Taxpayer contributions to New York City and state pensions will rise by $4 billion under a benefit sweetener for some public employees included in the state budget.
The budget reverses Tier 6, a 2012 pension reform pushed through by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo after the financial crisis opened up yawning funding gaps for public employee pensions. The reform extended the average salary to calculate pensions to the last five years of employment for workers hired after April 1, 2012 — a group that encompasses about half of the city and state workforce.
Under the new legislation, the state would calculate pensions based on the average of the final three years of service, retroactively increasing pension payouts to the cohort and boosting benefits for not-yet-hired employees.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has signed the legislation.
Lawmakers and unions say the change will ease a labor shortage that has hurt services.
In a news release, the AFL-CIO said the pension reforms mark “a momentous stride toward restoring fairness and retaining invaluable public sector workers.”
According to the new legislation, city pension payments for civil employees, teachers, police officers, firefighters and non-teaching school workers would rise by $2.2 billion, relative to the current value of future contributions. The city expects to spend $9.4 billion on pensions this fiscal year ending June 30.
Payments to the state and local employees’ retirement system would rise by $1.5 billion.
While the state teachers’ pension did not disclose the current value of future contribution increases, the Empire Center for Public Policy, a conservative think tank, estimated the cost to taxpayers at $667 million.
“There is no justifying this giveaway, which will cost over $4 billion,” said Ken Girardin, director of research at the Empire Center in a news release. “It is a heist from current and future taxpayers.”
Central Park will be a summer pickleball hotspot for at least the next three years. Following last season’s success, the park’s iconic Wollman Rink will once again transform into CityPickle, a 14-court pickleball installation offering lessons, open-play sessions, and tournaments, starting May 1. Presented by Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, Related Companies, and Equinox, CityPickle [...]
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Mayor Eric Adams’ administration faltered in its response to the September rainstorm that dumped nearly 9 inches of water on parts of New York City, raising questions about its preparedness for similar extreme-weather events in the future, according to a new investigation by the city comptroller.
Nobody died during Tropical Storm Ophelia, unlike the 11 people who drowned in basement apartments during Hurricane Ida two years prior. Still, Ophelia paralyzed the subway system, flooded a hospital and required 11 people to be rescued from the waters on Sept. 29 of last year, as 8.65 inches of rain fell on parts of the city. And the new report, released Monday by Comptroller Brad Lander, faults the administration for how it prepared for and communicated the dangers.
For one, despite the importance of clearing catch basins on city streets to prevent flooding, 32 of the 51 specialized trucks that the city uses for that purpose were out of service at the time of the September storm — due mainly to a lack of available mechanics to maintain them. Before the storm, the city’s Department of Environmental Protection inspected fewer than half of the 964 catch basins it had designated as flood-prone “priority” locations, the comptroller’s report found.
Lander also faulted Adams for his belated public statements about the rainfall. As critics noted at the time, the mayor did not hold a press conference until 11:40 a.m. on the day of the storm, nearly three hours after heavy rains had begun. Public schools did not post guidance about dismissals until 2:30 p.m., and a robocall to public housing residents did not go out until 4:45 p.m. (Adams, for his part, memorably said that any New Yorker surprised for the storm must have been “living under a rock.”)
Adams’ administration has pointed to the notices it sent on the NotifyNYC platform as evidence that it communicated the dangers in advance. But only 186,000 people — 2.7% of New Yorkers over 16 years old — received alerts about the Sept. 29 flooding, according to data provided by the administration. Another alert meant specifically for basement-apartment dwellers went to a tiny list of just 2,400 subscribers the day before the storm. (The city now includes messages for basement-apartment residents in general alerts, the comptroller noted.)
Lander’s report also solves a mystery over whom Adams had chosen to be his “extreme weather coordinator,” a position created under Bill de Blasio tasked with coordinating real-time response and leading post-mortem reviews to correct weak points. In the wake of Ophelia, Adams’ office refused to say which person was filling that role, and only last month revealed to the comptroller’s office that the mayor had tapped his chief of staff, Camille Joseph Varlack — although her appointment has still not been announced.
Lander, a political rival of the mayor’s, credits the Adams administration on a few fronts. The city started monitoring Ophelia a week in advance, distributed thousands of flood barriers and rain barrels, used flood sensors to track waters in real time, and paid community networks to amplify its emergency messages in hopes of contacting hard-to-reach residents, the report notes. (That work did not begin until 10 a.m. on the day of the storm, however, after heavy rain had begun.)
An Adams administration spokeswoman said Lander’s report “has a slew of inaccuracies,” noting that DEP is not the only agency that cleans catch basins and that the administration shortened the time it takes to clean a catch basin during the second half of 2023. City officials other than the mayor also held briefings about the storm before it began, spokeswoman Liz Garcia noted.
“We are glad that the comptroller’s report recognized the important work of our city agencies to prepare New York City for extreme weather,” Garcia said in a statement. “In the face of Tropical Storm Ophelia — which brought more total rainfall than Ida in some parts of the city — our city agencies inspected over 900 catch basins, distributed thousands of flood barriers, rain barrels, and other protective tools, and got the word out to millions of New Yorkers two days ahead of the event.”
Lander, in a Monday press conference announcing the findings, said that “Extreme storms are hitting New York City more frequently and we must do the work to be more prepared for them.”
“There was real reason to believe that a lack of communication and preparedness made the city’s response to the storm worse,” Lander said.
Much of Lander’s report compares the Adams administration’s response to a set of reforms introduced by de Blasio after 2021’s Hurricane Ida, which included commitments to clear catch basins and coordinate flood response across different agencies.
Lander’s office makes nearly a dozen recommendations for how the administration should improve its preparedness for future extreme weather, likely to only grow more common due to climate change.
Besides widening its communications beyond NotifyNYC, the administration should formally build community canvassing into its emergency protocols and task the Environmental Protection Department with replacing its aging catch basin cleaning trucks, the report states. (Thirteen new trucks are set to be delivered in July through a $15 million procurement, but no timeline has been set for the remaining 18.)
More broadly, Lander also called on both the state Legislature and City Council to continue reforming the city’s sluggish capital process to make it easier for the city to quickly complete stormwater projects. Lander specifically echoed the mayor’s request for alternative delivery reforms, which could allow for speedier selection of development teams.
One of the nastiest, most expensive political campaigns in the U.S. isn’t a general election fight for the soul of the nation.
It’s a mean-spirited, money-fueled Democratic primary in New York’s 16th congressional district, a tract spanning the Bronx’s poorest blocks to some of Westchester County’s richest suburbs.
The incumbent is Jamaal Bowman, a charismatic Black former middle school principal and a member of the “Squad,” an informal crew of mostly female, progressive and nonwhite congressional Democrats. He’s being challenged by George Latimer, a White, mild-mannered county executive who’s bolstered by a flood of money from pro-Israel interests and donors eager to unseat Bowman.
The June 25 election in one of the most heavily Jewish districts in the nation is a microcosm of divisions roiling the country and the Democratic party over the Israel-Hamas conflict, but it’s also exposed broader rifts over race and the role of money and power in politics.
Democrats are hurling invective at each other, trading accusations of racism, bad-faith campaigning and downright moral turpitude, all while wringing their hands over whether the infighting will hurt Joe Biden and strengthen Donald Trump and other Republicans in the general election.
“We’re going to be the ones fighting to save democracy in November because Biden is going to need young people and people of color to come out,” Bowman said in a recent interview, as he stood in a picket line with striking Bronx housing court attorneys. “My opponent can’t bring them out. This is about the future of the party, the future of the country, the future of humanity.”
Bowman, 48, is one of four Squad members — Pennsylvania Rep. Summer Lee, Missouri’s Cori Bush and Minnesota’s Ilhan Omar are the others — facing credible primary challengers this year. It’s the biggest threat to the group’s ascendancy since their respective elections to Congress.
Bowman’s response to the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas and the ongoing conflict that followed is fueling critics already wary of his less-than-total support for Israel since his 2020 election. NY-16, which is half Black and Hispanic, is also home to about 60,000 Jewish residents, roughly 13% of its population.
The congressman is one of only a handful of lawmakers — including fellow Squad members Rashida Tlaib and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — who have called for a permanent ceasefire, which Israel strongly rejects. In recent weeks, many other Democrats, including Latimer, have called for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza, where the Hamas-run health ministry says more than 30,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed.
Bowman’s critics also point to his sometimes bizarre behavior. He pleaded guilty last year to a misdemeanor after pulling a false fire alarm in the U.S. Capitol building as lawmakers were attempting a vote, and it was recently revealed that he authored blog posts that appeared to give credence to 9/11 conspiracy theories.
Lloyd Blankfein, the former chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs Group, who donated $3,300 to Latimer’s campaign, said he sees the race as an opportunity to root out a far-left element in the Democratic party.
“I don’t have such a concrete view of George Latimer, but I have a pretty clear sense of Jamaal Bowman,” said Blankfein, a Bronx native. “I’m happy to do my small part in moving the Democratic party away from such extremists.”
But it is some Jewish voters’ snowballing anger over Bowman’s foreign policy views that is arguably the biggest catalyst for Latimer’s candidacy.
Since entering the race in December, he has received roughly $1.3 million in donations from the campaign arm of the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and has been endorsed by Democratic Majority for Israel, which supports centrist pro-Israel Democrats.
“There are people who hold views that there should be a ceasefire,” Latimer said. “Now, I think that’s a minority of the district. But that doesn’t mean I don’t see the tragedy of Gaza. This is terrible that people are dying this way.”
Latimer, who is Catholic, said he received a letter of support from 26 rabbis asking him to run because Bowman “has not shown the sensitivity to our issues.”
AIPAC is concentrating its Democratic primary spending on ousting two Squad members it sees as the most vulnerable, Bowman and Bush, who is facing challenger Wesley Bell in a district that includes St. Louis. AIPAC has already spent $230,000 on anti-Bowman attack ads, and $40,000 supporting Bell, who is Black.
The group has vowed to spend as much as $100 million on pro-Israel candidates, about double the $50 million it spent in 2021-2022, the first election cycle in which AIPAC had ever spent money in individual races.
In January, the liberal pro-Israel lobbying organization J Street took the unusual step of withdrawing its endorsement of Bowman, after he referred to Israel’s actions in Gaza as “genocide.” The same month, a group called “Westchester Unites” launched a campaign to persuade Jewish voters to register as Democrats so they could vote in the primary. More than 2,300 people responded.
Even so, Bowman still enjoys support from a vocal group of progressive Jewish voters who call themselves “Jews for Jamaal.”
Israel stance
Israel wasn’t the main campaign issue in June 2020 when Bowman shocked the Democratic establishment by unseating 13-term incumbent and pro-Israel stalwart Eliot Engel. He won support from majorities of both Westchester and Bronx voters eager for change after the national racial reckoning sparked by George Floyd’s murder.
Since then Bowman has taken pro-Israel stances that have occasionally put him at odds with the Democratic party’s far left. He supports a two-state solution in the region, opposes the “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” movement, and let his membership in the Democratic Socialists of America lapse in 2022 after the group considered expelling him for voting to fund Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system.
But at the same time, he’s been “vituperative and hostile” in describing the Jewish state, said Democratic Majority for Israel head Mark Mellman, who called Bowman’s record on Israel “one of the worst” in Congress.
Among Bowman’s offenses, according to Mellman: skipping vigils in his district for the Oct. 7 victims; co-authoring a resolution referring to Israel’s founding in 1948 as the Nakba — Arabic for the catastrophe — and voting against a resolution supporting Israel’s right to self-defense and condemning Hamas, which the US and European Union designate as a terrorist group.
Mellman said his group had hoped to “bring him around” after he won in 2020. “That proved impossible,” he said.
Bowman remains undaunted. He’s campaigning hard, especially in Bronx neighborhoods where he’s beloved by many constituents, and he insists he isn’t vulnerable. A recent DMFI poll, however, suggested he’s losing to Latimer by 17 points.
Other critics say it’s not just Bowman’s stances on Israel that have attracted donors trying to defeat him.
Latimer “has to be one of the best positioned House challengers in the country,” said Evan Stavisky, a New York Democratic political consultant. The fire alarm incident, which led to Bowman’s censure in the House, and the blog posts on 9/11 left even his supporters scratching their heads. Bowman said he pulled the alarm by mistake.
“We also don’t want to vote for someone who pulls the fire alarm and then lies about it,” said Latimer supporter Amy Paulin, a Democratic Assembly member whose district includes Scarsdale. “He looks like a fool.”
Bowman said his constituents don’t care about either incident.
“That shit don’t work on Black people,” he said. “Black people see that a mile away. ‘Oh, you can’t really get him on anything substantive, so you’re going to try to tell me about a fire alarm accident as some big scandal?’”
Wealthy donors
For George Latimer, 70, the primary is the highest-profile contest of his life. He entered politics after decades as a salesman, winning elections for a string of local and state offices before running and winning the race for Westchester County executive. He has a record of supporting progressive legislation and peppers his speech and social media with mid-20th century pop music references. (He burst into a rendition of “On the Street Where You Live” from the musical My Fair Lady during a recent interview).
And for the first time in his political career, Latimer’s campaign is flush with cash. He’s raised $3.67 million to date, compared with Bowman’s roughly $2 million.
Bowman is hammering Latimer over those donations, noting a recent Latimer fundraiser hosted by Awbury Group CEO Alex Dubitsky, who has given to Trump and other Republicans. Bowman has repeatedly criticized Latimer’s AIPAC support because of the organization’s frequent donations to Republicans.
Latimer countered that AIPAC also donates to many Democrats, including New York House members Hakeem Jeffries, Grace Meng and Gregory Meeks.
In addition to Blankfein, Latimer’s campaign has attracted money from well-known, wealthy individuals, some of whom live outside the district, including: Boaz Weinstein, Lisa Blau, Blair Effron, David Einhorn, Bennett Goodman, Dan Loeb and Dan Och.
Latimer’s main criticism of Bowman is that he prioritizes “style over substance” and practices a radical and unproductive form of politics that eschews coalition building in favor of virtue signaling to far-left supporters. Bowman was one of six Democrats who voted against Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure package in 2021.
Bowman called comments on his style “the kind of language that is used by racists.” Latimer’s critique, he said, is nothing more than a dog whistle — an attempt to “diminish the way in which I engage our communities that have been the most marginalized.”
Both men seemed deeply wounded by the nasty tenor of the campaign. Bowman’s allies have called his opponent “Genocide George,” while Latimer has reportedly accused the incumbent of taking money from Hamas.
“The people in the district who support him have been disgusting towards me,” Bowman said. “The vitriol and the tone? It didn’t come from us. It’s come from him, his own mouth and his supporters.”
A.J. Woodson, a Bowman supporter who knows both men, said Latimer is personally hurt by the charge of racism coming from Bowman’s campaign.
Latimer “has never faced this kind of pushback, especially from the Black community,” said Woodson, the publisher of a local newsmagazine called Black Westchester.
Latimer said he’s trying to avoid personally attacking Bowman but can take only so much.
“If he keeps it up,” he said, “I’ll take the gloves off.”
After over two years of inaction, state lawmakers have agreed on a legislative package to address New York’s housing crisis. Approved over the weekend, the $237 billion state budget includes several new policies aimed at addressing the statewide housing shortage, including a new tax incentive for developers and the lift of the floor-to-area ratio (FAR) [...]
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An Albany judge earlier this month tossed the state's claim that Dumbo-based real estate investor Fortis Property Group must immediately pay $8 million as part of a failed deal to redevelop the old Long Island College Hospital in Cobble Hill.
Judge Richard Platkin of Albany's Court of Claims on April 5 denied a motion for what's called summary judgment, which would settle the case without going to trial, and make Fortis pay up the several million in cash to Downstate at LICH—an entity of the State University of New York—saying he cannot yet make a final decision before hearing more from both sides.
The seemingly never-ending saga dates back more than a decade. In 2011 SUNY acquired Long Island College Hospital, which at the time was operating at "dramatic losses," according to court documents.
Then, in 2014, the state controversially shut down the facility and agreed to sell the Cobble Hill parcels to Louis and Joel Kestenbaum of Fortis for $240 million after a contentious bidding process on the condition that their plans to erect a sprawling, luxury residential complex with affordable housing—later rebranded as River Park—would include a world-class medical facility, to be built by New York University's Langone Medical Center.
The first closing on 16 of the parcels did in fact take place, in 2015. But the second—the one at the center of the current litigation, including the properties at 363 Hicks St., known as "Polak Pavilion," along with 97 Amity St. and 340 Henry St., known as the "Henry Street Building"—collapsed in 2023.
And when that happened, SUNY took Fortis to court over the $8 million the state argues the developer had agreed to pay as part of what's called a guarantee—or a promise to pay the money.
But Fortis' attorney, George Carpinello of the firm Boies Schiller Flexner, claims that there was a dispute over the final price of the parcels in the second closing and that the guarantee at the heart of the agreement never included the required signatures of now-disgraced former Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who resigned in 2018 amid sexual harassment allegations, or state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.
"Our contention is that they had breached the agreement. The guarantee was not valid because it was never authorized by the AG or comptroller," Carpinello said. "It's not clear to us why they didn't sign. They got signatures afterward—we said it's too late."
For now, at least, Platkin has denied SUNY's motion for summary judgment on the $8 million guarantee, although he has not yet made a final decision, according to Carpinello.
Meanwhile, a separate claim brought by Fortis against NYU for allegedly delaying the construction of the hospital, allegedly costing Fortis damages, according to Carpinello, can continue, the court said.
The parties are next scheduled for a conference in early May. Attorneys for both NYU and SUNY did not respond to requests for comment.
Over the past week, a package of housing bills and programs have come together in Albany as part of New York State’s annual budget negotiations. As in prior sessions where housing has been a large part of the political and fiscal story, this year’s package will find most of the stakeholders involved somewhere between somewhat unhappy to furious and disappointed. I am not one of those people. Given what happened in 2022 and 2023 amid a widely acknowledged housing crisis – essentially nothing – few advocates, labor leaders, developers, politicos, pundits, elected officials thought there would be meaningful action on housing in 2024. So let’s take a moment to acknowledge and appreciate what did get done, and applaud the Governor, her team and those in the housing world who rolled up their sleeves, got into the ring, took a lot of punches, but got stuff done.
The new 485-x tax incentive program, which replaces the expired 421-a, is mission-critical to New York City. Without it, no mixed-income rental projects would be built. We know that’s true because virtually none have begun since 421-a expired in 2022. What little production there has been is either fully affordable (relying on a different tax exemption) or luxury condos. 485-x will catalyze tens of thousands of new rental apartments, while assuring that at least 25 percent will be permanently affordable to lower and moderate-income families who earn up to $84,000. That is a big deal: building new two-bedroom apartments that will rent for approximately $2,100 a month without any direct subsidy is a good deal for the public.
Moreover, in a time when racial and economic segregation is front and center in our debate around inclusion and equity, 485-x is the city’s most powerful tool to create affordable housing in desirable neighborhoods long out of reach for most renters And the Adams administration deserves credit for its successful push to eliminate the option to provide units affordable to families who earn up to 130% of average median income under the program. Although I still believe it is important for the city to include middle-income units in its housing goals, those units are not the most needed right now, and have proven the hardest to lease. The last thing anyone wants is more vacant units.
Removing the cap on a longstanding and nonsensical law limiting the density of residential buildings (and only residential), which by some estimates have cost the city around 200,000 new apartments, is also a huge victory. I first proposed this as part of the Housing New York Plan in 2014 as part of our efforts to change the blueprint for housing development in the city.
Now the market can dictate the use, and the city can initiate rezonings in areas where higher density is appropriate and deliver more housing, and more permanently affordable housing, through its Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program. Other than a few Class A projects made possible by the Midtown East rezoning and service improvements at Grand Central, not many people think building more office space makes a lot of sense right now.
I am also pleased the housing package includes support for existing rent-regulated housing by incentivizing owners to upgrade and renovate apartments, while also instituting guardrails to ensure tenants do not receive egregious rent increases. We cannot allow our affordable housing stock (much of which is owned by non-profits) to deteriorate or contribute to climate change. It’s common sense: maintaining and upgrading units is a lot less expensive than building new apartments. Let’s not forget that housing is about people and neighborhoods, not just unit counts and math, so ensuring that families have quality healthy housing that they can afford is really what matters.
Which leads me to what’s known as Good Cause Eviction. Although there is no doubt that most of the unhappiness will be focused on this issue – on both sides – I think there is reason to be positive here too. If New York is going to continue to be a jurisdiction where rents are regulated, then providing some protections to renters who are not otherwise covered by existing laws is the right thing to do. It’s a matter of fundamental fairness. If we don’t make it a priority, the implications for our children, our neighborhoods, and our economy are real, and we cannot afford them.
I look forward to seeing more cranes on the skyline, more housing being improved, and more families feeling secure. And I also know the movie isn’t over. We will need to take a hard look at the outcomes of this package and be prepared to make changes. And we must keep making the case for the tools, federal resources, State legislation, and private capital necessary to make a real dent in the problem.
Alicia Glen is the former deputy mayor for housing and economic development under Mayor de Blasio. She is also the founder and managing principal of MSquared, a real estate investment company.
The city is getting a rare project with more than 100 residential units in the South Bronx.
The site is at 1848 Vyse Ave., just below the Cross Bronx Expressway by East 176th Street, and comes from Dunn Development, a real estate firm based in Gowanus. It will span just over 90,000 square feet and stand 11 stories and 110 feet tall with 120 residential units, at least some of which will be designated as low-income housing, according to plans recently filed with the Department of Buildings. The project will include a parking garage on the first floor as well.
Representatives for Dunn Development did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
The company, led by president Martin Dunn, was founded in 1998 and has worked on several affordable housing projects over the years, including the Bergen Saratoga Apartments in Brownsville and the Frost Street Apartments in Williamsburg. The development Via Vyse, a 12-story, $46.4 million supportive and affordable housing project with 121 units at 1812 Vyse Ave., just steps away from 1848 Vyse Ave., is also included on the firm's website's list of projects.
Dunn Development purchased 1812 and 1848 Vyse Ave. at the same time in 2016 for about $7.1 million overall, according to city records. It is unclear how or if Via Vyse is related to the project the developer has filed plans for at 1848 Vyse Ave.
Residential projects with more than 100 units have been very rare in the city in recent months. Developers filed plans for only three of them in March, all in Brooklyn, according to data from the Real Estate Board of New York. However, the housing deal in the recently finalized state budget could help provide a boost to such projects through measures such as a new affordable housing tax break and an incentive program for office-to-residential conversions.