|
Your afternoon must-read briefing informing the daily conversation among knowledgeable New Yorkers | | | | |  | | By Joseph Spector | |  Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday pressed the White House to provide more federal help to New York to address a surge in its migrant population. | Evan Vucci/AP Photo | Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday urged President Joe Biden to send more federal resources to New York to deal with the influx of asylum-seekers and provide use of Floyd Bennett Field at Gateway National Recreation Area in Brooklyn to serve as a shelter. The move comes after Hochul huddled all day behind closed doors with federal and local officials to address the surge in migrants to New York City, and Mayor Eric Adams’ controversial decision this week to send some of the newcomers to the Hudson Valley. “I will continue working hand-in-hand with leaders from all levels of government to coordinate our statewide response and secure the resources we need to support these new arrivals,” Hochul said in a statement. Three buses carrying migrants made their way from New York City to a desolate hotel in Newburgh over the past two days. Maid he offered the move to the migrants since the city is strained by providing services to at least 65,000 asylum-seekers over the past year. The busloads, a little less than 100 people in all, could be a sign of more to come. To city and county leaders, Hochul’s growing intervention is welcomed after they groused earlier this week that the state needs to come up with a comprehensive plan to triage the crisis. Adams sent the migrants to Orange County as a way to address the city’s troubles and make the point that this is becoming a statewide problem — in addition to a national one. “No city should be going through this,” Adams told county leaders on a call Thursday, audio of which was obtained by POLITICO. “We should all get the governor on the line, and we should all get the White House on the line and say, ‘This should not be happening to our cities and counties in New York, and it should not be happening to our cities and counties across the country.’” How the situation all plays out is uncertain. But there is political liability, particularly for Hochul, if suburban communities — where she was largely defeated in last year’s election — get increasingly angered by Adams forcing the issue on their municipalities. The outrage is bipartisan now. Broome County Executive Jason Garner, a Democrat, declared a state of emergency in advance of any migrants being sent to his Southern Tier county, following the lead of Republican-helmed Orange and Rockland counties. Congressman Marc Molinaro, a Republican and former Dutchess County executive, urged the state and federal governments to take a more coordinated approach, saying the city shouldn’t be allowed to simply leave migrants at hotels it contracts with in upstate communities. “The crisis is here, and it needs to be confronted with a coordinated and compassionate approach by the federal and state government,” he told reporters on Friday. “There is a solution to this and it doesn't need to be partisan.”
|  | From the Capitol | | |  Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas is among lawmakers pushing for changes to the state's energy laws in the final weeks of the legislative session. | Katelyn Cordero/POLITICO | NY HEAT PUSH: Advocates are still hoping to get a major change to the state’s utility laws passed in the waning days of session. They held a virtual presser with Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas on Friday morning continuing to push the NY HEAT Act, which would eliminate subsidies for gas hookups, allow for the retirement of segments of the gas pipeline system and cap energy bills for low-income residents at 6 percent of their income. “New York's transition from fossil fuels won't be complete until we pass the NY HEAT Act,” González-Rojas said. Key Assembly Democrats have questioned some elements of the bill, including raising concerns about impacts on homeowners if segments of pipeline are retired. Assemblymbmer Didi Barrett (D-Dutchess County) earlier this week said she’s supported ending the subsidies for new hookups but questioned whether the bill was necessary given the requirements for new buildings to be zero-emissions included in the budget. “How relevant is that now?” she asked. But advocates and lawmakers supporting the bill have noted the budget deal carved out renovations and existing buildings entirely, so property owners can still switch from fuel oil to natural gas and utilities are mandated to provide service if requested. Con Edison has backed ending the subsidies for new hookups, known as the “100 foot rule.” — Marie French COVID DATA: Effective today, the state will no longer be issuing news releases on Covid-19 cases and vaccination rates. That data will continue to be available on the state Department of Health's online tracker, but dashboards tracking Covid breakthrough data, regional vaccination data and pop-up vaccination data will go offline as of next week. The change is pegged to the end Thursday of the federal Covid public health emergency. — Maya Kaufman | | From City Hall | | | | 
A Town of Newburgh police vehicle is parked outside as security and staff personnel mill about The Crossroads Hotel where two busloads of migrants arrived hours earlier, Thursday, May 11, 2023, in Newburgh, N.Y. | AP Photo/John Minchillo | NO VACANCY?: Adams said this week the city has run out of hotel rooms to house arriving asylum seekers. That lack of beds has spurred the administration to begin a controversial bussing program to other parts in the state, to suspend part of New York’s historic right-to-shelter law and to consider setting up congregate shelters in a former military airstrip and a decommissioned prison. Asylum seekers, of course, are not staying in every room in the five boroughs. In fact, the city is renting between 40 percent to 50 percent of all available hotel rooms that would be suitable for migrants, according to Shelly Nortz, deputy executive director at the Coalition for the Homeless. Nortz said officials from the Department of Social Services recently mentioned the figure in a meeting. So why doesn’t the city book more? Mayoral spokesperson Fabien Levy outlined several reasons: Hotel operators must be willing to work with the administration — which has reached out to inns across the city — and they must be willing to offer the city a discounted rate and also pass a basic vetting process. With those restrictions, Levy said, the city has exhausted the available supply. Nortz was skeptical. “I find it hard to believe that they have no further hotel options within the city at all, given that they are not using more than half of what they say are suitable rooms,” she told POLITICO. — Joe Anuta PANDEMIC RECOVERY: New York City has recovered more than 99 percent of the private sector jobs it lost during the pandemic, a new report from the state’s comptroller, Thomas DiNapoli, shows. It hasn’t happened very evenly, though. Jobs on Wall Street have lurched back, adding more than 6 percent growth to pre-pandemic numbers tallied in March 2019. Transportation, warehousing, and office jobs have also fared pretty well, with growth in the low single digits. But when it comes to other sectors, the numbers aren’t as pretty. The arts, entertainment and recreation sector is still down about 15 percent, as is the tourism industry. The picture isn’t great for retail, either, with an almost 13 percent lag. — Zachary Schermele
| | |  A view of the New York state Capitol is seen from the steps of the New York state Education Department Building, July 17, 2018, in Albany, N.Y. | Hans Pennink/AP Photo | EDUCATION: Students and advocates are urging the state Legislature to pass legislation that would change school suspension rules in the state. The Solutions not Suspensions Act would decrease the length of suspensions from 180 days to 20 days, limit the use of suspensions for children in prekindergarten through third grade and ban suspensions for minor infractions like dress code violations. Students and advocates rallied Friday and testified at a legislative hearing. “Keeping children in the classroom, teaching kids conflict resolution and repairing harm, and assuring our children that they can trust the adults in their lives to provide help instead of abandoning them — these are common-sense measures, not radical,” Amshula Jayaram, campaign director for Alliance for Quality Education, a community-based organization, said in a statement. — Madina Touré SANITATION: dams didn’t fund any of the Council’s budget requests for the Department of Sanitation, according to the Council’s budget report on his executive spending plan. The Council’s preliminary budget response called for $44 million to increase litter basket pick-up and $4.3 million to restore the electronic waste pick-up program that was cut during the pandemic. Lawmakers also called for more funding to curb illegal dumping and remove syringe waste. The Sanitation Department’s budget also includes a $1 million cut to its community compost programs and a reduction in the scope of its waste characterization study, which is required under a local law to assess the composition of New York’s trash and boost recycling rates. Sanitation officials are scheduled to testify this afternoon to the Council committees on finance and sanitation. — Danielle Muoio Dunn HOUSING: City housing commissioner Adolfo Carrión stressed the importance of a rental housing tax break like the controversial 421-a program and urged the state Legislature to consider a new version of the incentive this legislative session. “Let’s just have that conversation, because we are leaving a lot of units on the table that could be in high-cost neighborhoods and give people opportunity,” he said at a Council budget hearing, in response to criticism of the program — which expired last June — from Council Member Charles Barron. Carrión acknowledged the expired 421-a created so-called affordable housing that wasn’t genuinely affordable. “That’s why we’re supporting a new tax incentive that will deepen the affordability,” he said, noting any new version of the program would lower the income thresholds for what is considered affordable. “Forget about the 130 percent [area median income] — that’s gone, and rightfully so. And so the question is, where do we land.” — Janaki Chadha
| | — New speed cameras caught many New Yorkers speeding in work zones. (Syracuse.com) — The man who put Jordan Neely in a deadly chokehold while riding the city’s F train was arraigned and released on bail. (Associated Press) — New York state issued an air quality health advisory for Central New York counties including Cayuga, Jefferson, Monroe, Oswego, and Wayne. (Upstate New York) — Via The New York Times: “A New Hope for Manhattan’s Chino Latino Restaurants: TikTok.” | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |  |
