Bill de Blasio Confronted at Gym + New Brooklyn Branches
No 20
Monday, July 03, 2017
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Local News
- Bill de Blasio, who wears cargo shorts and a belt at the gym, was confronted by activists from the #closeRIKERS campaign while exercising. Darren Mack tried to offer the Mayor guidelines for closing the jail at Rikers more quickly than the current 10-year timeline, before being removed.
- Governor Cuomo declared a 30-day “State of Emergency” for the MTA on Thursday, triggering a temporary hold on some bureaucratic processes that typically delay procurement and repairs. He also requested organizational and capital plan reviews to be completed in 60 days.
- Bushwick will get fewer affordable units than originally promised at the former Rheingold Brewery site, highlighting the non-binding nature of Community Benefits Agreements, particularly once a site has been sold. One of the site’s current owners, the Rabsky Group, is the developer for a proposed 1,000+ unit development in the Broadway Triangle that is making its way through the ULURP process.
- The State Legislature came to a deal that extends mayoral control of NYC public schools for another two years. Although Senate Republicans sought to link charter school expansion to a mayoral control deal, no such provisions were included in the deal.
- The Young Women’s Initiative, a group convened by City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, had explicitly encouraged her to help pass two police reform bills (including the Right to Know Act) which she still refuses to bring to a vote. The publicly released version of the group’s report was edited to include only broad policy suggestions regarding criminal justice reform.
- To settle a lawsuit stemming from its abuse of protesters, the NYPD agreed to comply with the Freedom of Information Law requests it has been violating since 2006.
- Council Member Robert Cornegy (Bedford-Stuyvesant) wants to name a local basketball court after the Notorious B.I.G. but is facing pushback from some residents who find his lyrics offensive.
- The full Community Board 9 in Crown Heights echoed the vote of its Land Use Committee by unanimously rejecting the Bedford Union Armory development proposal. The next step in ULURP is for the Brooklyn borough president’s office to review the proposal.
- The Rent Guidelines Board voted to approve a 1.25% increase on one-year leases and a 2% increase on two-year leases in rent stabilized units, the first such increase in two years. The decision drew fervent protests from tenants and the Rent Justice Coalition.
Elections
- Republican real estate executive Paul Massey dropped out of the 2017 mayoral race even though he was a frontrunner in fundraising. The announcement largely clears Assemblymember Nicole Malliotakis’ (Staten Island) path to the Republican nomination.
- Rev. Khader El-Yateem, a DSA-endorsed candidate in City Council District 43, penned an Op-Ed on how the MTA’s problems have harmed his district.
- The NYC Board of Elections released a report revealing how the City’s strict primary voting laws suppress turnout, which was as low as 8% in last September’s primary.
- Nine of the candidates for NYC Mayor who aren’t Bill De Blasio attended a Mayoral forum in East Flatbush this week with affordable housing being one of the main topics of discussion.
- Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez echoed his support of Ken Thompson’s decision to recommend no jail time for Akai Gurley’s killer, Peter Liang. One of his opponents in the DA race, Marc Fliedner, resigned in protest of that decision.