what the mayor himself called “relentless negative headlines” around investigations into his administration and campaign fundraising, Bill de Blasio is facing low public approval ratings, strong doubts about whether he deserves to be re-elected in 2017, and a resurrection mission ahead of him.

    For the Democrat more than halfway through his third year in office, the upcoming task comes down to solidifying

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  • With De Blasio Appearing Vulnerable, Heightened Examination of Paths to Defeat Him

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    Mayor Bill de Blasio (photo: Ed Reed, Mayor's Office)


    Mayor Bill de Blasio often says he doesn’t put much stock in public opinion polls; he believes they’re about as accurate as weather predictions. When asked, he didn’t express much concern after a Quinnipiac University poll released August 1 showed that 51 percent of New York City voters don’t think he deserves to be re-elected in

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  • Success Academy Schools Largely Responsible for Charter Gains on State Tests

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    photo: @SuccessCharters


    Release of the most recent student test scores on state English and math exams for third- through eighth-graders set off widespread celebration in public education circles. Supporters and leaders of charter schools and traditional public schools alike have been promoting the results, including Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has cited test score jumps as proof that his education agenda is working.

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  • Investigations Paint Picture of City Hall Mismanagement

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    Mayor de Blasio & First Deputy Mayor Shorris in 2013 (photo: @NYCTransition)


    Two recent reports on City Hall’s role in the questionable lifting of deed restrictions on a nursing home property issued scathing indictments of both process and personnel in the de Blasio administration. They revealed mismanagement and miscommunication that belies Mayor Bill de Blasio’s own attempts to portray City Hall and its agencies as well-oiled machines that deliver swift and efficient services to the people of New York.

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  • Bratton Departure Comes with Silver Lining for De Blasio

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    Bratton, O'Neill, de Blasio at City Hall (photo: Ben Max)


    Mayor Bill de Blasio didn’t want Bill Bratton to leave his post as NYPD Commissioner, but his departure comes with a thick silver lining. And just because de Blasio would rather Bratton stay than go doesn’t mean the mayor doesn’t see it.

    As de Blasio stood smiling and shaking the hand of soon-to-be Commissioner Jimmy O’Neill on Tuesday at City Hall, the mayor may have exhaled an inaudible sigh of relief. While we don’t yet know what kind of

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  • Change of Commissioner Spotlights De Blasio’s Record on Police Reform

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    photo: Demetrius Freeman/Mayor's Office


    Many believe that the biggest responsibility of the Mayor of New York City is to keep people safe and Bill de Blasio has largely done that, in no small part by letting his lightning-rod police commissioner, Bill Bratton, call the shots on public safety policy. The mayor has focused on pre-kindergarten and affordable housing while Bratton has governed the streets, helping bring crime down to historic lows. At the same time, Bratton has led an evolution of sorts

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  • Bill Bratton Announces Retirement from NYPD, to be Replaced by James O'Neill

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    De Blasio, Bratton, O'Neill, & Gomez (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor’s Office)


    Bill Bratton, commissioner of the New York Police Department, announced his retirement from the NYPD on Tuesday, ushering in new leadership at the department he has shaped over the course of several decades. At a City Hall press conference, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that Bratton will be replaced by Chief of Department James O’Neill, who has been a long-time member of the NYPD, rising through its ranks to now fill

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  • Current Providers Welcome Addition of Coming City Bail Fund

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    Council Speaker Mark-Viverito and Council members (photo: William Alatriste)


    Last year, City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito’s office began seeking state approval for a public bail fund to keep poor low-level offenders out of jail, with Mark-Viverito citing the costs even a short jail stay can have on both lives and city funds. Now, after almost a year-and-a-half, the convoluted process of establishing the bail fund as a charity and obtaining a state license to run it appears to be nearing an end.

    Mark-Viverito touted the

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  • The Week Ahead in New York Politics, August 1

    New York City Hall

    New York City Hall


    What to watch for this week in New York politics:

    With both the Republican National Convention and Democratic National Convention now over, the presidential race hits the final three-month stretch to Election Day, November 8. The first debate in scheduled for September 26. While New York was front-and-center at both conventions because the two presidential candidates call the state home, a great deal of attention will now shift to the most consequential swing states,

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  • In Philadelphia, Cuomo and De Blasio Call for Unity, Show None

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    Cuomo, de Blasio & others at the DNC (photo via NY Democratic Party on flickr)


    “Number one, the main goal coming into this convention was to make sure we left unified,” Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Thursday morning, apparently without a sense of the irony in such a statement. Cuomo, the Democratic governor of New York, continues to be locked in a feud with Bill de Blasio, the Democratic mayor of New York City, which produces a

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  • New Yorkers Head to the Democratic National Convention

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    A March Clinton rally in NYC (photo: Barbara Kinney for Hillary for America)


    New York is heavily Democratic and the state will have a major presence at this week's Democratic National Convention, not least because its delegation will be seated front and center in the Philadelphia arena because the presumptive presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, calls the Empire State home. It's a similar dynamic, at least in that last regard, to last week's Republican National Convention, where lifelong New Yorker Donald

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  • WeWork, a City Partner, Now Benefactor to and Beneficiary of De Blasio Campaign

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    Mayor de Blasio (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    A company that has spent thousands of dollars lobbying City Hall, is doing business with the city, and whose founders have made large campaign contributions to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s campaign is now also a beneficiary of the mayor’s 2017 re-election campaign.

    Campaign finance filings show that since June 2, de Blasio’s campaign has occupied a space in Downtown Manhattan run by WeWork, a company that markets affordable, professional

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