Mayor Adams (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

Mayor Eric Adams’ campaign promise to launch the “MyCity” centralized portal for city benefits will soon become reality, administration officials told the City Council on Thursday. 

At a budget hearing held by the Council’s Committee on Technology, New York City Chief Technology Officer Matthew Fraser said that MyCity will be “rolling out in a few weeks,” initially offering a child care subsidy application portal before expanding to other city benefits.

MyCity was one of the signature proposals that Adams, a first-term

City Planning Head Dan Garodnick (photo: William Alatriste/City Council)

The acute staffing crisis at city agencies threatens to undo the many ambitious plans announced by Mayor Eric Adams, and has become the central concern for the City Council as it examines the mayor’s proposed $102.7 billion preliminary budget for next fiscal year.

On Thursday, at a Council hearing focused on the Department of City Planning, a similar refrain emerged as the agency currently faces a 18%

City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams (photo: John McCarten/NYC Council Media Unit)

City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, a Queens Democrat, on Wednesday dedicated her second State of the City speech to the essential workers of New York City who “kept going and kept us going” during the pandemic. In her speech Adams announced an agenda for the year ahead focused on “economic mobility, housing, and healthier and safer neighborhoods.”

“Workers run this city. They put the people of this city over everything, and so should we,” Adams said, speaking at the Justice Sonia Sotomayor Houses and

City Council Member Gale Brewer (photo: Emil Cohen/NYC Council Media Unit)

The New York City Department of Investigation has lost 86 budgeted positions, 21% of its staff, in the last two fiscal years, and is being hit with further vacancy reductions in Mayor Eric Adams’ proposed $102.7 billion preliminary budget for 2024. Those cuts threaten to undermine the agency’s work to root out waste, fraud, and abuse in city government, as it continues to handle an unchanged workload with fewer resources.

The Department of Investigation (DOI) is a mayoral agency with law enforcement powers meant to be

Budget Director Jacques Jiha (photo: John McCarten, NYC Council Media Unit)

City Council members repeatedly clashed with budget officials from Mayor Eric Adams’ administration at a hearing on Monday, pressing for answers about an ongoing staffing crisis at city agencies that has affected the delivery of municipal services. The hearing kicked off the weeks-long process of the Council’s public examination of Mayor Adams’ $102.7 billion preliminary budget proposal for the 2024 fiscal year, which starts July 1.

The first part of the

Mayor Adams and his spending plan (photo: Benny Polatseck/Mayor's Office)

In January, Mayor Eric Adams proposed a $102.7 billion preliminary budget proposal for the 2024 fiscal year, stressing the fiscal restraint of his administration amid various budgetary risks and uncertainties facing the city. But while it would be a near-record sum in city spending if passed as-is, progressive City Council members and advocates have called it an “austerity budget” that proposes cuts to critical services that will hurt the city’s most vulnerable populations at a time when the city can afford to invest more in its

Gov. Hochul and Mayor Adams (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)

Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams have a strong working relationship, one that they have repeatedly emphasized at joint announcements, news conferences, and speeches. It’s in clear contrast to their predecessors, who spent years squabbling over many issues, both parochial and consequential to New Yorkers. But with the recent release of the governor’s budget plan, the two first-term Democrats find themselves at odds over various cuts, cost shifts, and unfunded mandates for New York City that the mayor is none too

Mayor Adams and Governor Hochul (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)

As Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams, both first-term Democrats, double down this year on their focus on public safety and crime in New York, both have emphasized the need to give prosecutors and defense attorneys more resources to do their jobs. Both leaders have said the funding is necessary to abide by recent state criminal justice reforms and reduce court backlogs. But, while prosecutors across the state may soon be bolstered with more funding, public defenders say they aren’t aren’t receiving commensurate financial

Mayor Adams and top aides in Albany (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)

Mayor Eric Adams trekked to the State Capitol in Albany on Wednesday, testifying before the State Legislature on Governor Kathy Hochul’s $227 billionexecutive budget proposal for the state’s 2024 fiscal year, which starts April 1, and outlining some of his administration’s state-level priorities.

Mayor Adams and top aides at City Hall (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

New York City is expected to spend more money on education, public health, social services, and public safety in the next fiscal year than what was predicted three years ago, before the COVID-19 pandemic devastated the city and shifted its budget priorities, according to a new report from State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. But the new spending, including on recurring expenses, is possible in part because the city’s budget has been bolstered by federal pandemic relief, which will run out in the 2026 fiscal year,

(photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday released an $102.7 billion preliminary budget for the 2024 fiscal year, which begins July 1, stressing the importance of careful spending and good fiscal management amid a variety of uncertainties and challenges.

The mayor’s latest budget proposal is up $1.7 billion from the $101 billion budget that was adopted in June 2022 for the current fiscal year and down $1.3 billion from the latest budget modification in November, which projected $104 billion in spending by the end of the current fiscal year. At least

Mayor Adams and City Council Members Announce Budget Deal (photo: Emil Cohen/NYC Council Media Unit)

Mayor Eric Adams recently ordered most city agencies to halve their budgeted vacant positions as a means of cutting costs amid fiscal portents. The plan was not accounted for in the mayor’s latest modification to the city budget, released a week prior to the personnel order, and members of the City Council are incensed about the move. Already frustrated by the large number of city agency vacancies, blamed in part on Adams’ workforce policies, many Council members are raising red flags about further

Mayor Adams and Governor Hochul (photo: Don Pollard/Governor's Office)

New York State and City weathered the worst of the financial devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic thanks to billions in federal aid and a good bit of fortune in revenues from Wall Street and personal income taxes. But fiscal uncertainty looms on the horizon amid major stock market losses, warnings of a recession, ongoing pandemic workplace shifts, and federal relief funds running out, creating future budget gaps that will test the fiscal management of Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams’

Mayor Adams at City Hall (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.)

New York City’s municipal workforce dropped by more than 19,000 full-time employees over the last two years, according to a report released this week by State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s office, and there are currently more than 21,000 vacancies as city agencies struggle to retain workers and maintain city services.

Questions have repeatedly been raised about whether Mayor Eric Adams’ administration is able to accomplish its policy goals given

Mayor Adams, Comptroller Lander, & others (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)

In a letter to City Hall last month, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander called on Mayor Eric Adams to make changes to the city's procurement rules to prevent corruption and fraud in nonprofit human services contracts.

In the October 19 letter, Lander asked Adams to convene the Procurement Policy Board (PPB) to take steps to increase contract procurement for minority- and women-owned businesses (MWBEs) and address...

Mayor Adams at a City Hall press conference (photo: Violet Mendelsund/Mayor's Office)

Earlier this year, Mayor Eric Adams pleaded with the federal government for $500 million in emergency funding to address the “humanitarian crisis” of thousands of migrant asylum seekers who have arrived in New York City in the last few months. But despite the clear health and safety risk to thousands of people, who have the right to shelter under New York law, the crisis is not the type of emergency – like the COVID-19 pandemic or

Mayor Adams visits a school (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

After two-and-a-half years of a chaos and disruptions due to the covid pandemic and a change in mayoral administrations, many parents, teachers, and advocates were yearning for a steadier, supportive, and safe re-opening of a new school year, in which students would get the attention and the stability they need. Sadly, that  does not seem to be in store. 

The pandemic is not over, no matter how much one may wish for it. The covid test

City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams & Queens Public Library President Dennis Walcott (photo: John McCarten/City Council)

The new fiscal year 2023 New York City budget includes $452.8 million in expense funding for the city’s three library systems and research libraries — a $20 million increase from last year’s $431.9 million. Additionally, the City Council put another $15.7 million in operating funds from its discretionary monies, set to be shared among the three systems, bringing the total expense funding for libraries in this year’s city budget to $468.5 million.

That money helps operate

There has been a strong return to in-person entertainment in NYC (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)

The New York City economy has rebounded significantly from the depths of the covid recession but volatile economic indicators have left the city in a precarious position.

As of June, New York City’s unemployment rate reached 6.2%, down from 10.5% in June 2021. The city gained 298,600 private sector jobs from June 2021 to June 2022, reaching 3,951,000 jobs, according to the New York State Department of Labor. Tourism to the

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

According to New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, the city’s chief financial officer, “it’s a very mixed-signals moment” for the city’s economy.

On one hand, Lander said during a recent appearance on Gotham Gazette’s Max Politics podcast, the city economy is seeing increased job and business growth; while on the other hand, nationwide inflation is among the challenges now and into the

Jumaane Williams at the Public Advocate's Office (photo: John McCarten/City Council)

Two years ago, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams used an obscure City Charter provision to withhold his signature on property tax warrants in order to leverage changes to the city budget. The provision required both Williams and the City Clerk to sign those warrants before they were executed by the city. But the city went ahead with property tax collections nonetheless and, eventually, in March 2021, Williams filed suit that the administration had broken the law.

On Friday, State Supreme Court Judge Verna Saunders

Comptroller Tom DiNapoli (photo: @NYSComptroller)

August 2, 2022 - Comptroller DiNapoli on State & MTA Finances, & More

New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli joined the show to discuss state and MTA finances, the New York economy, use of federal pandemic aid, the Penn Station area redevelopment plan, the New York City budget limbo over school funding cuts, and more.

Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think, on Twitter @TweetBenMax. You can listen to the show through the embedded audio below or download

Mayor Adams, Chancellor Banks, and students (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)

The Trojan Horse called “Fair Student Funding” that allocates $10 billion of city funds to our 1,700 public schools needs to be scrapped. The attractively alliterative system inadequately funds the real needs of schools and, according to an unreleased 2021 Fair Student Funding Task Forcestudy

Max Politics Podcast: Comptroller Lander on the City's Economy and Finances, School Budget Cuts, & More

Community composting (photo: William Alatriste/City Council)

When Mayor Eric Adams was running for City Hall, he pledged to expand the city’s incipient residential curbside composting program. But despite a push for more by some City Council members, the recently approved $101 billion budget for next fiscal year, beginning July 1, only marginally increases funding for other composting programs while halting the promised expansion of residential curbside composting. 

The city’s voluntary curbside composting program has moved forward in fits and starts. Organics account for about a third of