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Presented by American Beverage Association: Erin Durkin and Anna Gronewold's must-read briefing informing the daily conversation among knowledgeable New Yorkers | | | | |  | | By Sally Goldenberg, Anna Gronewold and Zachary Schermele | | | Tensions are bubbling over in the New York City Council’s Progressive Caucus. After struggling to clarify its message last year, caucus leaders made a move designed to create a smaller but sharper entity. As the New York Post reported Friday evening, they’re requiring members to co-sign a statement of principles that includes reducing the NYPD budget in favor of “alternative safety infrastructure.” Democrats in purple districts grappled with whether to endorse the pledge, while its architects tried to mend frayed relationships this weekend, according to private messages shared with POLITICO. So far two members have opted out: Bronx’s Marjorie Velázquez and Brooklyn’s Justin Brannan, who each face Republican challengers this year. At least three others — Manhattan’s Keith Powers and Shaun Abreu, and Queens’ Lynn Schulman — confirmed their refusal to sign the pledge. “There is a great deal we can do and are doing in the area of police reform — changes to training, recruitment, transparency, accountability, etc. — but no one should let us get away with making the measure of our success whether we technically made the police budget smaller,” said Abreu, a disciple of political powerhouse Rep. Adriano Espaillat. “Our communities rely on the support of our public safety agencies for more than safety and security,” Velázquez said. “This is a critical time for everyone, and to reduce the very entities that work tirelessly to protect our city is unrealistic and not in the best interest of our communities.” Taxpayers shell out more than $5 billion each year for the NYPD — funding that came under scrutiny following the death of George Floyd in 2020. But a national outcry to “defund” police departments was hushed by fears of rising crime, an issue that helped sweep ex-police captain Eric Adams into the mayor’s office. Polls consistently show those concerns remain top-of-mind for city voters. That leaves the caucus with the challenge of how to persuade constituents of the merits of shifting certain tasks away from police without getting crushed by blowback that Adams is likely happy to foster. In a joint statement, the four caucus leaders described a “deliberative and democratic process to adopt updated bylaws that reflect progressive values and a just vision for New York City. We are committed to organizing and enacting bold legislative and budget agendas that will invest in affordable housing, mental health, education and youth development, job opportunities and create real safety and well being in our communities.” IT’S MONDAY and joint budget hearings begin today. Transportation and all things MTA will kick off with Janno Lieber’s testimony in Hearing Room B at 11:30 a.m. Got tips, suggestions or thoughts? Let us know ... By email: agronewold@politico.com and sgoldenberg@politico.com or on Twitter: @annagronewold and @sallygold WHERE’S KATHY? In Syracuse touting her budget proposal’s investments in central New York. WHERE’S ERIC? Appearing live on NY1, MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” and Fox 5’s “Good Day New York.”
| | | | A message from American Beverage Association: At America’s beverage companies, we are committed to reducing our plastic footprint. That’s why we’re carefully designing our plastic bottles to be 100% recyclable, including the caps. Our goal is for every bottle to become a new one, so they don’t end up in our oceans, rivers and landfills. Learn more at EveryBottleBack.org. | | | |  | What City Hall's reading | | “Migrants abandon NYC for Canada with taxpayer-funded bus tickets,” by New York Post’s Jack Morphet, Craig McCarthy, Bernadette Hogan and Bruce Golding: “National Guard soldiers have been helping distribute tickets at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan to migrants who want to head upstate before crossing into Canada, several migrants said.” Mayor Eric Adams — who has sparred with critics over his handling of the asylum seeker crisis — made a last-minute decision Friday to spend the frigid night on a cot at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal in Red Hook. His overnight stay, which was not listed on his public schedule, lasted from roughly 11 p.m. to 9 a.m. and was more or less a surprise to staff at the terminal, who received only about one hour’s heads up of his pending arrival, according to Adams’ spokesperson. The mayor tweeted photos and videos from the site. “I would never ask anyone to do something I wouldn’t be willing to do myself,” he said in a statement. His stay came amid a standoff with some migrants who did not want to relocate from a hotel to the Red Hook facility, which Adams blamed on “agitators.” — Sally Goldenberg The City Council is preparing to grill administration officials over its plan to involuntarily transfer people with mental illness to area hospitals if they are deemed dangerous to themselves or others — an expanded interpretation of state law Adams announced in November. The joint oversight hearing will entail questions on training, 911 data around mental health calls and rollout of the directive. Among those expected to testify are the Mayor’s Office of Community Mental Health’s Jason Hansman; Health + Hospital’s Omar Fattal; Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s Jamie Neckles; FDNY’s Michael Fields; and NYPD’s Theresa Tobin and Juanita Holmes. — Sally Goldenberg Yusef Salaam, of exonerated ‘Central Park Five,’ to run for Harlem Council seat, by POLITICO’s Madina Touré: Yusef Salaam, a member of the exonerated “Central Park Five,” formally entered the race for the City Council seat in Harlem held by Kristin Richardson Jordan who killed a major development proposal for the district last year. Salaam — a criminal justice advocate and a board member for the Innocence Project, a nonprofit that works to free wrongly convicted people — announced his candidacy at the Old Harlem YMCA on Saturday. “Mayor Adams’ ‘Bling Bishop’ pal Lamor Whitehead refusing to let feds access 13 devices seized from him,” by Daily News’ Chris Sommerfeldt: “The ‘Bling Bishop’ isn’t playing ball with the feds. Lamor Whitehead, a criminally charged Brooklyn pastor who’s friends with Mayor Adams, is refusing to furnish federal prosecutors with passwords to 13 electronic devices they’ve seized from him, delaying the discovery process in his case, according to court records. Whitehead was arrested in December and indicted on a laundry list of charges for allegedly swindling a retired parishioner out of tens of thousands of dollars, extorting a businessman and lying to investigators. In a previously unknown wrinkle, the feds seized 15 electronic devices from Whitehead around the time of his arrest as part of a search warrant execution, prosecutors wrote in a letter filed in Manhattan Federal Court this week.” “Rikers Island Group Skips Meetings, Jeopardizing ‘Renewable Rikers’ Timetable,” by THE CITY’s Samantha Maldonado: “The Rikers Island Advisory Committee, a group tasked with advancing recommendations for what Rikers should become after it closes by 2027, has not convened since last summer, three members of the committee told THE CITY.”
| | | | JOIN POLITICO ON 2/9 TO HEAR FROM AMERICA’S GOVERNORS: In a divided Congress, more legislative and policy enforcement will shift to the states, meaning governors will take a leading role in setting the agenda for the nation. Join POLITICO on Thursday, Feb. 9 at World Wide Technology's D.C. Innovation Center for The Fifty: America's Governors, where we will examine where innovations are taking shape and new regulatory red lines, the future of reproductive health, and how climate change is being addressed across a series of one-on-one interviews. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | WHAT ALBANY'S READING | | Inside New York’s struggling weed real estate experiment, by POLITICO’s Mona Zhang: Other legal weed states that have attempted social equity programs have encountered numerous problems: Entrepreneurs often struggle to raise capital or find landlords willing to rent to them, and licensees with little business experience find themselves entering a market already dominated by large cannabis companies. But there’s nothing quite like New York’s weed experiment. — “The Mayor Says He’s Cracking Down on Unlicensed Weed Sales. His Task Force Says Otherwise,” by THE CITY’s Stephon Johnson “Bail data show range in how many could be impacted by Hochul proposal,” by Times Union’s Joshua Solomon: “In a conservative estimate, looking toward the rate judges released individuals accused of violent felonies in 2019, an additional 10 percent of cases could result in a judge setting bail or remanding an individual pretrial. It could influence a couple thousand cases in New York. In the most extreme estimate, where judges set bail or remand anyone accused of a qualifying offense, it could result in massive increases in the pretrial population.” — Progressive lawmakers who opposed Hochul’s chief judge pick are also slamming her proposal that could boost the number of charter schools in the state. “Hochul sides with hospital lobby over insurers, labor in pay dispute,” by New York Post’s Carl Campanile: “Gov. Hochul is following the lead of predecessor Andrew Cuomo — siding with the powerful hospital lobby in a fight with health insurers and labor unions over medical billing payments. Opponents — including United Federation of Teachers union president Mike Mulgrew — said the ‘pay and pursue’ proposal backed by Hochul in her $227 billion spending plan would require health insurers to immediately pay hospital billing claims without reviewing whether the treatment was medically necessary.” DINAPOLI SAYS: “Increasing tolls on the New York State Thruway should be a last option for the Thruway Authority, state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli determined in a report issued Friday. The report urges the authority to improve its operations and try to maximize revenue that comes from sources other than tolls first before putting an increase into effect.” from Spectrum’s Nick Reisman
| | | | A message from American Beverage Association:   | | | | | TRUMP'S NEW YORK | | A Manhattan grand jury is hearing evidence about former President Donald Trump’s involvement in paying off Stormy Daniels during his 2016 White House run, but another legal battle is unfolding outside the courtroom. Former prosecutor Mark Pomerantz said his ex-boss, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, shouldn’t have stopped a grand jury a year ago from investigating Trump for financial fraud, telling “60 Minutes” Trump could have been indicted “in a flat second.” The remarks are part of a media blitz for Pomerantz’s book, “People vs. Donald Trump,” that he wrote after quitting the DA’s office in protest for Bragg dropping the fraud case. But Bragg is hitting back with the help of some political and legal heavyweights, including Rev. Al Sharpton who suggested Pomerantz was just trying to sell his book and The District Attorneys Association of the State of New York accusing him of “upending the norms and ethics of prosecutorial conduct” for speaking out during an ongoing criminal probe. — Julia Marsh | | FROM THE DELEGATION | | “George Santos Is Accused of Sexual Harassment in His Capitol Office,” by The New York Times’ Grace Ashford and Michael Gold: “[Derek] Myers said in the letter that he was alone with Mr. Santos in his office on Jan. 25 when the congressman asked him whether he had a profile on Grindr, a popular gay dating app. Then, he said, Mr. Santos invited him to karaoke and touched his groin, assuring him that his husband was out of town. Mr. Myers’s account could not be corroborated, but a spokeswoman for Representative Susan Wild, ranking member of the House Ethics Committee, acknowledged that his letter had been received by her office.”
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— Chief of Fire Operations John Esposito said New Yorkers should not be charging lithium-ion batteries overnight after four people were injured in a fire in Manhattan.
— An off-duty NYPD officer is in critical condition after being shot while trying to buy a vehicle in Brooklyn. — A person held at the Rikers Island died Saturday in the city's first jail-related death of 2023. — Roadbuilders say bridges and roads won’t get repaired because transportation money is going to the MTA and “splashy” projects. — The number of New York state residents covered by Medicaid is expected to hit nearly 8 million this year. | | SOCIAL DATA BY DANIEL LIPPMAN | | HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Tom Brokaw … Jerry Seib … Fox News’ Kevin Corke … Marina Villeneuve … Martin Pengelly … Amanda Fuchs Miller … Lloyd Grove … Tiffany Cross … Amy Robach … Alexa Cassanos … CBS’ Fernando Suarez … David Moore ... Neri Oxman … John Santerre … (was Sunday): Michael Steel of Business Roundtable … Omarosa Manigault Newman …CAA’s Ali Spiesman … Harvey Epstein ... Benjamin Kallos ... Sarabeth Berman ... Nicole A. Levy … Shelly Palmer … Andrew Godinich … … (was Saturday): Fed Chair Jerome Powell …Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.) … Nicolle Wallace … Vox’s Sean Illing … Matt McDonald … Zachary Mitchiner of Sen. Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) office … CNN’s Shimon Prokupecz … Taimoor Shah … Blair Bender … Rabbi Avraham Ausband … Jon Gray … Justin Meservie … Alan Rappeport MAKING MOVES — Consulting firm BerlinRosen has hired Rick Fromberg, most recently of Democratic media firm The Win Company,as a senior adviser for public affairs and campaigns.
| | | | A message from American Beverage Association: America’s leading beverage companies - The Coca-Cola Company, Keurig Dr Pepper and PepsiCo - are working together to reduce our industry’s plastic footprint through our Every Bottle Back initiative. We’re investing in efforts to get our bottles back so we can remake them into new bottles and use less new plastic.
Together, we’re:
· Designing 100% recyclable plastic bottles – we’re making our bottles from PET that’s strong, lightweight and easy to recycle.
· Investing in community recycling – we’re marshaling the equivalent of nearly a half-billion dollars with The Recycling Partnership and Closed Loop Partners to support community recycling programs across multiple states.
· Raising awareness – we’re adding on-pack reminders to encourage consumers to recycle our plastic bottles and caps.
Our bottles are made to be remade. Please help us get Every Bottle Back. | | | | | Real Estate | |
“Eliot Spitzer and an Elite Co-op Board Fight Over a Ditch,” by The New York Times’ Stefanos Chen: “The roughly 350-square-foot plot is at the center of a lawsuit filed on Friday in New York State Supreme Court that pits the millionaire residents of 980 Fifth Avenue against the real estate mogul and former governor of New York, Eliot Spitzer, who owns an adjacent rental tower. Nominally, the suit is about a trivial sliver of land behind two lavish apartment buildings near East 79th Street. But the outcome of the case could decide more serious business — when and how Mr. Spitzer can proceed with plans to demolish his building and erect a high-end condo tower in its place, lawyers and land-use consultants said.”
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