|
Presented by Uber: Your afternoon must-read briefing informing the daily conversation among knowledgeable New Yorkers | | | | |  | | By Julia Marsh | | | |  This image, contained in the indictment against former President Donald Trump, shows boxes of records stored in a bathroom and shower in the Lake Room at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla. | Justice Department via AP | The unsealing of a federal indictment Friday afternoon that charged former President Donald Trump with 37 felony counts tied to prosecutors' claims that he stashed a massive trove of classified documents at his Florida residence when he left office, only pushed New York’s congressional delegation further into their respective partisan corners. Here’s a sampling of reactions from the House members in Trump's native state: Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-North Country) called into Steve Bannon’s War Room Friday to decry what she said was a purely political prosecution. She railed against “Biden’s Department of Justice” for targeting “President Trump with an indictment based on nothing.” Rep. Nick Lalota (R-Long Island) tweeted: “The Biden Justice Department’s indictment of a Former President who is running against Biden, without indictments of a Former Presidential Candidate who knowingly destroyed 30,000 government emails to evade prosecutors, or an indictment of their boss who stored classified material in his Delaware garage, wreaks of political retaliation.” Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NYC) said in a statement, “Once again, a grand jury has found probable cause to indict former President Trump, this time on seven counts related to his possession of, and refusal to return, national security materials. This country was founded on the principle that we are a government of laws, not people, and that no person, not even a former President, is above the law.” Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NYC) tweeted in English and Spanish: “In America...WE believe in equal justice under the law. Donald Trump is not above the law. NO ONE is above the law.”
| | A message from Uber: Uber riders have already paid $629 Million in Congestion Pricing fees. If the Congestion Pricing on Uber rides goes up even more, it will put tens of thousands of NYC Uber Drivers out of work.
That’s why 35,483 drivers across New York have signed a petition telling the MTA not to raise Congestion Pricing on them. Learn More. | | | |  | From the Capitol | | |  Senate Health Committee chair Gustavo Rivera (D-Bronx) speaks during a rally in support of health care for immigrants at the state Capitol in Albany, N.Y. on March 22, 2023. | Joseph Spector/POLITICO | COVERAGE FOR ALL: The Coverage For All bill passed the state Senate late Thursday, but it faces an uncertain fate Friday night in the Assembly. The measure would extend health insurance coverage to undocumented New Yorkers through the 1332 State Innovation Waiver, which the federal government recently said was allowable. The bill has been a top issue for immigrant-rights groups and some lawmakers, including its sponsors Sen. Gustavo Rivera and Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas, who said the expansion would not cost the state any money. González-Rojas said in a statement Friday that she’s hopeful it can pass before the session ends. “We can provide these New Yorkers with the health care they need and save the state over $400 million in emergency Medicaid spending,” she said in a statement. “It’s the right thing to do. It is the fiscally responsible thing to do, so I call on our chamber to bring this to a vote so we can finally provide coverage for all.” — Joseph Spector EDUCATION: The state Senate passed legislation Thursday that would create an Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) history and civic impact curriculum in public schools statewide. State education commissioner Betty Rosa would have to develop age-appropriate AANHPI history and civic impact or instruction for school districts. Content would include the history of the communities’ diaspora, movements and policies that affected them and their contributions to various fields, according to the bill. The curriculum would also touch on historical events that have harmed the communities as well as solidarity between historically marginalized communities. While the bill passed the Senate, it did not appear poised to pass the Assembly before the session ends. “Integrating the Asian American experience into the public school curriculum will not only allow Asian American children the chance to finally see themselves reflected accurately in American history, but it is a critical step in dismantling the endless barrage of anti-Asian stereotypes that categorize Asian Americans as either the perpetual foreigners or the seemingly-benign but equally destructive model minority,” Liu said in a statement. — Madina Touré HORSE SLAUGHTER BAN: Both houses passed a bill this week to prohibit slaughtering and selling horses for human consumption in New York. The ASPCA praised the measure. “Eighty-three percent of Americans oppose the slaughter of horses for human consumption, yet thousands of American horses are shipped to Mexico and Canada each year, and New York horses likely face an even greater risk because of our proximity to Canada,” Bill Ketzer, senior director of state legislation for the ASPCA, Eastern Division, said in a statement. The group said that research shows that 2.3 million Americans have the interest and resources to adopt a horse, saying there are more than enough homes for the 20,000 American horses who were exported for slaughter last year. — Joseph Spector
| | | | A message from Uber:   | | | | | From City Hall | | |  The Statue of Liberty is visible in the haze behind Governors Island, Thursday, June 8, 2023, in the New York harbor. Air pollution from Canada wildfires are cloaking the northeastern United States for a second day. With weather systems expected to hardly budge, the smoky blanket billowing across the U.S. and Canada could possibly persist into the weekend. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) | Mary Altaffer/AP Photo | AIR QUALITY IMPROVES: Could poor air quality become New York City’s new normal due to climate change? Deputy Mayor Phil Banks said at a briefing Friday that New Yorkers, particularly sensitive groups, are still not in the clear from smoke caused by the Canadian wildfires. The vulnerable groups include people with asthma, lung diseases, diabetes and New Yorkers who are active outdoors. City officials are advising those groups to stay indoors as much as possible. As of Friday, the city’s air quality is in the moderate zone of 30 to 60 with normal air quality falling in the 0 to 50 range. Air quality is expected to improve and reach normal levels by the weekend. Officials warned New Yorkers to watch out for symptoms of smoke intake like watery eyes, shortness of breath and chest pains. Firehouses and police precincts are giving out N95 masks. — Hajah Bah | | A message from Uber: Who says polluting doesn’t pay?
Today gas powered trucks pay $0 in Congestion Pricing
Meanwhile all electric Uber Green cars pay $2.75 in Congestion Pricing everytime they go into Manhattan’s congestion zone.
Do you think electric Ubers should have to pay more than gas trucks? Learn More. | | | | | RACE FOR HARLEM COUNCIL SEAT: The large number of drug-related programs in Harlem has emerged as a major theme in the neighborhood’s City Council race between two sitting state lawmakers and a member of the wrongly convicted Central Park Five. District 9’s Democratic primary is the most competitive City Council race this year. The major candidates are state Assemblymembers Al Taylor and Inez Dickens and exonerated Central Park Five member Yusef Salaam. The candidates frequently field voter concerns about the so-called oversaturation of social services in Harlem from drug treatment centers to a supervised injection site and a possible marijuana dispensary. While the contenders are united in their opposition to the sites, they’re trying to use the issue to motivate voters in an off-year election that could be decided by a few hundred votes. – Kyla Guilfoil and Meghana Kakubal | | On The Beats | | | | 
Sen. Liz Krueger urged her Assembly colleagues to pass a series of environmental bills that she shepherded through her chamber. | Hans Pennink/AP Photo | TRACKING CLIMATE PROGRESS: The Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School is out with a handy tracker for the nearly 130 recommendations in the state’s climate plan approved last year. The tracker includes many legislative actions urged by the Climate Action Council, some of which lawmakers tackled this year but many more where they fell short this session. While the Senate has passed two high-profile environmental measures in the final week of session — one to begin aligning the state’s utility regulations with the climate law and end subsidies for new gas hookups (S2016) and the other to penalize fossil fuel companies for historic pollution and raise billions for climate action (S2129) — the Assembly has rebuffed pressure from advocates to take up those proposals. Sen. Liz Krueger sent out a statement Thursday joined by some of her colleagues urging the Assembly to pass the Climate Superfund measure. She linked it to the historic poor air quality in New York caused by the Canadian wildfires that are being worsened by climate change. “Meanwhile, the world’s biggest multinational oil and gas companies — the ones who caused this mess in the first place — are laughing all the way to the bank,” Krueger said. “I believe it is our responsibility as legislators, before we ask taxpayers to pay these bills, to first go after those responsible for creating the problem.” Overall, while the budget included some significant progress toward implementing the state’s climate plan, including some guidance on “cap and invest” spending and limits on gas in new buildings in the coming years, there’s still lots left on the Legislature’s to-do list. The Assembly once again looks like the stumbling block for more aggressive climate action. Next year’s legislative session will be a key pivot point for New York’s climate targets, with “cap and invest” inching through the regulatory process and lawmakers having to weigh in again on the program that would raise prices at the pump and on utility bills, and an array of unaddressed items to tackle building and transportation emissions. — Marie J. French
| 
Hempstead Town Supervisor Don Clavin speaks at a rally against New York Gov. Kathy Hochul's proposal to create more housing at the state Capitol in Albany, N.Y., on March 20, 2023. | Michael Hill/AP Photo | HOUSING DEAL FALLOUT: Tenant activists, affordable housing developers and the city’s business community all lamented state lawmakers’ failure to approve a housing deal this session, despite high hopes at the beginning of the year for sweeping action on the issue. Cea Weaver, campaign coordinator for the Housing Justice for All coalition — which was pushing “good cause” eviction legislation — called it a “total failure of leadership.” “Every single leader in Albany bears a share of the responsibility for this failure, including Speaker Carl Heastie and Majority Leader Andrea Stewart Cousins,” Weaver said in a statement. Kathryn Wylde, president and CEO of the Partnership for New York City, a business consortium, said the scale of the housing shortage “requires state legislative action,” but noted, “this is the second year in which tools to increase affordable housing production have not moved forward.” Meanwhile, Jolie Milstein, president and CEO of the New York State Association for Affordable Housing, said the outcome “condemns millions of New Yorkers across the state to at least another year of rising housing costs and economic insecurity.” — Janaki Chadha EDUCATION: New York City public schools will resume in-person operations Monday, the Department of Education announced Friday afternoon. Monday will be a regular school day but some weekend activities could still be canceled. There are no longer restrictions for outdoor activities like sports, end-of-year celebrations and school-sponsored community events. The DOE announced Thursday that students and staff would pivot to remote learning amid a decline in air quality due to Canadian wildfire smoke. — Madina Touré STRIKE WATCH: About 500 resident physicians at Mount Sinai Morningside and Mount Sinai West hospitals plan to strike Tuesday morning if they do not reach a tentative contract agreement at their last bargaining session later today, the Committee of Interns and Residents said. The trainee doctors are fighting for parity on pay and benefits with their non-union colleagues in other residency programs run by Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine. Similarly, in May, about 160 residents at Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst went on strike to protest a lack of pay and benefit parity. The Elmhurst residency is also run by Mount Sinai. — Maya Kaufman
| | — Bloomberg News’ CityLab: “NYC Pays Over $300 a Night for Budget Hotel Rooms for Migrants” — POLITICO’s Erica Orden writes about Rep. George Santos’ efforts to conceal the identities of people backing his $500,000 bail. — Jonathan Guyer crashed Henry Kissinger’s birthday party. (New York) | | | | 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 | | | | |  |
