Gotham Gazette

The Place for New York Policy and politics

Brad Lander

Brad Lander

  • WATCH: 30 Minutes with the Candidates for New York City Comptroller

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    (l-r) top: Brian Benjamin, Brad Lander, Kevin Parker, David Weprin, Corey Johnson; bottom: Reshma Patel, Zach Iscol, Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, Terri Liftin


    The Democratic candidates for New York City Comptroller joined "Decision NYC with Ben Max" for in-depth one-on-one interviews about their campaigns and visions for

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  • Decision NYC: Brad Lander Discusses His Run for Comptroller

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    Brad Lander (photo: John McCarten/City Council)


    As part of the "Decision NYC with Ben Max" series of candidate inter views from Manhattan Neighborhood Network and Gotham Gazette, Democratic candidates for New York City Comptroller talked about their campaigns ahead of the June primary. In this episode, Brad Lander joined

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  • City Council, De Blasio Administration Clash Over Comprehensive Planning Legislation

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    New York City (photo: Benjamin Kanter/Mayoral Photo Office)


    City Council members and officials from Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration clashed at a Tuesday hearing over proposed legislation to overhaul, consolidate, and in some ways expand the city’s planning processes into a singular ten-year procedure that would align budget, policy, and land use decisions.  

    The proposal was released by City Council Speaker Corey Johnson in December and seeks to replace what he calls redundant, antiquated, inequitable, and ineffective existing

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  • City Comptroller Candidates Seek to Set Themselves Apart at Brooklyn Democrats' Debate

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    (l-r) Brad Lander, Brian Benjamin, David Weprin, Kevin Parker


    Five Democratic candidates running in the primary for New York City Comptroller appeared at the first debate of the race on Sunday, trying to set themselves apart as most qualified and with the right vision to be the city’s next top fiscal officer.

    The comptroller is the watchdog of city spending, with a job that involves auditing city agencies to root out waste and mismanagement, reviewing city contracts, acting as the fiduciary to the $240 billion public pension funds, providing

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  • City Comptroller Candidates Pitch Manhattan Democratic Clubs

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    (l-r): Brad Lander, Brian Benjammin, David Weprin, and Kevin Parker)


    The four Democratic candidates running in this year’s election for New York City Comptroller appeared one-by-one at two recent online forums hosted by Manhattan Democratic clubs.

    The West Side Democrats, during a forum moderated by district leader Joan Paylo, hosted the candidates on January 12, while the Uptown Community Democrats and the Audubon Reform Democratic Club, with moderators Curtis Young, co-president of UCD, and Maria Luna, district leader of the

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  • Max & Murphy Podcast: Brad Lander on His Run for New York City Comptroller

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    Brad Lander (photo: William Alatriste/City Council)


    January 6, 2021 - Max & Murphy Podcast: Brad Lander on His Run for New York City Comptroller

    City Council Member Brad Lander joined the show to discuss his run for New York City Comptroller in the 2021 election.

    Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think -- we're on Twitter @TweetBenMaxand @JarrettMurphy. You can listen to the show through the embedded audio

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  • Democratic City Comptroller Candidates Appear at First Forum of 2021 Race

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    (l-r) Kevin Parker, Brad Lander, Brian Benjamin, David Weprin


    The four Democratic candidates running in this year’s election for New York City Comptroller appeared one-by-one Sunday afternoon at an online forum hosted by several downtown Manhattan Democratic clubs. The comptroller is the city’s chief fiscal officer, responsible for auditing city agencies, leading management of the public pension funds, analyzing the city budget, approving city contracts, and providing broad oversight of city government and other entities that impact New

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  • City Council Speaker Unveils Comprehensive Planning Legislation

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    New York City development (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    City Council Speaker Corey Johnson on Wednesday unveiled legislation that would overhaul New York City’s long-term planning processes, eliminating duplicative procedures, streamlining agency coordination, and establishing a more proactive, holistic approach to land use and budgeting that prioritizes racial and economic justice. 

    For decades, the city’s zoning, land use, and development have been subject to disparate sets of mandates and guidelines, some overlapping and redundant, in

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  • New York Looks to Georgia with Senate Control and Much More on the Line

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    Senator Schumer and Governro Cuomo (photo: Kevin P. Coughlin/Governor's Office)


    Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election brought the collective nightmare of the Democratic Party to an end after four years. But the celebration was muted given the party’s majority in the House of Representatives diminished and, more importantly, the fate of the U.S. Senate remained undecided despite grand Democratic hopes for taking the chamber. The near- and long-term implications for New York are immense given the size of the federal aid package that it -- including state and

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  • David Weprin Launches Campaign for New York City Comptroller

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    David Weprin (photo: Mike Wren/NYS Department of Health)


    State Assemblymember David Weprin, a five-term Queens Democrat, officially launched his 2021 campaign for New York City Comptroller on Monday. He is running to replace term-limited Comptroller Scott Stringer, and is competing with three other sitting elected officials to become the city’s next chief fiscal officer in the Democratic primary set for June.

    “I'm the only one of all the candidates that has both private and public sector finance experience, something that's going to be very needed as we're in

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  • Kevin Parker Launches Campaign for New York City Comptroller

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    State Senator Kevin Parker (photo: Parker campaign)


    State Senator Kevin Parker, a Democrat from Brooklyn, officially announced his campaign for New York City Comptroller on Wednesday evening in an interview on NY1. He joins three other Democrats who have already jumped into the race to replace Comptroller Scott Stringer, a Democrat who is term-limited next year and is running for mayor.

    In a phone interview prior to his announcement, Parker touted his long record in government, including the more than five dozen laws he has sponsored, and his background in finance as what he

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  • Brian Benjamin Launches Campaign for New York City Comptroller

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    Brian Benjamin at his campaign launch


    State Senator Brian Benjamin launched his campaign for New York City Comptroller on Thursday, officially entering the Democratic primary for the citywide position of the city’s chief fiscal officer.

    Stressing his finance background and work in the state Legislature on a variety of issues including police reform, Benjamin held a campaign event in his home neighborhood of Harlem, surrounded by supporters including several other elected officials endorsing him.

    Benjamin, who is first

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  • What's The [Data] Point? 8,200 - The Gowanus Rezoning, with City Council Member Brad Lander

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    Council Member Brad Lander (photo: John McCarten/City Council)


    What's The [Data] Point? Episode 97: 8,200 - the Gowanus Rezoning with City Council Member Brad Lander [You can download What's The [Data] Point? wherever you get your podcasts, including on iTunes]

    City Council Member Brad Lander joined the show to discuss the Gowanus rezoning proposal that is entering final stages of negotiation and the

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  • De Blasio Promised Another Charter Revision Commission; Electeds and Advocates are Ready with Suggestions

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    Mayor de Blasio (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)


    When Mayor Bill de Blasio said in late April that he was creating a task force to lead a “fair recovery” from the COVID-19 pandemic, nestled in his announcement was a brief statement that he also intends to call another Charter Revision Commission. But the mayor hasn’t yet convened that commission, which would be the third to be created while he has been mayor, the second by him alone, and hasn’t explained his rationale for it. 

    There have already been two

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  • Council Member Helen Rosenthal Drops Out of 2021 Comptroller Race

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    Council Member Helen Rosenthal (photo: John McCarten/City Council)


    New York City Council Member Helen Rosenthal, a Democrat from Manhattan, is dropping out of the 2021 race for Comptroller, she told Gotham Gazette in an interview Friday morning.

    Next year, the entire city government – the mayor, comptroller, public advocate, five borough presidents and 51 City Council seats – will be on the ballot. Rosenthal is currently serving her second term representing District 6 on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, and cannot run for reelection

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  • Max & Murphy Podcast: Council Member Brad Lander on the New City Budget

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    City Council Member Brad Lander (photo: Jeff Reed/City Council)


    July 1, 2020 - Max & Murphy Podcast: Council Member Brad Lander on the New City Budget

    City Council Member Brad Lander, a Brooklyn Democrat and 2021 candidate for city Comptroller, joined the show to discuss the new city budget, which he had voted "no" on just hours before this discussion.

    Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think -- we're on Twitter @TweetBenMaxand ...

  • Electeds Negotiate Uneasy Peace with Police During Tense Brooklyn Standoffs

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    Thursday evening in Brooklyn (photo: Ethan Geringer-Sameth/Gotham Gazette)


    A tense standoff between peaceful marchers and police on a brownstone-lined block in the Clinton Hill section of Brooklyn could have turned violent Thursday night, if it was not for the intervention of local elected officials on the ground who negotiated the peaceful release of protesters corralled by cops intent on enforcing the mayor’s curfew.

    What began as a large march that set off from Barclays Center shortly after the 8 o'clock curfew numbered in the hundreds

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  • 2021 Comptroller Candidates Offer Different Ideas for Addressing City's Fiscal Woes

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    The city's economy & budget are in free-fall (photo: Benjamin Kanter/Mayor's Office)


    New York City’s fiscal woes are worsening by the day as the COVID-19 pandemic has deprived the city of much needed tax revenue while likely forcing severe budget cuts that could be compounded by reductions in state aid. Though there is broad agreement that the best solution can only come in the form of a federal bailout, various other strategies and contingencies are being debated. And several of the candidates seeking to become the city’s next chief fiscal

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  • Pandemic Reinforces De Blasio's Inaction on School Desegregation Recommendations

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    Mayor de Blasio during a school visit (photo: Edwin J. Torres/ Mayor's Office)


    As the coronavirus pandemic further exposes deep fissures in the city's education landscape for low-income students and students of color, it has also further stalled Mayor Bill de Blasio's already-halting efforts to integrate New York City's deeply segregated schools.

    In the nine months since a de Blasio-appointed advisory group released its final recommendations on ways to desegregate and in other ways improve city schools, virtually nothing has been said on the

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  • First Citywide Participatory Budgeting Program on Chopping Block Because of Coronavirus

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    Participatory budgeting was due for a big increase (photo: Jeff Reed/City Council)


    A new citywide participatory budgeting program, whereby New Yorkers directly decide how to spend city budget money, was meant to be in place by July 1 but may end up being severely limited as the city suffers from the coronavirus pandemic and its multifaceted fallout. 

    Creating the participatory budgeting program was one of the core duties for the New York City Civic Engagement Commission, which was established in the city Charter through a ballot referendum in 2018 that was

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  • Jails, Affordable Housing and Other Capital Projects Delayed as City Grapples with Cash Crunch

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    New York City building projects are on the chopping block (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    The coronavirus fallout has created a severe cash crunch for New York City, forcing Mayor Bill de Blasio to slash his proposed operating budget for the next fiscal year by $6 billion, with more cuts likely before adoption. At the same time, the city’s cash flow problems mean that its capital plan, a four-year, $67.2 billion agenda that pays for crucial, long-term infrastructure like schools and roads, will also need modification and could mean some major changes to

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  • To Save Our Safety Net, Continue the Regional Coronavirus Approach

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    Gov. Cuomo with neighboring governors (photo: Governor's Office)


    Tri-state governors have coordinated to close bars. Now they must coordinate to close tax loopholes.

    Governor Cuomo has gotten a lot right in addressing the COVID-19 health crisis in the past few weeks. But at the state budget deadline, he has been far too willing to shred the social safety net that millions of New Yorkers rely on, and so many more will need as the economic crisis worsens.

    One thing he got right could

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  • New York City Must Act Immediately to Strengthen Our Nonprofit Social Safety Net

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    Amid coronavirus outbreak, the social safety net must hold (photo: William Alatriste/City Council)


    Daily home-delivered meals for home-bound seniors. Case-management to help make sure people have medicine and essential supplies, and reduce the harm of social isolation. Emergency food for people who are unemployed or homeless. Child care for those who still have to go to work.

    All services we utterly need right now. And all provided by New York City’s remarkable network of not-for-profit human service providers.

    These

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  • New Bill Would Close Loophole for Reporting on Independent Expenditures to Influence Ballot Referenda

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    Brad Lander and others in support of ranked-choice voting (photo: John McCarten/City Council)


    City Council Member Brad Lander, a Brooklyn Democrat, is introducing legislation on Thursday that would close a loophole in city campaign finance law that currently allows groups to hide their donors when they try to influence voting on a ballot referendum.

    The city’s campaign finance law is fairly robust, having been updated repeatedly over the years to reduce the effect of big money on politics, including independent expenditure groups that seek to sway elections. But

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  • City Council Pursues Comprehensive Planning Legislation

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    (rendering via the Mayor's Office)


    The New York City Council is crafting legislation to mandate the creation of a comprehensive plan for the city that would guide long-term decisions on land use, zoning, and investments in infrastructure. The effort is being led by Council Speaker Corey Johnson and Council Members Brad Lander and Antonio Reynoso.

    Last year, the City Council urged the 2019 Charter Revision Commission to propose to voters an

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