Governor Cuomo and his running mate, Kathy Hochul (photo: AP)

A look at Governor Andrew Cuomo's campaign might not give the impression that he is running for re-election - despite a few appearances at parades and fairs, he simply hasn't had an official campaign schedule.

The incumbent has kept his public appearances to a minimum since spring and all of them have been under the heading of official state business, including his recent trip to Israel.

"Clearly, Cuomo the gubernatorial candidate is not campaigning," said CUNY professor of political science Douglas Muzzio. "His Israel trip was a campaign trip. It was political, but this is part of his behavior. He doesn't go to the typical political meetings, or go to the Democratic convention, he doesn't go anywhere outside of Albany. He doesn't need to campaign. And he has his surrogates do media. He doesn't do the dirty work."

It's not surprising that Cuomo isn't on the campaign trail yet. During his run in 2010 he scattered a few appearances in late fall and waited to the last minute to endorse some of his fellow Democrats.

As it was then, Cuomo's opposition this year is fairly limited. Once again, polls indicate he will win handily. It appears that his strategy is to project an image of a governor consumed with running the state. He scarcely acknowledges his little-known challengers. But this year Cuomo isn't running just for himself. In his deal for the Working Families Party support, he pledged to help Democrats win back control of the Senate.

Senate Democrats insist that Cuomo has been stumping for them by proxy - in the person of his prefered lieutenant governor candidate, Kathy Hochul.

"It has been very heartening to have Kathy Hochul campaigning with the Senate Democrats and with the broader women's equality initiative," Senate Minority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins told Gotham Gazette. "She has been a real asset. She is a really exciting candidate to begin with and she has bolstered the profiles of our candidates. To have them campaigning with the next lieutenant governor is a boost for all of us."

Hochul has become the face of the Cuomo-created Women's Equality Party and pundits say her candidacy works on many political fronts. Hochul, who hails from Buffalo, replaces outgoing Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy, who has focused on the economic issues facing western New York. She has more conservative opinions on immigration and guns and has bipartisan appeal. She's also seen as a prominent female figure promising to join an administration that lacks prominent women and durign the campaign season she serves as a counterweight to Zephyr Teachout's insurgent Democratic primary challenge to Cuomo.

Hochul's focus on the Women's Equality Agenda takes a package of legislation that is popular with voters and demonstrates major ideological differences over abortion rights not only between Cuomo and his Republican challenger Rob Astorino, but between the New York Democratic Party and Senate Republicans who have stood steadfast against the abortion plank of the legislation.

"It really shows unity straight down the ticket," said Karen Scharff, executive director of Citizen Action and co-chair of the Working Families Party. "The fact that the Women's Equality Agenda is an election issue shows that Republicans are really out of touch with their constituents."

The Hochul camp issued a statement to Gotham Gazette in response to questions about her campaigning with Senate Democrats: "I have traveled across the state to stand with candidates who support the Women's Equality Party to send a clear message that voices of women will be heard and counted this fall. We are bringing together the strength and power of our state's leaders and advocates to put the issue of women's equality front and center because women deserve nothing less than full equality."

Hochul has appeared at Women's Equality events in Long Island with Democratic Senate candidates Adam Haber, Dave Denenberg, and Adrienne Esposito. She appeared at a similar event Upstate with incumbent Sens. Cecelia Tkaczyk and Terry Gipson, who face stiff Republican challenges this year. She's made two appearances this summer with Buffalo Sen. Ted O'Brien, who also faces a competitive race.

Muzzio acknowledges the political sense of Hochul's campaigning and the work she's done on the campaign trail but wonders if anyone has noticed.

"How visible is she really? It doesn't seem to be a very impactful campaign," he said. "A lieutenant governor candidate ain't the governor." In fact, Muzzio thinks that the Senate Democrats are doing Hochul a favor by introducing her to their constituents.

Some Democrats fear that Hochul could lose to her primary challenger, Tim Wu, who has a prominent profile thanks to his work on net neutrality.

Hochul has acknowledged her limited profile in certain areas of the state. She said as much during a campaign rally for John Liu, who is challenging incumbent Independent Democratic Sen. Tony Avella. When asked if her appearance counted as an endorsement of Liu, Hochul said: "I gotta tell you, I don't think my endorsement at this point means a lot to anybody. I'm just here standing with people who have stepped up early, agreed to make it happen."

Democrats and the Independent Democratic Coalition (IDC) have agreed to work together to form a majority coalition in the fall, so Liu's candidacy, which has taken off, is a touchy subject for both parties.

And yet, as a surrogate for the Cuomo campaign, Hochul has embraced the Senate Democrats in a way that Cuomo has gone out of his way to avoid. She also has presented a more liberal front than the governor.

"This has been an aberration the last few years to have people elected as Democrats... acting as Republicans," said Hochul, referring to the Independent Democratic Coalition. "Yes, there were some accomplishments, but I'm always raising the bar."

Hochul's liberal leanings could be a reflection of the Cuomo administration's new stance given the likelihood that Democrats will win control of the Senate this year, or it could be posturing given that Hochul is facing the possibility of a tough Democratic primary.

Christina Greer, professor of political science at Fordham University, said that she expects Hochul will be a good foil against Republicans, but must first survive the Democratic primary. Cuomo has avoided addressing Teachout on the campaign trail - instead trying to knock her off the ballot over residency questions - but he has had to take policy positions to plant himself in a more liberal light which could in the end bolster Senate Democrats who share those positions.

"This race is turning out to be more of a headache than he expected," said Greer. "He's had to think of ways to utilize [Hochul] in ways he didn't plan on when he selected her."

It seems unlikely that Cuomo himself will actually campaign for Senate Democrats. Stewart-Cousins said she knows Cuomo supports the issues her conference wants to act on, such as the DREAM Act, campaign finance reform, and the minimum wage.

"When he does come out I'm sure he'll be campaigning on the issues we support," she said.

Muzzio is a bit more circumspect. "I'm sure there will be a few very staged, very scripted events where they can control the message that will expose the governor in no way," he said.

Hochul downplays Cuomo's absence from the campaign trail. After a Women's Equality Party event at City Hall on Tuesday, she told Gotham Gazette that the governor has been focused on his trip to Israel and his announcements Upstate about economic development.

"I guarantee you, you are you are going to see plenty of us in the coming weeks right before the election," she said.

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by David King, Albany Editor, Gotham Gazette
@DavidHowardKing

A New York City homeless shelter (photo: presstv)

A look at the first seven months of the de Blasio administration's push to reduce record-high homelessness in New York City.

A few weeks shy of Mayor de Blasio's inauguration, the homeless men gathered, as they usually do, on the work corner outside of the Bedford Armory shelter in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. When asked, they discussed their day-to-day routines, what challenges they face in a gentrifying neighborhood, and their hopes for the incoming administration — particularly one led by a candidate elected on balancing out income inequality, all the way down to the bottom rungs of the socio-economic ladder.

Surprisingly enough, they were fairly optimistic: finally, a progressive from Brooklyn in City Hall, with familial ties to the African-American community and a sense of the streets, they said. This was a man who, just weeks later, would promise the city he would "put an end to economic and social inequalities that threaten to unravel the city we love." But, tying in President Obama as an example, the men advised that the political packaging always comes with a warning label: talk, more times than not, is just talk.

Now, we're more than seven months into Bill de Blasio's first year in office. And the situation remains dire: homelessness in New York City is at a record high and growing, with 54,000 people sleeping on the streets or in shelters every night; a figure that includes the strikingly high number of 23,000 children.

"Situation as it is now is that communities are reacting to emergency family shelters," said City Council Member Stephen Levin, the head of the Committee on General Welfare, which oversees the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) and other social service agencies. "The DHS is operating on an emergency basis. We're at max capacity."

In a sense, nothing has changed, but everything has changed. For the past seven months, the de Blasio administration has quietly launched initiatives and snuck expenditures for preventive services into the budget that, without a doubt, show a complete departure from the latter years of the prior administration. Yet, while lacking the drama of politics, the homelessness issue has been drowned out by the noise of police reform, the teachers contract, universal pre-K, and several controversies of varying sizes. But even if our attention may have diverted, it is now clear that Mayor de Blasio's War on Homelessness has officially begun.

Subsidy Programs
New York City is once again experimenting with a rental-subsidy approach to combating its homelessness program.

In May, just a few weeks after the State changed the wording in its budget to allow the re-creation of such a program using state monies, the Wall Street Journal reported that the City was weighing two rental subsidy programs: one that would help families leave the shelter system, and another that would aid families who have been in and out of the shelter system more than once. Then, last week, those programs were confirmed by the de Blasio administration — all in all, the City predicts the new initiatives will help place 4,000 families, or 13,600 people, into their own homes after the first year; a move that, if sustained, will equal today's homeless population over four years.

In early April, this publication looked at the failures of Advantage, the now-defunct rental subsidy program created by the Bloomberg administration that housed, and then evicted, over 8,000 families across the five boroughs, placing them back in the vicious shelter system cycle. Critics labeled the program as unrealistic; a "one-size-fits-all" solution to a problem that comes in all shapes and sizes, with a time frame that didn't give participants enough chance to become self-sufficient.

"Confronting homelessness takes two parts: the right policies, and the right resources," Council Member Levin said in a recent interview with Gotham Gazette. "The most important thing to do at the outset of a new term is to push the reset button on policies. It's extremely important to have a system that, over time, decreases the shelter census to a level that we can handle." In terms of income, Levin's district includes the wealthiest (Brooklyn Heights) and close to the poorest (Bed-Stuy) neighborhoods of Brooklyn, as well as a handful of homeless shelters.

In order to reduce the shelter population, reviving some form of a rental subsidy program is the crown jewel of the de Blasio homelessness agenda. In stark contrast to Bloomberg, de Blasio is pushing that reset button Levin mentioned. "In terms of the commitment on rental subsidy, it's the first in 3 years," Levin said.

The first of the two new rent-subsidy programs is set to cost $80 million over four years, split down the middle between Albany and City Hall, and target 801 families a year, for a total of 3,204 over four years — fewer than half the number of families affected by Advantage's demise, and only a small percentage of the 13,000 families estimated to be in the shelter system every night.

Whereas Advantage offered one to two-year subsidies, the new program will stretch the timeframe to a three-year renewable subsidy. Also, the qualifications for subsidies this time around would be more targeted based on income sustainability: families would have to have lived in the shelter system for more than a year, with one individual working over 35 hours a week and showing unfettered employment for a few months.

The second plan, set to cost $59 million over four years, would act as a fallback for families who have been caught in the unforgiving cycle of the shelter system. In addition to providing 'intensive social services,' funding for permanent housing will be raised through reductions in rents, valued at about $61 million, being sent to landlords of 'cluster sites,' where market-rate apartments house formerly homeless families with city funds. However, as one might expect, not every landlord is on board with this plan; one having already threatened to evict 200 families as a result, creating a legal omen for the plan's future.

This move also coincides with the expansion of the Family Eviction Prevention Program, which helps families on the brink of losing their homes, to include 2,500 domestic-violence victims. To pay for this, the City is setting aside $9 million from the new rental subsidy programs. In terms of a start date for the programs, Lilliam Barrios-Paoli, the deputy mayor of health and human services, has hinted at a September launch, but, as of now, details remain murky for something many housing experts say would change the game entirely.

"Can New York City do rental subsidies and have New York State participate?" James Dill, the executive director of Housing and Services, asked in a recent interview. "We're very interested in seeing the early steps."

NYCHA's Role
Between 2004 and 2013, the number of NYCHA housing units dedicated to homeless individuals dropped from 1,780 to 95. A similar free-fall occurred to those receiving Section 8 federal housing vouchers, too. These plummets were due, in large part, to the 2005 end of the Bloomberg administration's priority policy, which designated a fixed amount of units and vouchers to homeless populations based on the available units that year. In addition to ending Advantage, many housing advocates peg this as the second of two direct reasons why 54,000 New Yorkers are now homeless. It's also another reason why many of these advocates stress the need for more units.

"It has to be the affordable housing," Dill told Gotham Gazette. "We're enthusiastic about [the mayor's] affordable housing plan. From our point of view, it's not only the most humane, but also, the most cost-effective approach." As it is, it costs the city $3,000 a month to house a family, though that price varies by situation. It is a number many say is far too much to pay to keep families in shelters.

Since 1987, Dill's Housing and Services, Inc., has provided a home for older, mentally or physically disabled homeless individuals, and case managers who "help them overcome the demons that led them to their homelessness in the first place." With 17 facilities in the tri-state area — three in Manhattan — front desk services are available 24/7, 365 days a year. It is this sort of permanent supportive housing that Dill believes the mayor needs to hone in on.

In his ten-year housing plan, Mayor de Blasio decided to up the ante with NYCHA units: now, starting in this new fiscal year, 750 out of the 5,000 NYCHA units available every year will be prioritized for homeless families; Section 8 vouchers will also be restored, although a solid figure of just how many has still yet to be identified. The move effectively reinstates dead policy and yet, while 750 is a huge increase from 170, several advocates have said this is not enough for the extensive problem at hand. Not to mention the waiting list for NYCHA, the largest city public housing agency in the country, now includes upwards of 247,000 families.

"We were disappointed with NYCHA's 750 designated units because it should be 2,500," Patrick Markee of the Coalition for the Homeless told Gotham Gazette. "We're hopeful the administration will be helpful with this."

Along with numerous other groups, Markee's organization called on the mayor and Governor Cuomo this past May to dedicate funds for the creation of 30,000 supportive housing units over the next 10 years, which would save New York taxpayers about $10,000 a year per unit, they say. The current City-State agreement - known as NY/NY - is set to create 9,000 units, but Governor Cuomo has indicated that he'd be willing to have Albany pay for an expansion of the program.

Here in New York City, the de Blasio administration's housing plan leaves the future target area for supportive housing blank, making Markee hopeful that the idea of 30,000 units is still under consideration by elected officials. "The mayor included a significant amount of funding calling on City and State for permanent housing plans," he said. "The mayor's budget goes a long way — there are now affordable housing funds for families."

More than Just Housing
In addition to the housing side of things, the concept of 'doing more' translates into the biggest buzzword in this conversation: HomeBase. Started by the Bloomberg administration a decade ago, the preventative program has positioned 14 offices in areas with the highest levels of homelessness (such as East New York, Bed-Stuy, and Mott Haven), providing populations there with services like job training, benefits assistance, landlord-tenant mediation, and emergency "one shot" rent payments for families in line for eviction.

Under Bloomberg, funding for the program staggered with the recession, plateauing its growth for some time. But on July 1st (the start of the 2015 fiscal year), HomeBase witnessed a 50 percent increase in its funds — the largest expansion of the program since its creation, with most of the new dollars coming from the State. The increase will help create more offices and serve 5,000 more families, as the city plans a $870,000 marketing blitz in the coming months to broadcast the news of more offices and services.

"Studies have shown that HomeBase is an effective program, with a quantifiable diversion of resources that are allocated," Council Member Levin said. "I asked the head of the DHS years ago, under Bloomberg: 'If we quadrupled resources for HomeBase, would we see a real impact?' And she said yes!"

Yet, the quantifiable effectiveness of this expansion, and the program itself for that matter, is still under question by housing advocates. "HomeBase is a mixed bag," Mr. Markee argued. "The financial grants do well, but other services, like counseling...I'm not sure how helpful they are. HomeBase has prevented homelessness, though, so expanding it is good news."

To Mr. Markee, more good news came when the Human Resources Administration (HRA) and its new commissioner, Steve Banks, announced two dozen anti-poverty reforms in May. Banks emphasized one measure that consolidates all civil legal services to homeless individuals, most of whom exist in that wide stratum of lower-income Americans who have no access to legal representation whatsoever. On this end, Mr. Markee happily added, "The City is definitely doing more."

The de Blasio Difference
In 2010, Bill de Blasio made his first policy announcement as the newly-elected Public Advocate largely a scathing criticism of then-Mayor Bloomberg's homelessness policy, targeting what he saw as an underwhelming effort to combat an overflowing problem. The future mayor called for everything then that he's doing now: a rental subsidy program, an expansion of HomeBase, and a focus on preventative services.

"The big mistake, in my view, is the inability to acknowledge that the overall strategy hasn't worked," de Blasio told the New York Times. "I've never heard a full acknowledgment of the failure of the strategy, and I don't know how you can make something better if you don't acknowledge that it hasn't worked."

But, there was a strategy - at least at one point during Bloomberg's tenure. When you compare and contrast the plans hatched by the de Blasio and Bloomberg administrations in their original forms, the differences in actual policy concepts are minimal. The reality of what has happened to the city's homelessness politics over the past ten years is how quickly everything can fall apart, no matter how high you aim.

"Bloomberg wanted a two-third reduction over 10 years. That's unrealistic," Council Member Levin said. "We need to start talking about what our five- or ten-year plans are. We have to have our eyes on changing the goals. A one-fifth reduction over 5 years is a realistic time frame with a broad collaborative effort."

Now, the immense failure of that highly ambitious strategy looms like a shadow over Mayor de Blasio's every move. It leaves the most powerful person in New York City in a bind between being too cautious with his agenda and stretching his administration's resources too thin, especially with the fates of 54,000 individuals at stake. And the last thing the mayor would want is for history to repeat itself.

***
John Surico is a freelance journalist. His reporting can be seen in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The New York Daily News, The Village Voice, and elsewhere. He lives in Brooklyn.

@GothamGazette

New York City Hall

What to watch for this week in New York politics:

After a weekend that featured the Rev. Al Sharpton's "We Will Not Go Back" march to protest the death of Staten Island resident Eric Garner during an arrest by the New York Police Department, the focus this week looks to change to the Sept. 9 primary. Thousands marched peacefully on Staten Island on Friday despite the concerns of local politicians that tension over events in Ferguson, Mo., might spark violence here. There was a large NYPD presence for the march but generally allowed protesters leeway. Labor unions that participated in the march went to great lengths to make sure anti-NYPD signs were replaced with friendlier messages as they faced backlash from police unions and others.

No arrests were made, according to the NYPD. Perhaps at next month's Stated meeting, you can expect the City Council to introduce various bills dealing with chokeholds in general, as well as use of force by the NYPD. The City Council has no public committee or whole body meetings this week, though.

Sorry kids, but summer is coming to an end and that means it's time to head back to school. This could be good news for Mayor Bill de Blasio as we will see a massive pre-k rollout, though the logistics involved are formidable. De Blasio's signature initiative will surely be the source of much scrutiny in the coming weeks and months.

With the primary only days away, Gov. Andrew Cuomo may finally be forced to leave "the New York City area," which is where his official schedule has placed him on most days of late.

Expect pressure to continue to build on Cuomo to accept a debate with his Democratic opponent, Fordham Law School professor Zephyr Teachout. Cuomo has been absent from the campaign trail while his lawyers attempted to have Teachout kicked off the ballot.

Time Warner Cable and NY1 have invited Cuomo to debate Teachout on an hour-long program on Sept. 2. They would also host a debate between Cuomo's choice for lieutenant governor, Kathy Hochul, and Columbia Law School professor Tim Wu, who is running with Teachout. Cuomo told reporters who caught up with him at the New York State Fair that he would "leave that to the campaigns to work out, whatever they decide" -- as if Cuomo has no direct influence over whether the debate happens and Teachout's campaign would not relish the chance to debate.

A number of pundits, including Christina Greer from Fordham University, say Cuomo could have a difficult time debating Teachout because he would have to be careful how he comes off sparring with a strong woman opponent. "Powerful men generally have a hard time debating educated women," Greer told Gotham Gazette. "It's very easy for men to come across as dismissive or generally unpleasant in that situation."

The state chapter of the National Organization For Women (NOW) endorsed Teachout over the weekend. Cuomo reportedly pursued the endorsement and his failure to earn it would seem to weaken his Women's Equality Party ballot line.

Teachout's grassroots campaign has focused on personal appearances and word of mouth. Hochul has done most of the campaigning for Team Cuomo as she pushes the Women's Equality Party. Teachout's campaign has received a wealth of media attention in the last few days.

Teachout and Wu will hold a teleconference at 1 p.m. on Monday to announce the launch of their campaign to "expose Kathy Hochul's congressional record."

Elections approaching
Tuesday marks two weeks until primary day for the 2014 New York State elections. This week will feature several debates, including a showdown between Independent Democratic Conference Leader Jeff Klein and his challenger, Oliver Koppell, on BronxTalk.

On Sunday evening, The Manhattan Neighborhood Network's "Represent NYC" began airing a series of debates hosted by our Ben Max and Marlene Peralta of El Diario. Debates include candidates from the 31st Senate District Primary and the 72nd and 76th Assembly District Primaries, among others. Watch them online here.

NY1 is also hosting a debate on Inside City Hall almost every night this week, including Klein-Koppell on Tuesday evening and incumbent state Sen. and IDC member Tony Avella versus challenger John Liu on Wednesday evening.

Here's a bit more to watch for day-by-day this week:

Monday
According to his public schedule, de Blasio will spend most of his day in Queens. He will address the Sports & Arts in Schools Foundation's professional training for SONYC program staff members at 12:15 p.m. in Queens. At 6:15 p.m., the mayor will speak at the Jewish Community Council's testimonial dinner, which is also in Queens, and he will cap it all off by speaking at the opening ceremony of the 2014 U.S. Open at 7:50 p.m.

From 4:30 to 7:30 p.m., Council Member Daneek Miller will host extended office hours with pre-k enrollment experts. 172-12 Linden Blvd, St. Albans.

At 6 p.m., the New York County Democratic Committee will hold a cocktail reception fundraiser hosted by Assemblyman and County Leader Keith Wright at AFSCME DC 1707 at 420 West 45th Street.

At 7:30 p.m., Council Member Donovan Richards will hold an information session on participatory budgeting in his district at the Herbert G Birch Early Childhood Center in Springfield Gardens.

Tuesday
As we mentioned, Tuesday marks just two weeks until primary day! Get up to speed on the 2014 New York State elections through our Gotham Gazette Election Center.

At 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Teachout will be among the candidates receiving the endorsement of the Bangladeshi American Advocacy Group (BAAG), at an event taking place at Diversity Plaza, Jackson Heights, Queens.

At 11 a.m. on Tuesday on the steps of City Hall, "Women activists and elected officials will "Take the Pledge" on Women's Equality Day, August 26, to register women voters." Leaders participating will include Manhattan BP Gale A. Brewer, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, State Sen. Liz Krueger, Assembly Members Deborah Glick, Linda Rosenthal, and Nily Rozic, and Amy Loprest, Executive Director, Campaign Finance Board, parent of the NYC Voter Assistance Advisory Committee.

Also at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Brooklyn BP Eric Adams "will announce the details of his parks capital budget for Fiscal Year 2015, a $5,200,000 investment that represents an increase of almost ten percent compared to the previous year's total. He will make this announcement at Heckscher Playground in Bushwick."

At 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Teachout will celebrate another endorsement, this from the National Organization of Women (NOW) of New York, who will be represented by Zenaida Mendez, NYS NOW Chapter President. The formal announcement will be held at the Eleanor Roosevelt Statue, 72nd St and Riverside Drive.

At 7 p.m., the Bay Terrace Community Alliance hosts a candidate forum with candidates for all statewide offices and the 11th Senate and 26th Assembly districts at the Bay Terrace Jewish Center at 1300 209th Street in Bay Terrace.

At 7 and 10 p.m. Inside City Hall will feature the aforementioned debate between Jeff Klein and Oliver Koppell.

Wednesday
City & State NY will hold its 4th annual energy conference at BNY Mellon-101 Barclay Street, West Assembly, 10th Floor. Registration starts at 8 a.m. with opening remarks at 8:45 a.m.

The Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council will host a candidates forum for the 52d Assembly District and the 20th Senate District at 7:30 p.m.

Council Member Ritchie Torres will talk with DL21C about his legislative victory in expanding services for LGBT seniors throughout his district from 7 to 8 p.m.

At 7 and 10 p.m. NY1 will feature the aforementioned debate between Tony Avella and John Liu.

Thursday
City & State NY hosts its 4th annual education conference. The event takes place from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. at The CUNY Graduate Center's Proshanky Auditorium. New York City Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña will be the featured speaker. Panelists include United Federation of Teachers president Michael Mulgrew, state education commissioner John King and Merryl Tisch, chancellor of the NYS Board of Regents.

Thursday is also the RSVP deadline that NY1 gave to the Cuomo-Hochul and Teachout-Wu campaigns for the debates that the network has invited the candidates to participate in.

On Thursday evening itself, NY1 will feature a debate between candidates running in the 19th State Senate District.

Friday and the weekend
It's Labor Day weekend, enjoy it.

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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 Kristen Meriwether, Katrina Shakarian, and Ben Max in New York City and David King in Albany
@GothamGazette

New MOVA Commissioner Loree Sutton (@nycmayorsoffice)

NEW YORK—On Monday Mayor Bill de Blasio named former U.S. Army Brigadier General Loree Sutton, M.D., as the new Commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Veterans' Affairs (MOVA). To the position, Sutton brings 20 years of military service as well as extensive work on mental health issues facing veterans.

De Blasio, whose father was a World War II veteran, noted at the press conference to announce Sutton's appointment that veterans issues are deeply personal for him. He called Sutton, who has extensive experience on the federal level, a "transcendent figure."

"We have growing numbers of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, many with much more complicated challenges than past veterans faced," de Blasio said from City Hall's Blue Room on Monday. "There is a lot to do and a lot to expand on. It requires the right leadership. I think we know General Sutton has proven her strength."

Sutton will take her post on September 2 and begin a 90-day review of her office.

Like her predecessor, Terrance Holliday, who served as commissioner starting in 2010, Sutton will have to attend to the city's 200,000 veterans with a razor thin budget. In this current fiscal year, which began on July 1 and will end June 30, 2015, MOVA has a budget of $549,112 which pays for five staff members (including the commissioner) and only $25,000 in non-personnel costs. Advocates and City Council Member Eric Ulrich, who chairs the Council's Committee on Veterans, pressed the mayor for more funding during this year's budget negotiations, but it was not given.

With such a small budget, MOVA cannot directly provide services to veterans. In addition to serving in an advisory role to the mayor, MOVA leaders work with multiple federal, state, and local agencies as well as local organizations to ensure veterans have access to services. These services can include jobs, housing, medical benefits, and education.

With such limited money and manpower and so many people to reach, MOVA faces a tall order. A growing number of those in the veteran community feel it's time to revamp the office.

"MOVA has not been effective. Most veterans, especially in our generation, have no idea what MOVA is and don't see MOVA playing a critical part in their life," said Paul Rieckhoff, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA). "MOVA must be revamped. She [Sutton] has to lead that change."

Rieckhoff added that Sutton is a "national-level leader" and called the appointment a "huge homerun."

With the support of advocates, Ulrich has proposed legislation that would establish a Department of Veteran Affairs, removing it from within the mayor's office. Establishing a separate agency would allow for more funding and personnel resources, as well as alleviate some issues with funding relevant non-profits. At least for now, the mayor appears to be taking a wait-and-see approach before shaking things up.

"We think the model we have now is an important and effective one and we think we can do a lot more with it," de Blasio said. "The way I look at this is I want to bring in a new leader, get going with the model we have now and judge from there."

There will be a hearing on the legislation this fall, but after having already waited eight months for the mayor to name a new commissioner, some advocates are looking for more than just a new leader at the helm.

"[MOVA] needs money, power, a staff, and real programs," Rieckhoff said. "[Sutton] needs to be empowered to have money, staff, and authority. If she doesn't have that it will be strictly ceremonial."

"They can only do what they can do with what resources and money that is currently there," said Joseph Bello, a Navy veteran and founder of NY MetroVets, an advocacy organization. "I would like to see the mayor put his money where his mouth is and get more funding into that office to give her the ability to actually do some of the work."

Sutton did not comment directly on the proposal, but multiple references of partnership during her speech indicated she understood, at least in part, the limitations of the office in its current form.

"Community partnerships within New York City organizations are critical to meeting the needs and harnessing the strengths of our city's veterans," Sutton said. "I will join with my fellow commissioners and key members of this administration to identify potential synergies as virtually every policy issue facing New York City is relevant for veterans and their loved ones."

Ulrich said he had not spoken to Sutton about his proposal yet, but hoped to in the near future.

"I think she will take this office to the next level," Ulrich said following Monday's announcement. "I think she is uniquely qualified for this position and she brings a higher level of expertise and management that I think will serve her and the veterans of the city well."

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by Kristen Meriwether, Gotham Gazette
@MeriwetherK

Veterans parade in New York City (nycmarines via flickr)

New York - Mayor Bill de Blasio is expected to name Brigadier General Loree K. Sutton, M.D., as the new Commissioner to the Mayor's Office of Veterans' Affairs (MOVA), according to two sources, one of whom worked in MOVA.

Brigadier General Sutton is the highest ranking psychiatrist in the U.S. Army. In 2007 she served as the director of the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE).

Brigadier General Sutton will replace outgoing Commissioner Terrance Holliday, who was appointed by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2010.

De Blasio has a noon press conference scheduled to make a personnel announcement, according to his public schedule released Sunday evening.

Brigadier General Sutton (photo: pbs.org)

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by Kristen Meriwether, Gotham Gazette
@MeriwetherK

New York City Hall

What to watch for this week in New York politics:

After another festive weekend in which Mayor Bill de Blasio and other elected officials marched in Sunday's Indian Day Parade and participated in Brooklyn Mela's Pakistani Independence Day Celebration, things will refocus on business as the mayor has called a press conference for Monday at noon to make a personnel announcement, according to his public schedule.

Much of the week will be dominated by anticipation of the looming march on Staten Island set for Saturday, August 23rd. The march, organized by Reverand Al Sharpton and partners including unions 1199 SEIU and the UFT, is in response to the death of Eric Garner. The mayor has announced that he will not be marching.

Meanwhile, before he hit the Indian Day Parade, Comptroller Scott Stringer held a press conference on Sunday to unveil the results of an audit his office performed "that revealed potentially dangerous conditions on our City's streets due to poor oversight by New York City's Parks Department over its street tree pruning program." Stringer found that the parks department "has mismanaged the City's street tree pruning program responsible for maintaining approximately 650,000 street trees citywide, increasing the risk of personal injury and property damage from falling branches."

Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito returned to New York City and prepares for the Council's busiest week of the month, leading to Thursday's full-body Stated Meeting, after having been in Puerto Rico this weekend, where she ceremonially officiated the marriage of one of her aides. The marriage was between two women and officiating it was a political move by Mark-Viverito aimed at pushing her homeland to legalize same-sex marriages. Upon returning to the city, Mark-Viverito on Sunday evening shared personal health news on Twitter, explaining news she had received at a recent doctor's visit and encouraging others to pay careful attention to their health.

Watch for a press conference Wednesday morning regarding a bill put forth by Council Member Brad Lander to require more disclosure around independent expenditures on political campaigns. See below for more details.

Elections approaching
Tuesday is three weeks until primary day for the 2014 New York State elections. Will Governor Andrew Cuomo debate his Democratic primary challengers Zephyr Teachout and Randy Creidco? Doubtful. But, lieutenant governor candidates Kathy Hochul (Cuomo's running mate) and Tim Wu (Teachout's running mate) might debate, according to statements by Wu. It's seeming more and more apparent that Hochul might continue to be the only Cuomo campaign presence out and about before the primary - other than the TV ads the governor is running, of course. Much, much more to watch for in these primaries throughout the state Senate and Assembly races.

And...
It's almost back-to-school time and the final week of free summer meals for NYCHA youth. The City is still encouraging families to sign up for pre-kindergarten at city community-based organizations.

Plenty more specifics to track this week. Here's the run of the week in more detail:

Monday
According to his public schedule, de Blasio will make a personnel announcement at noon on Monday. And, "in the evening, the Mayor will speak at the Wingate Park Concert Series: Gospel Night in Brooklyn." He will be joined there by other city officials, including schools chancellor Carmen Fariña, who will also be making remarks. Comptroller Scott Stringer is also set to be in attendance.

Earlier on Monday, the City Council kicks off its busiest week of the month. According to the Council's press office, on Monday "the New York City Council Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises will hold a hearing on several land use applications in Manhattan and Queens" and "The New York City Council Subcommittee on Planning, Dispositions, and Concessions will also hold a hearing on land use applications in Brooklyn."

Tuesday
As we mentioned, Tuesday marks just three weeks until primary day! Get up to speed on the 2014 New York State elections through our Gotham Gazette Election Center. Speaking of those elections, there are at least two candidate forums Tuesday night...

In the hotly contested 11th state Senate district, candidates will assembly in Queens for a candidate forum at the Sheraton LaGuardia East Hotel. Senator Tony Avella and his primary challenger John Liu are expected, as well as Green Party candidate Paul Gilman, for a forum moderated by Russchell Boone and hosted by Chhaya CDC, Chinese American Planning Council, Flushing Jewish Community Council, Korean Community Services of Metropolitan New York, La Fuente, MinKwon Center for Community Action, New Immigrant Community Empowerment, OCA-NY Advocate, New York Civic Engagement Table, New York Immigration Coalition.

Also on Tuesday, El Diario's Marlene Peralta and City Limits' Jarrett Murphy will moderate a debate for candidates running for the 54th Assembly District. The candidates in the race include Eric Dilan, Kimberly Council, and Khorshed A. Chowdhury.

At 7 p.m. on Tuesday, the Four Freedoms Democratic Club is holding a fundraiser at Off the Rails (2nd Ave between 91st and 92nd). The club is "trying to raise some funds to help connect our candidates to the voters of the 76th Assembly District." The club says it will be joined at the event by Council Member Ben Kallos, State Senator Liz Krueger, and others.

Earlier on Tuesday is Crain's Techsytalk LIVE: "If you're a corporate or independent event planner that also detests boring events and craves the unconventional – techsytalk LIVE is for you! Techsytalk LIVE is the premier Event Tech Conference and Showcase – For Planners, By Planners – focused on educating planners and introducing them to new event technology companies. Check out our agenda, awesome speaker lineup and rockstar companies we're featuring this year!"

On Tuesday at 1 p.m., the City Council's education committee will hold a hearing on a new "Local Law to establish a program in relation to the employment of school bus drivers, attendants, dispatchers and mechanics by qualified employers."

New York City Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer is having a 45th birthday and over four years in office celebration on Tuesday in Long Island City.

Also on Tuesday, state Senator Diane Savino and environmental groups will announce the passage of legislation designed to prepare and protect Staten Island from extreme weather.

And, Council Member Andy King will announce the allocation of nearly $1.5 million from his discretionary and capital funding for projects in NYCHA's Boston Secor. The announcement will come in conjunction with a walkthrough of The Boston Secor by King and NYCHA Chair and CEO Shola Olatoye.

Wednesday
On Wednesday night The Real Affordability for All Coalition is planning a "March for Good Jobs & Affordable Housing."

Council Member Brad Lander's bill on independent expenditure disclosures in campaign communications will be voted on at a Wednesday morning meeting of the Council's Committee on Governmental Operations. Before that meeting, Lander, the bill's co-sponsors, and good government advocates will be holding a 9:30 press conference. Backers hope that the government operations committee will vote the bill out and that the full Council will then pass it at Thursday's full-body Stated meeting.

The government operations committee will also take up Council Member Dan Garodnick's bill to require "public-facing disclosure of campaign spending."

On Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. young professionals in support of L. Rickie Tulloch, Democratic candidate for the State Assembly in District 42 in Brooklyn, are gathering at Ditmas Park's Bar Chord. Tulloch is running to replace retiring Assembly Member Rhoda Jacobs, who has endorsed Tulloch.

Also on Wednesday, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams will host a reception in honor of Jesse Hamilton, candidate to replace Adams in the State Senate representing the 20th District.

Thursday
On Thursday afternoon, the City Council will hold its August Stated meeting. Prior to that, the Committee on Finance will meet at 10 a.m. to vote on a "resolution approving the new designation and changes in the designation of certain organizations to receive funding in the Expense Budget." The rules committee will also meet before the Stated.

Also on Thursday, The Fifth Avenue Committee and BrooklynSpeaks will host an event to help "win the fight for affordable housing and accountability at Atlantic Yards." The event will include food, music and dancing.

There will be a Public Meeting of the Panel for Educational Policy on Thursday at 6:00 pm.

The United African Coalition is hosting a candidate forum on Thursday evening with those running in the 77th Assembly District.

Also on Thursday evening, Mayor Bill de Blasio will host a reception for the City Hall press corps.

Friday and the weekend
As we mentioned in the introduction, much of the week will be spent anticipating the march in Staten Island planned for Saturday. Reverand Al Sharpton, 1199 SEIU, the UFT, and other organizers and participants will head to Staten Island for "A March For Justice For Victims Of Police Brutality." Marchers are seeking justice after the death of Eric Garner, who died after he was placed in a chokehold by a member of the NYPD who was part of a group of officers arresting Garner on July 17.

Also on Saturday, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. is hosting the Bronx Back to School Literacy and Health Fair. The event will include entertainment giveaways and health information.

And, Council Member Andy King's Community Health and Resource Fair will take place on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Bronx. There will be mobile health and legal vans, health screenings, exhibits by community agencies and businesses, demonstrations and free giveaways.

Lastly, the Brooklyn Young Democrats let it be known that the club is supporting a "Weekend of Action for Domenic Recchia," who is running to unseat Rep. Michael Grimm. On both Saturday and Sunday, Recchia campaign volunteers and supporters will be knocking on doors, making phone calls, and more. 

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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 Kristen Meriwether and Ben Max in New York City and David King in Albany
@GothamGazette

US District Attorney Preet Bhara (photo: Bryan Smith, NY Daily News)

When U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara was asked about his investigation into Governor Andrew Cuomo's now-defunct Moreland Commission on Public Corruption last month on The Charlie Rose Show, he gave what can be seen as a stern assessment of good governance efforts in New York.

"Our interest above all other interests is to make sure that the job is getting done - because we are the people who do our jobs," said Bharara of rooting out corruption.

Bharara's comments could be taken as a critique of ethics enforcement and reform in Albany as a whole as all of the state's agencies and other entities that can police political corruption appear restrained or restricted from actually doing the job. Thus, Bharara's federal office enters yet again to pick up the slack.

It was not supposed to be this way. When Governor Cuomo empaneled the Moreland Commission and had Attorney General Eric Schneiderman deputize its members, promises were made of finally purging systemic corruption in Albany and reforming the broken systems that have helped make it so rampant. But, this was not to be, much to the disappointment of many, including, it seems, the hard-charging Bharara.

It is a sentiment that a number of good government advocates echo full-throatily. They say despite years of incremental progress on ethics reform and corruption fighting, Albany's power brokers still refuse to give up control of the bodies that are supposed to be policing them.

"We've wanted something that was extraordinarily independent," said Barbara Bartoletti of The League of Women Voters about the Moreland Commission, to which she served as an advisor. "That is what we wanted from JCOPE and the Board of Elections [as well], but it's not what we got."

Bharara himself has said he cannot do it all, noting that he thinks the situation will only really change when the public is frustrated enough. For now, though, it appears that Bharara's office is the only agent of change seriously taking on public corruption.

With the focus on how much control Gov. Cuomo and his top aides may have exerted on the Moreland Commission, good government experts say it is time for New York to take the restraints off of its ethics enforcement by giving independence and teeth to existing checks on corruption.

Both Blair Horner of The New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) and Dick Dadey of Citizens Union say they hope the recent focus on Moreland leads to reforms at the Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) and renews efforts to give the Attorney General (AG) real power to investigate corruption in the legislative and executive branches.

"The silence from state-based watchdogs is unsettling," said Horner, who noted that neither the AG nor JCOPE has commented on whether they are investigating allegations of the governor's interference with the Moreland Commission. "Is JCOPE engaged? We don't know. While the silence is unsettling it also adds to the conversation about oversight in Albany."

Dadey said that "JCOPE must be unshackled and unleashed," while the Attorney General should be "given the power to investigate corruption that Schneiderman's office has asked for and that Governor Cuomo called for when he was Attorney General."

Why is it that a U.S. District Attorney is the leading scourge of corruption in New York's state government? New York's ethics bodies don't exactly have a history of headline-grabbing corruption busting. Bharara is responsible for indicting state Senator Malcolm Smith in his alleged scheme to bribe his way onto the Republican ticket for New York City mayor, as well as the indictments of Assembly Member Eric Stevenson, Council Member Larry Seabrook, and the successful prosecution of Sen. Carl Kruger for his involvement in a massive bribery ring.

According to many state government experts, the fact is that Albany's checks and balances were simply built to fail because state electeds are so loathe to give away any real power to ethics enforcement agencies no matter what form they take. When Moreland was alive and active, it seemed to be getting somewhere real in terms of identifying areas in need of reform and ongoing abuses of power. But, it was quashed as it was gaining momentum.

Experts point to the failure of Cuomo's Moreland Commission on Public Corruption as a microcosm for what prevents every other ethics-related entity or elected officials themselves from actually effectively policing the integrity quagmire that is Albany. "No one in Albany truly wants to let go of the strings," said Horner. "The [New York] Times' reporting shows the governor was very hands-on in dealing with Moreland and raises suspicions about how much influence he has on other bodies, including JCOPE."

Independent Watchers
A quick accounting of the state's major bodies tasked with enforcing ethics, controlling corruption, and generally policing elected officials reveals numerous agencies or offices that either lack the power to investigate and enforce state law or that are neutered by their political nature - hamstrung by commissioners and appointees given their jobs by the very people they are supposed to be monitoring.

Horner points out that JCOPE is the only state ethics watchdog he knows of that allows a legislative veto of investigations. It is also populated with appointees who owe their political lives and employment to the Governor and Legislature.

"We really need a cooling off period between employment in the Legislature or Executive before becoming the executive director," said Horner of JCOPE leadership. Cuomo's first choice to head JCOPE was his inspector general Ellen Biben, who had previously worked for him in the attorney general's office. Biben then left JCOPE in 2013 and was replaced by former Cuomo aide Letizia Tagliafierro.

JCOPE has faced major scrutiny over its votes to investigate the handling of the Vito Lopez sexual harassment scandal and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's decision to use state funds to settle a lawsuit against Lopez.

"Like with anything in politics the question is: 'How do you select anything and make it truly independent?'" said Bartoletti. "You want strong, independent appointees, but they are ultimately appointed by the Governor. You have to look at the degrees of distance between the leadership on something like JCOPE and the Governor's office. Transparency is key, but that is nothing the Legislature or Governor wants."

Bartoletti said that commissions like JCOPE need independent leaders and members with the kinds of reputations that would shield them from influence and pressure. Bartoletti suggests that former Appeal Courts Judge Judith Kaye would be an ideal person to head a truly independent ethics watchdog.

Empowering the AG
Cuomo promised during his 2010 campaign that he would issue the AG a blanket referral to investigate corruption in state government. The AG is limited in his ability to investigate the Legislature and the Executive because of the separation of powers in the state constitution and the fact that the AG is the state's legal defender. But, a blanket referral would unleash the office to seek out corruption broadly - none has been issued, though.

The comptroller, Thomas DiNapoli, and AG Schneiderman have partnered to follow abuses of state funds and have secured cases against legislators, but even with combined powers they do not have the authority to undergo a systemic review. Advocates and some legislators continue to point out that the goal is not necessarily to continue to nab the occasional crook, but to reform the system to prevent dirty behavior as much as possible.

Other Agencies
Both bodies of the state Legislature have ethics committees which according to numerous sources are controlled with an iron fist by legislative leadership and usually only utilized for political reasons - see the Assembly's handling of the Vito Lopez scandal.

JCOPE is the latest iteration of a state ethics commission, but it is controlled by legislative and gubernatorial appointees who can easily quash investigations. At least two of the eight or more members of the panel who must vote for an investigation have to be legislative appointees.

To boot, JCOPE gets to carry out its votes and investigations in complete secrecy because it is not subject to freedom of information or open meetings laws. Since the start of its mission in 2012, most of JCOPE's public activity has centered around voting to allow certain groups to hide the list of their contributors. The agency collects information on outside income from elected officials, but it is unclear how much of what is submitted JCOPE actually verifies.

The Inspector General (IG) is a little-heard-from office that is appointed by the Governor. The IG's office is tasked with ensuring state employees and those who do business with the state don't abuse their positions. The office turns out a stream of investigations into what insiders call "little fish" employees or small contractors who have abused state resources, but the IG has not made major cases against legislators or members of the Executive.

The comptroller's office oversees state spending and has partnered with the AG's office to further investigate abuses of state funds, but according to a number of sources the comptroller's office has faced major resistance from the Cuomo administration on the kind of spending it is supposed to oversee.

The State Board of Elections is supposed to enforce election law, but it has all but refused to engage on the simplest of enforcement actions against candidates and donors that fragrantly break the law. The Moreland Commission held a hearing dedicated to embarrassing the political appointees who run the agency for not allowing any real investigations to take place. The board is headed by a Republican and Democratic chair.

The Albany County District Attorney's Office has jurisdiction over crimes committed in Albany and early in the tenure of current DA David Soares it looked like the office would combat political corruption. Soares successfully prosecuted Comptroller Andrew Hevesi for using state employees to chauffeur his wife and do other personal tasks for him. In 2007 Soares and then-AG Cuomo announced a partnership to fight corruption in Albany whereby Cuomo would give Soares the resources he needed and Soares would basically lend the AG his jurisdiction. However, the partnership evaporated after the two offices issued competing reports on Eliot Spitzer's involvement in the Troopergate scandal. Sources who were in Soares' office at the time worried that Cuomo was looking to use their jurisdiction as a political tool. Since then Soares has claimed his office simply doesn't have the resources to police Albany and prosecute crime in Albany County.

Soares served as a member of Cuomo's Moreland Commission and according to reports and sources the panel was set to refer a number of cases to his office before the Cuomo administration put a kibosh on that plan. Soares' office declined to comment on this or the failed 2007 partnership with Cuomo. However in previous interviews with this reporter from 2008 Soares cited concerns about the "independence" of his office as a reason for his partnership with Cuomo not materializing.

The U.S. Attorney and Beyond
Dadey and Horner say they expect that no matter how much better Albany gets at policing itself the U.S. Attorney will always be making cases against Albany electeds. "It may make the fruit he goes after less low-hanging, but I don't think the U.S. Attorney is going to stop until his term is over or Albany is cleaned up," said Horner.

Dadey said that any U.S. Attorney, be it Bharara or another, will have an advantage over state regulators as federal statutes are stronger and give Bharara the tools he needs to go after larger cases. But Bharara made it clear during an interview on Thursday that the public needs to get involved and hold its elected officials accountable on ethics and corruption because even he can't keep up with the current rate of corruption in Albany.

"The public should be frustrated that it keeps sending to Albany, and to other elected places, people who disproportionately are breaking the law and are violating their oath to uphold the public trust," Bharara told NY1 anchor Errol Louis on Thursday. "And only when the public gets frustrated enough - because this is not a problem that prosecutors can alone solve, and I've been saying that for a long time - and only when the public gets frustrated enough, I think, will you get some kind of reform in Albany and in other places where reform is needed."

***
by David King, Albany Editor, Gotham Gazette
@DavidHowardKing

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

Comptroller Scott Stringer marches in the Indian Day Parade (photo: @scottmstringer)

Keeping tabs on City contracts just got a little easier thanks to two new features unveiled by Comptroller Scott Stringer.

Starting Monday, checks made to prime vendors contracted by the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) working on taxpayer-funded projects will be available on Checkbook 2.0, the Comptroller's interactive website that tracks City spending.

For the first time, New Yorkers will be able to see information about just over $1 billion in spending on over 260 contracts spanning fiscal years 2013, 2014, and 2015 - including on marquee projects like the rebuilding of the boardwalk in the Rockaways and renovations at the New York City Aquarium. Checkbook 2.0 will now include detailed information on NYCEDC vendors and payments, as well as the ability to see what contracts were modified and by how much. As with previous Checkbook 2.0 features, this data can be exported to a machine-readable format for web developers.

"This is a landmark moment for transparency in City government that will benefit all stakeholders," Comptroller Stringer said in a statement. "With this data, taxpayers and policymakers alike will be better equipped to assess the role of economic development spending to ensure that it is being used to strengthen our workforce and create new jobs."

NYCEDC is a non-for-profit corporation that operates under mayoral control. It is tasked with driving economic development in the city.

Not all of the planned NYCEDC data is currently available on Checkbook 2.0, but the comptroller's office is working with the agency to complete the task. As of Monday morning, data prior to fiscal year 2013 is not expected to be uploaded to the site.

"Via the new Checkbook measures, and as part of the de Blasio administration's commitment to transparency, New Yorkers can take a deeper look at how tax monies are being used to their benefit, fueling projects and programs that strengthen the economy and create new economic opportunity across the City," said NYCEDC President Kyle Kimball in a statement.

Additionally, for those wanting to keep track of these newly available contracts the comptroller's office is also rolling out the "Create Alert" feature on Checkbook. For the first time, visitors can sign up for emailed alerts if additional payments are made to vendors or if payments are made on a specific contract.

The alert feature, which is not exclusive to NYCEDC payments, could be useful in helping prevent fraud like that seen in the CityTime payroll scandal. The City originally budgeted $63 million to modernize the payroll system but it ballooned into a $600 million project before fraud was detected. In April three men were sentenced to 20 years in prison for their role in the scam. Even without fraud involved, the new alert system will allow watchers to keep an eye on a variety of City spending.

The Create Alert feature won't show why more money was being paid—that will be up to the watchdogs to discover. But by simply being alerted to increases, red flags can be raised earlier and years of contract mismanagement potentially prevented.

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by Kristen Meriwether, Gotham Gazette
@MeriwetherK

The L (all photos: Cody Lyon)

Almost every New Yorker has at least one horror story about riding the subway. With tales of infrequent arrivals, long mid-trip waits, crowded cars - and much worse - bad subway experiences are a major component of many a New York City conversation.

This month, it's G train riders who may be the most frustrated as the line is shut down for five weeks, from late July to early September, in order for repairs to be made. Though that dubious honor could also go to riders of the 2, which was just ranked the worst line in the city by the 2014 State of the Subways Report Card, performed by the NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign.

But, as much as city residents may complain about particular lines, brutal commutes, and more, the century old system run by the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) is a testament to great ingenuity and access. While frustrating at times, the New York City subway system is extensive, efficient, and the fundamental transportation backbone of the nation's largest, most diverse, and most economically-vibrant city. Not to be overlooked, it also runs 24 hours a day and is inexpensive compared to those of many other major cities.

In large part because of its positive characteristics, the New York City subway system is now more burdened by ridership than ever before and the platforms, tracks, and signals mostly hidden inside dark tunnels that enable trains and their riders to traverse across the five boroughs are in constant need of repair. Updating aging infrastructure is expensive, of course, and comes with shutdowns, reroutes, delays, and their accompanying aggravation. Addressing subway infrastructure is also beholden to constantly challenged state funding and a stale internal bureaucracy that must negotiate with powerful unions. All told, many factors contribute to limit the MTA's ability to provide optimal service.

More and more, though, riders are taking matters into their own hands, and new advocacy efforts are pushing elected officials and the MTA to be more responsive, including by conducting an increasing number of thorough assessments known as "full-line reviews."

The city's transit advocacy community recently welcomed a new group to the fold. The coalition seeks to bring positive change through grassroots activism, taking a neighborhood-by-neighborhood approach. On the street and below in subway stations, in living rooms and elsewhere, concerned transportation advocates are rallying troops, soliciting rider feedback, and crafting and spreading their message of change.

Funded by member donations as well as grant money from organizations such as the Fund for New York City, Riders Alliance sprang onto the scene in 2012. Rather than focusing on the largesse of the complicated $13 billion MTA budget, the group takes a more localized approach, subway line by bus route, ridership issue by ridership issue.

"Our approach is to break it down to the community level and identify improvements we can win that will really resonate in people's lives," said John Raskin, executive director of Riders Alliance.

Through grassroots activism, Riders Alliance seeks to successfully pressure state and city officials to demand that MTA resources not only deliver service more efficiently and comfortably, but also make the necessary investments in readily available technology that could fundamentally transform the system altogether. The group has worked closely with state Senators Daniel Squadron and Martin Dilan, among others, to lobby the MTA. Raskin is former chief of staff to Squadron and the two continue to collaborate on transit initiatives.

Thus far, they've seen positive results. The most recent victory, an MTA promise to conduct full-line reviews of the notoriously irregular A and C subways. The A and C tied for next-to-last in this summer's straphangers rankings, just barely ahead of the 2 (the 7 is ranked best line in the city).

Among other victories Riders Alliance counts as its own over the past two-plus years: more frequent bus service in Astoria and Long Island City; station improvements for N and Q line riders; and additional services for commuters impacted by R and G tunnel construction. Riders Alliance teamed up with the NYPIRG straphangers campaign and several elected officials to win $18 million in funds that restored bus and train service cut in 2010 due to recession-related budget constraints.

This past June's A and C full-line review announcement came after a months-long effort to get better service on the C train. A full-line review, as it sounds, is essentially a complete and extensive check up of a particular subway or bus line. In the past, the results of full-line reviews have led to marked improvements in service.

Raskin discussed one of the group's first big campaigns, the effort to bring more frequent service to the G train after its own full-line review. The G had first been identified as a problem line by many of Riders Alliance's original members from Brooklyn and Queens. With its shorter trains, sporadic service, and status as the only line that doesn't cross into Manhattan, the G had been reduced to the butt of jokes, but an object of rage for Brooklynites and Queens residents who depend on its inter-outer-borough service.

It was the G train Riders Alliance campaign that first introduced one New Yorker to transit activism and she's now one of the group's most active members.

One autumn morning in 2012, Tolani Adeboye was standing on the subway platform at the Myrtle Willoughby station in Brooklyn where she catches the G to her job at the New York City Department of Education. Adeboye was approached by a Riders Alliance member and asked if she'd be interested in signing a petition to bring more frequent service to the G. She was also asked if she'd like to attend an upcoming Alliance meeting.

Adeboye, a Washington, D.C. native, says she'd never been much of an activist. She'd always had a casual interest in mass transit and was disgruntled by G line service, though, and the inquiry piqued her interest. A New Yorker for seven years, five of those spent riding the G, she'd come to realize just how critical a working transit system is to New Yorkers.

"When you live here, and you see how much you and your neighbors rely on it, it hits home in a different way," she said over the phone.

Despite low initial expectations for any tangible outcome, she started attending Riders Alliance meetings and events.

"I honestly thought I'd meet cool people, do something besides complain, and learn something about grassroots organizing - and maybe, the MTA will pay a little bit of attention," Adeboye said.

But it wasn't long before she began to believe the diverse group of commuters actually knew how to run an advocacy campaign. Adeboye and others saw the Alliance getting a wide variety of people interested, then involved at the neighborhood level. By providing New Yorkers with the opportunity to take action in response to their daily frustrations, the Alliance has shown broad appeal.

Riders Alliance's G campaign lasted several months: members held rallies, earned media attention, and enlisted the efforts of local politicians and other transit advocacy leaders. By April 2013, the MTA agreed to do a full-line review of the G - one which led to both increased service and the current shutdown for repairs, some of which are related to damage incurred during Superstorm Sandy.

Chairman of the MTA Thomas Prendergast has said in the past that he supports an eventual full-line review of every line in the system and many activists have encouraged the chairman to make that happen.

However, MTA spokesperson Kevin Ortiz told Gotham Gazette that each full-line review is a massive long-term undertaking. Ortiz said the reviews require a significant number of staff and good deal of money. Those staff come from both the MTA's planning and operating units, financing is always a major challenge, and the reviews can not be performed quickly.

"The A and C line review is something that will take some time. We can't start that right away, so it will probably get completed at some point in 2015," said Ortiz.

Ortiz added that the cost alone would prevent any comprehensive review of all subway lines in the immediate future.

"That's just not going to happen," he said.

Explaining that a full-line review requires the MTA to examine every aspect related to a line's operation, Ortiz detailed that this includes ridership, infrastructure, scheduling, and service design down to the efficiency of shared trackage with another line.

The MTA capital program's sole job is to keep tabs on and maintain the system's infrastructure. Capital program staff examine every aspect of the physical system; detail the last time tracks or signals were replaced; perform structural tests on tunnels; and examine elevated tracks. "They are the people who go out and do the inspections and determine if work gets done on a certain corridor of track or tunnel," explained Ortiz. Afterwards, he said the MTA figures out what it can do in terms of quick fixes or, as needed, looks at dedicating more ample resources from the multi-billion dollar capital program.

In late July, State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli said that his office had determined that the MTA may very well be facing a funding gap of over $12 billion over the next five years. The Authority has outlined capital project needs of $26.6 billion for 2015-2019, but DiNapoli notes that adjustments to spending expectations will almost surely have to be made as the MTA's 2015-2019 five-year plan is formally established and executed.

Meanwhile, the MTA's planning unit measures the actual intervals between arriving trains; checks the passenger environment; and assesses cleanliness of cars and stations. Ortiz added that the planning unit watches ridership levels and can make scheduling adjustments if it observes a consistent spike at a given time.

The most significant full-line reviews the MTA has performed thus far were of the G, F, and L lines, according to Ortiz. Once the review of the G was complete in July 2013, the MTA released the results and agreed to make tangible improvements, not the least of which was a 25% increase in daily afternoon and evening service.

That left commuter and Riders Alliance member Adeboye with a new sense of optimism, accomplishment, and enthusiasm. "When I'm standing there at rush hour and that train is arriving on a much more regular basis, sometimes I want to turn around to people on that platform and say, 'You're welcome,'" she said, laughing.

Recently, Adeboye found herself testifying at City Hall, advocating on another Riders Alliance issue, pre-tax transit benefits. In one of its ongoing efforts, Riders Alliance is pushing for passage of City Council Member Dan Garodnick's Affordable Transit Act, which would mandate that companies with 20 or more employees offer workers the ability to purchase metrocards with pre-tax monies.

Riders Alliance's Raskin is quick to acknowledge that for most New Yorkers, public transportation is a huge and complicated issue, but that the organization seeks to identify more tangible targets. "Sometimes people get alienated from getting involved at the activist level because it feels like too big an issue to tackle," he said. "It's not an approachable issue that a lot of people can take time to wrap their heads around." Which is why, Raskin says, the group often takes a more hyper-local approach to issues.

Much to the dismay of transit advocates, this past April the State took $30 million of unexpected surplus funds from the Mass Transportation Operating Assistance Fund. The money, revenue from MTA-dedicated taxes, was meant to be used to defray State underwriting costs for billions of dollars in MTA capital budget debt.

Originally, Governor Andrew Cuomo had intended to take $40 million, but Riders Alliance, Sen. Squadron, and Assembly Member James Brennan lobbied that the funds remain dedicated to the MTA. They were able to re-secure $10 million and the group declared a victory, but it was clearly a bittersweet one, if any.

According to analysis from Riders Alliance and The Straphangers Campaign, that $30 million could have been used to restore midday, evening, and weekend service on the 1,7, A, F, J, L, and M lines, all cut during the MTA budget crisis amid recession in 2010.

"With the budget, it's going to take a larger effort before it becomes a priority in Albany," said Raskin of re-dedicating funds for increased service.

Raskin, Squadron, and other transportation advocates talk about transit access as a social justice issue. "If we don't have public transportation that's broadly accessible, comprehensive, and also affordable, New York City stops being a place of economic opportunity for people coming to the city or people just trying to get ahead," Raskin said.

For now, he said the group isn't spending a lot of energy on all the abstraction surrounding the MTA budget. Instead, they focus on the people who depend on the system and their individual needs.

Squadron, who has worked with Riders Alliance since the organization's founding, brought it back down to earth when he said the biggest challenge is having a transit system that runs well, maintains a state of good repair, and expands when there's demand.

"At the end of the day, we all take responsibility: the MTA, the state and local city government, for a bus and subway system that works," he said.

To that end, Gov. Cuomo recommended the formation of the MTA Transportation Reinvention Commission, which empaneled recently "to bring together experts to consider two areas: challenges facing the MTA in the next century and investment opportunities to address these challenges." According to the MTA website, the commission includes 24 transportation, planning, financing, business, real estate and other experts. It held a three-day conference in mid-July, soliciting input from the public, including experts and key stakeholders. Raskin was among those to testify before the commission.

Also testifying was William Henderson, Executive Director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee, the coordinating body and funding mechanism for the three riders councils created by the New York State Legislature in 1981. The councils were created to give users of MTA subway, bus, and commuter rail services a say in the formulation and implementation of MTA policy and to hold the MTA Board and management accountable to riders.

"Peoples' subway lines are an extension of their neighborhoods, people identify with the subway line they use the most," said Ellyn Shannon, who works with Henderson as Associate Director.

A daily experience for most New Yorkers, riding their most-traveled subway line is important and personal. The information obtained through full-line reviews, Shannon said, should be shared with subway riders, so they can begin to understand the specific findings, be they regarding tracks, signaling, or the conditions of the subway cars.

Shannon echoed something Riders Alliance members know all too well. "If you talk about the issues on a person's subway line they ride every day, it gets them interested," she said.

Despite the fact that full-line reviews are so extensive, most New Yorkers never really see, in clear, easy-to-understand language, what it is they reveal.

MTA's Ortiz notes, too, that despite the exhilaration activists and politicians may feel over improvements brought by full-line reviews, some of the more lasting improvements, such as the dramatic uptick in train frequency along full-line review veteran, the L line, were in fact due to multi-million-dollar investments in new infrastructure.

The Future: Automation through CBTC
In fact, Ortiz says the primary reason riders saw increased frequency of L service, with wait times cut to four minutes during rush hour, was due to the installation of automated signaling called Communication Based Train Control, or CBTC.

For now, most of the subway system is stuck operating on a fixed block system which was initially installed in the first half of the 20th century. Fixed block controls tell drivers via wayside signals when it's safe to move forward, but prevent system engineers from determining the precise location of trains. For safety reasons, extra time buffers are needed between the trains, often leading to bottleneck, and the familiar message, 'ladies and gentlemen, we have train traffic up ahead.'

Most of New York's transit peers, in particular cities with older transit systems such as Paris and London, have migrated much of their signaling apparatus over to CBTC. But in New York, the MTA continues to spend millions of dollars on replacing antiquated signaling parts, most of which have to be custom ordered, or rigged from salvaged components, many manufactured at the turn of the 20th century. Repairs to subway signals have to be carried out by hand, unlike computerized signals which allow for remote repairs.

Ortiz says most people's experience riding on the subway is limited to what they see and hear, and most importantly, they are focused on how efficiently they get to their destination. The vast majority of passengers are unaware of the flurry of work going on behind the scenes. All they know is that the conductor might say they have signal trouble or train traffic causing a delay, though the MTA has added repeated general announcements regarding delays caused by track fires that result from litter.

Today's signals and the potential impact of CBTC technology are prime examples of the disconnect between riders and the MTA, Ortiz says. The MTA has spent millions of dollars so far to bring the new technology to the L and it says it will invest millions more for signal upgrades including the CBTC installation on the 7 train happening now.

"That work is the work people don't see, because it's happening in dark tunnels. It's all vital work that goes into improving reliability and also being able to add new service such as we did on the L train," Ortiz said.

Ortiz went on to say that in terms of the MTA's ability to provide more frequent service, for example on the Lexington Avenue line, NYCTA is actually running as many trains as it possibly can at this point given the current system.

"That won't change until we can bring CBTC to the Lexington line, and that's a process that will take a lot of time. CBTC won't be completed on the 7 line until 2017. It (installation of CBTC) takes a lot of money, and it takes time," he said.

For now, the L train is running at capacity as well.

"We schedule 20 trains per hour in each direction in the morning rush hour, which is the most we can run with our available fleet of CBTC-equipped cars," said Ortiz.

But one organization says the technology could be installed system-wide if it were more of a priority. Such a move would require a full implementation strategy, according to the Regional Planning Association (RPA). Working on tri-state area issues under President Robert Yaro, RPA is "America's oldest independent urban research and advocacy organization."

The full implementation strategy would not only require system-wide CBTC, but also the retraining of a powerful transit workforce. That might mean shifting longstanding operational practices which could only happen after consultation with labor unions. In short, the current MTA labor status quo could become increasingly untenable.

Transit systems with strong labor unions that have moved to CBTC, some older than New York's, such as Paris', reached consensus between labor and management on new practices. Tension was evident when the L moved over to CBTC and unions raised concerns: in theory, CBTC eliminates the need for both a train operator as well as a conductor.

MTA tried to drop conductors from L trains after CBTC was installed, but the unions protested and after arbitration the MTA was required to keep both a conductor and an operator on the trains.

The Regional Plan Association said in a recent study that the conversion of the subway system to CBTC has been slowed by limited resources. While CBTC would save money in the long run, the RPA report says, full implementation would require around $13.8 billion for new systems and equipment. Equipping the cars alone would cost another $5.4 billion.

Regional Plan Association transportation director Richard Barone told Gotham Gazette that despite increased levels of citizen engagement, because of the current capacity constraints the old block system places on the system, MTA is essentially limited in how much service it can possibly add. "That's until you start making some big investments in infrastructure, and CBTC is one of them," he said. RPA created a video to show the CBTC process and its importance.

Barone said full-line reviews certainly have value. They direct the MTA to make adjustments based on demand and the actual ridership over time, he noted. Barone also said there are other places within the schemes of operations and improvements where advocates can also make a difference, such as pressuring local city council leaders to use discretionary funding for improvements at neighborhood subway stations. Several members have recently committed money toward bus time countdown clocks.

Barone also cited creative public-private partnerships, rooted in "value captures," whereby property owners contribute toward improvements to subway service knowing that upgrades will add to the value of their property.

Of the bigger funding issue and why cash is not more plentiful, Barone says the MTA is the 800-pound gorilla in Albany, where most MTA cash comes from.

"The governor is the governor of the entire state. Right now, the MTA gets billions from the State, mostly from dedicated taxes," Barone said. "Some comes from the general fund. But, upstate residents see the billion dollar figures and that presents its own set of political issues."

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by Cody Lyon for Gotham Gazette
@GothamGazette

A new report hopes to enlighten Open NY's release of State data

In an age where nearly everything is digitized and data collection of all kinds is the norm, there is no shortage of information for governments to publish on open data platforms. But there is no magic button to get information online in clean and usable formats, so governments must decide what data has the highest value to the public.

Determining that can be tricky, but Reinvent Albany, a good government group, recently set out to show the way to making these important decisions. Using Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests as key indicators, the group selected the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to perform a case study.

Reinvent Albany submitted a FOIL request to obtain all the FOIL requests received by DEC in 2013, analyzed the results, and outlined its findings in a recently-released report entitled, aptly, "Listening to FOIL." The report shows that FOIL analysis can lead to identifying publicly-desired datasets not yet released.

"We think this is a great opportunity for Open NY and open data initiatives everywhere," Dominic Mauro, staff attorney for Reinvent Albany, said by phone on Tuesday, August 12. "The federal government has been a model for this for a while. Now that there is an open data movement at the state and city level, it seems like a great time to connect FOIL with open data."

DEC received 3,977 FOIL requests in 2013, of which 3,456 were made on behalf of organizations - primarily commercial entities, consultants, or lawyers. Spill incident requests accounted for 2,200 of the queries, despite the fact there is an Spill Incident Database Search on the DEC website. These spill requests may be so frequent because that database is quite hard to find and it does not currently provide as much information as can be obtained through FOIL. Petroleum storage reports, soil and water remediation and inspection records, air quality reports, and landfill reports made up the other 1,777 FOIL requests.

The information available through these information requests is extremely valuable for those seeking to purchase property, and to agents or consultants paid to evaluate property, as evident by the number and sources of the FOIL requests. It is data not currently on Open NY, the state's open data portal.

"FOIL is a good indicator for what the public is looking for," said Rachael Fauss, director of public policy at Citizens Union, another good government advocacy group. Fauss suggested the State look not only at FOIL records, but also catalogue all its information and allow members of the public to have more straighforward input on what they feel is important.

Both moves could not only give people information that they want, but could save taxpayers money.

"If government employees are spending all this time getting the same thing over and over and sending it to people, not only would creating it proactively online reduce the drain on government resources, but it would also be easier and faster for the public to get the information they are interested in," Bill Mahoney, of good government group NYPIRG, said by phone Tuesday.

The Reinvent Albany report indicates that DEC could reduce FOIL requests by 50 percent by publishing frequently FOIL-ed data. The report does not estimate a monetary cost savings.

There are some indications the State is at least open to using FOIL logs to determine what data to put on its portal. Executive Order 95, signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo in March of 2013, requires FOIL officers be consulted to provide guidance "on setting a schedule for initial and ongoing publication of data" to Open NY.

On November 6, 2013 the Open Data Handbook, a guidebook for agencies making data public, was released and had several references to using FOIL requests to determine what data should be put on Open NY.

"If the dataset is the type that is requested through FOIL on a recurring basis, then the agency may reduce duplication and obtain efficiencies by posting data on data.ny.gov," the Handbook stated.

A second reference stated, "These [FOIL] requests (particularly repeated requests for the same dataset) might be fulfilled by making the dataset(s) available on data.ny.gov."

These prior references and trends in open data, along with the new Reinvent Albany report, provide reason for optimism. Gotham Gazette reached out to Gov. Cuomo's press office, the DEC press office, and Barbara Cohn, the New York State chief data officer, to find out if there are plans to implement utilizing FOIL to inform open data releases. Multiple calls to each were not returned.

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by Kristen Meriwether, Gotham Gazette
@MeriwetherK

Note: Gotham Gazette is published by Citizens Union Foundation, the sister organization of Citizens Union