The NYC pay phone of the future (photo: DoITT)

NEW YORK—Officials from City Hall put on a full court press on Monday in their effort to get the contract approved that will turn the city's outdated pay phones into modern Wi-Fi hotspots.

Mayor Bill de Blasio's technology team gave its final presentation to the Franchise and Concession Review Committee (FCRC) in front of a filled-to-capacity auditorium near City Hall. The City needs the six member board to approve the new 12-to-15 year contract agreement by Wednesday to avoid having to go to the City Council for a new authorizing resolution, which could take months.

Hours before the the FCRC meeting the de Blasio administration sent members of the media a lengthy list of quotes from high profile officials and leaders in business and technology showcasing support for the proposed contract.

The presentation to the FCRC was given by a trio of officials including Counsel to the Mayor Maya Wiley. The mayor tapped her to lead the way on expanding internet access to all New Yorkers and the payphone Wi-Fi deal has been billed as an integral piece of that puzzle.

The City's presentation was very similar to the one made at the unveiling of the franchise winner on November 17. Speakers highlighted that the agreement will lead to hubs, known as "links," that will provide free calls to anywhere in the United States, free Wi-Fi access, charging stations, and, most importantly, high-speed internet to the neediest New Yorkers.

"This would be unprecedented, putting NYC at the forefront of innovation," Minerva Tantoco, the City's first Chief Technology Officer said.

On Monday, city officials revealed a little about the contractor selection process, saying that the winning bidder, CityBridge - a consortium of companies including Titan, Control Group, Qualcomm Incorporated, and Comark - submitted the strongest proposal of any of the seven bidders.

"No other proposal could match the strength of experience of the NYC-based CityBridge Consortium and their partners," said Anne Roest, commissioner of the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT).

Roest added that CityBridge also provided the highest-rated advertising plan, promising $200 million more in ad revenue than any other proposal. Later during public comment, Wiley mentioned this money could be used to help expand home internet access to poorer communities in the future.

Overall the public comments were in support of the franchise agreement, with only a handful of dissenters. A representative from Public Advocate Letitia James' office read a statement that urged the FCRC to reject the proposal as written. The representative said that while James supports the idea, she believes the City circumvented the Council's authority by not asking for a new authorizing resolution. In addition, James believes the agreement allows a monopoly, something that would violate the Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996.

"The competitive advantage and monopolization of services will leave New Yorkers beholden to one entity without the benefit of a competitive marketplace," the statement said.

The City has argued (and did again at Monday's hearing) that the franchise agreement does not create a monopoly because it is not an exclusive agreement. The winner of the RFP is a consortium of companies and in 12 years the City will have the option to add another company (or group of companies) if it so chooses.

James was the only public official to directly ask the FCRC to reject the contract. None of the 28 city council members who penned a letter to Mayor de Blasio earlier this year voicing their concerns about the possibility of the franchise being a monopoly testified or sent a representative to testify against the franchise agreement.

Telebeam, a company which currently owns roughly 700 pay phones in New York City, but lost its bid for the franchise agreement, also asked the FCRC to reject the contract. The company filed a suit against the City on Dec. 4, claiming the agreement is a monopoly and in violation of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

Representatives from the borough presidents' offices and the city comptroller's office peppered de Blasio administration officials about how evenly the highest access internet speeds would be distributed among the boroughs. A Nov. 24 New York Daily News article slammed the administration saying the franchise agreement would only give the highest speed service (1GB) to richer neighborhoods where advertising revenue could be best generated.

During her opening remarks, Wiley offered some clarification in hopes of easing the worries of the electeds. She said her legal team reviewed the contract, "to make clear there is no relationship between the existence of advertising panels on a structure and the speeds offered by that hotspot."

Wiley said the contract will require 95 percent of the first 4,000 pay phones offer 1GB speed, the highest offered in the LinkNYC system. These 4,000 structures will replace the current pay phones, which are located throughout all five boroughs.

She also pressed that the decision to offer 1GB speeds would be based on the availability of fiber-optic cable, not location. Areas not getting 1GB speeds will still receive 100 megabit speed, which is nearly double the average home internet speeds in New York City.

"It will ensure that no matter ones' income level, one's neighborhood, all New Yorkers can get on this high-speed network in and crossing all five boroughs," Wiley said.

City Comptroller Scott Stringer and the five borough presidents issued a strongly worded statement last Wednesday, Dec. 3, expressing concerns over perceived inequities in the plan.

It appears the changes the City made to the contract between the time the Daily News article was published and Monday's hearing pacified those concerns. A representative from Stringer's office read a statement from the comptroller at the hearing which mentioned—without going into specifics—some "flagged issues," but including that his office was "working with City Hall to resolve" them. He did not recommend voting against the contract.

The FCRC will meet again on Wednesday, Dec. 10, to officially vote on the franchise agreement. If approved, CityBridge will begin negotiations with current pay phone owners to take over their structures.

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by Kristen Meriwether, Gotham Gazette
@MeriwetherK

New York City Hall

What to watch for this week in New York politics:

We're continuing to watch this week for whether or not New York legislators will be called to Albany for a special session aimed at passing pay increases for lawmakers and, perhaps, passing other bills in conjunction. There is a slate of State Assembly committee hearings this week.

This week attention will stay on the fallout from the Staten Island grand jury decision not to indict Police Officer Daniel Pantaleo in the death of Eric Garner. Protests continued throughout the weekend after two very busy nights of action on Wednesday and Thursday, the first two nights after the decision was announced. More action took place (in New York City and around the country and world) on Sunday evening and there is a protest set to take place on Monday evening at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, which could prove very interesting and impactful as the royal couple William and Kate are in New York and heading to a basketball game at Barclays on Monday night.

Mayor Bill de Blasio continues to walk a difficult line, expressing somewhat vague disappointment with the grand jury decision, supporting those who wish to protest the decision, and speaking highly of Police Commissioner Bill Bratton and the NYPD in general. De Blasio will continue to face tough questions. Meanwhile, police officers in a few precincts are beginning a pilot program of wearing body cameras to record interactions with civilians and the NYPD continues to move forward on the much-touted retraining of officers that de Blasio, Bratton, and others detailed at two different events this past week.

De Blasio continued to walk the aforementioned line during a nationally-televised appearance on ABC Sunday morning. The mayor's Sunday also included "meetings with Seattle Mayor Ed Murray and San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee" and "the Immigration Summit Welcome Reception," according to his public schedule. The reception was set to take place at City Hall Sunday evening, with the summit itself on Monday at Gracie Mansion. De Blasio and 20 Democratic mayors from around the country will be discussing how to best adjust to President Obama's recent executive action around undocumented immigrants and to discuss ways to coalesce and push Congress for immigration reform. More details below.

Meanwhile, Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson announced he will convene a grand jury to examine the death of Akai Gurley, an unarmed black man shot and killed by a police officer in the stairwell of a Brooklyn public housing building.

Monday is also set to see the introduction to the City Council of two bills related to chokeholds being sponsored by Council Member Rory Lancman.

The City Council is also set to see the introduction of Council Member Danny Dromm's bill to ban horse-drawn carriages in New York City, legislation being pushed by Mayor de Blasio, as you've undoubtedly heard.

Comptroller Scott Stringer starts his week with a Google Hangout on FlexTime (details below) and a 7:15 p.m. appearance on Al Jazeera America's Real Money with Ali Velshi. Public Advocate Letitia James will attend a press conference with Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on Monday afternoon and then take her usual place presiding over the City Council's Stated Meeting.

And, as mentioned, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (William and Kate) are in the U.S., with much of their trip centered in New York, where they will spend parts of several days and participate in a variety of events, including visits to youth organizations and a number of celebrations, announcements, and learning opportunities, according to this royal press release. More details below.

As usual, there's a great deal happening at the City Council, starting with Monday's full-body Stated Meeting, and much more to be aware of as the week gets going...

The run of the week in more detail:

Monday
Monday will feature the aforementioned immigration policy summit of Democratic mayors host by Mayor de Blasio at Gracie Mansion. There will also be other relevant meetings among staff members of some of those mayors on Monday. According to the mayor's public schedule, "On Monday, Mayor Bill de Blasio will host the Mayors Immigration Implementation Summit at Gracie Mansion. With Mayors and senior representatives from over a dozen cities attending, this summit is a part of a wider effort by the Coalition United for Immigration Action to coordinate implementation of President Obama's Executive Actions on immigration and strategize on how cities can effectively push for comprehensive immigration reform."

And, "in the evening, the Mayor will attend The Nation's Institute Gala Dinner Reception in Manhattan."

Monday at 1 p.m., a Google Hangout via the Comptroller's office: "Join Working Mother magazine's Carol Evans (@CarolEvansWM) and Jennifer Owens (@working_mother) and NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer (@scottmstringer) as they talk about Right to Request Flex laws and the role that public policy can play in supporting flexible work."

"With Record Homelessness, Councilmembers and Advocates to Call for Urgent Action on NY-NY IV Supportive Housing Agreement," according to a press release. "City Council Resolution Will Call on Governor and Mayor to Reach Urgently Needed Deal to Create Housing for Thousands Living with Disabilities and Mental Illness." There will be a rally at noon at City Hall on Monday featuring "Councilmember Stephen Levin, Chair of the General Welfare Committee, Other Councilmembers, Advocates from the Campaign 4 NY/NY Housing..in support of a resolution calling for a fourth NY-NY Agreement to create permanent supportive housing as record homelessness continues to grow."

Monday's City Council schedule will include: a meeting of the Committee on Housing and Buildings to examine a new bill on "Conforming the NYC energy conservation code to the NYS energy code with amendments unique to construction in the city and repealing section 28-1001.2 in relation thereto"; a meeting of the Committee on Finance on a new bill relating to "Authorizing an increase in the amount to be expended annually in ten business improvement districts" and to review proposed land use applications; the typical pre-Stated press conference led by Speaker Mark-Viverito and then the City Council Stated Meeting at 1:30 p.m.

Police Reform Organizing Project - PROP - will hold a meeting to "discuss and plan...collective next steps to move forward a sweeping police reform agenda" on Monday evening.

Monday evening will also see the fifth annual Preston Robert Tisch Award In Civic Leadership, honoring Congressman John Lewis for his lifelong dedication "to protecting human rights, securing civil liberties, and building what he calls "The Beloved Community.""

Council Member Corey Johnson hosts a forum on Bike Safety at 1199 SEIU on Monday evening.

New Yorkers Against Gun Violence (NYAGV) will host "Guns and Domestic Violence: A Lethal Combination" on Monday. Featured speakers to include: New York State Assemblywoman Amy Paulin; Manhattan Borough president Gale Brewer; Commissioner, Mayor's Office to Combat Domestic Violence, Rose Pierre-Louis, and others.

On Monday, "The Duchess of Cambridge will carry out two engagements in New York while The Duke visits Washington. Her Royal Highness will be accompanied by The First Lady of New York City, Chirlane McCray, on a visit to a local child development centre. They will learn about how this organisation fosters the healthy development of children and families by providing high-quality mental health and educational services, which is an issue strongly supported by The First Lady. Her Royal Highness will also attend a lunch, hosted by the British Consul General in New York, to celebrate the achievements of a successful British community in New York from the culture, arts, hospitality and business sectors.

"On Monday evening, Their Royal Highnesses will attend an NBA Basketball game to help launch a new collaboration between the Royal Foundation, United for Wildlife and the NBA."

Tuesday
Tuesday morning, ABNY will host Police Commissioner Bratton for a breakfast event addressing the commissioner's "efforts to improve public safety in New York."

On Tuesday morning, "New York City Public Advocate Letitia James will be the keynote speaker for the fourth edition of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce's popular Newsmakers series. This will be Public Advocate James' first significant address to Brooklyn's business community since taking office last January," according to a release from James' office.

Also on Tuesday morning at The New School's Center for NYC Affairs, historian Robert Snyder will deliver remarks, "Crossing Broadway: How community activists rescued their neighborhood from crime," explaining how one area of New York City emerged "from the crime and decay of the crack years" through community activists "who crossed racial and ethnic lines." This will be followed by a panel discussion moderated by Michael Powell of the New York Times with Snyder as well as Led Black, writer-blogger, Uptown Collective; Dave Crenshaw, president, Uptown Dreamers Alumni Association; and Victoria Neznansky, chief program officer, YM/YWHA of Washington Heights and Inwood.

Tuesday is "Civics Day" put on by Generation Citizen, a youth action civics organization that does programming in New York City public schools and elsewhere. Both Council Member Jumaane Williams and Deputy Brooklyn Borough President Diana Reyna will be addressing the crowd.

The "NY Casino selection panel needs another meeting before it announces decision," a Daily News report from last week reads. "The committee mulling where to place casinos in New York has decided to hold another meeting before it announces a final decision later this month. Gaming Facility Location Board members will meet in Manhattan on Tuesday morning to further discuss the 16 proposals that have been submitted developers to operate casino resorts in New York, officials announced Friday."

Tuesday's City Council schedule includes a meeting of the Committee on Recovery and Resiliency on a new bill regarding "Creation of a Hurricane Sandy community groups and houses of worship recovery task force"; the Committee on Aging will hold an oversight hearing on "Providing Support to New York City's Caregivers"; the Committee on Sanitation and Solid Waste Management will hold an oversight hearing regarding "NYC's E-Waste Policy: How the City is Ramping Up its Efforts in Light of the 2015 Disposal Ban"; a meeting of the Committee on Housing and Buildings around three new bills: "Online publication of information relating to stop work orders issued by the department of buildings"; "Reporting multiple dwellings with numerous code violations"; and "Requiring multiple dwelling owners to provide notice to their tenants prior to temporarily or permanently making building amenities unavailable."

"On Tuesday 9th December The Duke and Duchess will visit a youth organisation to see the work they carry out in partnership with an inner city youth development foundation. Both organisations focus on programmes and projects that promote positive youth development and social learning. During the visit, The Duke and Duchess will learn about the wide-ranging support services on offer to young people to help them reach their potential, particularly through an arts-in-education model that supports the artistic and intellectual development of the participants.

"The Duke and Duchess will then attend an event celebrating the wealth of British talent in the creative industries based in New York. The reception will be in association with the UK Government's GREAT campaign. The Duke will also attend a technology themed event, hosted by a New York-headquartered technology company, which will bring together entrepreneurs from both the UK and the US.

"The final engagement of the visit will be the University of St. Andrews 600th Anniversary Dinner at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The evening event will support scholarships and bursaries for students from under-privileged communities, new student sports facilities in St Andrews, investment in the university's medical and science faculties and a lectureship in American Literature at St. Andrews."

Wednesday
Wednesday's City Council schedule will include the Committee on Governmental Operations holding a joint oversight hearing with the Committee on Oversight and Investigations, to evaluate: "the structure and content of the Mayor's Management Report"; a joint hearing of the Committee on Contracts, Fire and Criminal Justice Services and the Committee on Women's Issues to examine "Ways to Increase the Number of FDNY Female Firefighters"; the Committee on Cultural Affairs, Libraries and International Intergroup Relations will meet jointly with the Subcommittee on Libraries to discuss oversight of capital needs and planning for the NYC public library systems; a meeting of the Committee on Higher Education for an oversight hearing on "SEEK and College Discovery Programs at CUNY."

On Wednesday in Albany, both the annual Regional Economic Development Council awards and a State Senate Republican fundraiser. No word yet if a special session could also coincide.

On Wednesday morning, the New York League for Conservation Voters Education Fund will host their "Dig Deep for a Greener New York" policy forum addressing "the infrastructure needed to expand organic waste recycling and composting," beginning at 8 a.m. at NYU.

State Senator Adriano Espaillat will hold a public hearing on response times and overall emergency room conditions at New York-Presbyterian Hospital on Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Center.

Wednesday at noon, Director of the New York City Department of City Planning and Chairman of the New York City Planning Commission Carl Weisbrod will attend a lunch event to speak on "Planning Opportunities to Reduce Inequality." The event is sponsored by B'nai B'rith Real Estate.

United Nations NGO Committee on Freedom of Religion or Belief in New York will host a panel discussion, "The Economic & Business Case for Freedom of Religion or Belief" on Wednesday afternoon.

Wednesday evening will see the premiere of "Vision to Victory: An Education Roadmap for a New Mayor." The film "tells the story of how New York City parents, youth, teachers and community members joined together to make the 2013 mayoral race an education election, pushing all the mayoral candidates to make the community's education priorities their own." The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with youth leaders, educators, parents and advocates. 6:00 p.m. at NYU Cantor Film Center and presented by NYC Coalition of Educational Justice (CEJ). Panelists will include Ashley Payano, youth leader, Urban Youth Collaborative; Natasha Capers, coordinator, Coalition for Educational Justice; Councilmember Daniel Dromm, chair of City Council Education Committee; Ben Chapman, education correspondent, New York Daily News' with moderator Dr. Pedro Noguera, professor of education, New York University.

Thursday
Thursday morning will feature a CBC Breakfast with City Planning Chairman Carl Weisbrod "to discuss ground-up comprehensive planning for neighborhoods and the department's renewed role in the City's ten year capital strategy."

The New York City Campaign Finance Board will hold a public meeting on Thursday morning at 10 a.m.

Public Advocate Letitia James is  hosting a "hearing on the economic impact of the potential Comcast/Time Warner Cable Merger" from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at CUNY School of Journalism.

The City Council schedule for Thursday will include the Committee on Education meeting for an oversight hearing on "Diversity in New York City Schools," as well as on a new bill relating to "Requiring the department of education report annually on progress and efforts toward increasing diversity within schools, including but not limited to, data within charter schools and special programs," and to consider resolutions regarding "Change the admissions criteria for NYC's Specialized High Schools," and "DOE to officially recognize the importance and benefits of school diversity."

More on the education legislation, from Council Member Brad Lander's office: "A March 2014 study from the UCLA Civil Rights Project showed that New York State has the most non-diverse public schools in the country. A considerable body of research indicates that racial and economic diversity of schools is one of the few education reforms that is proven to improve the educational achievement and life opportunities of minority and low-income children systemically, and is linked to enhanced benefits for all students.

"This hearing will examine the causes of lack of diversity in City public schools and DOE's efforts to address this problem, as well as successful efforts in some schools and districts to achieve greater student diversity. The issue will be examined at the elementary, middle school and high school levels."

The City Council schedule will also include the Committee on Finance meeting jointly with the Committee on Small Business for an oversight hearing regarding "The Department of Small Business Services' Neighborhood Development Programs"; the Committee on Community Development will convene jointly with the Committee on Economic Development for an oversight hearing on "Mayor's Office of Workforce Development: Structural Reforms of the City's Workforce Development Systems."

Mayor de Blasio, First Lady Chirlane McCray, and many others will celebrate the "25th Reunion Reception in honor of the 90th Birthday of the 105th Mayor of the City of New York, Ed Koch," at Gracie Mansion on Thursday.

Thursday evening, Teach for America and ROADS Charter High School will co-host "Unlocking Potential," a panel discussion centered on young people of color and the NYPD, and looking at "the complicated relationships that exist between the NYPD and low-income communities of color...Launch Event Panel Discussion with: Geraldine Moriba (VP of Diversity and Inclusion at CNN Worldwide), Robert Gangi (Director, Police Reform Organizing Project - PROP), Professor Babe Howell, JD (CUNY School of Law), ROADS Charter High School students, Guest NYPD Officer.

Also Thursday evening, State Senator-Elect Jesse Hamilton is co-hosting a workforce development event: "Join the 20th Senate District and Brooklyn Workforce1 for Survival of the Fittest: Career Development Workshop on Thursday, December 11th. Participants will receive personalized career guidance and training from local HR professionals. The workshop will be held at St. Francis de Sales School for the Deaf starting at 6:30pm."

Friday and the weekend
On Saturday, Rev. Al Sharpton is organizing a march in Washington, D.C. around criminal justice issues in response to recent events such as those in Ferguson, MO, and Staten Island.

On Sunday, George W. Bush will headline the Yeshiva University Hanukkah gala: "The closed-press dinner, which marks the Jewish Festival of Lights, will be held at the Waldorf-Astoria and marks the 43rd President's first appearance at a Yeshiva event. As many as 800 guests are expected to attend," according to the Daily News.

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Have events or topics for us to include in an upcoming Week Ahead in New York Politics? Email 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).

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by Rati Mukhuradze, David King, and Ben Max
@GothamGazette

Protesters Thursday night in NYC (photo: @WarOntographer)

A day after a Staten Island grand jury declined to indict NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo in the chokehold death of Eric Garner, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, two of most powerful men in the state, said they are interested in passing major criminal justice reforms during next year's legislative session.

There is no need to wait that long to take significant action, says a coalition of groups operating under the banner "This Stops Today" (after words spoken by Eric Garner shortly before his death), that includes Communities United For Police Reform, Center for Popular Democracy, Make the Road NY and the NYCLU, among others. The coalition and other advocates are calling on Cuomo to veto a bill passed in both houses of the Legislature that would allow the rules for police disciplinary action to be decided in collective bargaining with unions rather than by elected officials.

The bill, S7801/A9853, and Cuomo's veto of it, is a major platform item for those involved in action across New York City in response to the grand jury decision. For a second straight night on Thursday, protesters flooded streets, chanting, shutting down major roadways and staging 'die-ins.' The bill passed overwhelmingly in the Senate and Assembly. The only votes against in the Senate came from Sens. Liz Krueger and James Seward.

On Thursday, Gov. Cuomo told Susan Arbetter on The Capitol Pressroom that he wants to look at reforming police training and the grand jury system, and at instituting body cameras for police across the state. "I think long term this is something we have to look at this session," Cuomo said. "I think we need a comprehensive look."

Speaker Silver issued a statement saying he is committed to "working with Governor Cuomo, my colleagues in the Legislature, Mayor de Blasio and with law enforcement to improve the manner in which we police our streets and to restore the people's faith in our legal system."

Neither Cuomo nor Silver discussed the police conduct bill. The governor's office did not return a request for comment for this story.

New York City Council members including Brad Lander and Jumaane Williams have also called on Cuomo to veto the bill. "If signed into law, this bill would severely undermine the City's ability to hold police officers accountable for their actions," said the two in an August statement.

"The Council Member and many of his progressive colleagues are on record calling on the Governor to veto the bill. The need for strong civilian oversight of police discipline is more important now than ever," a representative from Lander's office told Gotham Gazette on Thursday.

The legislation has been pushed through the Legislature with the support of law enforcement unions only to be vetoed by Govs. David Paterson, Eliot Spitzer, George Pataki, and Mario Cuomo.

The Brooklyn NAACP is asking constituents to call and write to Cuomo to urge his veto. "This bill would strip local public officials of disciplinary authority over the police officers they employ, which would have a detrimental impact on the accountability of local police departments, and thus safety and public confidence in the police," reads the form letter offered by the group.

Cuomo did not veto any legislation before Election Day this year, but has used some controversial vetoes since.

The state's Court of Appeals ruled once in 2006 and once in 2012 that police discipline should be left in the hands of public officials and not determined during collective bargaining with unions.

"Police officers – who put themselves in harm's way for the sake of public safety – have the right to fair treatment and due process," reads the August statement from Lander and Williams, who co-authored the controversial NYPD-related Community Safety Act which passed in 2013 over a veto by then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg. "At the same time the authority to investigate police misconduct, and pursue discipline when appropriate, must be held by government officials who are accountable to the public. As we saw just last week in the police union press conference blaming Eric Garner for his own death, the unions' inclination is to protect their members at all costs."

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by David King, Albany editor, Gotham Gazette
@DavidHowardKing

Scene from the NYPD demo of a traffic stop using body cameras (photo: @NYPDNews)

QUEENS, NY—Beginning Friday some members of the NYPD will, for the first time, use body-worn cameras while patrolling the streets of New York. This high-tech tool is the latest rollout in a series of police reforms promised by Mayor Bill de Blasio, but one that, at least for now, has many unanswered questions.

The pilot program will begin Friday in the 120th and 40th precincts as well as PSA 2. Next week members of the 23rd, 103rd, and 75th precincts will receive training and then begin to use the cameras. The program will include 54 officers and supervisors, all of which volunteered for the pilot program, and test two different types of cameras.

"We believe this will be an important step forward for our police department and for our city," Mayor Bill de Blasio said from the new Police Academy in Queens where officers will undergo body camera training. "This pilot program is a sign of great hope and possibility and something that will not only give us that additional information, but will give people greater confidence."

Police Commissioner William Bratton, who has been eyeing the new technology since 2005 in his days with the LAPD, said the pilot program will last for three months. During that time the largest department in the nation will navigate many of the thorny issues that police departments around the country are grappling with.

When Bratton first announced the pilot program at One Police Plaza in September he mentioned the extraordinary cost of storing the terabytes of data that will result from camera use. As the NYPD is set to begin its use of body cameras this week, the issue of storage still has not been worked out.

Comments by Bratton and his Deputy Commissioner of Information and Technology, Jessica Tisch, indicate the City will use cloud storage, a method of storing information remotely.

"There is no way for us to store the volume of data that we will be collecting on premise which means we will likely have to use a cloud solution the Commissioner was referring to, which means you pay by the amount of data that you store," Tisch said.

[Related: Pre-Pilot Program, a Test Run for One NYPD Body Camera]

Cloud storage has become much more commonplace in recent years, although security concerns regarding the relatively new technology have also cropped up. Tisch was not asked and did not address security concerns regarding the use of cloud technology.

Tisch said during her study of the LAPD body camera program their officers typically came back with four hours of video for a ten hour shift. She said the pilot program will give the department a good idea of how much storage they will need as the program expands and at that point they will be able to determine a cost estimate associated with storage.

In an interview in October, Captain Michael Skillern of the Houston Police Department said the 100 cameras his department was using captured roughly 1 terabyte of data per day. At the time, they were storing their data on physical servers, but Skillern said due to the large amount of data, they would be moving to a cloud service.

Another unanswered question is how long the NYPD would be keeping the data, another issue to be sorted out during the pilot program. Public Advocate Letitia James, who has led the push for the use of body cameras by the NYPD, said her office will be looking at policies around the country and working with civil liberty and advocacy groups to find best practices.

She urged the video data be stored "for as long as the statute of limitations for filing a claim against the department, which in New York is about three years."

James argues that the use of body cameras could save the city millions in settlement money. Last year the City spent $212 million in legal costs settling police-related lawsuits, according to James, and almost $1 billion in the last five years.

James also discussed access to video, another thorny issue that has been particularly sticky in Seattle. An anonymous requester has been testing the freedom of information laws by requesting police video from body cameras by submitting Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for "any and all videos" to departments around Washington State. He posts some of the videos on YouTube.

Due to privacy laws, the Seattle Police Department has to obscure some portions of the videos, a laborious process that the department says is unsustainable due to cost and time. As a result of this anonymous requester the Seattle Police Department is considering abandoning the program altogether.

Commissioner Bratton acknowledged the problems in Seattle at Wednesday's press conference, but stopped short of saying if the NYPD would be unable to handle similarly large volumes of requests.

When asked if the videos made during the pilot program would be available by FOIL request, Bratton, Tisch, and de Blasio did not directly answer the question.

"That is part of why we are doing the pilot to understand what the legal issues are to," de Blasio said. "We have a lot of lawyers. They will be looking at this."

He added, "The Commissioner raised the point, there are some ways that this could create an untenable situation in terms of someone requesting tens of thousands of hours of data when we are trying to keep up with it. We have to sort that out."

De Blasio said that while these details had not yet been ironed out, the only way to figure them out is to "get started down the road."

"We are dealing with a lot of unexplored territory on this issue that the public, you in the media, and we in the police profession and the courts for that matter don't fully understand," Commissioner Bratton said. "We are going to all learn together."

[Related: Pre-Pilot Program, a Test Run for One NYPD Body Camera]

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by Kristen Meriwether, Gotham Gazette
@MeriwetherK

State Sen. Brad Hoylman, center, is outspoken about legislator pay (photo: @bradhoylman)

New York state legislators haven't had a raise since 1999, when they traded major policy points like allowing the creation of a charter school system in the state for a whopping 36 percent pay hike. Now, with the days ticking down for this lame duck legislature to enact a raise for the next class, legislative leaders are looking to make another trade to hike their salaries and possibly that of executive staff and commissioners. It's a process that critics insist highlights Albany's quid pro quo nature.

Sen. Brad Hoylman, a Democrat from Manhattan, says the bargaining must look "terrible" to the public and that the practice is "intellectually dishonest." He says that there is major resistance to finding another way to do pay raises because "Some people don't want to give up the convenient trade to get big issues passed."

This year a bevy of issues have been linked to a potential legislative pay raise including a minimum wage hike; the DREAM Act; and major campaign finance reform. Republican Leader Dean Skelos has rejected calls for trades on those issues, but said he would support "other reforms" in trade.

"We haven't seen any proposal," said Michael Whyland, spokesman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. "The Speaker supports a pay raise for members." Spokespeople for Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Senate Republicans did not respond to requests for comment.

A minority of legislators, Albany denizens, and good government groups have quietly pushed for a commission on pay raises that would examine the pay levels of other similar positions in the state, inflation, and cost of living; and recommend salary adjustments every four years.

On Monday, Comptroller Tom DiNapoli announced his support for such a commission, telling reporters: "[A]s other governments have done [it] probably would make the most sense to have a commission take care of that question. It's something that probably should have been done a long time ago instead of happening at the end of the year with a lot of other horse trading being talked about."

Hoylman, who editorialized in support of a pay raise commission in the Daily News earlier this month told Gotham Gazette that a commission could address a number of concerns connected to pay raises.

"The commission would establish whether a raise was needed in the first place. There would be experts who would look at other government offices, consider cost of living, and other factors," said Hoylman, who would want the commission to include a limit on how much outside income a legislator could make and ban certain conflicts of interest.

Hoylman and good government groups point to the state's Quadrennial Commission on Judicial Pay Raises - a group of experts that meets every four years to examine judicial pay raises. The commission is made up of appointees by the Governor, legislative leaders, and Chief Judge. Their recommendations go into effect unless overruled by legislation passed by both houses of the Legislature and signed into law by the Governor.

Dick Dadey, executive director of good government group Citizens Union, has repeatedly called for any pay raise passed this month to be connected to a series of reforms including a quadrennial commission

Hoylman notes that California and Pennsylvania both have this type of commission, but that their legislatures are full time. New York legislators are the third-highest paid in the nation behind those two states, but New York legislators are considered part time.

California's commission actually trimmed legislative salaries during the state's budget crisis in 2009, but last year it recommended a 5.3 percent increase to the current $90,526 base salary.

In New York City, the mayor's commission recommends pay adjustments every four years. The City Council voted itself a raise in 2006. Members are currently paid a base salary of $112,500 a year, but can bring in unlimited amounts of outside income.

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick is currently in a showdown with the state Legislature in his state over salary recommendations by a commission created in this year's budget. The commission made up of academic leaders and business heads recommended raises for the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, and heads of both houses of the Legislature. The Governor would get a raise of over $30,000 and a housing stipend of $65,000. However, Patrick, who is leaving office, has refused to approve the raises unless the Legislature makes budget cuts to alleviate a major shortfall. So the commission has not done away with horse trading for raises.

"The commission would put an end to passing pay raises in any sort of legislative 'big ugly,'" said Dadey, referring to the end-of-session deals that often include all sorts of compromises. "But this is Albany, you are never going to remove politics from it completely."

E.J. McMahon of the Empire Center, a fiscal policy think tank, told Gotham Gazette he does not support a pay commission. "I would resist the gimmick of having some commission set in motion automatic pay increases," said McMahon. "This is something that should be voted on each discrete time it is done."

While any commission on pay raises would likely be touted as independent, the track record of other commissions in Albany indicates that interested parties would stack it with their lackies in order to get the results they desire.

Hoylman said that he is not in direct opposition to pay hikes for legislators and those in other government positions - he just wants to change the process by which they are decided. "Some of my colleagues are literally scraping by as the only breadwinner in the family. Seventy-nine thousand dollars is not a lot of money if it is the only income for a family living in the city or the suburbs. The commission needs to establish the need [for a pay raise] to give the public confidence."

Hoylman also echoed statements made by Cuomo about executive staff and Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman on judges, saying, "There is the thought that a better salary could attract better candidates."

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by David King, Albany editor, Gotham Gazette
@DavidHowardKing

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

photo: @USArmyReserve

On a day when New York military veterans received welcome news regarding contract procurement at the state level, those looking to do business with New York City did not fare so well.

A report released on Tuesday, December 2 by a trio of city agencies recommends against creating contract procurement goals for businesses owned by service-disabled veterans, something advocates have been pushing for the last several years. The report, A Roadmap for Supporting Veteran Businesses, was authored by the Department of Small Business Services (SBS), the Mayor's Office of Contract Procurement, and the Mayor's Office of Veterans' Affairs.

"Given the limited pool of veteran owned companies able to do business with the City and the availability of other City certification programs like M/WBE and EBE, a goals program for veterans is not recommended at this time," the report says.

By contrast, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Tuesday that 21 businesses qualified under the newly created Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Business Act, which passed the State Legislature in May. The act sets the State goal of six percent of State contracts going to veteran-owned businesses. At the federal level, the goal is three percent.

For years, advocates in New York City have been fighting to see a procurement goal for the City, which last year spent $17.8 billion on vendor contracts. Goals for minority- and women-owned businesses have been in place for years, although a recent report by Comptroller Scott Stringer showed most City agencies are failing to meet those goals.

A year ago, in December of 2013, the City Council passed Local Law 144 of 2013 which requires SBS to conduct a study to "analyze veteran owned business enterprises and opportunities for such business enterprises in city procurement." The report was due to the City Council on December 1 of this year and was made public late Tuesday. It will be the subject of an upcoming city council hearing.

The report cites a small population of veterans in New York City, saying the 235,000 veterans represents just 2.3 percent of the city's 8.4 million residents. The report shows Austin, Texas as a superior example with an 11.8 percent veteran population, but does not note that the figure only represents roughly 38,000 veterans due to Austin having a much smaller overall population than New York.

Using a survey of 150 veteran business owners (VBO) conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the City estimates a veteran business owner population of approximately 15,400. It estimates only 700 city veterans would be eligible under the service-disabled designation used by the state and federal governments.

The report notes the difficulty of certification processes, which "would require the type of process veterans expressed concerns about in a survey." A certification process was designed and implemented in six months in New York State and has been ongoing at the federal level since the late 1990s. Cities such as San Antonio, Nashville, and Chicago have all implemented certification processes for their own veteran-owned business procurement goals.

The report includes seven recommendations for increasing outreach to veterans, better training VBOs on how to do business with the City, and creating a designation for VBOs who wish to be potential vendors with the City. There is currently no way for the Mayor's Office of Contract Services to track which businesses are veteran owned, so the recommendation in this regard would allow the City to eventually obtain a more accurate measure than the survey.

One of the recommendations suggests providing access to M/WBE or EBE certification for veterans. There is currently no exclusion for veterans to certify as M/WBE or EBE so long as they qualify, but as the story of a veteran recently profiled by Gotham Gazette shows, M/WBE and EBE categorization can leave some veterans out in the cold.

Retired Army Captain Scott Davidson recently headquartered his business, Veteran Soldier Management Service, in New York and hoped to do business with the City as a service-disabled veteran. But Davidson, who is a white male, found no contract opportunities. In fact, one procurement officer suggested he find a woman or person of color to take over ownership of his business so he could take advantage of the M/WBE program.

Davidson spoke to Gotham Gazette by phone Tuesday evening, calling the report's recommendation "shocking."

"Thank God we have federal work, because that is where we are succeeding tremendously," Davidson said. "But I can do that anywhere. I don't need to do that in New York."

He added, "[Being a veteran] is the only status that is earned. It is sad to see that is not recognized."

The report offers an odd dichotomy indicating in multiple instances how the City must choose to focus on contract procurement for veterans or helping VBOs start and/or maintain businesses, but not recommending the setting of procurement goals. The City has created and maintained multiple programs to help veterans find employment and for helping veteran-owned businesses, including the Workforce1 Veterans Employment Initiative, and NYC Business Solutions (which is not veteran specific, but can help veterans).

Workforce1 has connected veterans and military spouses to more than 10,000 career development and training services and nearly 2,500 job opportunities since July of 2012, according to the report. This has led to a 150 percent increase in veterans matched to employment annually since 2011.

But the report gives no indication of the resources (manpower or dollars) that it would take to implement a procurement goals program, nor, more importantly, does it explain why setting these goals would have negative effects, whether on the ability of SBS or other agencies to help veterans with employment or business opportunities or some other kind.

At a recent city council committee hearing on an unrelated veterans issues, Councilman Eric Ulrich, chair of the council veterans committee, mentioned his committee would be holding a hearing on this report and the issue of contract procurement on December 15. The hearing is on the council website calendar, though no agenda has been included as of press time.

"The Department of Small Business Services has prepared a realistic roadmap for helping veteran entrepreneurs in our city," Ulrich said of the report by email Tuesday. "While we can always do more, I believe this is a positive step in the right direction and one that will allow us to assist veteran business owners who wish to do business with the city." 

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by Kristen Meriwether, Gotham Gazette
@MeriwetherK

Hon. Milton Tingling has been named the new New York County Clerk (photo: uft.org)

The judge who put the brakes on Mayor Bloomberg's 'soda ban' will be the next New York County Clerk.

State Supreme Court Justice Milton A. Tingling was appointed County Clerk last week by the Appellate Division, replacing Norman Goodman, who has served as clerk for 45 years. Tingling will take office on January 1.

It seems unlikely that Tingling, 61, will have a dramatic effect on city policy as County Clerk, which is largely a managerial role. The clerk summons Manhattanites for jury duty, keeps court records, and collects revenue. A clerk's most visible platform might be his or her signature at the bottom of every jury summons.

Goodman, 90, told the New York Law Journal he was surprised that Tingling wanted the clerk job, as Tingling was re-elected to a second term on the Supreme Court just last month. Both County Clerk and State Supreme Court Judge come with a salary of $174,000 a year.

Tingling's highest-profile decision was his 2013 rejection of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's proposed regulation of large sugary beverages. He ruled that Health Department didn't have authority to enforce the ban, which would have made it illegal for some businesses to sell some sugary drinks in containers larger than 16 ounces.

The proposed regulation was "arbitrary and capricious" because it would apply only to some businesses and only some sugary drinks, Tingling wrote in his decision, adding that the regulation would "eviscerate" the separation of powers between the Mayor and the City Council.

"Such an evisceration has the potential to be more troubling than sugar sweetened beverages," Tingling wrote.

Another of Tingling's rulings, in 2010, ended the state practice of shackling juvenile offenders while taking them to court.

Tingling was nominated for his new job by State Assembly Member and County Democratic Party Chair Keith Wright, a childhood friend. Wright himself had been rumored for the position, though some say he has his eye on Rep. Charles Rangel's congressional seat.

Both sons of judges, Tingling and Wright are old friends who went to rival New York City high schools – Tingling to Horace Mann and Wright to Fieldston.

"He was a better football player than I was, used to come over and try and steal all of our girls," Wright, who represents Harlem, told Gotham Gazette. "He became a very talented lawyer and a great judge."

The New York Post reported last month that Wright was considering applying for the job.

"I don't know where the New York Post got that from, but they didn't call me," Wright said.

Tingling, who grew up in Washington Heights, also has political connections with other Upper Manhattan elected officials. Former Mayor David Dinkins chaired his unsuccessful 2008 campaign for Surrogate's Court judge, Rangel was that campaign's honorary chair, and longtime State Assembly Member Herman Farrell supported Tingling in his first election.

Tingling also donated to the campaign of City Council Member Inez Dickens, State Board of Elections records show.

Tingling did not respond to a request for comment.

He served as a Civil Court Judge from 1996 to 2000, and a Supreme Court Justice since then. Tingling graduated from Brown University and earned his J.D. from North Carolina Central University School of Law.

In a statement announcing Tingling's appointment as the next County Clerk, Appellate Court Presiding Justice Luis Gonzalez said, "Justice Tingling has distinguished himself as an able jurist and is admired for his high commitment to the judiciary and fair administration of justice."

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by Casey Tolan, Gotham Gazette
@CaseyTolan 

Taxis (photo: @nyctaxi)

NEW YORK—When Mayor de Blasio signed his first executive budget at the end of June, the City was expecting income of $766 million from the sale of 550 taxi medallions. But five months later, those estimates have been substantially reduced. According to the November Financial Plan released Tuesday, the City is now forecasting $506 million less coming into City coffers this fiscal year.

Officials from the city's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) attributed the dip to more realistic planning, not a shaky medallion market or competition from startups Uber and Lyft.

"The original plan was very aggressive," an official from OMB said at a budget briefing on Tuesday. "Actually, no one has ever seen a plan like that before in New York City. This is a much more realistic plan."

Instead of selling 550 taxi medallions this fiscal year (FY 2015), the City will only sell 200. The plan calls for the sale of 350 medallions in each fiscal year from 2016 through 2019. The $1.5 billion projected revenue from medallion sales by fiscal year 2018 remains the same, according to OMB.

Medallions are not cheap, with the average price at roughly $1 million. In February of this year the City sold 168 medallions with the average winning bid at $863,000. In March it sold an additional 32 with an average price of $2.3 million.

The "aggressive" nature of the original plan was known and approved by de Blasio's budget team in June, so what's changed? In addition to heeding warning from the Financial Control Board about what was clearly an accelerated plan, officials from OMB cite a much lengthier than anticipated process to close on medallion sales.

Part of that longer process is due to the fact that the new medallions being sold must be for wheelchair accessible taxis, a determination recently made after years of litigation. Those vehicles take longer to build, something apparently not originally factored in.

The City was also awaiting final approval from Albany regarding its Accessibility Plan, which the City must follow to make the entire fleet of over 13,000 taxis wheelchair accessible by 2020. Plan approval was needed to move forward with more than 400 medallion sales and was finally given by state lawmakers in August. The City spent the months since the passage of its budget looking at past schedules and factoring in the Accessibility Plan to formulate a new roadmap.

"We had the luxury of being able to do all that research into past medallion sales scheduling and we thought it was the smarter, wiser way to go considering the new dynamic of the accessible medallions," Allan Fromberg, spokesperson for the city's Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) said by phone Tuesday evening of the new plan.

Unspoken at the budget briefing were the fiscal realities surrounding the taxi medallion sales. When then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg positioned medallion sales into his final two budgets, the city was facing a much different fiscal picture.

The medallion sales were sorely needed to plug budget gaps that plagued the city, a byproduct of the Great Recession and higher healthcare and pension costs. As we near the end of the 2014 calendar year, the financial state of the City is stronger than it has been thanks in large part to a bullish stock market and better than expected tax revenue. Out-year budget gaps are below historic averages, meaning the medallion sales are less of a budget lynchpin and more of a bonus - or contingency plan.

"Thankfully we are at a place, budgetarily, where we can make smart decisions based on policy and good regulatory practice rather than budgetary needs," Fromberg said.

While outlook still seems bright for medallion sales, there is the great unknown of how new tech companies like Uber and Lyft will affect the medallion market in the future. The City is hedging its bet that medallion sales, which have climbed exponentially in the last decade, will, at the very least, stay at recent levels.

OMB projects each medallion will sell for the same between now and the end of the Financial Plan, which runs through fiscal year 2018. Gotham Gazette asked OMB for that budget figure, but was referred to TLC. A spokesperson for TLC could not provide the figure, but said it was a conservative estimate.

Uber and Lyft have only recently begun operating in New York City and in the coming years even more competition could be introduced into the marketplace.

Gotham Gazette asked OMB at the budget briefing if the emergence of Uber and Lyft played a factor into the revision of the numbers. The question was referred to TLC.

Fromberg said TLC "looked at a lot of factors" when coming to new renderings.

"I wouldn't point to one particular company or mode of transportation. I think we looked at a broad swath of things," Fromberg said. "But at the end of the day it really did just come down to smart scheduling."

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by Kristen Meriwether, Gotham Gazette
@MeriwetherK

Gov. Cuomo marches in the Columbus Day Parade (photo: Governo's Office via flickr)

Despite major Republican victories across the state (and country), a number of Latino legislators and immigrant advocates say they expect New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to make the DREAM Act a priority next legislative session.

These stakeholders expect action not only because Cuomo campaigned on the issue and included mention of it in his victory speech, but because urban districts delivered big for him during the Democratic primary and general elections while other areas of the state showed little enthusiasm for his re-election.

"No one has gotten assurances," said one source who asked for anonymity, "But we are pretty bullish on this. The fact that the Senate Democrats lost hoists the responsibility on the governor. There was a chance last year that [State Senator Jeff] Klein could get something through, but the situation in the Senate is so bad that the DREAM Act is screwed without Cuomo's leadership."

Latino legislators began a push to make the DREAM Act part of the governor's next budget proposal during the post-election Somos Conference in Puerto Rico. The legislation would allow the State to provide college tuition assistance to undocumented immigrants going to school in New York.

This past March, during the Albany iteration of the Somos conference, legislators made a similar effort. At that time, Cuomo refused to agree to put the act in his fiscal year 2015 budget, but pledged to continue to support the act. The bill came to a rushed Senate vote last year and failed 30-29.

Sen. Jose Peralta, the lead sponsor of the DREAM Act in the Senate, told a crowd gathered to watch President Barack Obama's announcement of his executive order on immigration last week that he believed Cuomo would make the DREAM Act part of his executive budget, according to the New York Observer. However, in a subsequent interview with Gotham Gazette, Peralta said it was "too early to make predictions."

Sen. Adriano Espaillat said he wants Cuomo to include the DREAM Act in his next budget and says that past bipartisan achievements have demonstrated a way forward on the DREAM Act. "While Senate Republicans have repeatedly taken anti-immigrant positions, I am optimistic we can pass a DREAM Act in 2015," Espaillat told Gotham Gazette. "My 2002 legislation allowing undocumented immigrants to qualify for reduced tuition at CUNY and SUNY schools passed a Republican-controlled Senate almost unanimously, and Republicans have been pressured before in allowing successful votes on marriage equality and gun violence protections."

Republican leader Sen. Dean Skelos refused to link The DREAM Act to legislative pay raises that have been discussed this month. "We're not doing the Dream Act, we're not doing minimum wage, we're not doing taxpayer financing," Skelos told reporters earlier this month when asked about a possible deal on legislative pay raises. Skelos has lumped the DREAM Act into Mayor Bill de Blasio's "liberal agenda" and de Blasio invested significant effort into ousting Republicans from the majority this election season - efforts that Skelos heavily criticized. And there's no indication that Republicans have any intention of letting that go.

On top of that, a number of Senate Republicans ran against the DREAM Act and other issues backed by New York City Democrats.

States such as Texas and California already have their own DREAM Acts on the books. Meanwhile, as elsewhere, Latino voters are becoming more of a force in New York state politics. Opponents of the act claim it would divert tuition assistance away from citizens.

The current version of the legislation sponsored by Peralta would establish a DREAM Fund commission that would be tasked with finding private money for scholarships for immigrant children. The commission would not be supported with state funds. Similar legislation has been pushed by Sens. Klein and Espaillat.

Cuomo made The DREAM Act a key part of his campaign literature that was distributed in New York City and mentioned the act prominently during campaign stops in the five boroughs. And, on election night in November, Cuomo pledged, "We are going to pass the Women's Equality Act. We are going to pass public finance. We are going to pass the DREAM Act."

Advocacy groups like Make the Road New York staged protests at some of Cuomo's campaign stops and urged voters to make it clear to Cuomo that their support hinged on his commitment to passing the act.

Peralta said of himself and his fellow Democrats, "Despite the Republican wave we still have 30 votes in the Senate so [the bill] could still come to the floor. It could be in the budget, but it is too early to tell."

However, a number of sources in the Democratic conference insist that Cuomo will be the one to initiate action this year. They point out that Cuomo won by his highest margins in the Bronx and basically has the electoral profile of "a liberal New York City Democrat."

Cuomo dominated his primary opponent, Fordham law professor Zephyr Teachout, in the Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn, but she ran up votes against him in upstate counties like Albany, Greene, Ulster and Dutchess County.

In the general, Cuomo won the Bronx 86.6 percent to Astorino's 11 percent. He won Brooklyn 78.8 percent to Astorino's 15.5 percent. Cuomo performed much worse upstate in traditionally liberal Albany County, winning 44 percent to Astorino's 41.9 percent and Howie Hawkins' 12.9 percent. Cuomo won Eerie county, home to Buffalo, by only a few percentage points and lost Niagara County in Western New York 42 percent to Astorino's 54.7 percent.

"Despite being a fiscal hawk, the governor really didn't do well with the kind of voters he would lose if he supported The DREAM Act," said one Democratic source. "He already lost them."

Scenarios being pushed by DREAM supporters include one whereby Cuomo introduces the act as part of the budget with the caveat that the program is phased in so that funding for the program does not immediately impact the fiscal picture. They imagine the governor and Legislature might negotiate a slightly "watered down" version of the act with Senate Republicans signing on in exchange for something most dear to them.

Peralta isn't thrilled by the prospect. "I don't know how much more watered down it could get. I don't know if I could support that as a sponsor," he said.

Legislators are preparing for the possibility that there could be significant back and forth on the DREAM Act in budget negotiations and that Cuomo may look to them to be the faces of the debate as he focuses on the bipartisan nature of any deal.

Some lawmakers believe Cuomo will be looking to make a splash on immigration issues this year to show he can marshall bipartisan effort on issues that are paralyzed by partisan bickering in Congress. They expect Cuomo sees 2015 as the year to act with 2016 another legislative election year and federal action always possible, especially as the parties seek to woo Latino voters heading into the next presidential and congressional contests. A Cuomo spokesperson did not return a request for comment.

Many Senate Democrats are still holding out hope around the future of Klein's IDC (Independent Democratic Conference). They note that mainline Democratic leader Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins has had talks with Klein and the IDC about a possible partnership and that the Republicans and the IDC have not formally announced any agreement. Republicans do not need the IDC to control the chamber this year but support would make things a lot easier. And, an agreement like one being rumored that would see the IDC agree to coalesce with Republicans through 2016 might serve as a firewall against a Democratic surge fueled by a Hillary Clinton presidential run.

Advocates say that action on the DREAM Act might actually bolster Republicans chances of holding on to the majority come 2016 because it will endear them to Latino constituents.

Earlier this month NYU announced it will allow undocumented students who have lived in the state for three years to apply for financial aid. Assembly Member Francisco Moya, lead sponsor of the DREAM Act in the Assembly, touted NYU's move in a statement: "I applaud New York University for taking this bold step forward. Although we must still act on the state level to pass the DREAM Act, so that all of New York's students are able to apply for financial aid, NYU's decision to act with compassion and vision is to be commended."

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by David King, Albany editor, Gotham Gazette
@DavidHowardKing

CM Jumaane Williams at a city council hearing (photo: William Alatriste)

At a hearing Monday, the New York City Council's Committee on Governmental Operations approved the latest drafts of two bills that enhance the responsibility of city agencies to conduct voter registration and a resolution calling for the State Legislature to pass similar legislation.

These measures are an attempt by the Council to improve the compliance of City agencies with Local Law 29, also known as the Pro-Voter Law, which was passed in 2000. The law requires 19 city agencies to handle voter registration applications for customers.

The new legislation is headed to the full Council for a vote on Tuesday and then, if passed as expected, to the desk of Mayor Bill de Blasio. The bills expand the mandate of the Pro-Voter law to seven additional agencies and create a standard for enforcing the law, including required semi-annual reports from participating agencies. Implementation of the existing law has proven to be a problem, with city agencies failing to uphold their responsibilities to offer registration forms to New Yorkers doing other business with the City.

The accompanying resolution calls upon the State Legislature to augment existing agency-assisted registration laws to include codes on registration forms that would help track agency performance and registration statistics.

Council Member Ben Kallos, chair of what he called the "good government committee," introduced Intro 493 A which expands scope of the Pro-Voter law and sets a deadline of December 1, 2015 for agencies to integrate their forms with voter registration.

The second bill, Intro 356 A, which establishes reporting requirements for the agencies, and the accompanying resolution, were introduced by Council Member Jumaane Williams.

"The last election was abysmal," Williams said of voter turnout in response to questions from Gotham Gazette. Stating that the city and state are falling behind in civic participation, he said, "This should be an issue that all parties - Republicans, Democrats, third parties - every party should be working to increase participation."

The push for increased voter registration began in July with Mayor de Blasio's Directive 1, which ordered agencies under the Pro-Voter law mandate to create plans for implementing the law. Then, in October, the City Council introduced the two new bills in response to a report released by a coalition of good government groups which showed the City's lax compliance with Local Law 29.

According to the report, 84 percent of clients at 14 of these agencies were not provided registration applications when they should have been. Additionally, only 2 out of 5 applicants with limited English proficiency were given translated applications, and agents were not trained in the application process.The report was compiled by the Pro-Voter Law Coalition, comprised of the Center for Popular Democracy (CPD), the Brennan Center for Justice at the NYU School of Law, Citizens Union of the City of New York, and the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG). Their investigation was aided by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund.

The report's importance is highlighted by the fact that over 30 percent of New Yorkers who were interviewed at the agencies were not registered to vote.

The de Blasio administration initially rejected the two bills over privacy concerns and on the grounds that they came too close on the heels of Directive 1 and wishing to see agencies given more time to comply. Taking those concerns into consideration, changes were made to Williams' bill on reporting mandates. Williams disagreed with the administration but eventually came around to ensure changes were made in the proposal which will protect applicants' information while still allowing the Board of Elections to track registration data from agencies.

"I'm expecting (the) resolution to have a serious impact in Albany," said Council Member Kallos to Gotham Gazette. "Whether it's the Assembly or the Senate, we can all agree that government works better when we measure what its doing and this will take a step towards that."

Representatives of the good government groups that authored the report also testified at the hearing. Steven Carbo, director of Voting Rights and Democracy Initiatives at CPD praised the proposals, asserting, "Likely hundreds of thousands, if not millions of eligible voters were never given the opportunity to register to vote over the years, perpetuating regrettably low rates of voter registration in New York particularly among lower income, of color and immigrant citizens," he said.

Peggy Farber, legislative counsel for Citizens Union, called the proposals "meaningful steps to improve the pro-voter law, to codify the important work of the administration."

On Tuesday, the bills and the resolution will head to the full Council for a vote at the Stated Meeting, where they are very likely to pass.

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by Samar Khurshid, Gotham Gazette
@samarkhurshid

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