Senator Liz Krueger (photo: NY Senate)

January 20, 2021 - Max & Murphy Podcast: State Senator Liz Krueger on New York’s Finances

State Senator Liz Krueger, a Manhattan Democrat who chairs the Senate's finance committee, joined the show to discuss the state's fiscal picture, the governor's new executive budget plan, aid from Washginton, and more.

Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think -- we're on Twitter @TweetBenMax and @JarrettMurphy. You can listen to the show through the embedded audio below or download the episode wherever you get your podcasts, under "Max & Murphy," and listen to Max & Murphy live on Wednesdays at 5 p.m. on WBAI radio, 99.5FM or wbai.org.

Gov. Cuomo (photo: Don Pollard/Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo)

When Governor Andrew Cuomo unveiled his executive budget on Tuesday, a $193-billion roadmap for the next fiscal year, beginning April 1, he presented a forked road towards the state's economic recovery with Washington lawmakers essentially behind the wheel.

Under the "worst-case scenario" outlined by the New York State Division of the Budget, the state would get just $6 billion to fill a $15 billion hole covering the rest of this fiscal year and next, out of a $350 billion aid package to state and local governments backed by the incoming Biden administration. This is the circumstance under which the new Fiscal Year 2022 budget has been cautiously written, viewed by budget officials as a relatively certain floor, which will entail cutting school aid, Medicaid, and broad cuts to localities as well as revenue-raising measures.

Cuomo said he may move to increase income taxes on the wealthiest earners and that he would supplement the remaining gap by borrowing billions. The governor is under significant pressure from state legislators and activists to increase a variety of taxes but the Legislature has yet to make an aggressive move in that direction and Cuomo has resisted, saying he does not want to drive higher earners out of the state.

The best-case scenario Cuomo outlined Tuesday sees New York receiving $15 billion -- the entire projected two-year gap -- and Cuomo says he will sue the federal government if the state doesn't get it. Cuomo called this route the "fair funding scenario" and said it was a matter of justice for New York serving as the battered vanguard in the fight with COVID-19.

"This budget is really the economic reconciliation of the covid crisis," Cuomo said during a Tuesday presentation. No single scenario is a panacea, and the governor is looking to legalize adult-use marijuana and mobile sports betting with an eye toward leveraging the new industries for tax revenue in the next few years.

On Sunday, Senators Chuck Schumer and Kristen Gillibrand said the "rescue plan" recently announced by president-elect Joe Biden included $50 billion in overall aid to New York State, much of it in the form of unemployment benefits and direct aid to families and small businesses. It is unclear how much of that stimulus would go into the state's operating fund.

In any scenario, the executive budget envisions a combination of federal aid, spending reductions, and new or expanded revenue streams to close the gap. Cuomo is also calling on Congress to repeal the so-called SALT cap, which was passed by Republicans in 2017 and has increased taxes for New Yorkers (more than any other state by the governor's calculations) by limiting their ability to deduct high state and local taxes from their federal taxes. The governor’s assessment of the SALT cap impact on New York has been in dispute since before the law passed, given the new tax code had many other elements, some of which offset that new cap.

With or without the higher tier of federal aid, the plan outlines the state's current position in choppy financial waters, and continues an unusual budgeting process that gives the governor expanded wait-and-see powers to alter future finances, which began with uncertainty around federal aid in the current year's budget. If less federal funding comes or if a stimulus package isn't passed by Congress before April 1, the state will have to "reopen the budget and [make] additional cuts," according to budget director Robert Mujica, at a press briefing Tuesday.

The state has been withholding close to $3 billion in aid to localities, under emergency powers granted to Cuomo by the State Legislature last spring, with the ability to make them permanent reductions.

The pandemic crushed the state economy last year. Sporadic stimulus aid, tentative recovery in some sectors, and ongoing strength in others have left New York in better shape than officials initially expected. But projected budget gaps over the next three fiscal years, while smaller than previous mid-year estimates, remain high.

New York State is forecasting a two-year revenue loss of $19 billion compared to pre-pandemic projections, and a new four-year budget gap of $39 billion. A bulk of the drop is from lost tax revenue from shuttered businesses and unemployment, though the impact of the latter has been mitigated to some extent by the state's higher-income earners remaining relatively job secure, while low-wage workers have borne the brunt. Tax receipts are still $2.5 billion below the same time last year, according to the Office of the State Comptroller.

The adjusted forecasts in the executive budget, which envisions $6 billion in federal aid, project gaps of $10.5 billion in fiscal year 2023 (which begins April 1, 2022), $10.8 billion in FY 2024, and $12.3 billion in FY 2025. Even with the full $15 billion in desired federal aid, New York State could face severe gaps in the so-called "outyears," though a lot will depend on both potential additional federal aid and the recovery from the covid crisis.

Cuomo’s executive budget plan is virtually the same size as the current Fiscal Year 2021 budget, and it will now become the basis of legislative hearings and negotiations with the two Democratic majorities, as well as continued pleas to federal officials.

Largely related to the demands of the coronavirus pandemic on daily life and public health, the proposed budget increases spending on school aid and Medicaid grew, while executive agency spending remained flat in the plan, and spending in other areas dropped across the board.

School aid spending in the new executive budget is up roughly 7% to close to $31.7 billion from the current fiscal year. Medicaid spending, buoyed by ongoing, but temporary, emergency reimbursements from the federal government, is up 4.7% to $24.2 billion in Cuomo's new plan.

Other spending the governor outlined includes money for recently announced projects, like $306 billion for infrastructure statewide and $29 billion invested into the green economy; $20 billion to create or preserve 100,000 units of affordable housing; $1.3 billion in rent relief; and $128 million for homeless services. The state is also set to spend to cap broadband internet at $15 per month for low-income New Yorkers, $150 million on food programs, and $10 million on legal fees for undocumented immigrants.

As part of the pandemic recovery, Cuomo has proposed $130 million in tax breaks for small businesses, restaurants, and performing arts venues damaged by the economic shutdown. Another $40 million will go into an "Infectious Disease Resiliency Commercialization Fund," for research and development in "life sciences, biotechnology and biodefense."

In order to close the $15 billion two-year gap, the Cuomo administration is relying on the anticipated minimum of $3 billion in federal aid (one half of the two-year, $6-billion "worst case scenario"); $1.5 billion in federal Medicaid reimbursements; $2.5 billion in unearmarked Coronavirus Relief Funds, which is another federal stimulus stream created under the CARES Act last March; and $2 billion in tax revenue (including improved forecasted revenue and an income tax hike for the highest earners). The remaining gap would be closed by reducing school funding by $1.5 billion, health-care spending by $1.8 billion, and $2.7 billion in other spending reductions. The executive budget authorizes the state to issue up to $8 billion in borrowing.

Much or all that could be avoided if the state secured the federal government's full $15 billion in before the budget is enacted in April, Cuomo said Tuesday.

"While that would be beneficial in the short run, it still would leave the State with significant future gaps," said Andrew Rein, Citizens Budget Commission president, in a statement. "No matter the level of federal aid, the State should be pursuing structural spending reforms to ensure that its finances are stable coming out of the recession.”

Withholding Aid to Localities
In the face of an $8.2 billion revenue shortfall this fiscal year, the state was able to reduce spending by freezing new contracts, hiring, and state employee pay raises, and withholding local aid payments to the tune of 20%, or $2.9 billion in December -- part of the governor's expanded budget powers. Most of that aid the state plans to pay in the last quarter of the current fiscal year (January through March) thanks to improved revenue projections due to new federal coronavirus relief and Medicaid reimbursements. The 20% withholding was initially temporary with the possibility for the governor to make all or parts of it permanent if the state didn't fill the budget gap. By the end of the fiscal year, if the state receives the $6 billion in federal funding, the withheld state aid will amount to roughly 5%, according to the executive budget.

Revenue
After some sectors of the economy rallied late last year, the momentum is beginning to level off. The state Division of the Budget estimates that GDP will reach pre-pandemic levels by the second half of 2021, but employment will likely lag behind previous highwater marks for years, not reaching peak levels until the first quarter of 2023.

Compared to revenue projections from February 2020, just before the state-mandated closure of in-person business and the economic contraction that ensued, the state is currently facing a $10.2 billion tax revenue drop in the current fiscal year (FY21) and an $8.8 billion drop next fiscal year -- a total of $19 billion in lost receipts over two years, according to state budget director Robert Mujica.

If the state receives the lower level of projected federal aid, Cuomo said the state will pursue an income tax increase on millionaires from a rate of 8.82% to a 10.8% tax rate, tracking proposals made in the State Legislature, which he said would raise roughly $1.5 billion. If the full $15 billion on the state's federal wishlist comes through, Cuomo said he would avoid the tax hike.

"We have a responsibility to ensure our recovery and that this recovery is not balanced on the backs of the hard hit New Yorkers," said State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins in a statement Tuesday. "The wealthy have gotten wealthier during this crisis even as the Middle Class has shrunk and millions of New Yorkers have struggled to make ends meet. We must be ready to act as a state to advance efforts to raise revenues, including having the hyper-wealthy share this burden."

The Cuomo administration believes legalizing mobile sports betting -- more of a question of what form it will take, rather than whether it will happen, Cuomo said Tuesday -- will earn the state $500 million annually, once it is fully operational, which officials expect will take a few years.

Legalizing adult-use marijuana, which Cuomo has championed in previous State of the State agendas, would garner the state $350 million in tax revenue. But like sports betting will take three to four years to mature as an industry, and $100 million of that money has already been promised to be reinvested in the Black and Latino communities hurt by the War on Drugs.

Questions remain about long term changes to the economy, like how the growth of "telework" will impact the job market and real estate industry in the near and moderate future.

The covid vaccine (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)

The first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic devastated Black, Latino, and immigrant communities across New York City at disproportionate levels last spring and since. Some lawmakers are now asking why the same populations were not included in vaccine priority plans crafted by the state and city.

At a January 12 City Council oversight hearing on the de Blasio administration's roll-out of the first batches of the covid vaccine, members of the Council’s committees on hospitals and health asked the city's top health department officials why the city wasn't doing more to inoculate underserved and hardest hit Black, Latino and Asian communities.

"We know that communities of color experienced the highest death rate during the onset of COVID-19," said Council Member Adrienne Adams, a Queens Democrat, in her questioning of administration officials. "Why are they not prioritized? Why are we doomed to repeat the same number of deaths in communities of color with no access to the vaccine that may save their lives?"

Adams' district includes Richmond Hill, which contains zip codes with the highest covid positivity rates in the city. In that section of Queens, a predominantly Latino and South Asian neighborhood, the seven-day average positivity rate was 16.3% as of Wednesday, nearly double the citywide rate of 8.4%. Adams was talking about the availability of the vaccine to her constituents -- a question of state-designated eligibility as much as it is city-designed access -- and the dearth of data collected on inoculating members of communities of color, a fatal repetition of the carnage wrought in the spring and throughout the pandemic.

The groups most deeply impacted by the outbreak -- in terms of loss of life, infection, and the loss of livelihood due to the accompanying economic crisis -- live in the city's predominantly Black, Latino, and immigrant neighborhoods. Neighborhoods like Elmhurst, in Queens, and Mott Haven, in the Bronx, saw their hospitals reach capacity and on the verge of collapse last spring. Even before the first wave broke over New York City, epidemiologists worldwide were discussing the heightened risk to seniors and people with comorbidities, the latter group also disproportionately represented in the city's historically neglected neighborhoods.

Rather than slicing the population by the categories most likely to contract, spread, or die from the disease, the New York State Department of Health has followed a different arithmetic, one that factors in the preservation of what have come to be defined as essential workers and the services they provide.

The state's vaccine distribution plan -- created under the close control of Governor Andrew Cuomo based on federal guidance and in consultation with local health departments, including New York City's -- has been to prioritize potential recipients by their occupation in the health-care sector (with the exception of nursing home residents, who’ve also been prioritized by federal decree), beginning with hospital employees and paramedics with patient contact, and expanding to other types of doctors and medical staff. On Monday, after the urging of Mayor Bill de Blasio and other local leaders, Cuomo opened vaccination to people over 75 and other types of essential employees, like police, firefighters, transit workers and teachers.

"Here's where we are," said Dr. Torian Easterling, first deputy commissioner and chief equity officer at the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, at the City Council hearing Tuesday. "We do have to keep in mind that we're following the federal and state guidelines as it relates to eligibility criteria."

"Certainly equity and ethical principles being taken into consideration, thinking about the categories that have borne the brunt and we want to save lives, but also those categories where we want to continue to preserve functions," he said.

When asked for clarity or elaboration on this point by Gotham Gazette, a department spokesperson only reiterated that the state set the eligibility criteria, not the city.

With a trickling supply of the vaccine scheduled by the federal government, Cuomo has repeatedly expressed concern over hospital staffing levels as the number of cases and hospitalizations have risen in recent months, echoing some of the most dire alarms raised during the state's first brush with inundated ERs and ICUs last spring.

Even after bowing to pressure from de Blasio and others to widen vaccine eligibility last week, those alarms have only heightened with the presence of a new more contagious covid strain connected to the United Kingdom, and more strains likely to be detected before enough of the population is vaccinated.

"The biggest capacity element in the hospital system is we're losing staff," the governor said on a call with members of the press Tuesday, after opening vaccinations up to people 65 and older in accordance with new CDC guidance. "We're losing staff because the staff is getting sick from covid. That's why continued prioritization of the hospital staff is key and in the webinar we said hospitals must continue to prioritize hospital staff."

Physicians and nurses in New York are less racially diverse than the population of the state, according to research released in 2017 by the Center for Health Workforce Studies. A report published by City Comptroller Scott Stringer last March showed that 54% of frontline workers in the city's health-care sector were Black or Latino, compared with 62% working in public transit. (Across industries, white employees made up roughly between a fifth and a quarter of the frontline personnel, according to the report.) The emphasis on preserving doctors over bus drivers further exposes the gruesome calculus of expendability in a pandemic crisis, with the training of health-care workers equating them to least expendable, while the transit workers getting some of them to their shifts, typically equipped with less PPE, are more expendable.

“New York State has followed the priority categories as outlined by ACIP & CDC,” wrote a state Department of Health spokesperson in an email to Gotham Gazette, referring to the federal Centers for Disease Control's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

That guidance, which is national and not specifically tailored to New York, suggests that the right distribution of the vaccine within the broad category of health-care personnel (HPC) would mitigate inequities. "Vaccination of HCP across all occupations and work settings addresses the disproportionate representation of racial and ethnic minority groups in low-wage HCP," reads a supplement to the federal recommendations.

"Effort will need to be applied throughout the vaccination program to ensure equitable access," the document states.

It notes that health-care personnel in long-term care facilities, like nursing homes, are at risk of transmitting the virus to medically vulnerable patients, but does not cite any study or evidence related to hospital facilities or staff.

Fewer than 1 in every 300 confirmed COVID-19 deaths nationwide has been of a health-care professional, according to CDC data.

The vaccine roll-out has been plagued by infighting between Cuomo and de Blasio, often leaving the public in the dark about what may come next. Both have been reluctant to share data at various points since the state of emergency began last March, which now extends to vaccination rates by race and ethnicity.

City Council Member I. Daneek Miller and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, who is running for mayor this year, plan to introduce a resolution to the City Council calling on the city and state to improve "coordination in distributing and administering COVID-19 vaccines, prioritizing vaccinations for essential workers - especially home health care, food delivery, supermarket, and transit workers – immigrants, and other high-risk populations in our hardest-hit communities of color," according to a statement from the Black, Latino, and Asian Caucus, of which Miller and Adrienne Adams are co-chairs.

The resolution, which has not yet been introduced, will also call for a real-time vaccine tracking system with demographic data, according to the statement, which Council Member Adams presented at Tuesday's oversight hearing.

The statement reads: "One of the most painful lessons drawn from this crisis was that a failure to provide timely reporting of racial demographic data at the onset of the pandemic resulted in a disproportionate number of dead Black and Brown New Yorkers that otherwise could have resulted in more aggressive mitigation measures employed in these communities."

The mayor has been criticized for not having taken better advantage of the months before the vaccine arrived to prepare vaccination sites in lower income communities and communities of color. "Let me be clear, we have been building out sites constantly and we're building out the hours of sites," de Blasio told reporters Wednesday when asked why there were no city-run vaccination hubs in Inwood and Washington Heights, neighborhoods with some of the highest positivity rates in Manhattan. Figures like City Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez, who represents the area, have called for more.

On Friday, Cuomo announced the state would be setting up five vaccination sites on NYCHA campuses for public housing residents, predominantly people of color. An official press release does not say when they will become operational.

The city, through de Blasio’s Racial Equity and Inclusion Task Force, has made efforts to "tailor our resources" using data to target testing and outreach, said Dr. Easterling, of the city Health Department, at the City Council oversight hearing, "and certainly we're thinking about this as the vaccine distribution plan rolls out."

"We know that Black and Latino communities bore the brunt of this COVID-19 pandemic and the data was very clear during wave one," Easterling said in response to the BLA Caucus statement and Adams' question. "And, as you laid out, we continue to see cases go up and we continue to see disproportionate impact even today."

"Now that we have more data, [we are] looking at not only COVID-19 data but also being able to really understand some of the inequity that really contributed to high exposure, thinking about overcrowding, overcrowding in housing, multi-generational homes. Also thinking about being a frontline worker, and really being able to map those neighborhoods," he said.

The city was limited by the plan outlined by Cuomo and state health officials, which takes into consideration the city's essential operations, highest among them the hospital and health-care systems. But the mayor made no public push for any changes to vaccine categorization and availability based on the most medically-vulnerable communities other than his call for the state to allow those over 75 to become eligible sooner.

A spokesperson for DOHMH said the health department doesn't track positivity or mortality rates by occupation or eligibility criteria, indicating it is not collected by the state nor a significant factor in the vaccine distribution scheme. A spokesperson for the state Department of Health did not say whether the officials are tracking infection and mortality rates within eligibility groups and did not provide data to justify the breakdown of eligibility categories, though it is consistent with CDC guidance.

On January 12, the state opened vaccination to people living and working in shelters and to grocery store employees. De Blasio has since called for eligibility to include delivery workers, and bodega and deli staff.

In an initial roll-out plan released in October, before the first vaccines received federal approval, the state was concerned with addressing the highest risk groups and most essential workforce, with an eye toward geographically targeting eligible recipients in the hardest hit areas.

"In anticipation of limited numbers of vaccine initially available coupled with current knowledge of COVID-19 morbidity and mortality, public health concerns, and the need to maintain essential services, one of New York’s prioritization strategies for vaccine distribution is designed to ensure early vaccination of the most vulnerable New Yorkers as well as essential frontline workers, with distribution potentially directed to these populations who reside or work within communities with highest prevalence of COVID-19," reads the report, prepared by the New York State Department of Health.

Much of that seems to have been shelved as the state has adhered closely to CDC guidance.

As the vaccine roll-out has come closer to utilizing the supply -- and, as de Blasio and Cuomo warn, will soon exhaust it -- the number of new daily covid cases and hospitalizations has continued to rise. For the last few days new hospital admissions in New York City have come close to 300 per day, and new reported daily cases have topped 5,000. In the second week of January, close to 60 people in New York City have died from covid per day.

At the January 12 oversight hearing, city Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi said the city was working to reach lower-income neighborhoods and communities of color through "trusted messengers," such as faith leaders and local representatives. As for the grief of loss, especially in New York's Black and Latino communities, "we have to ensure that we turn that into our motivation to better serve people today as well as going forward," he said.

Gov. Cuomo delivering his fourth 2021 State of the State (photo: Mike Groll/Governor's Office)

In his fourth and final 2021 State of the State speech, Governor Andrew Cuomo committed New York to an ambitious infrastructure program worth hundreds of billions of dollars that he said will create hundreds of thousands of jobs and put the state on the path to recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

Announcing infrastructure projects spanning the state, Cuomo cited the New Deal under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, which helped revive the nation’s economy out of the Great Depression. Though there were several big ticket items in his presentation, he mostly touted projects that are either near completion or that were already put into motion long before the pandemic. 

COVID-19 has devastated the state’s economy, driving unemployment to record levels, leading to hundreds of shuttered businesses, and obliterating tax revenue. The state has an unresolved budget deficit, which was last estimated in October to be about $15 billion, though that figure has not been revised after the second round of federal stimulus dollars flowed to New York in December. The governor is expected to unveil his Executive Budget for next fiscal year, which begins April 1, in the coming weeks, and is also expected to more clearly lay out his plans for the rest of this fiscal year. A great deal will depend on what else comes out of Washington, D.C., where Cuomo has sought a major bailout and President-elect Joe Biden is proposing another massive package that includes state and local government aid.

“The New Deal was born in New York State during Roosevelt's governorship because its bold, daring, innovative spirit has always been our New York ethos,” Cuomo said as he unveiled his infrastructure plan, possibly the largest part of the governor’s State of the State agenda, which he has presented over the last four days during speeches from the state Capitol. He’s previously announced a mass rapid testing program to control the pandemic; broad job creation and economic development plans, revival of the arts and culture industry; a transition to a green economy; and affordable internet legislation, among other things. 

“History teaches us that when the private economy is lagging, the public sector can spur activity, that when unemployment is high, the public sector can create jobs, and when interest rates are low, the public sector should invest,” Cuomo said Thursday. 

Over the years, Cuomo has repeatedly boasted of the state’s infrastructure program and investing billions where the federal government has failed to meet needs and spur growth. He cited the program’s continued success even during the pandemic, noting that several projects were accelerated and inaugurated including new terminals at LaGuardia Airport in New York City, the new Exchange Street train station in Buffalo, the 750-mile Empire State trail, and others. And he expressed confidence that the new Democrat-led Congress and Biden will be a more favorable partner in building infrastructure than prior administrations. “I believe that New York's capacity and federal resources can be a potent combination to do even more, and now is the exact time to do it,” he said. 

Cuomo outlined projects he said reflect $306 billion of investment in infrastructure, including several new projects in New York City aimed at improving capacity and access to mass transit systems, while also touting the recent opening of the $1.6 billion Moynihan Train Hall in Manhattan. He announced a 140-acre Manhattan Midtown West development project with a total of $51 billion in planned investment, saying it will create 196,000 jobs. It will include renovating Penn Station and expanding it with eight new tracks at a new terminal, which would help accommodate additional capacity once the Gateway Tunnel project is completed, he said. Funding for the cross-Hudson Gateway Tunnel has been held up for years under the Trump administration and Cuomo expects it will be expedited under Biden. 

The redevelopment will stretch from Broadway east of Penn Station all the way to the Hudson River in the west, which includes the ongoing expansion of the Javits Center. He said the state would provide 14 sites for new retail, commercial, and residential development, including for 1,400 units of affordable housing, proposed plans to expand the High Line both east and northwards. The state will also renovate the Port Authority Bus complex, he said. 

Cuomo reiterated the state’s continued investments in the MTA’s $51 billion capital program to upgrade signals, purchase new trains and buses, and make subway stations accessible to all. Though he was not specific, he said parts of the plan would be accelerated, and he promised that the 2nd Avenue Subway would be extended from 96th Street to 125th Street, though that plan has been in the works for years and has stalled without federal aid.

The governor also unveiled infrastructure investments across the rest of the state, including some ongoing projects that will be completed this year and in coming years. They include completion of the  $2.6 billion Long Island Railroad track expansion in 2022; new access ramps for Hunts Point Market in the Bronx; completion of the Belmont Arena, home to the New York Islanders, in time for the 2021-22 season; the expansion of the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester as part of ROC the Riverway project by the end of the year; a new park in Buffalo which is shovel-ready and awaiting federal approval; completion of the Albany Skyway elevated park this year; completion of the Binghamton University Decker School of Nursing this year; the new Utica Hospital in the Mohawk Valley, a project that has broken ground and will be finished in 2023; completion of the Newburgh Beacon Bridge in 2022, nine months ahead of schedule; and a new Legoland theme park in Orange County that will open this year; among other projects. 

“That's not just the largest infrastructure plan in New York history. It's the largest, most ambitious plan of any state in the nation,” he said.

Gov. Cuomo walks a prison (photo: governor's office)

A crowded field of Democratic candidates is seeking to replace Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance, a third-term Democrat, in this year’s election and criminal justice reform advocates have cause for optimism. In a new survey of the candidates, seven of the eight expressed support for a raft of parole and sentencing reforms that advocates have long advocated for as well as discretionary policies aimed at decarceration. Vance has not yet announced his campaign intentions, though he has not been raising money and the June primary is rapidly approaching.

The new survey, highlights of which were shared with Gotham Gazette, was conducted by a coalition of advocates, nonprofit groups, and political organizations that are working together to ensure that the next Manhattan District Attorney is a reformer who rejects the state’s punitive laws and breaks from the way that Vance has used his power in several ways.

Vance, who has held the seat since 2010, has pursued many reforms and in several ways moved the office in a progressive direction. But he has also faced criticism for ways in which his office has pursued harsh punishments against low-income people of color while letting wealthier white New Yorkers off the hook, including particularly high-profile instances involving Harvey Weinstein, the Trump family, and a gynecologist, Robert Hadden, who was accused of sexually abusing many patients.

The coalition points out that while Manhattan has only 8.9% of the state's population, New Yorkers prosecuted in the borough represent 14.5% of the state's prison population and 19.5% of elderly people in state prison, though those numbers don’t take into account a wide range of factors. 

A spokesperson for Vance said he could make an announcement about his campaign intentions in the next few weeks. 

There are eight candidates currently running for the Democratic nomination: civil rights attorney Tahanie Aboushi; former Principal Deputy State Attorney General Alvin Bragg; former Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Liz Crotty; former Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Diana Florence; former Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Lucy Lang; public defender Eliza Orlins; Assemblymember Dan Quart; and Tali Farhadian Weinstein, the former general counsel to Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez. Crotty was the only candidate who refused to fill out the survey, though she did offer the coalition an explanation, saying she believes in reviewing the specifics of every case. (Another candidate, Janos Marton, filled out the survey but has since dropped out of the race.)

“One of the important dynamics of the race that is reflected in the survey is a rejection of Vance's office and his office policies,” said Katie Schaffer, director of organizing and advocacy at the Center for Community Alternatives, one of the coalition members. “And while there are meaningful differences between the candidates, all of them really at least purport to support policies that would undo some of the harm of Vance’s office.”

The coalition asked all the candidates detailed questions about supporting specific legislation in Albany, changing internal policies towards restorative rather than punitive justice, reducing the size and scope of the office, strengthening discipline against prosecutorial misconduct, ending gang prosecutions, ensuring stronger prosecutions against police misconduct, protecting youth and immigrants, and more. The coalition did not release the full results of the survey, which are expected to be made public ahead of a candidate forum scheduled for January 27 where all eight candidates are participating.

All seven current candidates who participated in the survey said they would support state legislation reforming parole laws, including an elder parole bill and another fair and timely parole bill. They also agreed to institute or support several other reforms including writing clemency letters and letters of release for people on parole in some cases, public health releases for people on parole during the pandemic, expedited parole interviews, and ensuring that the state Parole Board does not make a decision based solely on an individual’s criminal conviction. 

The results are welcome news to activists who have spent years arguing against policies of mass incarceration, with their advocacy made all the more urgent because of the coronavirus pandemic. Jails and prisons quickly became hotspots of coronavirus outbreaks last year and continue to pose health risks to the state’s incarcerated population. The crisis has also prompted lawmakers in Albany, including several recently-elected progressive members, to pursue reforms long-opposed by Republicans as well as Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Kumar Rao, senior director of strategy and policy at the New York Working Families Party, another coalition member, said it was “heartening” to see the DA candidates declare their support for parole reform. “I think it's a reflection of the really decades-long work that organizers and impacted communities and formerly incarcerated people have been engaged in to shed light on what has long been a crisis situation, a really horrific kind of system that we have in New York,” he said.

In the survey, the seven candidates supported legislation to end mandatory minimum sentences and to reduce sentences, according to the survey results, and promised to end the practice of threatening defendants with higher sentences if they avail of their constitutional right to a hearing or trial. 

“Mass incarceration is a reality and I think someone running for the Office of District Attorney has to be seriously concerned with correcting some of the injustices that mass incarceration has inflicted on our communities, not just families, but entire communities,” said Jose Saldaña, director of Release Aging People in Prison (RAPP), a coalition member. Saldaña was formerly incarcerated for 38 years and was released in 2018 at the age of 65.

The seven district attorney candidates also pledged to eliminate blanket policies such as prohibiting plea deals for people on parole and excluding both people on parole and those with a criminal record from their decline-to-prosecute policies. Additionally, they agreed on holistic, survivor-centered approaches that lean towards non-court dispositions of cases, such as declining prosecution, diversion and restorative justice programs, and community mediation. Even the current five sitting District Attorneys from New York City agree with that approach to some degree – last year, all five argued for continued funding for Project Reset, a pre-arraignment diversion program that has kept 4,500 New Yorkers accused of low-level offenses out of the criminal justice system by offering them community-based intervention such as individual counseling, group therapy, and arts workshops.      

“Generally speaking, they're all on the same page in regards to those criminal legal system reforms, so that actually shows us that there is an appetite for a progressive DA,” said Jason Salmon, regional director of Citizen Action of New York, a coalition member. “And we've seen across the nation, there's an appetite for it, so why in New York City, why in Manhattan, shouldn't we have the most progressive DA that we can have.”

According to Schaffer, several of the candidates also said they would not join the District Attorneys Association of New York, an organization that many advocates blame for being a roadblock to progressive reform. Other candidates said they would join the group, if only to effect change from within, Schaffer said.

Michael Oliva, a spokesperson for Crotty’s campaign, said in a statement, “You cannot carte blanche affirm or disavow any portion of a specific platform in a vacuum with yes or no answers when the facts of each and every real life case will differ. It’s irresponsible to do as a candidate for a position that holds as much gravity as does Manhattan District Attorney. Context is everything in criminal law.”

In a statement to the coalition that Oliva shared with Gotham Gazette, Crotty had said, “As a career practitioner, having done close to 4,000 cases, more as a defense attorney, there is one basic tenet, the facts in every case matter. The questions as asked in a yes or no format, with no details to a specific case or its application is not a way to prosecute or defend a criminal case. One of the most important messages in my campaign is that each and every case is different and that each and every case should be looked at individually.  To sign on to blanket yes or no questions is not something I am going to do throughout my campaign. I appreciate various groups' commitment to transparency, accountability and independence. If elected to be the next Manhattan District Attorney, I will work to create an office that values and promotes those ideals.” 

Other members of the coalition include UAW Local 2325, Black Attorneys Of Legal Aid, Brooklyn Community Bail Fund, Color Of Change, Five Boro Defenders, Katal Center For Equity, Health, & Justice, Jews For Racial And Economic Justice, Neighborhood Defender Service Of Harlem, Freedom Agenda, Getting Out & Staying Out, New York Communities For Change, the Police Reform Organizing Project, the Policing & Social Justice Project, Sunrise Movement NYC and Vocal-NY.

(photo: Mike Groll/Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo)

Governor Andrew Cuomo delivered his third of four planned State of the State speeches this week on Wednesday, detailing a strategy to fuel the state’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic with a green energy infrastructure and jobs program.

The transition to a green economy is a part of Cuomo’s broader 2021 State of the State agenda that he unveiled on Monday and has elaborated on in subsequent speeches. On Tuesday, he outlined an economic recovery plan that includes a mass rapid testing program to help people get back to work and for businesses to reopen safely, investments in arts and culture, a proposal to mandate affordable broadband internet, workforce development programs, and conversions of underused commercial spaces into affordable housing.

In Wednesday’s speech, Cuomo emphasized that the post-covid economy presents the perfect opportunity for the state to tackle the looming threat of climate disaster while creating jobs for New Yorkers. “As the world economy resets and as change is a necessity, there's an opportunity to raise our efforts to the next level and New York should seize this moment,” he said. “We can establish ourselves as the nation's leader for renewable energy, innovation and production, and we will secure the jobs of the future right here at home for New Yorkers.”

He laid out a four-part plan that includes construction of green energy projects, building manufacturing capacity for green technology in the state, developing energy transmission capacity, and training the workforce for green jobs.

“All four elements must be simultaneous and synchronized in order to achieve scale in a viable system,” he said. He estimated that the entire green energy program would create 12,400 megawatts of green power for 6 million homes, directly lead to 50,000 jobs and invite $29 billion in private investment across the state, though he did not specify over what timeline. “Green energy is a prime economic opportunity and a pressing moral imperative,” he said.

Though he did not specifically mention the state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, passed in 2019 as a version of a Green New Deal for New York, the projects and goals Cuomo discussed on Wednesday appear to be in keeping to the provisions of that law.

The governor also reiterated the urgency of addressing the historic racial and social inequities exposed by the “low tide” during the coronavirus. He spoke of ameliorating the environmental racism that has led to higher polluting industries being situated in communities of color, leading to disproportionately worse health outcomes and, consequently, higher death rates from COVID-19. Though he insisted that new green energy projects would meet inclusion targets for Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (M/WBEs) to benefit communities of color, he did not offer any concrete solutions for environmental injustice. “We want to make sure economic opportunity reaches all New Yorkers. The tide must lift all boats and environmental justice must be done,” he simply said.

Cuomo announced a massive $26 billion public-private partnership to construct nearly 100 renewable energy projects. Of those, he said 68 are already underway, as he announced another 24 new projects. “These projects will not only create power, but bring needed economic opportunity to struggling parts of our state,” he said, promising an accelerated siting process and the creation of about 11,000 jobs in upstate New York.

He detailed several new projects including two massive offshore wind farms, the country’s first offshore wind tower manufacturing facility which will lead to 500 construction jobs and employ 300 high-skilled workers, and an offshore wind turbine hub at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal which will lead to 1,200 jobs.

The combined offshore wind and land-based renewable projects, Cuomo said, will reduce carbon emissions by nearly 16 million metric tons annually, and bring in the $26 billion in investment and create more than 17,000 “good-paying” jobs.

Cuomo said the “single greatest stumbling block” to a green energy economy has been the challenge of setting up transmission lines between upstate regions where energy is produced and downstate where it is most needed. In his speech, he announced a competitive bidding process for three new transmission projects to build a green transmission grid. “We're asking the market to come up with creative solutions,” he said. He also unveiled three new transmission projects that will break ground this year and a “state of the art” battery storage facility in Franklin County in Northern New York which is under construction.

Cuomo’s plan wouldn’t be complete without workers to serve the new budding industries the state and the private sector will invest in. He announced a $20 million program for a new offshore wind training institute at SUNY Stony Brook and Farmingdale State College, which will certify and train 2,500 workers this summer. He promised that new green economy jobs would also come with prevailing wage requirements and project labor agreements.

Gov. Cuomo during his second 2021 SOTS speech (photo: governor's office)

In his second of four planned State of the State speeches this week, Governor Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday outlined a plan to revive New York’s struggling economy, get New Yorkers back to work, and to prepare them for jobs that adapt to a post-covid future.

In his first speech on Monday, Cuomo presented a broad seven-point agenda to bring an end to the pandemic and to put New York on a path to recovery. He laid out proposals to transform the state’s public health system, stabilize state finances, jumpstart the economy, transition to green energy, and to ameliorate historical inequities that have harmed low-income communities of color. On Tuesday, he delved deeper into his economic renewal plan.

“As history teaches us, positive growth occurs not from fighting or even winning the war,” Cuomo said Tuesday, revisiting his analogy from the first speech of New York’s war for survival against the COVID-19 pandemic, with remarks delivered both days from the War Room at the state Capitol. “Warfare only stops the evil. What must follow post-war is the reconstruction. That is where growth occurs...We will need to adjust to the new social and economic realities of the post-COVID world.”

He announced a mass rapid testing program, assistance for the arts and culture industry, a proposal to mandate affordable broadband services, and new job training and workforce development programs, among other things.

The first and largest hurdle the state faces in saving jobs and businesses is controlling the pandemic. As the state’s incipient vaccination program has been slow to roll out, largely because of state bureaucratic roadblocks and a lack of federal planning, it is likely to take months to achieve herd immunity and covid cases and hospitalizations have been on an alarming rise in recent months.

In his speech, Cuomo took stock of that fact. “The vaccine is the weapon that will end the war. But it won't hit critical mass until June, September or even December,” he said. Instead of promising a speedier vaccination program, he offered mass rapid testing as a solution that can allow businesses to reopen and more economic activity to occur. 

Cuomo said the state piloted the effort at the recent Buffalo Bills game, testing 7,000 fans and monitoring contact tracing results, and that it has shown success so far. “Why can't we use rapid testing to open restaurants in orange zones? Theaters, offices, there are so many options,” he said, though he did not acknowledge some of the fairly unique conditions of an outdoor football game in an enormous stadium.

The third-term Democratic governor said the state will partner with local real estate leaders to set up hundreds of pop-up rapid testing sites and will work with commercial property owners and managers to provide regular testing for building tenants. “Office buildings are the engines of our economy,” he said. “Bringing workers back safely will boost ridership on our mass transit, bring customers back to restaurants and stores, and return life to our streets.”

Among the industries particularly devastated by the pandemic is arts and culture. For instance Broadway, a crucial aspect of New York City’s tourism industry and overall economy, has been closed since March 2020 and is expected to remain that way until at least June of this year. 

Cuomo said the state will provide much-needed assistance to workers in the industry through New York Arts Revival, a public-private partnership spearheaded by Hollywood producer Scott Rudin and CEO and founder of Tribeca Enterprises Jane Rosenthal, with the New York State Council on the Arts. The program will organize pop-up performances and events across the state starting next month. The line-up will include prominent names including comedians Amy Schumer and Chris Rock, actor Hugh Jackman, opera singer Renée Fleming, and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis.

“We cannot wait until summer to turn the lights back on for the arts and provide a living wage for artists. We will not let the curtain fall on their careers or on the future of our cities,” Cuomo said. The program will end with two major events: the opening of Little Island at Pier 55, which will be an event space, and the 20th anniversary of the Tribeca Film Festival in June. 

The state will also partner with Elizabeth Alexander, president of the Mellon Foundation, to launch the Creative Rebuild initiative, Cuomo said, to put 1,000 artists back to work through grants and fund community arts organizations.

Perhaps the biggest change in the nature of work, employment, and office use after the pandemic will be the extent to which the shift to remote work continues. As the state went into lockdown, many industries were able to continue functioning as New Yorkers worked from home. But that shift also exposed the state’s deep digital divide and the lack of access to high-speed internet, which disproportionately hurt people in poorer communities and neighborhoods of color.

“A remote economy requires high-speed internet for all,” Cuomo said Tuesday. Though he noted that most parts of the state have access to broadband internet, in many cases the service remains unaffordable. “Access is one thing, but access, if it's not affordable, is meaningless,” he said. 

Cuomo promised to introduce legislation to mandate that internet service providers offer $15-per-month broadband to all low-income households, and also said the state would subsidize that service for families that cannot afford even that. 

Another result of the pandemic’s impact on travel, work, and workplaces is that it has left hotel and office spaces largely or fully vacant for months. This has created challenges for hotel owners and their workers, commercial landlords, and many others who rely on economic activity for their own livelihoods. And even as that abundant space lies empty, homelessness is still at crisis levels and many New Yorkers struggle to pay the rent, with an uncertain future related to the ongoing eviction and foreclosure moratorium. Cuomo is proposing conversions of commercial space into affordable and supportive housing. The governor promised to introduce legislation “to create a five-year period during which property owners may convert office buildings and hotels in New York City to residential use,” according to a press release, but he did not provide further details.

Cuomo also announced a new “commission on the future of the New York economy” led by the NYU Wagner School of Public Service and tasked to “draw a roadmap to find opportunities for New Yorkers to get back to work in jobs that pay well, in industries that will grow rather than disappear in the coming decades.” The commission will also explore the “low-tide America issues” of inequality and structural racism that have been made apparent and exacerbated by the coronavirus, he said. The governor did not name the members of the commission. According to a press release, “The Commission will be composed of leading members of the nation's academic, business, labor, and civil society leaders. NYU Wagner School of Public Service Dean Sherry Glied will serve as Executive Director of this Commission.”

The governor offered other jobs-related announcements as well, including a Jobs of the Future program that includes a Pathways pledge by 15 of the state’s largest employers to train low-income workers in underserved communities and a proposed expansion of SUNY’s online training center.

Cuomo did not mention green jobs, which was a significant item in his agenda and will likely be central to one of his remaining speeches on Wednesday or Thursday along with an ambitious infrastructure program that he also previewed.

Governor Cuomo delivers his annual State of the State speech (photo: Darren McGee/Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo)

Governor Andrew Cuomo spoke like an army general rallying his troops as he delivered his first in a series of 2021 State of the State speeches on Monday, from the War Room of the state Capitol building in a virtual address necessitated by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Befitting its setting, Cuomo’s speech was rife with metaphors of a state at war as he outlined a vision for a “post-covid reconstruction” of a “suffering” New York. 

“Today I'm called on to answer what is in most years a straightforward question but at this time is anything but,” he began. “What is the state of our state? Well, in some ways, it is like the state of the nation, and indeed the state of the world. We are hurt, we are frustrated, we are in mourning, we are anxious.”

Repeatedly stressing the need for more federal aid to New York and expressing optimism about a Biden presidency with a Democratic Congress, Cuomo presented an overarching seven-point plan that entails beating the pandemic, vaccinating New Yorkers to achieve herd immunity, filling the state’s large budget hole, planning an economic revival, promoting a transition to green energy, preparing for a post-covid society, and addressing the historic social, economic, and racial inequities laid bare by the coronavirus. The speech was the first of four that Cuomo will give this week, with each focused on a different theme. 

“All of these plans must move forward simultaneously,” Cuomo said. “It will be hard. It will be the greatest test for government since we mobilized to fight World War II. It will be the greatest opportunity for advancement since post-World War II.”

Cuomo reiterated several specific proposals that he had previewed over the last week, re-upped some from previous years, and presented a number of new plans. Chiefly, he emphasized the need to improve the state’s health care system. “We must realize that it is time for an entirely new way of thinking of our public health system. Our nation's public health system was just not prepared for this,” he said, without accepting any responsibility for the state health system’s own failures. 

He urged the Legislature to pass the Medical Supplies Act that would incentivize companies to manufacture supplies in New York, and said that the state would give them priority when purchasing supplies. “Our nurses and doctors were heroic but our country couldn't provide them with enough masks and gowns. It was like sending soldiers into battle without bullets,” he said. 

He also proposed a series of legislation to expand telehealth services, including requiring Medicaid reimbursements for telehealth services by removing location requirements, interstate licensing reciprocity for Northeast states, eliminating in-person evaluation requirements for mental health and substance use disorder services, requiring that all commercial insurers provide telehealth programs, requiring insurers to create virtual emergency department platforms, and new programs for telehealth awareness and training.

The proposals were recommended by the governor’s Reimagine New York Commission, which he created last year to focus on the state’s digital divide, access to health care, and jobs in an increasingly digital economy. 

Recognizing the herculean effort that will be required to vaccinate the state’s 19 million-plus residents, Cuomo announced a massive expansion of distribution with thousands of sites across the state. He will also launch a New York State Public Health Corps, partnering with Cornell University and Northwell Health to hire and train 1,000 fellows who will work for a year to coordinate the state’s vaccination program. He also announced a free online training program, aiming to certify 100,000 volunteers statewide so that they can assist in future public health emergencies. 

One of the most significant obstacles the state faces in the short term is what Cuomo says is a $15 billion budget deficit for the current fiscal year caused by the coronavirus. In his speech, Cuomo placed the blame squarely on the federal government, railing against both its inaction during the pandemic and its policies that he says have forced New Yorkers to pay more taxes, specifically the cap on deducting state and local taxes (SALT) from federal taxes, which he said cost residents $30 billion over three years though that number has long been in dispute.

“New Yorkers were called on to flatten the curve created by federal failure. New Yorkers cannot now be asked to pay the financial bill for federal incompetence,” he said, while repeating his monthslong calls for a federal aid package that directly fills the state’s tax revenue hole created by the shutdown of economic activity due to covid.

Cuomo said that if the federal government needs funds to send to New York it should raise taxes on the wealthy, an argument meant in part to undercut the growing push for New York state tax increases, which Cuomo has opposed, arguing without evidence that such tax increases would cause significant flight among the rich to other states.

The most recent covid aid package passed by Congress did include many billions of dollars for New York, including a second round of bailout funds for the beleaguered Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). And even if it did not directly earmark money to plug the state government’s budget hole, much of the funding appears likely to have that effect, by replacing state aid to localities, though the governor has yet to acknowledge that. Cuomo’s executive budget for next fiscal year, which begins April 1, is expected in the coming weeks.

The governor did on Monday outline several measures to raise revenue including legalizing the recreational use of marijuana for adults and allowing state-sponsored mobile sports betting.

He also expressed confidence that the Biden administration and Democratic Congress will repair damage done under President Donald Trump. “We expect SALT to be removed from our wounds fully and quickly and we expect to be compensated for our economic loss. We expect basic fairness from Washington,” he said. Cuomo has had a long-standing close relationship with Biden and New York’s senior U.S. senator, Chuck Schumer, is expected to be the new Senate Majority Leader, both of which many expect to help New York’s fortunes immensely.

Cuomo is known for proposing splashy infrastructure investments at his State of the State speeches and on Monday, he promised to launch “the most aggressive construction and transportation development program in the United States of America.” He announced that the state will enter into a public-private partnership with Brookfield Property Group to extend the High Line on the west side of Manhattan from 10th Avenue and 30th Street to the recently-opened Moynihan Train Hall one avenue over.

Preparing for a post-covid economy, he said the state would invest in making broadband more affordable and that he intends to make New York the “green energy capital of the world” by building new renewable energy infrastructure, expanding manufacturing capacity, and training thousands of workers for the green economy. Details were limited -- the governor typically puts out a policy booklet then actual legislation with much more information than is in his speech and those are expected at some point -- and the state’s broadband effort, much like New York City’s, is well behind previously announced promises.

Though he only mentioned it in passing in his speech, the governor earlier unveiled a set of election reforms including extending early voting hours, allowing voters to request an absentee ballot 45 days before an election rather than 30 days, and mandating that absentee ballots are processed as they are received and are counted starting on Election Day, as opposed to the current weeklong wait. The Legislature appears ready to move on those reforms.

Cuomo has also promised to urge the Legislature to pass a second resolution to allow no-excuse absentee ballots, following a resolution that was approved last year. The proposal would amend the state constitution and would have to be approved through a ballot referendum in the general election this year. The governor had in essence created such a system under emergency powers during the covid crisis, allowing for massively expanded absentee balloting.

Though he proposed no new ideas, Cuomo did speak of police reform and public safety, noting that municipalities have only weeks left to submit plans to reform policing that he mandated by executive order after the Black Lives Matter protests last year. But he also linked the issue with the state’s recovery, taking a shot at New York City, which saw shootings dramatically increase last year. “There can be no economic revival without effective public safety,” he said. “This is especially true for our cities. If the attractions of a city are reduced and crime is increased, urban decline is inevitable.”

In sweeping nonspecific terms, Cuomo offered other fixes as well. He pledged rent, eviction, and mortgage relief for renters, homeowners, and small businesses. He noted the struggles of undocumented New Yorkers, who have not received covid aid, and their families, saying “The Federal government should provide these undocumented New Yorkers with hardship funding, and if they won't do it they should at least allow New York to do it."

The governor didn’t mention several proposals that his office released over the last week -- he often doesn’t list every plank of his policy agenda, and he has three more speeches this week to go. He has proposed reforms to the Department of Health's Office of Professional Medical Conduct, which oversees state-licensed physicians, and intends to introduce bills mandating stronger discipline for misconduct and to reform the investigation and hearing process. Other bills would create new renewal requirements for state licenses and provide the public with information on state-licensed professionals and ongoing investigations. Cuomo also proposed legislation that would give nurses in the state priority admission to CUNY and SUNY programs.

Another State of the State proposal would ban utility companies from disconnecting services during a state of emergency. The bill would cover companies that provide electric, gas, water, telecommunications, cable, and internet services.

U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer (photo: governor's office)

With Democrats poised to win both seats in the Georgia United States Senate runoffs, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York is poised to be one of the most influential elected officials in the country, with enormous implications for his home state and city. After four years leading the minority conference, Schumer is on the verge of being able to set the agenda in the Senate under Democratic President-elect Joe Biden and in partnership with a Democrat-controlled House of Representatives under Speaker Nancy Pelosi.    

After the November general election, Democrats held 48 seats in the Senate to Republicans’ 50, with the two seats in Georgia undecided. In the runoff election that concluded January 5, Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock was declared the victor on election night against Sen. Kelly Loeffler while Democrat Jon Ossoff leads against Sen. David Perdue by one point. Though there are votes that remain to be counted, most are from Democrat-heavy counties and Ossoff is expected to prevail. With the two parties holding an equal number of seats, the vice president -- soon to be Kamala Harris -- would cast the deciding vote on anything deadlocked before the Senate.

On Wednesday morning, Chuck Schumer declared himself the next U.S. Senate Majority Leader. If that declaration holds, it will be the culmination of a long and ambitious political career for the Brooklynite who was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and New York State Assembly before being elected to the Senate in 1998. And it will likely be an immense boon to his home state and city, which are in desperate need of aid from the federal government stemming from the coronavirus crisis and several crises and challenges that pre-date the pandemic.

“President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris will have a partner who is ready, willing and able to help achieve a forward-looking agenda and deliver help and bold change to the American people,” Schumer said in a Wednesday morning statement.

The Democrats’ likely one-party rule over the federal government is what New York and other ‘blue’ states have been hoping for after suffering a barrage of punitive domestic policies under President Donald Trump, the outgoing Republican president who has governed with an especially heavy focus on politics and appeared largely indifferent to the spread of and suffering under the COVID-19 pandemic. Starting with additional federal aid to shore up state and local government budgets, more funding for mass transit, and additional economic recovery stimulus, New York is looking for a new federal approach on everything from taxes to housing to transit to immigration. And in Schumer, the state and city will likely have one of their own at the helm.

“This was a very, very big win for the Democratic Senate and it bodes well for the state of New York,” said Governor Andrew Cuomo, a third-term Democrat, at a news briefing on Wednesday as he congratulated Schumer on becoming majority leader. “Washington has abused New York State for four years, and that is not rhetorical.”

“Brooklyn’s own, New York City's own Chuck Schumer could not be better for this city and for this nation and Chuck Schumer working, of course, with Vice President Kamala Harris will lead the Senate and allow us to finally get the support we need to fully recover and move forward as a city, as a nation,” Mayor Bill de Blasio, a second-term Democrat, said at his daily news briefing on Wednesday, where he said he was “feeling bubbly.” “Senator Schumer has been tenacious defending the interests in New York City. He feels New York City in his heart, in his soul but he's also been a great leader for this whole country.”  

At a time when factions of the Democratic Party are often at war with each other – moderates like Pelosi continue to clash with progressives like the representatives of “the squad” and its New York co-founder, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – Schumer has shown himself as somewhat adept at accommodating the left, which has an especially active presence right in his backyard, and evolving to meet the wants and needs of a diversifying party. Though he was once a tough-on-crime and pro-Wall Street centrist, he’s also been a staunch liberal on social issues and has more recently come to embrace the party’s progressive wing, at least to an extent — the true measure may be how he navigates the upcoming waters in a new position of such great powers. Schumer remains popular in his home state, where he makes a concerted effort to visit every county and focus on local issues. He has a ubiquitous presence, speaking at college graduations and inaugurations for local elected officials, holding Sunday press conferences on quality-of-life issues, and popping up at fairs and other events. Schumer lives and breathes politics and has always played both the short and long games of garnering press attention and setting himself up for career advancement. 

“Chuck is really in the driver's seat, both in the Senate and in his influence with the new administration,” said George Arzt, a veteran Democratic consultant in New York. “Chuck is knowledgeable, has been around for a long time, knows the Senate backwards and forwards and is probably one of the few top officials who never forgot his roots.”

Challenges lie ahead, however, for the likely next Senate majority leader. He will have to corral the ideologically divergent members of his own party just for the bare minimum of votes to pass legislation. “Everyone is going to have their hand out and rightfully so,” said Dr. Christina Greer, political science professor at Fordham University. “The beauty and the curse of the Democratic Party for Chuck Schumer is that it is incredibly diverse in all senses of the word. And so he's going to have to negotiate all of the different shades of blue and all the sometimes competing interest from within the party.”

Biden, Harris, Schumer, Pelosi, and their party have less than two years of runway to make an impact and hold their legislative majorities. Schumer is up for reelection himself in 2022 and, historically, the party and president in power tend not to fare well in the first midterm elections of a presidency. There’s the vague threat of a primary challenge to Schumer, stoked by some on the left in New York who don’t believe he has fought hard enough for major progressive causes like a Green New Deal and Medicare for All, neither of which he has endorsed. Ocasio-Cortez has been asked if she will seek to run against him and has repeatedly left the question open, though most political observers believe it is unlikely she would challenge him. He still may face a formidable primary opponent in the upcoming election, which will likely coincide with a fourth-term bid by Cuomo, a moderate known to attract a challenge from the left and whose fate is now far more intertwined with his home state senior senator.

Progressives have had their reasons to be skeptical of Schumer. He helped author the 1994 crime bill, voted for the Iraq war, supported the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999 (a major New Deal banking regulation), and once supported building a border fence between the United States and Mexico. 

Now, there are already progressive groups calling on Schumer to accede to their demands. Last month, members of the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America marched to his office to call on him to support a slate of progressive legislation, such as the Health Care Emergency Guarantee Act, a green jobs guarantee, and the Protecting the Right to Organize Act. On Wednesday, activist group Empire State Indivisible called on him to “deliver structural change commensurate with the moment.”

“The road to recovery post Trump, amidst the raging COVID19 pandemic, must start with direct and immediate economic stimulus complete with critical state and local aid as well as a full commitment to passing Democracy reforms like HR1’s For the People Act and statehood for the District of Columbia,” the group said in a statement. “Senator Schumer must meet this historic moment with historic leadership. We will be watching to see if he is up to the job of leading us into a more progressive future. Our work has just begun.”

Schumer has shown that he is willing to embrace some such progressive wish-list items, albeit at times in measured doses. For instance, last month, he stood with newly-elected Members of Congress Jamaal Bowman, Mondaire Jones, and Ritchie Torres to push for his plan to cancel up to $50,000 in debt for federal student loan borrowers. He also rallied with New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, a hero of the New York left, and environmental justice groups to push for investment in green energy infrastructure.

“He's got great political instincts and he knows how to get consensus,” said Arzt. “He’s a person who knows the game and knows it well.”

“I can't imagine anybody better,” said Carol Kellermann, a friend and former staff aide to Schumer who has held a number of prominent roles in and out of New York government. “He's got boundless energy, he's got a great relationship with everybody in the caucus...If anybody is going to be able to marshal the troops to have a productive session, I think it's him.”

An open question is whether Schumer will wield power with the same degree of political calculation as Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, whom Schumer is planning to succeed. Progressives have pushed Schumer to eliminate the legislative filibuster so they can pass bills with a simple majority, but he has so far been noncommittal.

“Democrats tend not to be good at offense. Republicans are great at it,” said Greer. “I'm curious to see how long it will take Chuck Schumer to recognize that he needs to take power and take charge and set an agenda and be ruthless for the American people the way Mitch McConnell was ruthless against the American people.”

For New York, the chief concern at the moment is another stimulus package that delivers billions in government aid. The state needed as much as $59 billion over two fiscal years to cover costs for state and local governments and, crucially, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which alone needed $12 billion to stay afloat and not make major cuts to subway, bus, and commuter rail services. The agency received $4 billion in the latest stimulus package, leaving it with an $8 billion hole. 

Schumer has shown a deep concern for the MTA, as well as for broader infrastructure funding for New York including projects like the Gateway Tunnel, buoying the hopes of transit advocates.

“The Georgia Senate runoff results are shaping up to be very good news for public transit riders in New York and across the nation,” said Betsy Plum, executive director of Riders Alliance, an advocacy group, in a statement. “With Brooklyn's own transit champion Senator Chuck Schumer as likely majority leader, riders look forward to winning more COVID aid and equitable investment in our common infrastructure. We are eager to work together to get public transit back on track and realize its potential to help meet the country's pressing needs for climate and racial justice."

Brooklyn City Council Member Brad Lander, in an interview last month, noted that the MTA has long been underfunded by the federal government and Schumer has always “doggedly” fought for it. “Having somebody from here who rides the subway, who knows that we have to save it, and who has a track record and a history of fighting for it, that's very valuable for New York.” 

Schumer has promised to advance legislation to provide another $2,000 in direct individual aid, which is sorely needed in New York at a time of high unemployment and an eviction crisis looming. Democrats could not convince Republicans in the Senate to approve more than a $600 payment in the recent, months-in-the-making round of stimulus and campaigned in Georgia on the promise of providing more should they win. 

“I think his goal will be to hit the ground running, get the $2,000 checks passed,” said Kellermann, noting that the funding was first championed by progressives but supported by moderates as well. “And that’s kind of the best way to resolve the differences is to get everybody to work together in the beginning, at least on things that are acknowledged to be necessary...and things that everybody would agree on and kind of build bridges.”

Schumer confirmed as much during a brief press appearance in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, where he discussed the Georgia results and his likely ascension before heading into what promised to be a long and arduous process of finalizing the electoral college votes to put the final stamp on Biden’s victory over Trump and turned into a day marred by a violent, pro-Trump insurrection at the Capitol, spurred on by the outgoing president himself.

“One of the first things that I want to do when our new senators are seated is deliver the $2,000 checks to the American families,” Schumer said Wednesday. He added that he was not ready to get into further specifics, but that he was looking forward to seeing the certification of the presidential election as well as the Georgia runoffs, the seating of the new senators, and the transition of power on the presidential and Senate levels. "I'm excited," Schumer deadpanned in typical fashion.

“I was sitting at home in Brooklyn, watching my television,” he told reporters when asked when he realized he was likey going to be the next majority laeder, “and at about midnight, having talked to Ossoff about three or four times and Warnock several times, I realized that even though he was behind then by about a couple of thousand votes, that all the votes that were coming in were going to be Democratic votes and the odds were very, very high that he would win. And wow, who would have thought? As I said, this is not the path we chose to get here, but we're here.”

Of course, Schumer’s ascension means that he will have to negotiate with up to 99 other members of the Senate as well as House and White House leadership on issues, spending, and legislation affecting the nation. New York’s agenda may naturally fall more to the state’s junior senator, Kirsten Gillibrand. “It's always good when we have someone at the table, but for local issues, I think that makes Kirsten Gillibrand’s plate a little bit more full,” said Greer.

Ben Max contributed to this story.

Many questions for 2021 (photo: Edwin J. Torres/Mayor's Office)

While we ask dozens of questions at the start of each year about what lies ahead in New York politics, as we look ahead to 2021 many of the 50 questions we had for 2020 are on the table again, either because they are evergreen or because the pandemic froze so much of political life in place. Some of those questions are repeated below, some aren’t, even if they are applicable.

There’s so much unknown as we head into 2021, a year of incredible importance to New York City and State, especially as we try to stem another covid wave while administering the covid vaccines, spur economic recovery and a return to some sense of ‘normalcy’ around schools, business, tourism, and more. That more includes government leaders dealing with budget deficits, negotiations with a new presidential administration and new Congress, and the monumental task ahead for New York City voters of selecting a new mayor (the #1 purely political question of the year ahead, of course) and new class of other city government officials, from the comptroller to the borough presidents and the 51-seat City Council.

And much more, like legislative redistricting. The list goes on — see it below.

But it isn’t meant to be completely exhaustive. Nevertheless, if you think we missed something or have an answer to one or more of the questions below, tweet us @GothamGazette or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. — and thanks for reading. Here’s to a better 2021 for all New Yorkers.

1. Can New York flatten the second covid curve? Can New York execute covid vaccination well enough to make the city mostly safe from covid?

2. Will the federal government bail out New York State and New York City governments? Will there be more federal money for the MTA? Will there be another broader federal stimulus package to help New Yorkers and New York businesses, nonprofits, schools, and other entities? How will the eviction and foreclosure moratorium ultimately be resolved?

3. How will New York recover from what covid has wrought? What will all three levels of government do to address the devastation of covid, ease burdens on New Yorkers, and provoke recovery? How will New Yorkers collectively and individually mourn? How will the city collectively celebrate those frontline workers who helped New York survive? Will there be any major, long-term social, economic, or political shifts that result from the covid crisis? When will schools fully reopen? How will the city and state ensure that students are able to have the best chance to make up for missed time, learning, and other development?

4. Will New York Senator Chuck Schumer become Senate Majority Leader? How will Schumer perform, whether as Minority Leader or Majority Leader?

5. Will any New York officials, like Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, take positions in the Biden administration?

6. How will the New York House delegation perform, especially the newest members, like Reps. Ritchie Torres, Nicole Malliotakis, and Jamaal Bowman? What will Rep. Ocasio-Cortez do in her second term? Will Rep. Hakeem Jeffries become widely seen as the likely next Speaker?

7. Will any New York entity -- U.S. Attorney for the Southern or Eastern District, NYS Attorney General, Manhattan District Attorney -- bring criminal or civil charges against Donald Trump? Other members of the Trump family? Rudy Guiliani?

8. What will Bill de Blasio’s 2021 agenda look like? How will the outgoing, term-limited mayor try to cement his legacy? Can he help lead the city’s recovery effectively? With time running out, will he unleash a torrent of long-stalled ideas and proposals? Can he make final progress on key priorities and major challenges facing the city on jobs, housing and homelessness, crime and policing, and much more?

9. Who will be elected the next Mayor of New York City? Who will run in the Democratic and Republican primaries and who will win those nominations? Will there be a formidable ‘independent’ candidate for the general election — including, possibly, someone unsuccessful in the Democratic primary? What will be the most important issues and factors in the mayoral race?

10. Who will be elected the next Comptroller of New York City? Will Jumaane Williams win reelection as Public Advocate?

11. Who will win the ‘open’ Borough President elections in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Staten Island? Will Donovan Richards win reelection as Queens Borough President?

12. What will the next City Council class look like? How will its 51-member class break in terms of political ideology, demographics, and other key factors? Will the effort to elect more women to the Council get closer to gender balance in the legislative body? What will its makeup portend for the race to be the next Council Speaker? Who will make moves in that bubbling race to become Speaker? How will labor and activist alliances do in attempting to elect City Council allies? What clashes will occur and who will prevail? How will the Democratic Socialists of America New York City branch do in its effort to elect six new Council members?

13. How will the rollout of ranked-choice voting go? Will the implementation of RCV happen as currently planned and mandated by law? Will the Board of Elections successfully implement it, starting with several imminent special City Council elections? Will voters know enough about it? How will voters feel about it?

14. Who will be elected Manhattan District Attorney? Will Cy Vance pursue reelection after all?

15. How will the pandemic impact the mayoral and other campaigns?

16. What will voter turnout for the June primaries look like? The fall general?

17. Which races will be competitive in the general election? Can the Republican nominee crack 40% in the mayoral race? How many Republicans will win City Council seats — can the GOP expand on its current minority conference of three?

18. Which entities and forces will matter most in the mayoral and other city races? How will the Democratic county parties fare in backing candidates for office, from mayor through the City Council? What allegiances and alliances may emerge? What impact will labor unions, advocacy groups, and other players have on the mayoral and other races? Will Mike Bloomberg get involved? What will Bill de Blasio’s role be?

19. Who will win the several upcoming special City Council elections in the Bronx and Queens in February and March?

20. What will City Council Speaker Corey Johnson do in his final year as Speaker and in the Council? What priorities will the Council push ahead as many of its members seek reelection or higher office? What will the Council make for policy, budget, and oversight priorities in this final year of the current class? Will there be another big debate over NYPD funding around the city budget?

21. Will the city’s recent increases in gun violence continue or be reversed?

22. What will be the next steps in the police reform process and movement? How will the NYPD’s implementation of promised reforms go? What will the NYPD’s reenvisioning design, per a statewide executive order by Governor Cuomo, look like and will it gain City Council approval? With legal challenges resulting from the repeal of 50-A be resolved and a flood of NYPD disciplinary records see the light of day? Will Dermot Shea make it through the year as police commissioner?

23. What high-profile de Blasio administration departures will occur? How many “acting” commissioners will the city have come the final months of de Blasio’s tenure?

24. Will anything be done on property tax reform?

25. Will anything be done to help distressed taxi driver-medallion owners in the city, especially with regard to their debt?

26. How will the proposed rezonings of Soho and Gowanus proceed? What other big land use issues are resolved or become focal points? Will there be any pandemic-related shift in how major development projects are viewed?

27. Will there be significant movement to raise revenue for NYCHA, through various proposed mechanisms including infill development? Will the federal government come through with billions in needed repair money? How will de Blasio approach NYCHA in his final year and how will the federal monitor play a role?

28. What will new admissions policies for middle schools and high schools mean for desegregating New York City schools for the 2021-2022 school year? Will there be any movement on reforming admissions to the city’s specialized high schools?

29. Will there be any real debate about the future of mayoral control of city schools?

30. What will drive Governor Andrew Cuomo’s 2020 agenda? Can the governor close the state’s budget gaps without significant cuts to local funding and without raising taxes?

31. How will the Democratic majorities in the Legislature perform? Will the Assembly and Senate majorities be largely aligned? Will they take control of the legislative process and force the governor’s hand? Will they override any Cuomo vetoes?

32. Will New York state government pass revenue-raising measures, including new taxes?

33. Will New York legalize adult use of marijuana? Will the state pass protections for gig and freelance workers? Will there be new limits on solitary confinement? Any significant parole reform? Any real movement on the New York Health Act for single-payer health care? Will the cap on charter schools in New York City be lifted? Will the state extend anti-sexual harassment laws to the Legislature? Will there be any reform of the Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE)? Will there be any significant reform of the New York City Board of Elections? What other high-profile policies pass or fail or lay dormant?

34. How will the state’s legislative redistricting processes unfold? How many seats in Congress will New York lose, one or two? What controversies arise around how congressional and state legislative districts are drawn?

35. Will the MTA make it through the year without major service reductions or personnel layoffs? Will its capital program be able to move ahead? Will the subways and buses get people where they need to go in timely fashion and safely?

36. Will congestion pricing be approved by the Biden Administration and implementation begin in New York?

37. Will New York City streets be made significantly safer for pedestrians and bike-riders? Will there be additional busways and an accelerated bus lane buildout? Will there be a large push to add protected bike lanes and connect the bike lane network? Will the city lower its per-ride NYC Ferry subsidy? Is the BQX project dead? What's going to happen with the BQE? Will there be any significant changes to how space is allocated on the Brooklyn or other bridges? Will anything be done about all the trash on the sidewalks?

38. What will 2021 bring in the ongoing Bill de Blasio-Andrew Cuomo saga?

39. What’s next for Bill de Blasio? Will he write a book? Get a cable news gig? Land a job in the Biden administration? Another political position? Teach? Plot a 2024 presidential run? Pursue another elected office?

40. What's next for Corey Johnson, Ruben Diaz, Jr., and other officials who aren't seeking reelection or another office this year? What's next for those who are unsuccessful in their attempts at reelection or higher office this year?

What did we miss? (We may expand the list to more than 40) Tweet us @GothamGazette and @TweetBenMax