NYC-DSA Makes Four Endorsements + Cuomo Extends Party Affiliation Deadline

Local News

• The MTA’s decision to hire 500 new police officers will increase the agency’s operating budget deficit by roughly 35% over the next four years.
• A New York state Supreme Court judge has ordered the New York Police Department to release fare evasion data for each subway station in the city. Under a 2017 law, the NYPD is required to release reports on fare evasion arrests and summonses broken down by age, race, gender, but the department stalled its release of the data, missing several deadlines.
• The NYPD and FDNY conducted a pilot program in Staten Island, where some 911 calls were routed to mental health professionals.
• The Community Education Council in School District 16 (Bed-Stuy) called for the elimination of its current gifted program and the adoption of the recommendations made last month by the School Diversity Advisory Group.
• Despite previously stating that removing the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) would be the best way to correct the disproportionately high rate of white and Asian students admitted to the city’s elite public schools, on Wednesday Mayor de Blasio indicated that he is open to keep the test.
• Mayor Bill de Blasio held a rally at City Hall on Monday to push for a proposal to assist millions of New Yorkers save for retirement. The Retirement Security for All proposal would establish a retirement savings program for private-sector employees whose employers do not provide retirement programs, and a city government board to oversee its implementation.
• For decades, thousands of workers in MTA’s East New York bus depot may have been exposed to asbestos. Nearly all the vents pumping air into several floors of the building are lined with asbestos-laced cloth. The MTA has known about the situation for months, but has insisted the asbestos is not dangerous and have taken no substantial steps to fix the situation.
• A meeting called to quash a unionizing effort at the fine arts moving company, UOVO, was crashed by State Senator Julia Salazar (D-Bushwick).

Elections

• NYC-DSA has made endorsements in four of next year’s State legislative elections, all in Brooklyn: Jabari Brisport (Senate District 25), Phara Souffrant (Assembly District 57), Boris Santos (AD 54), and Marcela Mitaynes (AD 51).
• Cuomo signed legislation on Thursday giving New York voters until February 14th 2020 to change their party registration in order to vote in the state’s primaries in April and June.
• Activist and community board member Emily Gallagher launched a campaign against Assemblyman Joe Lentol on Monday. Lentol has been in office since 1973, and Gallagher is his first primary challenger in a decade.
• Manhattan City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, who represents Inwood and Washington Heights, is about to announce his candidacy for New York’s 15th congressional district. The district is located entirely in the Bronx; Rodriguez does not currently live in the district.