What's The [Data] Point? Episode 112 -- 47, with NYC Comptroller-Elect Brad Lander [You can download What's The [Data] Point? wherever you get your podcasts, including on iTunes]

47 is the number of people who will have held the office of New York Comptroller once Brad Lander is sworn in on January 1, 2022. At a breakfast with CBC Trustees, President Andrew Rein sat down for a wide-ranging conversation with the Comptroller-elect, covering subjects including risks to New York’s budget, contracting reform, rezoning, and

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

The New York City Comptroller is an investment advisor and fiduciary for New York City’s $266 billion public pension system that serves 700,000 current and former teachers, firefighters, health care workers, police officers, and other retired city employees.

Brad Lander, the Democratic nominee for Comptroller, is all but certain to win the general election this fall in the overwhelmingly Democratic city after prevailing in a competitive primary earlier this year. If successful,

A protest to push for New York pension system divestment from fossil fuel stocks (photo: @350)

The oil and gas industries are experiencing significant upheaval as the coronavirus pandemic decimates economies across the globe. The price of crude oil in the United States temporarily fell below $0 per barrel for the first time ever last month, prompting renewed energy among activists and elected officials in New York who want to rid the state pension fund of all investments in the fossil fuel industry.

But the one person they must convince, State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli,

Mayor de Blasio & Comptroller Stringer (photo: Benjamin Kanter/Mayor's Office)

Amid the larger discussion about addressing climate change before it’s too late, debate is raging in New York over whether government-run and -affiliated pension funds worth hundreds of billions of dollars and responsible for payments that support hundreds of thousands of retirees should divest from fossil fuel company stock.

Advocates, elected officials, and others have been pushing at the city and state levels for full divestment so that the pension funds

What's The [Data] Point? Episode 44 -- $225 million, with Comptroller Scott Stringer [You can download What's The [Data] Point? wherever you get your podcasts, including on iTunes]

City

What's The Data Point? Episode 7 -- 2008, [You can download What's The Data Point? wherever you get your podcasts, including on iTunes]

For this episode of the podcast we spoke with John Breit, a CBC Trustee, PhD Physicist, and former risk adviser to Merrill Lynch and the New York City Comptroller’s Office for the pension funds. Breit had a front row view of the economic collapse of 2008 and is an expert on the city's pension system, which is an essential piece of the city's fiscal health. In our discussion,