Industry City Developers Withdraw + Johnson Exits Mayoral Race

Local News

• Industry City has withdrawn its rezoning application just weeks before the City Council was set to vote on it. The project, which would have allowed $1 billion of luxury development in working-class Sunset Park, was opposed by Council Member Carlos Menchaca and NYC-DSA.
• New Yorkers protesting a grand jury’s failure to convict Breonna Taylor’s killers were attacked by NYPD officers on camera.
• The Justice Department designated New York City an “anarchist jurisdiction,” along with Portland, Oregon, and Seattle. The designation threatens the City’s federal funding, which makes up a significant portion of its annual budget.
• A student at Medgar Evers College is suing the school and Council Member Laurie Cumbo for allegedly conspiring to suspend the student as a result of the student’s public criticism of Cumbo.
• Citing failure to follow procedure and secure impact studies, a judge blocked the City’s plan to replace the Manhattan Detention Center with a new jail. The replacement is part of the City’s plan to replace Rikers Island with smaller jails in every borough but Staten Island). 
• The city has reported an uptick in COVID-19 cases in several neighborhoods including Borough Park, Midwood, Flatbush, and Williamsburg in Brooklyn, and Kew Gardens and Far Rockaway in Queens. While the City as a whole has a positive test rate just above 1 percent, these neighborhoods have rates ranging from 2 to 4 percent. 
• The New York Post published a feature and a scaremongering editorial on NYC-DSA’s “Tasks and Perspectives” document. According to Jacobin, it’s a sign that the right wing is “terrified that average New Yorkers actually like the socialist platform.”
• About one-sixth of formerly incarcerated New Yorkers whose voting rights were restored by Governor Cuomo’s 2018 executive order have since seen those rights rescinded again, this time for parole violations.
• Protesters gathered outside of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s Park Slope home, demanding he resist efforts by President Donald Trump and US Senate Republicans to appoint a replacement for the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
• Likely incoming State Senator Jabari Brisport penned an op-ed on New York’s mass incarceration problem.

Elections

• New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, long believed to be a front-runner in the City’s 2021 mayoral election, has decided not to run in that election. Johnson cited struggles with depression and denies that the battle over this year’s city budget played a role.
• 1199SEIU, Make the Road, and Community Voices Heard have rolled out their first wave of City Council endorsements, which include Tiffany Cabán (CD-22, Astoria, Jackson Heights), Crystal Hudson (CD-35, Fort Greene, Clinton HIll, Prospect Heights), Amanda Farias (CD-18, Soundview, Castle Hill, Parkchester), and Jennifer Gutiérrez (CD-34, Bushwick, Ridgewood). 
• An official with the City Board of Elections told the City Council that New Yorkers can expect general election results in the same time frame it took to count votes in the State’s primary election, which would be “in the December 8 to December 15 range.” By law, counties in New York State must complete their canvass by November 28. The Electoral College is scheduled to meet on December 14. 
• The State Board of Elections has released a new absentee ballot design, aimed to minimize confusion, as per Governor Cuomo’s executive order.
• Nassau County DSA endorsed Joe Sackman for Assembly District 15 (Hicksville) against Republican incumbent Michael Montesano. Montesano last won reelection in 2018 by a margin of 52 to 47.