Fare-Evasion Enforcement Data Shows Racial Disparities + New Wave of NYC Bernie Endorsements

Local News:

• Over 500 people gathered in Grand Central Terminal to protest escalated police presence on mass transit. Earlier in the week, new fare evasion data showed that NYPD has higher enforcement rates in high-poverty black and latinx neighborhoods.
• A new independent union representing hundreds of City Council staffers has asked Speaker Corey Johnson for recognition, which he is expected to do.
• Housing activists are renewing a push to pass State Senator Julia Salazar’s Good Cause Eviction bill, and they released a poll showing that a majority of New Yorkers support the legislation.
• State Senator Brad Hoylman (District 27, Chelsea) has proposed a bill that would ban law enforcement in New York State from using facial recognition software.
• Climate activists including NYC-DSA’s Ecosocialist Working Group disrupted a budget hearing in Albany, demanding that the State raise taxes on the wealthy in order to pay for decarbonizing New York’s energy system.
• A mayoral commission proposed a major progressive restructuring of property taxes in New York City, but the recommendations will need to be approved by the City and State legislatures, the mayor, and governor.
• Assemblymember Richard Gottfriend (District 75, Manhattan) and State Senator Gustavo Rivera (District 33, The Bronx) introduced a bill to prevent hidden fees at hospitals. Both co-sponsors are pushing the bill as a partial solution until the more comprehensive New York Health Act gains more support in Albany.
• The City’s reliance on using commercial hotels as homeless shelters has surged, despite a 2017 plan from the De Blasio administration to eliminate the practice by 2023. Conditions and services at such hotels are often uneven and of poor quality, with families with children disproportionately affected.
• City Council Speaker Corey Johnson and Council Members Brad Lander (District 39, Park Slope) Antonio Reynoso (District 34, Williamsburg/Bushwick) are crafting legislation to mandate the creation of citywide comprehensive plan every ten years, after such a proposal was left out of the charter revisions in 2019.
• Mayor De Blasio balked at his own expert panel’s recommendations to remove traffic lanes from the BQE as it undergoes repair, citing a concern for increased traffic jams – despite research showing the opposite occurs when such lanes are removed.
• The Department of Transportation announced a plan to add 30 miles of new protected bike lanes in 2020, with a particular focus on Brooklyn, as 17 of last year’s 29 cyclist deaths in the City happened within the borough.

Elections:

• Council Members Justin Brannan (District 43, Bay Ridge) and Helen Rosenthal (District 6, Upper West Side) are headlining a new wave of New York State politicians endorsing Bernie Sanders for president. Rosenthal is running for Comptroller in 2021 against Council Member Brad Lander (District 39, Park Slope), who (despite calling himself a Democratic Socialist) endorsed Elizabeth Warren.
• Less than two days after Rafael Espinal resigned his City Council Seat (District 37, Bushwick/Cypress Hills), the Brooklyn Democratic Party endorsed Darma Diaz to replace him in a special election that is scheduled for April 28, the same day as the presidential primary. Diaz is a Democratic district leader and ally of Assembly Member Erik Dilan (Assembly District 54, Bushwick/Cypress Hills), and she recently helped elect Rodneyse Bichotte to lead the Brooklyn Democratic machine.
• Community organizer Sandy Nurse dropped out the Assembly District 54 race to run for Espinal’s now-vacant City Council District 37 seat, and received an endorsement from Make the Road Action shortly after doing so. With Edwin Delgado also suspending his campaign in AD54, DSA-endorsed Boris Santos is the only challenger to incumbent Erik Dilan.
• TenantsPAC endorsed Corey Johnson for mayor in 2021.
• CWA endorsed ten incumbent assembly members, including several (Joe Lentol, Catherine Nolan, Aravella Simotas) who are facing progressive challenges.
• DSA-endorsed 2018 gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon published a piece in the Nation endorsing DSA’s NYC legislative candidates.