Gotham Gazette

The Place for New York Policy and politics

State

The Week Ahead in New York Politics, August 22


New York City Hall

New York City Hall


At the onset, it appears to be a relatively quiet week ahead in New York politics, at least in terms of hearings and events scheduled. Mayor Bill de Blasio is out of town for the week, heading to "family engagements" with his wife, son, and daughter in several New England states. And, the City Council has no committee or full-body hearings this week - it doesn't have any scheduled until after Labor Day.

Governor Andrew Cuomo does have an active public schedule Monday. After releasing a schedule with no events on Sunday evening, the Governor's Office sent out an updated schedule Monday morning that has Cuomo in New York City and Suffolk County. At 11 a.m. the governor will deliver remarks at the NYS AFL-CIO 33rd Constitutional Convention in Manhattan. At 1:35 p.m. Cuomo will make an announcement at IBEW Local 25 in Hauppauge.

Neither Comptroller Scott Stringer nor Public Advocate Letitia James has any public events scheduled for Monday. City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito did not release a public schedule for Monday as of 7:30 a.m. Monday.

Topics to watch this week that heated up last week have a housing focus: debate over the resuscitation of the 421-a affordable housing tax incentive program per state law and questions about specific rezonings that fall within city parameters. Gov. Cuomo is reportedly working through a new 421-a deal with real estate developers and the building trades unions - the expiration of 421-a was one key aspect of the dissolution of Cuomo and de Blasio's relationship. Meanwhile, de Blasio and specific City Council members were involved in some conentious back-and-forth this past week as two Council members are opposing rezonings that de Blasio favors - each would allow greater density through a specific housing development, but would come with new guarantees of affordable units therein.

Like the City Council, the state Legislature is quiet this week, but the Assembly and Senate are gearing up for water quality oversight hearings that will take place toward the end of the month and into September. The town of Hoosick Falls has been at the center of controversy due to poisoned water there and the state's slow response in warning and helping local residents. But, there are other places where the health of the water is being questioned and after a long delay, both houses of the Legislature decided to hold hearings.  

As for this week, there are a few events on the calendar - see our day-by-day rundown below.

***Do you have events or topics for us to include in an upcoming Week Ahead in New York Politics?
e-mail Gotham Gazette editor Ben Max: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.***

The run of the week in detail:

Monday
At 10 a.m. on Monday, the Department of Consumer Affairs will hold a public hearing on a new proposed rule. The DCA is proposing a change to the “Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act,” which would mandate “certain companies that receive at least one million dollars of financial assistance from the City of New York to pay their employees no less than a living wage.”

On Monday at 11:30 a.m., “Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, Council Majority Leader Jimmy Van Bramer, Queens Borough Parks Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski and Community Board 2 will announce $3 million in funding for renovations at Hart Playground in Woodside. This money will provide upgrades to the play structures, benches, grass, restrooms, and other facilities at the popular playground.”

Tuesday
On Tuesday at noon in Long Island City, City Council "Majority Leader Jimmy Van Bramer, Building Trades Council President Gary LaBarbera, and workers from the Building Trades Unions will rally outside of the G&M Realty site to protest a broken promise by G&M Realty, the site owner, to build using union workers. During the ULURP process, in exchange for the ability to build 400 additional units, G&M Realty agreed to several major community givebacks, including a commitment to build and staff the site with one hundred percent union labor. G&M Realty has since reneged on the agreement."

On Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. the New York City Department of Education will hold a meeting of the Panel for Educational Policy Contracts Committee.

Wednesday
Wednesday is the deadline for change of address requests for those planning to vote in the New York state and local primaries on September 13. 

At 10 a.m. Wednesday, the New York City Planning Commission will hold its biweekly public meeting.

On Wednesday at 5 p.m. outside the A-train station in Far Rockaway, "State Senator James Sanders Jr. will host a press conference (D-Rochdale Village, Far Rockaway) [to] announce that $12.94 million in state funding has been allocated for transportation improvements to Far Rockaway. This money was set aside in the 2016 budget for a multi-year state transportation plan agreed upon by Senator Sanders along with his colleagues in the legislature and Governor Cuomo."

At 6 p.m. Wednesday, the New York City Department of Education will hold a meeting of the Panel for Educational Policy at Prospect Heights High School.

Thursday
From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, State Senator James Sanders Jr. is hosting a "Foreclosure Forum" at Calvary Baptist Church in Jamaica, Queens, to educate homeowners about issues related to foreclosures.

Nothing on our radar for Friday as of Monday evening.

Saturday
"Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson today announced that his office, together with the New York City Police Department, is hosting a Gun Buyback event this coming Saturday to help people dispose of unwanted guns that they possess in exchange for cash. No questions will be asked and no ID required from those who turn in their guns." Clarendon Road Church in Flatbush, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

***
Have events or topics for us to include in an upcoming Week Ahead in New York Politics? E-mail Gotham Gazette executive editor Ben Max any time: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (please use "For Week Ahead" as email subject).

***
by Libby Wetzler and Ben Max
@GothamGazette

Cuomo Seeks to Undermine Comptroller’s Check on His Power


cuomo dinapoli flags state of the state

Cuomo, left, and DiNapoli, middle, in 2012 (photo: The Governor's Office)


Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s recent assertion that Comptroller Tom DiNapoli should “educate himself” and that the comptroller’s audits on state economic development projects are “dead wrong” and “opinion” drew a lot of attention. Many Albany observers took it as a sign of Cuomo’s growing sensitivity to criticism about his signature projects.

Those projects, like the Buffalo Billion, are the subject of a federal investigation headed by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. The state Legislature remained fairly removed from oversight of the projects until very recently. However, several government watchdogs say that Cuomo’s attacks on DiNapoli are part of a long-running pattern of Cuomo trying to weaken the comptroller’s oversight of the executive branch.

“The governor hates oversight and the governor actively works to undermine and weaken anyone who is keeping an eye on him,” said John Kaehny of Reinvent Albany, a group that has closely followed the Buffalo Billion economic development project. Kaehny noted that Cuomo and the Legislature approved a measure in 2011 that prevented DiNapoli from reviewing contracts at SUNY and CUNY ahead of time. “The governor has been undermining the comptroller from his first budget,” said Kaehny of Cuomo, who took office in January 2011.

A recent DiNapoli audit of the Empire State Development Corporation’s Excelsior Jobs Program, which gives businesses refundable tax credits for creating jobs in certain areas of the state, found that there wasn’t proper oversight to make sure companies were providing the jobs they pledged to create and that they weren’t simply relocating jobs from elsewhere in the state. Further, the audit found ESDC didn’t obtain the proper paperwork to justify handing out tax breaks to some organizations. Cuomo told reporters that DiNapoli’s audits on his economic development programs are invalid partly because DiNapoli is a former member of the state Assembly.

“The comptroller is not just the comptroller. The comptroller was an Assemblyman for many, many years. And that New York State Assembly, first of all, passed numerous economic development plans for many, many years,” Cuomo explained. “For an Assemblyman to now critique economic development programs in upstate New York - what did you do? What bills did you vote on? And how did you allow this situation to develop?”

When asked by a reporter from The Observer why he then put DiNapoli in charge of auditing New York’s homeless shelters, Cuomo responded: “You get in some audits the person’s opinion, right? ‘I think this about economic development.’ Some audits are pure quantifications: count how many people are in a homeless shelter. Go ‘one, two, three.’”

The combination of comments appeared aimed at undermining DiNapoli’s work and authority, and fit the Cuomo mold of punching back at critics, whether they are advocates, local elected officials, or the elected chief fiscal officer of the state, DiNapoli.

Empire State Development issued a detailed rebuttal to DiNapoli’s Excelsior audit that challenged some of its more damning assertions. ESD claimed DiNapoli’s staff failed to grasp how the program actually works and the mandate of certain statutes. DiNapoli’s office responded that ESD staff had not been cooperative.

Jason Conwall, spokesperson for ESD, issued a statement to media outlets after the report was released, stating: "Any truly objective review would show this program is cost-effective, performance-based, and incentivizes business growth by only providing tax credits to those that have achieved their job commitments and investments. The reporting requirements to this agency, as well as to the Department of Labor, are rigorous and companies have to demonstrate to ESD that they met their job commitments before any credits are issued."

The comptroller also recently released audits of Cuomo’s Charge NY program and of Medicaid. DiNapoli’s Medicaid audit found dead people were still receiving benefits.

Cuomo’s dismissal of the comptroller’s audits seems to discount the fact that the comptroller oversees an army of professional auditors that base their reports on figures and facts.

E.J.McMahon of The Empire Center, a conservative think tank, said that it is generally expected that there will be tension between a Comptroller and Governor and that it is unsurprising that Cuomo, who has a reputation for “ad hominem denunciation” over “the substantive argument,” is feuding with someone charged with monitoring him. Yet accounting for those points, McMahon said there is still something surprising about Cuomo’s animosity toward DiNapoli.

“Cuomo has exhibited a peculiar mix of antipathy and disrespect for Tom DiNapoli. It's hard to explain. After all, DiNapoli generally has been cautious and measured in his criticisms of administration policies, which reflects an institutional tradition in the comptroller’s office. He’s not exactly a confrontational kind of guy. If anything, DiNapoli seems to go out of his way to avoid taking potshots or unduly juicing up the wording of criticisms he does make..”

Representatives from Cuomo’s office repeatedly pointed to press releases of critical audits by DiNapoli’s office as salacious, saying they do not jibe with what is contained in the reports. During legislative hearings on economic development programs held earlier this month, administration officials quizzed on DiNapoli’s audit failed to provide detailed rebuttals, only indicating they did not agree with the audits.

Cuomo spokesperson Dani Lever said in a statement, “When someone makes false or misleading attacks, our administration aggressively defends and corrects the record and we make no apologies for doing so.” She did not offer comment to the assertion that Cuomo has worked to undermine the comptroller’s office. She also did not respond to a request to elaborate on what might have been “false” in DiNapoli’s audits.

In a statement, DiNapoli reiterated his role: "As state Comptroller, my office provides checks & balances and oversight to ensure that the state is working efficiently for our taxpayers. Government should always be working to improve itself. We have a job to do, and we will continue to do it.”

Cuomo and DiNapoli are both Democrats.

In October, as news about Bharara’s investigation broke, DiNapoli faced questions about why his office wasn’t more involved in providing oversight into how two SUNY nonprofits were awarding million-dollar contracts. He told Susan Arbetter of The Capitol Pressroom that Cuomo and the Legislature had taken away his ability to review contracts before they were issued by SUNY and CUNY.

Kaehny of Reinvent Albany said that it is important to note that these powers were stripped from DiNapoli as the Buffalo Billion program began to take off. “The governor has worked methodically to undermine and resist the comptroller’s oversight. His first budget stripped the comptroller’s oversight over SUNY Research Foundation, which has been essential in the unfolding scandals in what appears to be pay-to-play for millions of dollars of contracts,” said Kaehny.

Just as McMahon said, many watchdogs see Cuomo’s reaction to DiNapoli’s audits as concerning because they don’t believe DiNapoli has been as critical as he could be and has not hit some of the more sensitive areas of Cuomo's economic development programs.

At the same time they see DiNapoli as standing mostly alone as a check on Cuomo’s economic development spending given the Legislature has been relatively absent. “There is no question Tom DiNapoli has been standing alone on this,” said Ron Deutsch of the Fiscal Policy Institute, a liberal think tank. “The comptroller should be praised for doing his constitutionally-mandated job and the governor shouldn't begrudge him for doing it. The governor needs to learn to take the criticism along with the praise.”

Kenneth Giardin of The Empire Center agreed, “The comptroller has been picking up the slack that has been all but abandoned by the Legislature. The responsibility for oversight has fallen exclusively to the comptroller.”

In New York City, Comptroller Scott Stringer has released a series of troublesome audits of city government, which have painted different levels of waste, dysfunction, and ineffectiveness by the administrations of Mayor Bill de Blasio and his predecessor, Michael Bloomberg. While de Blasio has contested different points and looked to downplay the findings, he and his administration have not dismissed the office as one that simply delivers ‘opinion.’ Nor has de Blasio called Stringer’s work politically motivated, even though Stringer is thought to be a potential 2017 challenger to de Blasio.

Asked about the conflict between Cuomo and DiNapoli on Thursday, de Blasio said that he wasn’t familiar with all the specifics, but that the comptroller was asking “valid” questions about the efficacy of economic development programs and that he’s known DiNapoli to be a “a very serious public servant.” “And obviously the state Comptroller should be respected,” de Blasio added.

“The city comptroller does much, much broader audits,” said Kaehny. “When the state comptroller does an audit that looks at how the executive branch spends money they don’t pull back and ask questions about the bigger picture of nonprofits cutting million-dollar checks to campaign donors.”

Former Gov. George Pataki had a relatively cordial relationship with Comptroller Carl McCall despite the fact that McCall was a political rival. Former Gov. Mario Cuomo’s dislike for Republican Comptroller Edward Regan was not much of a secret - Regan was considered a possible serious challenger, though he never ran for Governor.

The New York Post recently reported rumors that DiNapoli could challenge Cuomo in a 2018 primary and capitalize on Cuomo’s weakness with liberal voters. DiNapoli dismissed the notion in an interview with Politico New York and said he plans to run for re-election as Comptroller.

***
by David King, Albany editor, Gotham Gazette
     

Read more by this writer.

Note: this article has been updated to include ESD rebuttal to the Comptroller's Excelsior audit.

New Study is Latest Salvo in Airbnb Lobbying Fight as Governor Weighs Bill


apartment bronx airbnb story

photo: Sofie Hecht for Gotham Gazette


As Governor Andrew Cuomo weighs whether to sign it, a high-stakes fight continues over legislation to regulate Airbnb, the popular home-sharing service. Before and since the state Legislature passed the bill this Spring, the related lobbying battle has touched on various socioeconomic factors including tech entrepreneurship, the sharing economy, affordable housing, organized labor, and more.

Airbnb is now entering into the fray a new study, previewed by Gotham Gazette and to be released Friday, called “How Airbnb Can Support Low-Income Communities in NYC,” which indicates that New Yorkers in low-income neighborhoods are able to supplement their earnings in important ways as Airbnb hosts.

The report finds that Airbnb listings from low-income neighborhoods in the South Bronx, Harlem, and North-Central Brooklyn are growing at a faster rate than in the city as a whole, and that Airbnb income in these areas equates to nearly half the amount of aggregate public assistance cash directed to residents (not including non-cash support like food stamps). Company data shows “significant demand for accommodation in these neighborhoods and that home sharing is already a critical lifeline” for many residents.

The report comes as some city and state elected officials, aligned with affordable housing advocates and the major hotel workers union, organize in efforts to convince Gov. Cuomo to sign the bill that would greatly limit advertising of Airbnb rentals in New York City and argue that Airbnb rentals harm low-income New Yorkers by contributing to housing scarcity.

The legislation passed by the Legislature in June (A8704-C/S6340-A) would make it illegal to advertise entire home or entire apartmentment rentals for fewer than 30 days—a type of rental that comprises the majority of Airbnb listings in the city.

Airbnb representatives and supporters, including some elected officials, have called the bill an overreach, crippling to an essential element of the modern “sharing economy,” and the product of undue influence by special interests, like the hotel workers union.

Such short-term renting arrangements have been illegal under New York City’s multiple dwelling law since 2010, but advertising them remains legal. If the proposed bill is signed by Cuomo, posting an entire home renting arrangement for under 30 days on Airbnb could warrant a $1,000 fine for first-time offenders and up to $7,500 by the third violation. The governor has said he’s reviewing the legislation, but he has not taken a definitive position, so lobbying from both sides continues.

Anti-Airbnb efforts are being led by the “Share Better” coalition - the group has received funding from the New York Hotel and Trades Council, which represents hospitality workers who stand to gain from a more favorable climate for hotels. Efforts are being run by executives from Metropolitan Public Strategies who have connections to HTC.

One key issue for the anti-Airbnb effort and the bill before the governor is how much public pressure to put on Cuomo to sign the bill.

Those in favor of the bill argue that commercial operators abuse Airbnb to make millions from illegal short-term listings, citing a 2014 report by State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman that identified 72 percent of Airbnb listings in the city as being in violation of the city’s multiple dwelling law. In essence, the argument is that New Yorkers have been running illegal hotels.

While the AG’s report uses data from 2010 through 2014, which Airbnb calls significantly outdated, proponents of greater regulation say the illegal listings have grown since and have a negative impact on the city housing market, including much-needed affordable housing.

In an email to Gotham Gazette, Airbnb spokesperson Peter Schottenfels responded to those calling for the governor to sign the bill by pointing out that 96 percent of Airbnb hosts in New York only rent out one home, and that 78 percent earn “low, moderate, or middle incomes.”

“By failing to truly distinguish between commercial operators running illegal hotels and average New Yorkers who occasionally share their own homes, the 2010 law has failed to root out truly problematic actors,” Schottenfels wrote. “In fact, an estimated 9,000 New Yorkers avoided foreclosure or eviction last year because of the money [they] earned sharing their home.”

In July, 15 members of the New York City Council’s Progressive Caucus sent a letter to Cuomo, calling for “stopping the proliferation of illegal hotels that currently puts affordable housing at risk.” A spokesperson for the Caucus told Gotham Gazette that “a similar cohort” of Caucus members are involved in additional organizing efforts, which are said to include a broader group of officials.

Council Member Helen Rosenthal, a Manhattan Democrat who is part of the Progressive Caucus and has been a leading voice calling for further regulation of Airbnb, told Gotham Gazette that she wants Cuomo to sign the bill primarily to stop Airbnb from skirting the existing regulations.

“Airbnb knows that hosts break the law on their website, and yet Airbnb won’t take them off the website, and they could take them off very easily,” Rosenthal said. “They could ask, you know, ‘Are you renting your whole home or a room in your apartment?’ If the answer’s a room in your apartment, then, fine. If it’s your whole home, that’s not fine, that’s illegal.”

Rosenthal added that she and other legislators have worked with housing advocates and Share Better, who all say entire-home renting is contributing to a citywide housing shortage, citing 8,000 units that would otherwise be on the rental market.

Share Better and Metropolitan Public Strategies, a consulting and communications firm, have coordinated to publicize hotel and housing special-interest groups’ opposition to Airbnb, with the firm's Executive VP Austin Shafran acting as a spokesperson for Share Better. In the past, Metropolitan Public Strategies' CEO Neal Kwatra has served as a director for the Hotel Trades Council and as Chief of Staff to Attorney General Schneiderman before founding the firm in 2014.

In recent months both organizations have written talking points for City Council members. Rosenthal has drawn on Share Better points and worked with the coalition on an op-ed against Airbnb. "Share Better and I work together because we align on protecting affordable housing. I appreciate depth of data analysis and research they bring to the table," Rosenthal told Gotham Gazette.

Share Better also organized a campaign at the Democratic National Convention, trying to influence the public debate around regulating Airbnb, which, like other aspects the "new" economy and disruptive "innovations" like charter schools, has divided Democrats.

Airbnb warns further regulation will do more to harm homeowners than protect them, according to Schottenfels, who added that the company has already removed over 2,200 listings that it believes could affect the permanent housing market.

“They rushed to enact legislation that would fine middle class people thousands of dollars for sharing their homes occasionally,” Schottenfels of Airbnb wrote. “The new law threatens everyday New Yorkers with draconian fines, even for renting out their own home. Meanwhile, it does nothing to target commercial actors by distinguishing their activity from that of responsible home sharers.”

Now, the new report from Airbnb seems to echo a key argument that was made by Uber in its fight to fend off New York City regulations of its car-hailing service: that low-income New Yorkers, especially people of color, are benefiting from its existence. The report focuses on certain low-income communities in Harlem, Brooklyn, and the Bronx referred to as “revitalization areas”—which generate about 10 percent of total Airbnb income in the city—and highlights that revitalization area residents can increase their household income by renting out their home for three nights per month, on average.

For his part, Gov. Cuomo has not yet indicated whether he intends to sign the bill. When reached for comment, a spokesperson for the governor told Gotham Gazette that the bill “remains under review by Counsel's office."

The bill has not yet been sent to Cuomo’s desk. The Governor has until January to sign all bills passed in this year’s legislative session, but once he requests a bill from the Legislature, he has 30 days to sign it, veto it, or let it die by pocket veto.

***
by Aaron Holmes, Gotham Gazette

Read more by this writer.

with reporting by Ben Max

Note: this article has been updated with additional comment from Council Member Rosenthal and clarification on her collaboration with Share Better.

Trump Could Tip Key Races for State Senate Control


Trump NY GOP

photo: @NewYorkGOP


New York State Senate Democrats have picked up seats in every presidential year in the past two decades. They’ve been chomping at the bit for Hillary Clinton, a former New York Senator, to head the presidential ticket, telling anyone who would listen that she would bolster turnout for them and win them swing districts, thereby securing them control of the chamber, perhaps for good.

What the Senate minority didn’t count on was the Republican presidential candidate being toxic to black and Hispanic voters and alienating a significant portion of his own base, giving even greater hope to Democrats for a takeover of the only lasting Republican stronghold in New York State government.

According to recent polls, that is exactly the situation Senate Democrats are in, and their optimism is running high. With less than three months until Election Day a Siena University poll released Monday found that in a two-way race, New York voters prefer Clinton to Donald Trump 57-27 percent.

Worse for Senate Republicans who hope to hold off Democrats in key races on Long Island and in the Hudson Valley is that Trump trails Clinton in both the suburbs and upstate by 11 and 8 points, respectively. “The top of the ticket has always had a major impact for us,” Democratic State Senator Mike Gianaris of Queens told Gotham Gazette, referring to the fact that more Democrats vote in presidential years than non-presidential years. “I think the top of the ticket is going to be a real problem for Senate Republicans.”

Scott Reif, spokesperson for Senate Republicans, sent Gotham Gazette the following statement: "Rather than hope and change, the entire campaign strategy of the Senate Democrats this year seems to be hope and hope. They hope that the Republican presidential candidate is a drag on the bottom of the ticket. They hope that Hillary Clinton has long enough coattails to sweep them into office. The Senate Democrats don't stand for anything and they have no vision for where they want to lead this state. We're going to grow our majority because we have delivered for hard working New Yorkers, starting with a $4.2 billion income tax cut that will slash middle-class taxes by 20 percent and a record level of support for education, including complete elimination of the GEA."

Mike Murphy, spokesperson for Senate Democrats, responded: “The GOP are getting desperate. This year will be a historic year for Democrats. The people are sick and tired of the Republican Conference that has blocked women's health choices, stood up for special interests and elected corrupt leader after corrupt leader.”

There are currently 32 Democrats and 31 Republicans in the chamber but Republicans maintain control with the help of Brooklyn Democrat Simcha Felder, who caucuses with Republicans, and the five-member Independent Democratic Conference, which has a governing coalition agreement with Republicans. The IDC appears to be in the process of strengthening its position and attempting to expand its membership in anticipation of Democratic victories. Meanwhile, leading Senate Democrats met with Gov. Andrew Cuomo earlier this month to discuss efforts to win the chamber, as first reported by Politico New York.

Cuomo has historically allied himself with Senate Republicans, at times promising support to Senate Democrats that never appeared. Some insiders insist the meeting shows that Cuomo sees the writing on the wall and that he will look to keep his influence in the chamber by utilizing the IDC. Several Senate Democrats said that Cuomo has shown more interest in supporting Democrats this year than he has since he was elected in 2010. Still, Senate Democrats say as much as they would like his support, they aren’t counting on it.

According to Democrats, political experts, and polls, Trump is driving away parts of the Republican base. The GOP nominee’s rhetoric appears to be energizing pockets of new voters who want to see him defeated. Eighty-five percent of black voters surveyed said they would vote for Clinton if the contest was “held today,” with only 8 percent saying they would vote for Trump. Seventy-six percent of Latinos surveyed said they would vote for Clinton if the race was “held today,” while 10 percent said they would vote for Trump.

African-Americans and Hispanics are two voting blocs that will have major impact in races on Long Island. Senate Democrats have policies that appeal to many voters of color, including criminal justice reform measures and the DREAM Act, which provides financial aid to children of undocumented immigrants. Senate Republicans have blocked these reforms in Albany.

Republicans charge that Democrats have been bad for the economy, namely for small businesses and job creation, and point to an MTA tax put in place while the Democrats controlled the Senate from 2009 to 2010.

Senate Democrats have recent precedent on their side as their candidate, now Senator Todd Kaminsky, won the highly contested special election for the 9th Senate District in April to replace former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos. Skelos was forced from office after being convicted on multiple federal corruption charges.

“We had a test run where people thought Trump would be a draw and what we found is more Democrats turned out,” said Sen. Gianaris, who runs the Senate Democrats’ campaign efforts and noted the special election took place when Trump was riding high on primary victories and had yet to begin to self destruct.

Doug Muzzio, professor of political science at Baruch College, noted that Trump’s impact on down ballot races is hard to gauge at this point given his nontraditional candidacy. “The question is, ‘Can he motivate people to go to the polls who haven't voted before, who have not been polled?’ And then you have to factor in that the more people know about Trump, the less likely they are to vote for him”

However, Muzzio said that it is impossible for Republicans to ignore the results of the special election. “Kaminsky was still a test case and the results mean they are in trouble,” Muzzio told Gotham Gazette.

Evan Thies, founder of Brooklyn Strategies, a political consultancy used by Kaminsky, said that the trend he is fascinated by in current polls is the declining support of registered Republicans for their own party. “The biggest problem Trump created is not for himself but for the Republican Party. The favorability for the party itself has plummeted,” Thies told Gotham Gazette.

Thies said that since Trump won the nomination polls have shown more Republicans dissatisfied and disconnected from their party while Democrats’ favor for their own party has grown.

“If the election was held tomorrow, Trump could depress Republican turnout,” said Thies. “You could begin to see a concerted effort for down ballot Republicans to disassociate themselves with Trump and create a local brand.”

The Siena poll shows that in a head-to-head matchup 81 percent of Democrats surveyed said they would vote for Clinton, while only 55 percent of Republicans say they will vote for Trump. Meanwhile only 24 percent of voters surveyed saw Trump favorably with 72 percent saying they saw him unfavorably. Meanwhile, 52 percent of Republicans surveyed favored Trump with 46 percent saying they saw him unfavorably.

Republican Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan gave a full-throated endorsement of Trump at the Republican National Convention in July. According to State of Politics he told the New York delegation: "I’m going to make this unequivocally clear: I’m supporting Donald Trump for President. I’m going to do so with grace, with diplomacy, with passion and with fervor, and I’m going to do it with New York style.”

KEY RACES
Like Flanagan and Kaminsky, Senator Jack Martins represents part of Long Island. Martins decided, however, to forgo attempting reelection to run for an open Congressional seat. He has not endorsed Trump, something many Democrats see as a significant indication of Republicans’ fear of Trump’s impact on important Long Island races. The race to replace Martins in the 7th Senate District is one of the top races in the battle for Senate control.

Martins discussed his decision on Effective Radio with Bill Samuels on Sunday, saying, “Thankfully, I’ve always run as an individual. I’ve had the opportunity through elective office to take stances on different things and people know who I am, so I’ve been able to use that and show through experience that I listen, I work across the aisle, I get things done,” Martins said.

Seeking to replace Martins are Democrat Adam Haber, a businessman, and Republican Elaine Phillips, who is the mayor of Flower Hill. Haber, who unsuccessfully challenged Martins in 2014, is leading in fundraising. Democrats have a 20,000 voter enrollment advantage in the district and held the seat from 2007 to 2010. As in other swing districts, turnout will be key, and that is where Clinton and Trump may factor in decisively.

Sen. Kaminsky will again face Republican opponent Chris McGrath. Running as an Assembly member, Kaminsky won the special election by about 1,000 votes. Democrats think Kaminsky will perform even better as the incumbent and with Republican turnout suppressed by Trump’s performance. Republicans hope independents, who couldn’t vote in the Republican presidential primary, may now vote for McGrath when they come out to vote in November. But the recent Siena poll shows independent New York voters favor Clinton by about 10 percentage points, though it is not clear how Long Island independents feel.

Longtime Republican incumbent Senator Kemp Hannon of Garden City, the 6th Senate District, is battle tested, having dispatched a number of strong Democratic challenges. But this year he again faces Democrat Ryan Cronin, who he narrowly defeated in 2012. Hannon’s district has seen steady growth in Democratic registration and he could be in danger if Trump depresses Republican turnout.

Republican Senator Bill Larkin of the Hudson Valley’s 39th Senate District also faces a rematch against his 2012 challenger, Chris Eachus, who he defeated by five points. Many observers wondered whether the 88-year-old Larkin would run for reelection as he has kept an extremely low profile in the district. Democratic registration has also grown in this district with registered Democrats now outnumbering Republicans 62,824 to 50,130 amongst active voters.

Thies said that one key trend to watch in Long Island races is whether Trump’s position moves the needle on black and Latino turnout. “African-American and Latino voter numbers should give Democrats a big advantage in key races on Long Island,” said Thies, “but in previous years turnout didn't match registration. Trump has now poked a very big bear. If we see even a marginal uptick amongst African-American and Latino voters Republicans could face a major challenge.”

Democrats are hoping to unseat Republican Senator George Amedore, of the 46th Senate District, who soundly defeated Democratic incumbent Cecilia Tkaczyk in 2014. But in this case, as in many others, Democrats are hopeful that their candidate’s performance in past presidential election years is a sign of things to come. Amedore’s district was tailor-made for him in the 2010 redistricting process, but Tkaczyk narrowly won it in 2012, when President Obama was re-elected. The district continues to grow more Democratic and the challenger, Sara Niccoli, has out fundraised him. Democrats outnumber active Republican voters in the district 61,976 to 51,850.

Some Democratic operatives expect that Trump’s cratering poll numbers and controversial positions could put dark horse races in play - races that Senate Democrats haven’t invested in as of yet.

One of those races is for Senator Kathy Marchione’s 43rd district seat, where Republicans lead Democrats 62,268 to 53,650 in voter registration. The district is home to about 15,000 registered voters unaffiliated with a party, known as independents. It may now be in play thanks to Marchione’s botched reaction to water poisoning in the small town of Hoosick Falls.

Marchione, a Republican, flip-flopped on whether it was necessary to hold legislative oversight hearings on the state response to the Hoosick Falls crisis, and at one point introduced an amendment to her own bill designed to help residents sue companies for water poisoning that would have basically killed any chance of it passing both houses. Marchione then reversed herself after major backlash from residents and environmentalists. The Senate is now scheduled to hold hearings into Hoosick Falls at the end of August.

Marchione’s Democratic opponent, Shaun Francis, said he isn’t concerned about how his race plays into the larger political picture, whether it be Senate control or the presidential race. “Having poisoned water isn’t a Democratic or Republican issue,” Francis said in an interview with Gotham Gazette. “The incumbent’s actions in session really opened a lot of eyes in the district of people who were concerned for their health. Regardless of whether they were Republican or Democrat people in the district saw that she is incapable of doing her job.” Marchione’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Republican Senator Hugh Farley, 83 years old, has represented the 49th district that is comprised of Schenectady, Fulton, Herkimer and Saratoga Counties since 1977 and will not seek reelection. Pundits see his hand-picked successor, Assemblymember Jim Tedisco, as a sinch for the seat, but Tedisco lost a 2009 Congressional bid to Democrat Scott Murphy despite running in a district with Republican registration advantage and having significantly better name recognition. Republicans currently hold a 67,924 to 53,012 active voter registration advantage in the district. Democratic challenger Chad Putman holds little name recognition in the district but depressed Republican turnout could make the race closer than expected.

Muzzio said he expects to see some Senate Republicans “disavow Trump” in the coming weeks if his current trajectory continues, but in Upstate districts Muzzio said he isn’t sure Trump will actually be a hinderance. “I expect in some Upstate districts we will see turnout for Trump higher than for Democrats,” said Muzzio. He also warned that the presidential race has already been so volatile that he wouldn’t be surprised to see the dynamics shifted by an outside force, like more damaging documents leaked about Clinton, or revelations from investigations into her use of the Clinton Foundation or of her home-made email system.

Thies said that despite the good news Democrats see in Trump’s recent poll numbers they are aware that there is more at play and more to do in the battle for Senate control. “Their position is looking good, but they still have to get their message out to voters,” he said of Democrats. “You will not see anyone taking their foot off the gas pedal because the stakes are too high and you could very well see down ballot Republicans utilizing an effective vote-local message.”

***
by David King, Albany editor, Gotham Gazette
     

Read more by this writer.

For Cuomo, Passing Ethics Bill was Urgent, Signing It is Not


cuomo state of the state ethics podium

Gov. Cuomo during his 2016 State of the State (via The Governor's Office)


After nearly two months, Governor Andrew Cuomo requested on Friday that the Legislature send him an ethics reform package he personally designed and pushed the Legislature to pass in June with the assistance of a message of necessity he issued to speed the process. The governor now has 10 days to sign it, which he is expected to do.

Announced by Cuomo late in the legislative session, the actual bill was then a mystery for days before being introduced in the wee hours of the morning on the final day of the session. Thanks to the governor’s message, the bill was not required to age the otherwise-mandatory three days and legislators passed it within hours despite mostly not being familiar with it.

The legislation deals with putting more scrutiny and regulations on independent expenditure campaigns and non-profit advocacy groups, known at times as 501(c)(4)s (for their tax classification) and Super PACs, which can support or oppose candidates for office, but not coordinate with them. The legislation requires greater disclosure of donors and donations, and gives stricter guidelines of who can work for the groups and what constitutes coordination between a group and a candidate.

“For the first time, independent expenditure groups and PACs will be required to adhere to unprecedented disclosure requirements, and New York will have the nation’s strongest rules defining and governing coordination and independence,” Cuomo said in a statement announcing an agreement on the legislation in June.

Cuomo has already received hundreds of bills from the Legislature since session ended in June and it has not been clear why he took weeks to request one of his own signature bills. Just before Cuomo asked the Legislature for the bill, spokesperson Dani Lever told Gotham Gazette, “We plan to call the bill down and sign it in the coming weeks.” 

The matter of prioritization for the bill-signing also underscores questions about the bill being necessary in the first place, but also issue that many took with Cuomo’s abandonment of other, more pressing government ethics and campaign finance reform proposals, many of which he had previously claimed to champion.

Many legislators and advocates disagreed with Cuomo’s assessment that the new bill required emergency action, saying that super PACs were not an issue in the major corruption convictions of former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, and other recently disgraced legislators. It was a distraction, critics say, from the real issues facing Albany like closing the LLC loophole, eliminating current and potential conflicts of interest, and more. Some say the bill seeks to stifle contributions to issue advocacy groups that campaign for changes to environmental, education, criminal justice, government ethics, and other policies.

Discussing the legislation, Robert Perry, legislative director of the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) said, "This is a complex regulatory scheme that requires nonprofits to report not only the donations they make but that they receive, as well as their communications on issues that are important to the public. This should be of grave concern to the public as it reaches out to groups that do not engage in lobbying or campaigns but work on issues that impact us all. The lobbying law is not a place to insert reporting requirements and restrictions. They are running headlong into constitutionally protected activities."

Cuomo put the bill on the table late in the legislative session after it had become clear that the majority of the ethics reforms he proposed in his State of the State address would not pass in the Legislature, especially the Republican-controlled Senate. Many have questioned Cuomo’s commitment to his reform agenda, which he held no events to promote. When announcing the new bill June 8, Cuomo gave a booming speech about money in politics at Fordham Law School, decrying the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision and calling his proposal a national model.

Before Cuomo even called the legislation to his desk, the Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) passed a series of emergency regulations prompted by the bill that will go into effect 30 days after the governor does sign it. Observers see JCOPE moving at an unprecedented pace.

JCOPE regulations would change the donor disclosure limits that currently require groups spending more than $50,000 in a year on an issue or on behalf of a candidate for office disclose their donors of more than $5,000. Under the new law, groups that spend more than $15,000 would have to disclose donors of more than $2,500.

Even more irksome to many lobbyists and nonprofits is the fact that the regulations are set to be retroactive for five months before the bill was actually introduced, going back to the beginning of the year.

“I am mystified at how an agency can push through regulations that are retroactive for a bill that hasn't even become law,” said Blair Horner of The New York Public Interest Research Group. “I’m not sure why it matters so much right now as [Albany] lobbyists won’t be at work until January and the Legislature is not in session right now.”

Seth Agata, executive director of JCOPE, responded to concerns raised by Horner and others in a statement:

“The timetable in the emergency regulations the Joint Commission on Public Ethics has begun promulgating was set by the Governor and Legislature in the bill that was passed near-unanimously. The regulations only become effective 30 days after the Governor signs the legislation which is when the law becomes effective – there is no retroactive application. By acting now, JCOPE has released these emergency regulations for extended public comment before they become effective, and indeed, before they even become permanent. The Legislature and Governor have clearly spoken and enacted a law that expands the disclosure of sources of funding, and imposes those new disclosure requirements as soon as the law becomes effective, regardless of when contributions were made. JCOPE must effectuate that mandate. ”

Issues of speed and timing are at play for other portions of the bill. As Politico NY reported on Thursday, 11 sections of the bill go into effect 30 days after it is signed. One of those includes language detailing what kind of interaction is forbidden between a candidate campaign and a Super PAC. Since the bill was not signed by Sunday, the rules will not be in effect for the September primaries, when all 213 seats in the Legislature are on the ballot. Some Super PACS have been spending in city races already.

Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan embraced Cuomo’s push, introducing the bill himself in the Senate. Both Flanagan and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, a Democrat, appeared behind Cuomo’s use of a message of necessity to rush the bill through. Such messages are supposed to only be used in the case of emergency as the three-day aging period is designed to give the public and legislators a chance to review a measure before it comes to a vote.

***
by David King, Albany editor, Gotham Gazette
     

Read more by this writer.

Note: this article has been updated to reflect the fact that Gov. Cuomo called the bill from the Legislature.

Cuomo Cabinet Boat Trip Highlights Campaign Finance Law Concerns


Cuomo Hochul Hudson

Lt. Gov. Hochul, left, and Gov. Cuomo, right, on the Hudson (@NYGovCuomo)


On Monday, the highest ranking members of the Cuomo administration boarded a boat in the city of Hudson in Columbia County and embarked for New York City. The trip, according to Cuomo administration officials, was strictly work-related. There was a cabinet meeting; strategy sessions for the Governor’s 2017 State of the State address, and inspections of infrastructure projects like the “New New York Bridge,” which is replacing the Tappan Zee.

It was formally called a cabinet retreat, and all of the administration’s stated purposes for the journey were government related, separate from any strategizing for Cuomo’s 2018 re-election bid. And yet the administration says the cost of the boat trip was paid from Cuomo’s campaign funds.

The use of campaign funds to pay for government staff to take a working field trip appears to be completely legal under New York State campaign finance law, but critics of the system say the law is too loose, including around blurred lines like the cabinet retreat. Those who want to see campaign finance reform say the current system allows elected officials to take in significant donations, including from entities with government business, and enhance their lifestyles by paying for extravagant meals, cars, and trips; and even legal defense in criminal cases as former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, and several others have done.

Critics say Gov. Cuomo should set an example and use campaign funds strictly for campaign-related activities. “We are old fashioned in that we think campaign funds should be used for campaigns,” said Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Research Group. “If the governor believes such a trip is useful then taxpayers should pay for it; if he doesn't think taxpayers want pay for it then he shouldn’t do it.”

group shot on hudsonThe Cuomo administration did not respond to inquiries about why campaign funds were used to pay for the trip and whether any campaign-related activities took place. State of Politics first reported the use of the campaign money for the excursion.

Administration officials did note that attendees included Cuomo; Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul; the governor’s secretary, Bill Murrow; Director of State Operations Jim Malatras; Cuomo’s counsel, Alphonso David; Chief of Staff Melissa DeRosa; and Budget Director Robert Mujica; among others.

Cuomo’s official Twitter account was updated with pictures of the event but photos were not archived on the governor’s Flickr account, where almost all events Cuomo participates in are chronicled.

Dick Dadey, executive director of Citizens Union, said that he finds Cuomo’s use of campaign funds to make meetings “more pleasurable” for staff preferable to some of what others have spent campaign money on, like making car payments and pool improvements.

“I think it is an allowable expense, even though I haven't seen it before,” said Dadey. “Our position is that campaign funds should be used for conducting campaigns. But there are exceptions where there is a clear furtherance of governmental activities; where it serves a clear public interest, and what the governor did would fit into that rubric.”

While Cuomo’s use of campaign funds for a boat trip for his staff is permissible under state law; New York City campaign finance law - seen by some as a model for what the state should adopt - sets out strict restrictions for those who participate in the public matching system. The boat trip would likely not be permissible under city law, according to experts.

The city campaign finance law states: “Expenditures for non-campaign related travel, food, drink or entertainment; if a candidate uses campaign funds to pay expenses associated with travel that involves both personal activities and campaign activities, the incremental expenses that result from the personal activities shall be considered for personal use unless the candidate benefiting from the use reimburses the campaign account within thirty days for the full amount of the incremental expenses.”

Horner of NYPIRG said one of his concerns about using campaign funds in the way the governor did for the boat trip is that it can lead to staff seeing donors as having influence on their day-to-day work.

“Campaign laws do allow them to use cash to further governmental duties,” said Dadey. “So making work more pleasurable by holding a meeting on a boat rather than a stuffy room in Albany is far better than what others have used campaign cash on, like legal defenses for criminal activities.”

To that point, the Cuomo administration has also been spending significant sums of campaign money on legal services as United States Attorney Preet Bharara has opened investigations into several former and current administration officials and the governor’s major economic development programs. A July campaign finance filing shows the Cuomo campaign spent $230,000 in efforts to defend administration officials and Joe Percoco, a former top governmental aide to Cuomo, from an investigation into the premature closing of The Moreland Commission on Public Corruption.

The Cuomo campaign paid $150,000 to the firm Morvillo Abramowitz Grand Iason & Anello, which represented the administration in the Moreland investigation, which eventually resulted in Bharara announcing no charges would be brought. The campaign paid $80,000 to Schulte, Roth & Zabel, the firm that represented Percoco in the matter.

Percoco is now one focus of Bharara’s investigation into possible corruption and bid rigging in the state’s economic development initiatives. He also carries a reputation for pressuring Cuomo donors for more campaign donations.

“That is a much-less desirable use of campaign funds,” said Dadey of legal bills that relate to government work, “because it is unclear what greater government purpose is being served.”

New York City law, by comparison, does allow for the use of campaign funds for legal defense in non-criminal matters that arise during the conduct of a campaign. But, city elected officials who’ve used public matching funds are not allowed to use campaign cash for legal defense in criminal matters. These lines are being tested as Mayor Bill de Blasio faces investigations into his administration as well as campaign related activities.

***
by David King, Albany editor, Gotham Gazette
     

Read more by this writer.

inset photo via @melissadderosa

Note: Gotham Gazette is an independent publication of Citizens Union Foundation, sister organization of Citizens Union.

The Week Ahead in New York Politics, August 8


New York City Hall

New York City Hall


What to watch for this week in New York politics:

August is hitting its stride and this week looks somewhat quiet on the surface, at least by New York politics standards. After a couple of weeks with no hearings, the City Council gets back into action, but only with a few committee hearings on Tuesday. The Council will have its lone full-body Stated Meeting of the month on August 18, Thursday of next week.

Mayor Bill de Blasio starts the week coming off a rather busy one - this past week the mayor celebrated students' gains on state tests, the planned building of a new YMCA in the Bronx, and continued positive trends in city crime numbers. He also announced the impending retirement of NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton and the promotion Chief of Department Jimmy O'Neill to the role. De Blasio also discussed policing during his weekly appearance on WNYC radio's The Brian Lehrer Show.

On Sunday, de Blasio and O'Neill marched in the Ecuadorian Parade in Queens. Then the mayor and O'Neill walked the Orchard Beach boardwalk and neighborhood and met with local residents and small business owners in the Bronx.

De Blasio starts this week with no public events Monday.

Governor Andrew Cuomo made several announcements last week in various parts of the state, including on expanding broadband internet service. He also defended his economic development programs when asked by reporters, just as his state economic development leader did so in front of an Assembly committee at a rare August hearing in Albany. Cuomo also has no public events Monday.

As always, there are several events to be aware of this week - see our day-by-day rundown below.

***Do you have events or topics for us to include in an upcoming Week Ahead in New York Politics?
e-mail Gotham Gazette editor Ben Max: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.***

The run of the week in detail:

Monday
At 10 a.m. on Monday, the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs is holding a public hearing on the “proposal to repeal and replace Chapter 6 of Title 6 of the Rules of the City of New York,” which will allow for the transfer of DCA adjudications to the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings as required by Executive Order No. 18.

At 11 a.m. at City Hall on Monday, there wil be a "where's our park?" rally, at which Public Advocate Letitia James will be among the speakers.

At 1 p.m. on Monday, the New York City Planning Commission will hold its bi-weekly review session.

At 5 p.m. Monday, Urban Youth Collaborative will hold a press conference on school discipline at High School for Fashion Industries in Manhattan. Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer is among those who will participate.

Tuesday
At 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday the New York Community Trust and Muslim-American leaders will host a breakfast briefing for journalists on a new effort to combat Islamophobia in New York City and throughout the country. The discussion at the briefing will be focused on counteracting negative images and rhetoric about Muslims and Islam in the media. Speakers include Shawn Morehead and Kerry McCarthy, Program Officers for the New York Community Trust; Linda Sarsour, Executive Director of the Arab American Association of New York; Tazmin Uddin, Youth Coordinator at Turning Point for Women and Families; Josh Seftel, film director at Seftel Productions; and Jaclyn Bishop, associate producer at Seftel Productions.

At 10 a.m. on Tuesday, the New York City Campaign Finance Board will hold a public meeting.

At 10:30 a.m on Tuesday the New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics will hold a meeting. The meeting will be made available to those who cannot attend in person over live webstream.

At the City Council Tuesday:

  • At 9:30 a.m. the Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises will meet to consider several land use applications.
  • At 11:00 a.m. the Subcommittee on Landmarks, Public Siting and Maritime Uses will meet to consider three land use applications.
  • At 11:30 a.m. the Committee on Land Use will meet to address applications and business considered by the the Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises and the Subcommittee on Landmarks, Public Siting and Maritime Uses in their meetings earlier in the day.

At 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. on Tuesday the Department of Consumer Affairs will continue its Open House Training Series with sessions on New York City’s Paid Sick Leave Law and New York City’s Commuter Benefits Law.

At 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña will visit a STEM Summer in the City program at P.S. 166 in Manhattan.

On Tuesday at 6 p.m., Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer will host a Dominican Day Parade Launch Reception at United Palace Theater Lobby.

On Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Gracie Mansion, "Mayor de Blasio and First Lady Chirlane McCray will attend and deliver remarks at the Annual ADA Sapolin Awards in honor of the 26th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act."

Wednesday
At 10 a.m. on Wednesday, the New York City Planning Commission will hold its bi-weekly public meeting.

At 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, the Brooklyn Historical Society will host Crown Heights Encounters: Listening Back, Moving Forward, an evening of discussion, performance, and reflection on the Crown Heights riot of August 1991 and Crown Heights’ past, present, and future. Topics of discussion include racial justice and urban renewal, and panelists include Errol Louis, host of Inside City Hall; Mark Winston Griffith, Executive Director of the Brooklyn Movement Center; Rabbi Eli Cohen, Executive Director of the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council; Natherlene Bolden, a Crown Heights Tenants Union member; and artist, Kameelah Rasheed.

At 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, the New York Urban League and the New York Urban League Young Professionals will host Black & Blue: A Struggle for Justice at John Jay College for Criminal Justice, a town hall meeting in which various New York City stakeholders will discuss plans for law enforcement reform. Speakers will include President and CEO of the New York Urban Justice League, Arva R. Rice; New York Urban League Young Professional, Stanley Fritz; Senior Campaign Director for the MomsRising.org Food Justice and Children’s Nutritution Campaign, Monifa Bandele; Senior Community Organizer at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc., Lumumba Bandele; founder of NoEqualityNoEconomy.com, Tamika Malloy; New York State Senator, Kevin Parker; President of Brooklyn NAACP, L. Joy Williams; and New York City Council Member, Jumaane Williams.

Thursday
On Thursday at John Jay College, from 9:30 a.m. to 10:15 a.m., "Alphonso B. David, counsel to Governor Andrew Cuomo, New York State Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte, chair of the State Assembly’s subcommittee on the oversight of minority and women owned businesses, and CUNY Chancellor James B. Milliken speak to more than 700 MWBE (Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprise) and SDVOB (Service Disabled Veteran Owned Business) owners from New York State and the Tri-State region at the eighth annual MWBE and SDVOB Conference on Contract Opportunities with the City University of New York (CUNY) and with the City University Construction Fund (CUCF)." The panel is part of a one-day conference, 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., which "includes workshops, boot camp sessions and – for those who have certification - exclusive meet-ups with procurement decision makers in various market sectors."

At 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, the Civilian Complaint Review Board will hold a public board meeting.

Friday and the weekend
No events on the calendar as of now.

***
Have events or topics for us to include in an upcoming Week Ahead in New York Politics? E-mail Gotham Gazette executive editor Ben Max any time: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (please use "For Week Ahead" as email subject).

***
by Libby Wetzler and Ben Max
@GothamGazette

Cuomo Makes Transit a ‘Personal Priority,’ Advocates Want More Funding Details


cuomo prendergast mta

Gov. Cuomo & MTA Chair Prendergast (photo: Philip Kamrass, Governor's Office)


Governor Andrew Cuomo has made mass transit a major focus of late, holding a series of events over the past year regarding airport redevelopment, railroad expansion, new transportation hubs and vehicles, and more. Early last month he described the Metropolitan Transit Administration (MTA) as a new “personal priority” and announced an effort to modernize the agency, beginning with the purchase of over 1,000 new subway cars.

This, with the accompanying significant funding allocation toward the MTA, is something of a change of course for Cuomo, who has a history of diverting money from the MTA. Now, the governor’s ambitious transit plan includes updating the MTA, repairing tunnels and bridges throughout the New York metropolitan area, building a new Tappan Zee bridge, rebuilding LaGuardia Airport and Penn Station, and creating a new tunnel under the Hudson river.

With federal corruption convictions having toppled two recent leaders in the state Legislature, among other former Albany lawmakers, and investigations into his own administration, Cuomo appears to have seized on a concrete, quality-of-life issue in mass transit that has also been brought into focus by the dire state of the state’s transportation infrastructure.

Cuomo’s commitment came after calls from transit advocates, business people, and lawmakers urging the governor to allocate funding to the MTA’s five-year Capital Program in the state’s budget to meet the staggering needs outlined by the authority. After spending $1 billion in the first year of the Capital Program last year, Cuomo agreed to provide an additional $7.3 billion last fall. New York City will provide $2.5 billion, and the MTA, a state body whose chair is appointed by the Governor, will itself provide $17 billion.

Cuomo did not finalize the spending plan for the Capital Program until late May, but has widely publicized his support of the program since. The state’s contribution to the Capital Program is included in the Fiscal Year 2017 budget, providing $2.9 billion in the coming year on top of the $1 billion provided in Fiscal Year 2016.

At a June event celebrating groundbreaking at “the new LaGuardia Airport,” Cuomo put the magnitude of his “$100 billion infrastructure program” on display, calling it “the largest reinvestment in New York’s infrastructure in modern history,” which, he said, was “long overdue.” A key part of it, the governor said, “is a $27 billion investment, largest capital investment in history in the MTA because that is going to be the future. Moving more and more people through mass transit rather than through cars and I am proud to be the governor who made the largest investment in the MTA’s history.”

While some transit advocates view the governor’s recent embrace of the MTA as a victory, not all are reassured by the promise of capital funding.

“It was a great win in many ways that the governor said he would allocate the necessary funding at least this year to the capital plan,” Masha Burina, an organizer for the advocacy group Riders Alliance, told Gotham Gazette. “But our major concern going forward that we still have and that we're going to be pushing for in our campaign is to get a sense of where this money is coming from.”

Burina said the push to secure budgetary funding for the Capital Program was aided by Assembly member James Brennan, a Democrat from Brooklyn, who penned a letter signed by 35 other Assembly members and sent to Cuomo in February. However, Burina added that Cuomo has not detailed how the state will pay for the capital program.

Without a new source of funding, the state—or the MTA—will have to borrow. The MTA is already over $35 billion in debt. Because one of the only revenue generators within the MTA’s control is passenger fares, Burina said she is worried going further in debt would make a looming fare hike to $3 even more likely (the current cost of a subway or bus ride is $2.75).

But the Fiscal Year 2017 budget stipulates that the state can only provide its share of the funding via a revenue stream or direct payments, which means no debt related to the state’s contribution to the Capital Program can be passed on to the fare-payer, according to Morris Peters, a spokesperson for the New York State Division of the Budget.

Peters also touted the $3.9 billion state contribution already signed into law as part of the past two years’ budget, pointing out that this places the state ahead of schedule in providing its $8.3 billion pledged contribution.

“Through the Enacted Budget, the state’s commitment of $8.3 billion in new funding for the MTA is now law. Anyone who thinks this isn't a priority clearly doesn't know what they're talking about,” Peters said in an email to Gotham Gazette.

Nonetheless, transportation advocates are likely to continue questioning where exactly the money is coming from and pressuring Cuomo as they have in the past, urging the governor to find ways to pay for the capital plan, according to Burina.

“It's great that he's come out and stepped up saying that these are his priorities, but we want to make sure that this doesn't translate into unsupported debt borrowing,” Burina said.

Several possible options for funding exist, but none have yet been embraced by the governor. One possibility is raising motor fuel taxes, which brought in $503 million for the state last year. But Nicole Gelinas, the Searle Freedom Trust Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, said raising the gas tax is unlikely to provide enough funding for the Capital Program.

“I don't think we'll get much from a higher gas tax,” Gelinas said in an email to Gotham Gazette. “We could double it, and take in another half billion [dollars], but that doesn't solve the MTA's problems.”

Increasing motor fuel taxes has not been endorsed by Riders Alliance and has drawn skepticism from elected officials who support increased transportation spending, especially since motor fuel tax revenue is expected to decrease by $9 million in the coming year.

“All our public policy is, quite properly, aimed at saying ‘use fewer gallons of gasoline.’ We want to be more energy efficient, we want to have less fumes and we want to have more miles per gallon,” Jerrold Nadler, a Democratic congressman from Manhattan, said at “On Transportation,” a forum hosted by City & State NY at the New School on Tuesday. “So the amount of revenue in real terms from the gasoline tax is going down steadily, and we have to substitute for it.”

Riders Alliance has, however, endorsed the Move NY Fair Plan, which would increase tolls in areas of high transit availability like major East River bridges and decrease tolls in areas of low availability, including bridges over the Harlem River. But the plan would generate “only” one billion dollars per year for transit projects through 2019, as well as $375 million per year for road and bridge improvements during that time.

“The Move NY is a much better plan, except that even it is not a panacea,” Gelinas said by email. “It buys us the debt for one five-year capital plan, at most. But we're now two years into that five-year capital plan. So what do we do in three years' time?”

As advocates continue to push for a source of funding for the MTA, Riders Alliance hopes to use Cuomo’s “prioritization” of transit to gain momentum for more specific causes they’ve spearheaded in recent months, including compiling a plan to support commuters affected by the L Train’s upcoming closure, subsidizing fares for low-income New Yorkers, and updating the subway signaling system, which would allow for expanded countdown clocks and more trains per track.

And while some have been bolstered by Cuomo’s pledge to be an advocate for transportation, others are less satisfied. New York State Senator Leroy Comrie, a Democrat from Queens who serves on the Senate’s infrastructure committee, said that regardless of its sources of funding, the Capital Program neglects parts of his constituency.

“I represent Southeast Queens, which is a transportation desert. The MTA five-year capital plan addresses no solutions for Queens other than repair and maintenance of the existing bridges that are there,” Comrie said at the City & State forum on Tuesday. “The project for LaGuardia was necessary and important, there’s no access for our community to actually get to work.”

***
by Aaron Holmes, Gotham Gazette

Read more by this writer.

Could ‘Third Party’ Candidates Swing the Presidential Election?


Jill Stein

Green Party candidate Jill Stein (photo via Facebook)


With the Republican and Democratic parties having nominated presidential candidates with record-high unfavorability ratings, this election cycle is turning out to be a choice between a rock and a hard place for many voters. Some, though, are looking elsewhere and still-early polling shows that this November could yield near-record voting for so-called “third party” candidates.

Those who oppose Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton say she’s an untrustworthy, calculating politician with cozy ties to corporate interests and Washington insiders; opponents of Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, see him as a sexist, fear-mongering, racist xenophobe with authoritarian tendencies. Though the United States has a political system dominated by two parties, Clinton and Trump aren’t the only choices, much to the relief of a number of voters. What that number winds up being could determine the election, the next President, and much of the future of the country and the world.

The third-party candidates in the 2016 race for the White House are the Libertarian Party’s nominee Gary Johnson and the Green Party’s candidate Dr. Jill Stein, both of whom ran in 2012 and are now going all out to woo those disaffected voters who believe that neither Clinton nor Trump is a viable choice for President of the United States. While no expert would argue that either Johnson or Stein will be the next President, voters choosing one or the other on November 8 could determine whether the next President is Trump or Clinton.

This year’s presidential election is likely to once again come down to several key swing states, and polls in some of those states, like Ohio and Florida, show a close race between the two leading candidates. (In at least one national poll, Johnson, former governor of New Mexico, polled in double digits, but in other polls both he and Stein were in single digits - a candidate needs to hit an average of 15 percent in five national polls to be invited to a debate.) There is concern for some that one or both of the third-party candidates could be a spoiler for Clinton in a swing state or two and skew the election in Trump’s favor. While the likelihood is minimal, experts say, it not entirely implausible.

A Real Clear Politics poll average has Trump at 41.5 percent in Florida, against Clinton’s 41.3 percent while Johnson takes 4.5 percent and Stein takes 2.5 percent of the vote. In 2012, President Obama beat Mitt Romney by just 74,309 votes or 0.88 percentage points in Florida. In Ohio, Clinton bests Trump by 1.4 points on average thus far; Johnson gets 6.4 percent and Stein gets 3 percent. In 2012, Obama won by 2.98 points in the state. In New Hampshire, a four-way contest has Clinton and Trump tied at 37 percent according to a WMUR Granite State poll; with Johnson at 10 percent and Stein at 5 percent. Obama won the state in 2012 with 52 percent of the vote, against Romney’s 46.4 percent.

Both Stein and Johnson have been encouraged by the high unfavorable ratings of Clinton and Trump. A Gallup poll conducted July 18-25 found that Clinton and Trump had equal favorability marks: 37% favorable and 58% unfavorable. Some believe the 2016 dynamics could create a situation similar to the 2000 presidential election, when famous third-party candidate Ralph Nader took votes away from Al Gore in Florida, the state which gave George W. Bush the presidency with a razor thin margin.

Nader addressed those concerns in a recent interview with the New York Daily News, insisting that a third-party candidate shouldn’t unjustly be termed a “spoiler” and laying the blame instead on the media, the voters, and the candidates themselves. A Florida-like situation is exactly what former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he was trying to avoid when he abandoned plans of running for president as an independent earlier this year. He didn’t want to run the risk of helping elect Trump, he said, something he affirmed by speaking at the Democratic National Convention in favor of Hillary Clinton and calling upon independents to vote for her.

The most recent CBS News poll had Clinton at 41 percent and Trump at 36 percent, with Johnson receiving 10 percent of the vote. Stein was not mentioned in the poll. Among independents, however, Clinton trailed Trump by 2 points, and Johnson received 15 percent of the vote.

A new CNN/ORC poll taken after the close of the Democratic National Convention shows independents favoring Clinton, with a 37% plurality, Trump with 33% of independents, Johnson wiht 16% of independents, and Stein with 8% of independents.  

Gallup polling shows that 42 percent of registered voters identify as independents. While at this juncture in the election cycle about one-third of independents may say they favor a ‘third-party’ candidate, support for such candidates tends to drop as the general election gets closer. (The latest Real Clear Politics polling data averages put Johnson at 7 percent and Stein at 3.2 percent.)

“One primary struggle in a year like this,” said John Hudak, senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution, “is not that voters are in love with third-party candidates. They’ve fallen out of love with the major party candidates.” Hudak contrasted Ross Perot’s insurgent candidacy in 1992, when he ran as an independent. “Perot did quite well because people liked his message. He was inspiring people. Stein and Johnson are not providing any inspiration for voters.”

Hudak doesn’t expect that the third-party candidates will have a significant influence and that people disillusioned with Clinton and Trump will more likely stay home on Election Day than vote for Stein or Johnson. Even in swing states he said the effects of a third-party candidate would be difficult to attribute and would likely have minimal impact on the outcome.

No one discounts, however, the strong possibility that third-party candidates will get a higher vote share this year than past elections. Stein appeals to Democratic voters, particularly former Bernie Sanders supporters who felt betrayed when the Vermont senator dropped out of the race and endorsed Clinton. Last week, outside the Democratic National Convention, she made attempts to win over ‘Bernie or Bust’ protesters who had walked out of the main arena. She has proposed a “Green New Deal,” a platform that skews closely to Sanders’. It includes single-payer health care, forgiving student loan debt, transitioning away from fossil fuels to renewable and sustainable energy, breaking up the big banks, and fighting income inequality, to name a few main planks. Stein has also built some name recognition. She ran in 2012 and received about 469,000 votes, which she’s hoping to build on this year. There were a few more than 129 million votes cast that year.

Gary JohnsonAlthough Libertarian Gary Johnson (pictured) has been seen as more of a threat to Trump, on social issues his policies correlate closely with Sanders, again perhaps offering a home for voters supportive of Sanders but not attracted to Clinton. Johnson, who also visited Philadelphia during the DNC, favors legalizing marijuana, is pro-choice on abortion, and supports marriage equality. In a recent interview with Politico’s Glenn Thrush, Johnson said of Sanders, “On the social side, we’re simpatico.” Johnson has also received more media attention than Stein and has a record as former (Republican) governor of New Mexico. When he ran for president in 2012, he received about 1.28 million votes.

Johnson’s other policies are far flung for Democrats. As a Libertarian, he wants smaller government that has a minimal role in people’s lives, not just on social issues like marriage and abortion. He wants to get rid of the entire tax code and institute a consumption tax nationwide. He wants to cut the Department of Education.

Nicholas Sarwark, chair of the Libertarian National Committee, told Gotham Gazette that Johnson is an easy choice for voters as the “honest guy” running against a “bigot” (Trump) and a “liar” (Clinton) who are historically unpopular. He’s not concerned that Johnson could pull votes from Clinton and hand Trump swing states. Although if that should happen, he said it falls at the feet of the voters and not the third-party candidate. “You’re supposed to vote for who is best for the office,” he said. “Not who you hate more or less.”

Part of the struggle for both Johnson and Stein, neither of whom was made available for an interview for this article, will be getting on the debate stage, which is crucial for third-party candidates to build name recognition and get media attention. The Commission on Presidential Debates, however, only allows candidates polling 15 percent in national polls to participate in the debates. So far, Johnson seems more likely to hit the mark. “They’re going to have a very hard time getting sufficient attention to register with voters,” said Micah Sifry, executive director of Civic Hall and an expert on third-party candidacies, in a phone interview.

Sifry doesn’t think the election will be as close as the 2000 race and doesn’t see a high likelihood that a third-party candidate could give the election to either Trump or Clinton. At best, he said, Stein and Johnson will split 6 percent of the vote between them. He does see Johnson receiving votes from disaffected Republicans and from the 10 percent of Sanders supporters who “were probably never Democrats in the first place.” He also said Stein could do better in strong “blue” states, which are overwhelmingly Democratic and “where people feel it’s a safe protest vote.”

Gene Healy, vice president of the Cato Institute, echoed Sifry’s views on the debates. “The name recognition on the national stage that access to the debates provides can be transformative,” he said, pointing out that Ross Perot in 1992 had only 7 percent of the vote in the polls before the debates and jumped to nearly 19 percent. Perot was added to the debate roster because George H.W. Bush’s campaign insisted on it, which Healy said was in hopes of tilting votes in Bush’s favor. “It can really rocket a former unknown into contender territory,” Healy said.

Healy said it was “certainly plausible” that third-party candidates could affect swing states since Trump and Clinton, “are the most widely reviled major party candidates in the history of polling.”

Should Johnson and Stein make themselves better known between now and November, they may at least drive voter turnout and encourage alternative discussion of issues on the campaign trail. “That’s part of a healthy phenomenon,” said Sifry. “You want people to have more choices. You want the major parties to fight for their votes. They shouldn’t take people for granted.”

***
by Samar Khurshid, senior reporter, Gotham Gazette
     

Read more by this writer.

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, such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida. Still, Republicans are saying that they think Democratic strongholds like New York could be in play this year due to the unique nature of the Donald Trump candidacy.

As for New York city and state politics, Mayor Bill de Blasio begins August with work to do in terms of the popular narrative around his leadership of the city and with several investigations hanging over his administration and campaigns. De Blasio has been out of town for most of the past two weeks - on vacation in Italy and then at the DNC in Philadelphia - and will now dig back into the community outreach and promotion efforts he'll need in order to improve his standing among New Yorkers. De Blasio starts the week with a press conference celebrating gains New York City students made on this past school year's standardized tests for grades 3-8 (scores were released Friday afternoon) - see below for details.

De Blasio is continuing to deal with fallout and criticism around the removal of deed restrictions on a property on the Lower East Side, which is becoming high-end condos after it had been previously restricted to a non-profit health-care facility. Last week saw more information released after the city's Law Department relented to the city's Department of Investigation, which had said that the Law Department had withheld key documents from the DOI. This week starts with Comptroller Scott Stringer releasing the results of his own investigation - see below for details.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has no public events on his Monday schedule.

Overall, it looks like another relatively slow summer week - the City Council has no public hearings again (committee hearings will resume next week, with a full-body Stated Meeting scheduled for August 18) - but there are several events to be aware of. See our day-by-day rundown below.

***Do you have events or topics for us to include in an upcoming Week Ahead in New York Politics?
e-mail Gotham Gazette editor Ben Max: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.***

The run of the week in detail:

Monday
On Monday at 10:30 a.m., Gotham Gazette's Ben Max will appear on WNYC's The Brian Lehrer Show to discuss the New York angles to the Republican and Democratic conventions.

Also at 10:30 a.m. Monday, Assembly Member Michael Blake and community leaders will hold a press conference at 1 Police Plaza: "On Saturday, July 30, 2016, Assemblymember Michael Blake of the 79th District in the Bronx was involved in a confrontation with New York Police Department officers. Assemblymember Blake states that officers used excessive force against him while he was trying to diffuse a tense situation between police and members of the community. Assemblymember Blake wants to provide his account of the unjust incident and demand transparency and action from the police department."

At 11 a.m. Monday, Mayor de Blasio and schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña will host a press conference at Tweed Courthouse to discuss New York City students' scores on the most recent state tests, for the 2015-2016 school year.

"On Monday, August 1, at 12:30 PM, New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer will hold a press conference at the David N. Dinkins Municipal Building in Lower Manhattan to release an investigative report on the sale of two deed restrictions governing the property located at 45 Rivington Street in Manhattan."

Tuesday
On Tuesday at 8 a.m. at the New School, City and State will present “On Transportation,” a forum bringing together industry professionals to discuss the future of New York transportation policy and infrastructure. Key speakers will include Matthew J. Driscoll, Commissioner of the New York State Department of Transportation, Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez, Chair of the Council’s Committee on Transportation, Senator Leroy Comrie, and State Assembly Members Robert Rodriguez and David I. Weprin.

At 11 a.m. Tuesday at Brooklyn Borough Hall, BP Eric Adams will host the New York City Smart Gun Symposium, “the largest-to-date gathering on advancing smart gun technology.” The event is co-sponsored by Washington Ceasefire and New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, and will include New Jersey Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg and former Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) officer David Chipman. Discussion will center around the latest advancements in smart gun technology and their potential role in reducing gun violence nationwide. Public Advocate Letitia James will give remarks.

At 12:30 p.m. Tuesday in Manhattan, Gov. Cuomo will make an announcement.

On Tuesday at 1 p.m. in Manhattan, "Chancellor Fariña will attend a professional development session for “SEP Jr.,” which is the first school-wide elementary school computer science program in New York City and will launch in schools this fall."

At 2 p.m. Tuesday in Manhattan, "Mayor de Blasio will deliver remarks at the annual New York State Financial Control Board meeting."

At 6 p.m. Tuesday, the Brooklyn Borough Board will hold its monthly meeting.

Events will be held all around the city Tuesday to mark America’s National Night Out Against Crime. Elected officials all over the city will be participating in community events involving local precincts.

Wednesday
A At 9:30 a.m. Wednesday in Queens, Borough President Melinda Katz and District Attorney Richard Brown will host a forum on hate crimes in partnership with the NYC Commission on Human Rights and NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force. Discussion will center around “the role of law enforcement when a hate crime occurs and how we work to protect the community.”

At 10 a.m. Wednesday in Albany, the state Assembly Committee on Economic Development, Job Creation, Commerce and Industry will hold an oversight hearing to review the implementation of the FY17 budget and its impact on the state’s economic development agencies and programs.

Thursday
On Thursday evening Brooklyn, Comptroller Scott Stringer will host a town hall meeting, according to Brooklyn Eagle, which reports the event will be "at the New York Aquarium Education Hall at Surf Avenue and West Eighth Street in Coney Island," that Stringer is holding it "in partnership with U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, state Sen. Diane Savino, Assemblymember Pamela Harris and Councilmembers Chaim Deutsch and Mark Treyger," and that it "is open to all, but will focus on issues of concern to residents of Southern Brooklyn, according to the Comptroller’s Office." Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

Friday and the weekend
Nothing on the calendar as of the start of the week for the end of the week.

***
Have events or topics for us to include in an upcoming Week Ahead in New York Politics? E-mail Gotham Gazette executive editor Ben Max any time: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (please use "For Week Ahead" as email subject).

***
by Amanda Sherwin and Ben Max
@GothamGazette

With Proposal, Advocates Attempt to Jumpstart State Affordable Housing Spending


housing rally

Advocates outside Gov. Cuomo's office Wednesday (photo via Coalition for the Homeless)


Housing advocates have done a job shirked by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and legislative leaders this session and crafted a plan for how the state should spend $1.9 billion on affordable and supportive housing over the next five years.

The governor and Legislature agreed to dedicate $1.9 billion in the April 1 budget, but negotiations on how to actually fully allocate the funds fell apart at the close of the legislative session in June. The details of the spending was to be determined through “memorandum of understanding,” or MOU, among Cuomo and legislative leaders. By the end of the session, they outlined $150 million in spending through two narrow MOUs, leaving a lot of money on the table and many people frustrated, including housing advocates and providers, local elected officials, and others.

Advocates, lenders, and developers now say the affordable housing pipeline has begun to dry up due to uncertainty about what the state’s priorities will be once a larger MOU is negotiated. This is one big reason that they crafted their newly-released blueprint for how to spend the money and why they organized another rally outside the governor’s office on Wednesday morning.

“We hope this will kickstart negotiations,” said Rachel Fee, executive director of The New York Housing Conference, a group involved in putting forward the suggested MOU. “All they have to do is sign this,” she said of the proposal. Other groups of the ten involved in putting forward the MOU proposal include the AARP, the Center for NYC Neighborhoods, the Community Preservation Corporation, Enterprise Community Partners, and the Supportive Housing Network of New York.

Advocates say that the state is missing out on 1,000 units of new affordable, senior, and supportive housing every month that the MOU goes unsigned. “People don't know what the state wants so the pipeline isn't moving,” said Fee. “Do they want elder housing and if so how much and where do they want it? So, it is very important they agree and get the money out the door.”

State cash will be used to subsidize the building and maintainence of affordable and supportive housing across the state. Exactly how it does that will be determined by the MOU. Supportive housing is designed to give homeless people, especially those dealing with mental illness or substance abuse, affordable housing paired with the services they need to maintain to live healthy lives. Some funds will go to maintaining existing affordable housing stock and neighborhood revitalization. Other funds will be used to assist the construction buildings of various sizes. Until the state actually lays out which initiatives will be funded and how much is to be spend on each, those interested in utilizing the subsidies either have to guess or wait.

Cuomo administration spokesperson Rich Azzopardi indicated that the governor is waiting for the Legislature to negotiate.

“It was the governor who advanced this unprecedented state commitment to affordable housing and, like these advocates, we’re seeking to get this MOU signed and this much-needed funding out the door as soon as possible. We urge the Legislature to join us in this effort,” Azzopardi told Gotham Gazette.

During a briefing on Tuesday at City Hall, New York City Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen, who heads the city’s housing efforts, said that it was “a tragedy” that the state failed to agree on a complete MOU during this past session. “I would be thrilled if they came to an agreement on what projects they wanted to fund,” Glen said, adding, “It would be a big tragedy for New Yorkers if the state wasn't able to put together a fully-funded affordable housing plan.”

Advocates say they are trying to avoid such an outcome long-term by presenting a plan that takes into account the major concerns aired by all sides during negotiations over the MOU. New York City, meanwhile, continues with its own affordable housing plan - the Tuesday briefing was called to inform reporters and the public that the administration is on track with its 200,000 unit, ten-year affordable housing plan.

Fee said that the proposal includes all of the priorities put forward by Cuomo and legislative leaders. The plan has a framework to provide parity in investments in housing upstate as was pressed for by Senate Republicans, including $9 million for main street revitalization projects and a measure allocating $100 million for roof replacements for aging New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) housing stock as pushed for by Assembly Democrats.

The administration was able to push $150 million in funding for supportive housing out the door before the end of session but advocates say it does very little to provide certainty for developers about the state’s future plans.

Fee said that her group is hopeful the Legislature could use the suggested MOU as a quick, ready-to-use starting point for negotiations to get a deal signed before “everyone goes on vacation in August.”

The groups’ MOU may not be the catalyst needed to move negotiations forward. Three legislators familiar with negotiations told Gotham Gazette that discussions have been tied to separate deal making on the expired 421-a tax abatement meant to spur rental housing that includes a set percentage of affordable units. Many legislators expect the housing funds will continue to be held hostage until a deal can be reached to replace or renew 421-a. Developers are anxious to see the incentive return to play, they say. On Tuesday, Glen and other city housing officials said that the lack of 421-a is hampering affordable and market-rate rental housing development in the city.

“Negotiations over 421-a got in the way,” said Fee. “They love to package things in Albany. We support a tax credit to boost the private market but we can't wait for a deal on that. They need to sign the MOU now.”

The coalition's proposed spending plan looks like this:

statewide affordable housing plan spending

***
by David King, Albany editor, Gotham Gazette
     

Read more by this writer.



Print Friendly and PDF

Editor's Choice


Gotham Gazette: New York Voters Approve $4.2 Billion Environmental Bond Act
New York Voters Approve $4.2 Billion Environmental Bond Act
Gotham Gazette: 
New York City Voters Approve Racial Justice Ballot Measures
New York City Voters Approve Racial Justice Ballot Measures
Gotham Gazette: 
Housing Development in New York City Slows to a Crawl as Officials Debate Tax Incentives
Housing Development in New York City Slows to a Crawl as Officials Debate Tax Incentives
Gotham Gazette: 
City Council Examines Low Voter Turnout, Moving Local Elections to Even Years City Council Examines Low Voter Turnout, Moving Local Elections to Even Years