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Hochul under the migrant crisis microscope

POLITICO's must-read briefing informing the daily conversation among knowledgeable New Yorkers
Aug 16, 2023 View in browser
 

By Emily Ngo, Jeff Coltin, Nick Reisman and Hajah Bah

Albany has given $1 billion in allocated funding and some state-owned sites in aid to New York City. | Emily Ngo for POLITICO

Emergency migrant housing built on state land and run with state money is opening as scrutiny intensifies into how Gov. Kathy Hochul is helping.

Massive white tents pitched in the parking lot of Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in Queens stood as a symbol of the state’s contribution.

Playbook toured the complex ahead of its opening later Tuesday, viewing the long rows of dining tables, sleeping cots and portable bathrooms intended to serve more than 1,000 single men.

“We’ve exhausted everything that we can, in terms of converting former office buildings, opening up as many hotels as we can,” said Ted Long, a senior executive with NYC Health + Hospitals who led the walkthrough. “But today, we stand in a parking lot and Randall’s, which we’ve also announced, is going to be on a soccer field.”

There have been nods to what Albany has given in aid to New York City: $1 billion in allocated funding and some state-owned sites. The state will also reimburse the city for the large-scale housing facility on Randall’s Island.

Gov. Hochul has voiced her commitment even as she argues the right-to-shelter mandate should not apply statewide.

“I have brought enormous resources to the table, and we’re not done yet,” Hochul said last week.

But calls are growing louder for the state to step up, including on a Zoom forum Tuesday with more than two dozen housing advocates organized by Da Homeless Hero and at a downtown Brooklyn rally where attendees ran the political gamut from members of the Democratic Socialists of America to Mayor Eric Adams to Republican Assemblymember Lester Chang.

“They do have work to do. They do need to do more,” Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, floated as a potential challenger to Adams’ left, said of the state.

The bulk of the pressure campaign at the rally, however, remained focused on President Joe Biden and the lack of federal aid.

Separately, David Giffen, executive director of Coalition for the Homeless, told Playbook he and his allies sent a letter with 100 signatures urging Hochul to have other towns take on migrants — a fight that is already playing out across the Hudson Valley and upstate.

“This requires a level of moral courage and leadership that we have yet to see from the governor,” he said.

The charge came on a day when the state was required to respond to the city’s requests for state resources for migrants, creating a pitched battle in the courts and in communities across New York.

HAPPY WEDNESDAY. Got news? Send it our way: Jeff Coltin, Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman.

WHERE’S KATHY? In New York City and Albany with no immediate schedule.

WHERE’S ERIC? Holding a public hearing for Intro. 31-C at City Hall, delivering remarks at flag-raising ceremony for Pakistan at Bowling Green Park, signing Intro. 31-C and making an announcement about the future of outdoor dining in the Bronx, delivering remarks at the Ezra Medical Center’s new facility, and at the NYC Black Pride “Health As a Human Right” Conference in Manhattan.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I’m Gandhi-like. I think like Gandhi. I act like Gandhi. I want to be like Gandhi.” — Adams, said as part of an extended riff about the assassinated leader Tuesday at an Indian flag raising.

 

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ABOVE THE FOLD

In 2024, 5 percent of all high-volume for-hire trips would be required to be dispatched with a zero-emissions car or wheelchair-accessible vehicle. | Nam Y. Huh/AP Photo

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: For-hire vehicles in New York City are potentially in store for major changes in the coming years under pending regulations set to be proposed by the Adams administration this morning.

The Taxi and Limousine Commission will introduce rules for requiring all for-hire vehicles under services like Uber and Lyft to be either zero-emissions vehicles or have wheelchair accessibility by the start of the next decade, according to an announcement obtained by Playbook.

If given final approval, the change would be phased in over six years starting in 2024, when 5 percent of all high-volume for-hire trips would be required to be dispatched with a zero-emissions car or wheelchair-accessible vehicle.

The requirements would be gradually phased each year and would take full effect by 2030. Adams announced the plan in his State of the City Address in January but details weren’t available until now.

“When it comes to driving towards sustainable and inclusive transportation alternatives, New York City isn’t just along for the ride — in fact, we are leading the way,” Adams said in a statement.

The change would come as New York statewide is set to phase out the sale of all gas-powered vehicles by 2035. — Nick Reisman

WHAT CITY HALL IS READING

Families with children make up nearly three-quarters of the total asylum-seeker population. | Mary Altaffer/AP Photo

MIGRANT COST: The City Council released new statistics on asylum-seekers Tuesday, providing details on agency spending and operations.

While the Adams administration has divided responsibilities for providing shelter and services between several agencies, the stats show the Department of Social Services has been leading the charge.

The agency has the most money earmarked in the current fiscal year (nearly $2 billion) and had the largest number of migrants staying in facilities under its control as of July 30 (nearly 31,000).

The breakdown also shows that families with children make up nearly three-quarters of the total asylum-seeker population, and that the average daily cost to the city in July was $383 per household. — Joe Anuta

More from the city:

— Domenic Recchia, who helped rezone Coney Island as a City Councilmember, is now working for the developer hoping to build a casino there. (Crain’s New York Business)

— Queens County Democrats selected Supreme Court candidates for the upcoming general Supreme Court election. (Queens Daily Eagle)

WHAT ALBANY'S READING


DEBATE? DEBATABLE: There’s only one debate scheduled so far ahead of the Assembly District 27 special election in Queens — and Democrat Sam Berger isn’t taking part.

But it’s not exactly a neutral location. It is hosted by the Central Queens Republican Club at a Lutheran church a mile and a half outside the district. And they’re asking attendees to donate $5 to the GOP club.

“We didn’t actually decline; we provided reasonable feedback,” Berger told Playbook. Club leader Danniel Maio, meanwhile, says they tried to coordinate with Democratic clubs, and even got a Schneps Media reporter to be a neutral moderator. But Berger said no, “Our time is better served by speaking to constituents on a daily basis.”

The club is supporting the Republican nominee David Hirsch, and he plans to attend the Aug. 17 meeting. The election is scheduled for Sept. 12, so there’s still time for a debate, if someone else wants to host. — Jeff Coltin

More from Albany:

— Nassau County, Florida, is booming, and making room for new arrivals, while Nassau County, New York, has a housing crisis, and is shrinking (Bloomberg)

— Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie says he needs more information before weighing in on DocGo’s work with migrants in upstate cities. (Times Union)

— The New York Civil Liberties Union has obtained and released decades of State Police misconduct workers. (Spectrum News)

 

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AROUND NEW YORK


— From ‘America’s Mayor’ to criminal defendant: Rudy Giuliani’s long tumble (New York Times)

— Christine Quinn, who could've been mayor in 2013, isn’t running for office right now, but she’d consider it (City & State)

— A town supervisor in Monroe County is being sued by a public works employee who claims he helped build a replica Batmobile later sold at auction (Democrat & Chronicle)

FROM THE DELEGATION

— Rep. George Santos missed the already-extended deadline to file his House financial disclosure form (The New York Times)

SOCIAL DATA BY DANIEL LIPPMAN


HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Business Roundtable’s Josh Bolten … Jen Cytryn … Ramesh Ponnuru … Jack Quinn … Matt Spence … Edelman’s Tyson Greaves … Matt Silverstein … AP’s Martha Mendoza … Michael Grunwald … (was Tuesday): Rachel Sterne Haot ... Lewis Lehrman ... Allen Weisselberg

MAKING MOVES — Samantha Power is now military legislative assistant for Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Als.). She is a Navy Reservist and was previously MLA for Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.). She is a Rick Scott and Ted Yoho alum. … Alexa Velickovich is now senior manager at Signal Group. She most recently was PR account manager at Campbell Consulting Group and is a POLITICO alum. … Lillie Belle Renner is now director of operations at VC firm Snowpoint Ventures. She most recently did business development at Palantir Technologies.

ENGAGED — C.W. Goodyear, a writer and author of the recently published “President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier” and an alum of the McChrystal Group, on July 30 proposed to Ellen Brennan, a management consultant at McKinsey. He proposed on her 30th birthday; the couple met on Bumble. Pic by Tara Sutherland Photography … Another pic

WEDDING — Danielle Meister, director of global communications at Zipline and an alum of WhatsApp, Tesla and Samsung, recently married Alexander Lurie, the founder of real estate firm the Lurie Group. The couple met at a fundraiser in October 2018 but reconnected and started dating in 2019 thanks to Facebook. Pic ... Another pic

Real Estate

— New construction in Manhattan has slowed markedly in 2023, with just 21 building permits filed in the first half of the year, the lowest midyear total since 2010, according to a new REBNY report (NYDN)

 

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This post first appeared on Test Sandbox Updates, please read the originial post: here

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Hochul under the migrant crisis microscope

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