Gotham Gazette

The Place for New York Policy and politics

Kevin Riley

Kevin Riley

  • City Council's Black, Latino, and Asian Caucus Releases City Budget Priorities

    Council Speaker Adams with BLAC members (photo: Emil Cohen/NYC Council)


    As Mayor Eric Adams prepares to release his executive budget proposal, the New York City Council's Black, Latino, and Asian Caucus (BLAC) is making a push for investments in education, economic mobility, housing, and health care in neighborhoods of color.

    The BLAC, co-chaired by Council Members Kevin Riley and Oswald Feliz, two Bronx Democrats, includes 34 out of 51 members on the City Council, giving it significant influence in legislative matters and city budget negotiations. Council Speaker Adrienne Adams is an ex-officio

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  • With 16% Vacancy Rate, City Planning Department ‘Laser Focused’ on Staffing to Advance 'Ambitious' Agenda

    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%

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  • Could 2023 Finally See Movement on New York City Property Tax Reform?

    Housing (photo: Edwin J. Torres/Mayoral Photography Office)


    It’s been well over a year since Mayor Eric Adams promised, on the campaign trail, to “immediately” form a committee to "come up with real solutions" to make New York's property tax system more fair and equitable. But Adams never formed the committee and he has not made property tax reform a priority in his first 13 months as mayor.

    After 40 years of lawsuits, commissions, and half-hearted efforts at property tax reform, there is limited optimism for wholesale change,

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  • Mayor Adams Misses Campaign Promise to ‘Immediately' Take On Property Tax Inequities

    Mayor Adams with Budget Director Jiha & Chief of Staff Varlack (photo: Benny Polatseck/Mayor's Office)


    When he was running for mayor in 2021, then-Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams promised that, if elected, in his first year he would "finally" tackle a particularly thorny area of city finance that impacts all New Yorkers: property taxes. As he takes the stage to deliver his second State of the City address on Thursday, the mayor has made no apparent progress on this significant campaign promise.

    Virtually everyone agrees New York City's property tax system is irrational and unfair,

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  • Imminent City Council Special Election in the Bronx is a Two-Candidate Race

    City Council Andy King special

    Former Council Member Andy King (photo: William Alatriste/City Council)


    The ouster of Andy King from the New York City Council in October over repeated ethics violations triggered a special election that moved up the timeline for the race to replace King, who was term-limited but then expelled by his colleagues, from the standard 2021 election dates to this month. The race will effectively be the first of the 2021 city election cycle, when all of city government will be on the ballot, and could provide interesting initial bread crumbs about where the

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