Eric Adams: The first 50 days

From: POLITICO New York Playbook PM - Thursday Feb 24,2022 09:03 pm

Feb 24, 2022

Presented by Healthcare Education Project

Saturday marked the 50th day of the Eric Adams administration. That’s halfway to the 100-day milestone often used by presidents, governors and mayors to tout accomplishments, lay out key policies and distance themselves from any early scandals.

Adams has had a busy seven weeks. He was confronted with several high-profile shootings, including the killing of two NYPD officers, a major snowstorm, the continued fallout of the Omicron variant and a horrific fire in the Bronx. He released a preliminary budget and his first major policy proposal: the Blueprint to End Gun Violence. The mayor has also enforced a municipal vaccine mandate, brought Vegan Fridays to public school cafeterias and rolled out roving teams designed to boost safety in the city’s subways.

On the other hand, Adams had to walk back hiring his brother at the NYPD, nix the appointment of an expected economic development czar, defend several appointees with a history of anti-LGBTQ comments and admit that — contrary to his office’s previous statements — he sometimes deviates from his plant-based diet to eat fish. He has separately failed to sell Albany on two policies he believes are crucial to his public safety agenda: altering bail laws and tweaking statutes related to the age of criminal responsibility.

With another six weeks ahead of him until he hits the magical, mystical 100-day mark, Adams still has major vacancies in his cabinet — the FDNY and the Department of Sanitation are being led by interim commissioners. He has also teased a major announcement on housing and hinted that a campaign promise to boost funding for parks, which was not in his initial spending plan, will be realized.

Previous mayors have given a speech to commemorate the first 100 days, and Adams could take cues from two very different predecessors on which direction to go.

Recently departed Bill de Blasiofocused on policy : securing unding for his signature pre-kindergarten initiative from Albany and talking up his plan to reduce traffic deaths. He also tried to move on from fumbling a major snowstorm and the infamous meal on Staten Island where he ate pizza with a fork.

Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who like de Blasio is on friendly terms with Adams, said after taking office in 2002 that mayors should focus on setting up the infrastructure of government rather than rushing out new initiatives.

''What did I do in the first 100 days?'' Bloomberg asked during a speech at the offices of Goldman Sachs. ''I think the answer is I got ready for the next 1,000.” — Joe Anuta

A message from Healthcare Education Project:

When COVID-19 hit New York, frontline healthcare workers answered the call. But as the system was stretched to the limit and New Yorkers struggled to find care, greedy health insurers pocketed billions. Despite these record profits, insurers are back squeezing hospitals for more. Doctors and caregivers can no longer survive on razor thin margins. Join us and help stop for-profit insurers from getting between doctors and their patients. Learn more.

HAPPY THURSDAY: We’re back with your afternoon check-in to spill the day’s tea — as we know it thus far — during one of the busiest seasons in New York politics. The Legislature is off this week.

STILL TO COME: Gov. Kathy Hochul is making remarks at the KAAGNY Korean American Day Celebration in Manhattan this evening. Adams will be speaking at The Apollo for a Black History Month event.

From City Hall

MAYORAL ABS (AND BUNS) OF STEEL — Mayor Eric Adams bragged about his “nice firm behind” as he bantered about his diet with late night host Seth Meyers duringan appearance on the comedian’s NBC show early Thursday morning. “I’m a plant-based eater. I want to keep my body tight. I’ve got great abs. I have a nice firm behind. I want to stay that way,” said Adams, who, it was recently revealed,sometimes eats fish despite claiming to follow a vegan diet. When Meyers pointed out that the smoothie Adams had on hand at a recent press conference did not look particularly appetizing, Adams defended the concoction. “Don’t look at the way that it looks. Blueberries are inside there. Cacao powder, matcha powder, spinach, kale. That’s how I start my day everyday.”

Adams, who once sparked a backlashby telling New York transplants to “go back to Iowa,” also said he now believes newcomers can become New Yorkers “from day one.” He told Meyers, “When you come to New York and realize the power of our diversity, that’s our secret weapon. And if you’re comfortable in any neighborhood, you could walk into a Chinese restaurant and have a Russian cook make you an Italian dish that he learned from his Romanian girlfriend. Only in New York.” As for New Yorkers who fled the city during the Covid-19 pandemic, Adams said he’s pleading with them to come back, invoking a friendly rivalry with Miami Mayor Francis Suarez. “We’re good friends. We’re competitive. I’m saying to all those New Yorkers who went to Miami, get your butt back to New York,” he said. “You can only have so much sun.” — Erin Durkin

Covid Update

FLEX AND SURGE (AND MASKS) — All New York hospitals have resumed non-essential operations and other procedures that had been halted as the Omicron variant drove a spike in Covid-19-related hospitalizations in late 2021, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Thursday. With Covid hospitalizations on the decline after hitting record highs in January, the governor said no hospital in the state is currently subject to the “surge and flex” protocols that were enacted at dozens of facilities this winter to preserve bed capacity. “All of our hospitals are off the list,” she said at a Valhalla news conference, adding that New York is in “a much better place than we had been just a short time ago.”

… Hochul also told reporters that her team is assessing its next steps on the state’s school mask mandate and “is prepared to stay on the same timeline” of announcing a decision on whether to lift the policy after February school vacation week. That decision, she added, will “be driven by the data that is in front of us.” — Shannon Young

On the Beats

EDUCATION: Success Academy, the city’s largest charter network, is opening two new elementary schools in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx. The network said it will launch Bronx 5 Lower, for grades K-1, and Bronx 5 Upper, for grades 2-3, for the 2022-2023 school year. “From the beginning, demand for our schools from Bronx families has been enormous,” Success founder and CEO Eva Moskowitz said in a statement. “We’re so excited to be able to serve more kids and families next year.” Success runs four Bronx elementary schools. More than 5,100 Success students live in the Bronx, accounting for a fourth of its entire enrollment. The network has long urged the city to provide space for its schools and often fought with former Mayor Bill de Blasio, who opposed an increase in charters.

Charter leaders have also been calling on state lawmakers to lift the cap on charter schools. Mayor Eric Adams, who has enjoyed a friendly relationship with Success and the sector overall, wants to revive so-called zombie charters — charters that were previously issued but ended up being terminated or given up — instead of lifting the cap. — Madina Touré

TRANSIT: There has been a renewed interest in adding platform barriers to subway stations since Michelle Go, a 40-year-old Manhattan resident, died after being pushed onto the tracks. But the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s early research on the topic shows only a fraction of people who end up in dangerous situations on subway tracks are pushed — highlighting the need for multiple approaches to deal with the issue.

In January, nearly 75 percent of so-called “track intrusions” were made up of incidents such as people crossing the tracks to get to another platform or get an object they had dropped, according to the MTA. It also includes people entering the tunnels to access homeless encampments. The MTA found 29 encampments in tunnels and 89 in stations in January, amounting to roughly 350 people living in the subway system. Service has been affected by such track intrusions, which have increased 20 percent since 2019 even as ridership declined.

“The track trespass issue is bigger than just that horrible scenario of being pushed on the tracks,” said MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber. The MTA is now piloting new thermal technology to better detect when people are on the tracks, testing platform doors in three subway stations and deploying police and mental health professionals. The MTA will release a full report on the issue in March. — Danielle Muoio Dunn

REAL ESTATE: City Comptroller Brad Lander, a prominent critic of the controversial 421-a tax break, argued that lawmakers should pursue broader property tax reform in lieu of approving a new iteration of the program, slated to expire this year. Politicians have long avoided the myriad problems within the city's convoluted property tax system, but Lander proposed an end-of-year deadline to push through large-scale reform, which would need approval in Albany. The issue is relevant to 421-a, because one of the main justifications of the program, which produces rental housing, is that the city's current property tax system overburdens rentals.

Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed a new iteration of the 421-a program in January that seeks to mandate more affordable housing, but critics, including Lander, say the changes don't go far enough. "[The 421-a] program is so badly broken that I just don’t believe it can be fixed in its current form," Lander said at a panel on the future of 421-a hosted by the NYU Furman Center on Wednesday. "I really believe that doing a warmed-over reform will prevent us from actually trying hard to achieve the real property tax reform that we need."

Actually reforming the property tax system — which will inevitably increase the tax burden on some owners, while lowering it on others — will be an exceedingly heavy lift for legislators. "Nothing has happened over 50 years with the property tax," noted Martha Stark, director of policy for the Tax Equity Now New York coalition, which is fighting a lawsuit against the system. — Janaki Chadha

HEALTH CARE: The Medical Society of the State of New York lauded congressional lawmakers Thursday for passing legislation — known as the “Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act” — that would set aside funding for mental health initiatives targeting frontline health care workers. MSSNY President Joseph R. Sellers said the organization “looks forward” to President Joe Biden signing the bill, which is named after the New York physician who died by suicide in April 2020.

“The legislation will establish grants dedicated to improving mental health and resiliency for health care professionals and create a public awareness campaign focused on encouraging healthcare workers to seek support and treatment,” Sellers said in a statement. “Our hope is that this legislation will provide much needed support to encourage physicians to care for their mental health — an age-old issue that has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.” — Shannon Young

Odds and ends

AG SEEKS TO BLOCK HEALTH-CARE ACQUISITION: State Attorney General Tish James filed an antitrust lawsuit today with the U.S. Department of Justice and the State of Minnesota to stop a proposed acquisition of Change Healthcare by UnitedHealth Group . The suit says that United would get an “unparalleled competitive advantage” should the acquisition go through, and James, in a statement, said it would reduce competition among health insurers, “likely leading to increased healthcare costs and decreased quality of services for New Yorkers.” — Anna

AROUND NEW YORK

— Two state correction officers were transferred out of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainee unit at the Orange County Correctional Facility in Goshen following claims of “racist and retaliatory abuse, violence, and medical neglect,” according to Gothamist.

— The New York City Marathon will rebound to its pre-pandemic level of 50,000 competitors in November, the New York Post reported.

— A new study found the pandemic has exacerbated the mental health challenges faced by college students across the nation. The report called for additional programming on campuses to address the issue.

— The state is making progress in its efforts to move beyond fossil fuels and towards more sustainable energy sources from wind, water and solar power, New York’s Energy Research and Development Authority president Doreen Harris told Gotham Gazette.

— An eye doctor who was asked to put on a mask in a Saratoga Springs butcher shop is suing the butcher, saying that the mask request constitutes practicing medicine without a license.

A message from Healthcare Education Project:

Whether it’s increasing out-of-pocket expenses, denying claims, or excluding hospitals and caregivers from their networks, greedy, for-profit insurance companies have been profiting off of hardworking New Yorkers for too long. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, heroic frontline healthcare workers stepped up, saved lives, and kept families healthy. But the pandemic devastated our entire healthcare system and pushed it to the brink. Even as New Yorkers struggled to find care and healthcare workers made gut-wrenching sacrifices to fight the pandemic, insurers put profits ahead of patients - muscling the doctors and hospitals that saved lives during COVID-19. Last year the top 10 health insurers pocketed more than $40 billion. Join our movement to demand NYS lawmakers put patients before profits. Learn more.

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