Daily News Summary
Bronx Councilman Mark Gjonaj abruptly quits re-election campaign
NY Daily News
Feb. 17, 2021
Scandal-plagued New York City Councilman Mark Gjonaj (D-Bronx) is not seeking re-election.
The first-term Democratic councilman was calling colleagues Wednesday to inform them of his decision, Bronx insiders told the Daily News.
He took a self-pitying tone in a letter he planned to mail constituents.
"I sought public service to give back to a country, state and city that gave me and my family so much," Gjonaj wrote, according to a copy of the letter obtained by The News. "Despite this … The current political climate is not favorable to a centrist ideology that my constituency, community and I embrace."
Gjonaj, a real estate broker, left the state Assembly for the Council in 2018 and amassed one of the biggest campaign war chests in the city for an expected re-election run this year.
But he faced serious competition including community advocate Marjorie Velazquez in the June Democratic primary for the District 13 seat covering a swath of the East Bronx.
Gjonaj was also reeling from a long series of scandals, including accepting campaign contributions from alleged affiliates of the Gambino mob family and having a staff lawyer who helped bring the Hells Angels to his district.
"He's making the courtesy calls" to colleagues, a Bronx insider said. "I just think he sees that the support is not there."
In the letter to constituents, Gjonaj, who is Albanian-American, claimed he was the victim of "ethnic smears."
"Public service should never be about identity politics which divides [sic] us," he wrote.
A Gjonaj spokesman did not immediately answer a request for comment.
The politician was seen as a close ally of former state Sen. Jeff Klein, who was toppled from his powerful perch in 2018. Since then, the Bronx political climate has been undergoing steady change, with a number of incumbents losing their seats in recent elections.
Councilman Mark Levine Says Door-to-Door Vaccine Delivery Should be an Option
Feb. 17, 2021
Scandal-plagued New York City Councilman Mark Gjonaj (D-Bronx) is not seeking re-election.
The first-term Democratic councilman was calling colleagues Wednesday to inform them of his decision, Bronx insiders told the Daily News.
He took a self-pitying tone in a letter he planned to mail constituents.
"I sought public service to give back to a country, state and city that gave me and my family so much," Gjonaj wrote, according to a copy of the letter obtained by The News. "Despite this … The current political climate is not favorable to a centrist ideology that my constituency, community and I embrace."
Gjonaj, a real estate broker, left the state Assembly for the Council in 2018 and amassed one of the biggest campaign war chests in the city for an expected re-election run this year.
But he faced serious competition including community advocate Marjorie Velazquez in the June Democratic primary for the District 13 seat covering a swath of the East Bronx.
Gjonaj was also reeling from a long series of scandals, including accepting campaign contributions from alleged affiliates of the Gambino mob family and having a staff lawyer who helped bring the Hells Angels to his district.
"He's making the courtesy calls" to colleagues, a Bronx insider said. "I just think he sees that the support is not there."
In the letter to constituents, Gjonaj, who is Albanian-American, claimed he was the victim of "ethnic smears."
"Public service should never be about identity politics which divides [sic] us," he wrote.
A Gjonaj spokesman did not immediately answer a request for comment.
The politician was seen as a close ally of former state Sen. Jeff Klein, who was toppled from his powerful perch in 2018. Since then, the Bronx political climate has been undergoing steady change, with a number of incumbents losing their seats in recent elections.
Councilman Mark Levine Says Door-to-Door Vaccine Delivery Should be an Option
NY1
Feb. 17, 2021
A City Council hearing Wednesday is considering changes to the system New Yorkers are using to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
Critics of the current online appointment booking setup say it's too complicated and caters to those who are tech savvy.
Manhattan City Councilman Mark Levine is among those pushing for changes.
He says the city needs to go beyond online booking to get the vaccine to more New Yorkers.
"There are many New Yorkers who aren't online, who aren't on Twitter, who might not even have a computer," Levine told NY1. "We need to go to them, on the ground, in their neighborhoods. We should have teams going door-to-door, scheduling people on the spot. Actually, I would go even further: We should be able to deliver the vaccine door-to-door, to the thousands of people that are homebound," Levine said.
The mayor's office responded to Levine's comments by saying door-to-door booking outreach is already taking place in public housing complexes and for appointments at Yankee Stadium, with plans to expand soon.
The city has said door-to-door delivery of the vaccine isn't possible, though Levine points out it is being done in other cities.
Biaggi takes offensive against Cuomo over nursing home deaths
Feb. 17, 2021
A City Council hearing Wednesday is considering changes to the system New Yorkers are using to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
Critics of the current online appointment booking setup say it's too complicated and caters to those who are tech savvy.
Manhattan City Councilman Mark Levine is among those pushing for changes.
He says the city needs to go beyond online booking to get the vaccine to more New Yorkers.
"There are many New Yorkers who aren't online, who aren't on Twitter, who might not even have a computer," Levine told NY1. "We need to go to them, on the ground, in their neighborhoods. We should have teams going door-to-door, scheduling people on the spot. Actually, I would go even further: We should be able to deliver the vaccine door-to-door, to the thousands of people that are homebound," Levine said.
The mayor's office responded to Levine's comments by saying door-to-door booking outreach is already taking place in public housing complexes and for appointments at Yankee Stadium, with plans to expand soon.
The city has said door-to-door delivery of the vaccine isn't possible, though Levine points out it is being done in other cities.
Biaggi takes offensive against Cuomo over nursing home deaths
Riverdale Press
Feb. 18, 2021
State Sen. Alessandra Biaggi is ramping up attacks against Gov. Andrew Cuomo, as lawmakers and the state's executive office clash over how coronavirus deaths in nursing homes were reported last year.
Biaggi released a statement late Wednesday evening defending Queens Assemblyman Ron Kim, tying Cuomo's public criticism of the lawmaker with a rise in violence against Asian-Americans in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
"Gov. Cuomo's statements today about Assemblymember Kim are part of a disturbing pattern of behavior from the governor," Biaggi said, in a release. "Instead of accepting responsibility for mistakes, the governor has chosen to deflect blame and evade accountability time and time again."
Biaggi's statement comes a day after she joined Kim seeking support for a bill stripping Cuomo of expanded emergency powers that allow him to make unilateral decisions related to the pandemic. While lawmakers could override any decision with a simple majority vote, Cuomo pointed out earlier this week the legislature has yet to do so.
The letter from Kim and Biaggi, however, say their claims the governor concealed the true number of coronavirus-related deaths in nursing homes proves it's time to take that control back from Cuomo.
"This is s necessary first step in beginning to right the criminal wrongs of this governor and his administration," according to the letter, which was signed by nine Assembly members.
In fact, Kim and Biaggi say rescinding those emergency powers won't be enough. Both believe Cuomo should face an impeachment inquiry that could threaten the governor's very office.
"If this legislature fails to take collective action in stripping the governor of his emergency powers and engage in additional measures to seek the realization of justice ... then we, too, shall be complicit — along with this administration — in the obstruction of justice and conscious omission of nursing home deaths data."
Some lawmakers like Kim have questioned the data released on nursing home deaths almost since the beginning of the pandemic, when Cuomo allowed those hospitalized with the virus a chance to return to nursing homes. Critics of this move say Cuomo caused the virus to spread among vulnerable populations in these nursing homes, but the governor says facilities were only allowed to take these residents back if they had measures in place to keep them isolated from others.
The recent revision in total nursing home deaths — along with an investigation by state attorney general Letitia James — has shined the spotlight back on Cuomo and his administration, and has soured his already tenuous relationship with several Democratic lawmakers.
Kim even went so far as to claim the governor called him last week and threatened to "destroy him" if he didn't fall in line with the Cuomo administration.
"Gov. Cuomo called me directly on Thursday to threaten my career if I did not cover up for Melissa (DeRosa) and what she said," the Assemblyman told CNN on Wednesday. "He tried to pressure me to issue a statement, and it was a very traumatizing experience."
Cuomo apparently called Kim about comments he made to the New York Post last week over a conference call DeRosa — who works as Cuomo's right hand — hosted with some lawmakers the day before, including state Sen. Gustavo Rivera. Kim claimed DeRosa admitted to not sharing the full extent of nursing home deaths last year, and that keeping that quiet helped Cuomo evade what the governor described as a politicized probe by Trump's Justice Department.
"No man has ever spoken to me like that in my entire life," Kim told CNN about his call with Cuomo. "At some point, he tried to humiliate me, asking, 'Are you a lawyer? I didn't think so. You're not a lawyer.' It almost felt like, in retrospect, he was trying to bait me and anger me and say something inappropriate. I'm glad I didn't."
Cuomo, however, remembers that call differently. In a conference call with reporters on Wednesday, the governor said Kim admitted the Post misquoted him, and that despite his efforts to have the newspaper correct the quote, they just wouldn't budge.
"I said, 'really?' 'Yes, she refuses to correct it,'" Cuomo said, according to a transcript provided by his office. "I said, 'Well, my suggestion is, you then do a statement where you put out your correct statement because, you know, if the reporter doesn't want to include it, fine. Then do a statement that corrects it.'"
Kim agreed to do just that, Cuomo said, but then never followed through.
"So, so much for Mr. Kim's credibility," the governor said. "And I said to him on the phone, 'You know, there is still integrity and honor and decency in politics,' but that's that for Mr. Kim."
Biaggi felt Cuomo's timing was much to be desired.
"Gov. Cuomo is choosing to attack Assembly member Kim at the same time we are seeing a disturbing rise in anti-Asian racism and violence in our state and across the country," Biaggi said. "Choosing to single out an Asian-American lawmaker is dangerous, and could have serious consequences."
On Tuesday, Cuomo called reports of DeRosa's comments a distortion of what was actually said on the Feb. 10 call, and said he took blame only for not providing information where there were obvious gaps, and thus allowing speculation to seep in. Cuomo's office released a transcript of the conference call in question Wednesday night, which revealed significant tension between DeRosa and several lawmakers — including Kim and Rivera.
According to the transcript, DeRosa's now infamous "mea culpa" was in response to a question by Orange County state Sen. James Skoufis about the delay getting nursing home data released to lawmakers months after they sent a letter to DeRosa asking for it.
"I don't know that this is going to satisfy you, but it's the truth and the truth works almost every time," DeRosa said, according to the transcript provided by the governor's office. "The letter comes in at the end of August, and right around the same time, President Trump turns this into a giant political football. He starts tweeting that we killed everyone in nursing homes. He starts going after (New Jersey governor Phil) Murphy. Starts going after (California governor Gavin) Newsom. Starts going after (Michigan governor) Gretchen Whitmer.
"He directs the Department of Justice to do an investigation into us. He finds one person at DOJ ... who sends letters out to all of these different governors. And basically, we froze, because then we were in a position where we weren't sure if what we were going to give to the Department of Justice or what we give to you guys — what we start saying was going to be used against us while we weren't sure if there was going to be an investigation."
DeRosa said she went to "the leaders" and asked to pause the legislature's requests until after they navigated past the Justice Department, which ultimately dropped any investigation.
Now, however, Cuomo faces inquiries not only from Letitia James, but also reportedly from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Brooklyn, as well as the FBI.
And Kim himself is hearing nothing of what Cuomo is offering.
"This administration was grossly under-reporting nursing home deaths by as much as 50 percent and withholding information about the situation to federal and state officials," Kim said in a statement Wednesday night, claiming such moves helped health care lobbyists who had donated to Cuomo's campaign in the past.
"As legislators, we have a duty to uncover the truth behind the nursing home deaths, and the governor's explanations don't add up."
"The governor can smear me all he wants in an effort to distract us from his fatally incompetent management. But these facts are not going away because they are the facts — unacceptable facts that hold him accountable."
State Legislators Eye Revenue from Inheritances and Gifts with New 'Heirs Tax'
Feb. 18, 2021
State Sen. Alessandra Biaggi is ramping up attacks against Gov. Andrew Cuomo, as lawmakers and the state's executive office clash over how coronavirus deaths in nursing homes were reported last year.
Biaggi released a statement late Wednesday evening defending Queens Assemblyman Ron Kim, tying Cuomo's public criticism of the lawmaker with a rise in violence against Asian-Americans in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
"Gov. Cuomo's statements today about Assemblymember Kim are part of a disturbing pattern of behavior from the governor," Biaggi said, in a release. "Instead of accepting responsibility for mistakes, the governor has chosen to deflect blame and evade accountability time and time again."
Biaggi's statement comes a day after she joined Kim seeking support for a bill stripping Cuomo of expanded emergency powers that allow him to make unilateral decisions related to the pandemic. While lawmakers could override any decision with a simple majority vote, Cuomo pointed out earlier this week the legislature has yet to do so.
The letter from Kim and Biaggi, however, say their claims the governor concealed the true number of coronavirus-related deaths in nursing homes proves it's time to take that control back from Cuomo.
"This is s necessary first step in beginning to right the criminal wrongs of this governor and his administration," according to the letter, which was signed by nine Assembly members.
In fact, Kim and Biaggi say rescinding those emergency powers won't be enough. Both believe Cuomo should face an impeachment inquiry that could threaten the governor's very office.
"If this legislature fails to take collective action in stripping the governor of his emergency powers and engage in additional measures to seek the realization of justice ... then we, too, shall be complicit — along with this administration — in the obstruction of justice and conscious omission of nursing home deaths data."
Some lawmakers like Kim have questioned the data released on nursing home deaths almost since the beginning of the pandemic, when Cuomo allowed those hospitalized with the virus a chance to return to nursing homes. Critics of this move say Cuomo caused the virus to spread among vulnerable populations in these nursing homes, but the governor says facilities were only allowed to take these residents back if they had measures in place to keep them isolated from others.
The recent revision in total nursing home deaths — along with an investigation by state attorney general Letitia James — has shined the spotlight back on Cuomo and his administration, and has soured his already tenuous relationship with several Democratic lawmakers.
Kim even went so far as to claim the governor called him last week and threatened to "destroy him" if he didn't fall in line with the Cuomo administration.
"Gov. Cuomo called me directly on Thursday to threaten my career if I did not cover up for Melissa (DeRosa) and what she said," the Assemblyman told CNN on Wednesday. "He tried to pressure me to issue a statement, and it was a very traumatizing experience."
Cuomo apparently called Kim about comments he made to the New York Post last week over a conference call DeRosa — who works as Cuomo's right hand — hosted with some lawmakers the day before, including state Sen. Gustavo Rivera. Kim claimed DeRosa admitted to not sharing the full extent of nursing home deaths last year, and that keeping that quiet helped Cuomo evade what the governor described as a politicized probe by Trump's Justice Department.
"No man has ever spoken to me like that in my entire life," Kim told CNN about his call with Cuomo. "At some point, he tried to humiliate me, asking, 'Are you a lawyer? I didn't think so. You're not a lawyer.' It almost felt like, in retrospect, he was trying to bait me and anger me and say something inappropriate. I'm glad I didn't."
Cuomo, however, remembers that call differently. In a conference call with reporters on Wednesday, the governor said Kim admitted the Post misquoted him, and that despite his efforts to have the newspaper correct the quote, they just wouldn't budge.
"I said, 'really?' 'Yes, she refuses to correct it,'" Cuomo said, according to a transcript provided by his office. "I said, 'Well, my suggestion is, you then do a statement where you put out your correct statement because, you know, if the reporter doesn't want to include it, fine. Then do a statement that corrects it.'"
Kim agreed to do just that, Cuomo said, but then never followed through.
"So, so much for Mr. Kim's credibility," the governor said. "And I said to him on the phone, 'You know, there is still integrity and honor and decency in politics,' but that's that for Mr. Kim."
Biaggi felt Cuomo's timing was much to be desired.
"Gov. Cuomo is choosing to attack Assembly member Kim at the same time we are seeing a disturbing rise in anti-Asian racism and violence in our state and across the country," Biaggi said. "Choosing to single out an Asian-American lawmaker is dangerous, and could have serious consequences."
On Tuesday, Cuomo called reports of DeRosa's comments a distortion of what was actually said on the Feb. 10 call, and said he took blame only for not providing information where there were obvious gaps, and thus allowing speculation to seep in. Cuomo's office released a transcript of the conference call in question Wednesday night, which revealed significant tension between DeRosa and several lawmakers — including Kim and Rivera.
According to the transcript, DeRosa's now infamous "mea culpa" was in response to a question by Orange County state Sen. James Skoufis about the delay getting nursing home data released to lawmakers months after they sent a letter to DeRosa asking for it.
"I don't know that this is going to satisfy you, but it's the truth and the truth works almost every time," DeRosa said, according to the transcript provided by the governor's office. "The letter comes in at the end of August, and right around the same time, President Trump turns this into a giant political football. He starts tweeting that we killed everyone in nursing homes. He starts going after (New Jersey governor Phil) Murphy. Starts going after (California governor Gavin) Newsom. Starts going after (Michigan governor) Gretchen Whitmer.
"He directs the Department of Justice to do an investigation into us. He finds one person at DOJ ... who sends letters out to all of these different governors. And basically, we froze, because then we were in a position where we weren't sure if what we were going to give to the Department of Justice or what we give to you guys — what we start saying was going to be used against us while we weren't sure if there was going to be an investigation."
DeRosa said she went to "the leaders" and asked to pause the legislature's requests until after they navigated past the Justice Department, which ultimately dropped any investigation.
Now, however, Cuomo faces inquiries not only from Letitia James, but also reportedly from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Brooklyn, as well as the FBI.
And Kim himself is hearing nothing of what Cuomo is offering.
"This administration was grossly under-reporting nursing home deaths by as much as 50 percent and withholding information about the situation to federal and state officials," Kim said in a statement Wednesday night, claiming such moves helped health care lobbyists who had donated to Cuomo's campaign in the past.
"As legislators, we have a duty to uncover the truth behind the nursing home deaths, and the governor's explanations don't add up."
"The governor can smear me all he wants in an effort to distract us from his fatally incompetent management. But these facts are not going away because they are the facts — unacceptable facts that hold him accountable."
State Legislators Eye Revenue from Inheritances and Gifts with New 'Heirs Tax'
Gotham Gazette
Feb. 17, 2021
As New York State faces a severe budget shortfall and awaits federal aid, some lawmakers and activists are advocating for a package of legislation that would increase taxes on the state's wealthiest residents to avoid cuts to services for the most vulnerable. Among those proposals is a bill that would tax inheritances for multi-millionaires and raise as much as $8 billion for the state every year, according to supporters' calculations.
State Senator Jabari Brisport of Brooklyn and Assemblymember Michaelle Solages of Long Island, both Democrats, introduced the companion bills in their respective legislative houses to establish the new "heirs tax," a part of the Invest in Our New York Act, which includes additional legislation to increase or create new taxes on millionaires and billionaires, Wall Street activity, and corporations. Proponents of the six-bill package estimate it would altogether raise $50 billion in annual revenue and would help forestall austerity measures by the state.
Governor Andrew Cuomo estimated in his recently-released executive budget that the state faces a $15 billion deficit for the current fiscal year and the next, and has been warning for months that without adequate federal stimulus dollars, he will be forced to slash aid to localities, which pays for education, social services and other programs, while also planning a relatively minor income tax increase on the state's top earners. Cuomo, whose estimation of that deficit has been debunked given significant federal aid and higher than expected tax revenue, has repeatedly argued that the state cannot tax its way out of the current fiscal crisis that does exist -- in part to avoid pushing wealthier New Yorkers to relocate to other, lower-tax states -- and is calling for $15 billion in aid from the federal government.
New York's current estate tax allows residents to receive nearly $6 million through inheritances without paying taxes, a system that advocates say is regressive and allows the accumulation of generational familial wealth without benefit to the public good. The heir's tax proposal would amend that by creating a separate inheritance tax while also establishing taxes on receiving gift income, changing estate tax rates, and creating a new gift tax on donors.
The bill would tax inheritances in excess of $250,000, exempting retirement and pension funds. It also allows $2 million to be excluded from the taxable value of a primary family residence if the value of the inheritance is below $5 million, a provision that was included because of rapid gentrification in parts of New York City. There is a similar exemption in the bill for the value of family farms across the state.
"At a time when working-class people are fighting just to survive, New York's most privileged dynasties are living more lavishly than ever off of vast sums of inherited wealth," Brisport said in a statement. "I am proud to be introducing the Heirs Tax with Senator Sanders because it has never been more urgent that we require New York's ultra-rich to pay equitable taxes on the fortunes they are handed." Brisport referred to State Senator James Sanders Jr., a Queens Democrat who is co-sponsoring the bill. The bill has ten other co-sponsors in the 63-seat Senate. The Assembly bill also has ten co-sponsors besides Solages in the 150-seat Assembly.
Under the lowest bracket, inheritances between $250,000 and up to $500,000 would be taxed at 5%, while at the higher end, any inheritance income in excess of $10 million would be taxed at 50% – it is a marginal tax and only the amount above $10 million would be subject to it. Similarly, up to $50,000 in gift income would be exempt from the new gift income tax. Between $50,000 and $100,000 in gift income would be taxed at 5%; gift income in excess of $2 million would be taxed at 50% (again, taxing the amount above $2 million). The bill would also increase taxes on gifts worth more than $750,000.
"It is time for each of us to do our part in building back a better and more equitable New York, said Solages, who chairs the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic & Asian legislative caucus. "We must invest in New Yorkers who make up the foundations of our society and economy. High-income New Yorkers must contribute their fair share to ensure our middle and low-income families recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Working with Senator Brisport and the Invest in Our New York Coalition, we have introduced legislation to reform the inheritance and estate tax. Revenue generated can rebuild New York's economy, prevent cuts to our schools and essential services, as well as finally begin the long journey back to true wealth equity in our state."
In response to the heirs tax proposal, EJ McMahon of the Empire Center think tank argued that it would lead wealthy New Yorkers to "remove themselves from New York taxation" and the $8 billion annually would not be achieved. McMahon also noted that New York is currently "one of only 12 states that impose a tax on estates of deceased residents" and that "only six states have inheritance taxes, with rates from 10 to 18%."
The Invest in Our New York coalition is comprised of prominent progressive advocacy groups including the Alliance for Quality Education, Citizen Action, Empire State Indivisible, Make the Road New York, New York Communities for Change, New York Working Families Party, NYC-DSA, Strong Economy for All, VOCAL-NY, New York Communities for Change, and Upstate Downstate Housing Alliance/Housing Justice for All.
Business Leaders Warn Tax-the-Rich Bills Will Leave New York Poorer. But Don't Call it a Threat to Pull Up Stakes...
Feb. 17, 2021
As New York State faces a severe budget shortfall and awaits federal aid, some lawmakers and activists are advocating for a package of legislation that would increase taxes on the state's wealthiest residents to avoid cuts to services for the most vulnerable. Among those proposals is a bill that would tax inheritances for multi-millionaires and raise as much as $8 billion for the state every year, according to supporters' calculations.
State Senator Jabari Brisport of Brooklyn and Assemblymember Michaelle Solages of Long Island, both Democrats, introduced the companion bills in their respective legislative houses to establish the new "heirs tax," a part of the Invest in Our New York Act, which includes additional legislation to increase or create new taxes on millionaires and billionaires, Wall Street activity, and corporations. Proponents of the six-bill package estimate it would altogether raise $50 billion in annual revenue and would help forestall austerity measures by the state.
Governor Andrew Cuomo estimated in his recently-released executive budget that the state faces a $15 billion deficit for the current fiscal year and the next, and has been warning for months that without adequate federal stimulus dollars, he will be forced to slash aid to localities, which pays for education, social services and other programs, while also planning a relatively minor income tax increase on the state's top earners. Cuomo, whose estimation of that deficit has been debunked given significant federal aid and higher than expected tax revenue, has repeatedly argued that the state cannot tax its way out of the current fiscal crisis that does exist -- in part to avoid pushing wealthier New Yorkers to relocate to other, lower-tax states -- and is calling for $15 billion in aid from the federal government.
New York's current estate tax allows residents to receive nearly $6 million through inheritances without paying taxes, a system that advocates say is regressive and allows the accumulation of generational familial wealth without benefit to the public good. The heir's tax proposal would amend that by creating a separate inheritance tax while also establishing taxes on receiving gift income, changing estate tax rates, and creating a new gift tax on donors.
The bill would tax inheritances in excess of $250,000, exempting retirement and pension funds. It also allows $2 million to be excluded from the taxable value of a primary family residence if the value of the inheritance is below $5 million, a provision that was included because of rapid gentrification in parts of New York City. There is a similar exemption in the bill for the value of family farms across the state.
"At a time when working-class people are fighting just to survive, New York's most privileged dynasties are living more lavishly than ever off of vast sums of inherited wealth," Brisport said in a statement. "I am proud to be introducing the Heirs Tax with Senator Sanders because it has never been more urgent that we require New York's ultra-rich to pay equitable taxes on the fortunes they are handed." Brisport referred to State Senator James Sanders Jr., a Queens Democrat who is co-sponsoring the bill. The bill has ten other co-sponsors in the 63-seat Senate. The Assembly bill also has ten co-sponsors besides Solages in the 150-seat Assembly.
Under the lowest bracket, inheritances between $250,000 and up to $500,000 would be taxed at 5%, while at the higher end, any inheritance income in excess of $10 million would be taxed at 50% – it is a marginal tax and only the amount above $10 million would be subject to it. Similarly, up to $50,000 in gift income would be exempt from the new gift income tax. Between $50,000 and $100,000 in gift income would be taxed at 5%; gift income in excess of $2 million would be taxed at 50% (again, taxing the amount above $2 million). The bill would also increase taxes on gifts worth more than $750,000.
"It is time for each of us to do our part in building back a better and more equitable New York, said Solages, who chairs the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic & Asian legislative caucus. "We must invest in New Yorkers who make up the foundations of our society and economy. High-income New Yorkers must contribute their fair share to ensure our middle and low-income families recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Working with Senator Brisport and the Invest in Our New York Coalition, we have introduced legislation to reform the inheritance and estate tax. Revenue generated can rebuild New York's economy, prevent cuts to our schools and essential services, as well as finally begin the long journey back to true wealth equity in our state."
In response to the heirs tax proposal, EJ McMahon of the Empire Center think tank argued that it would lead wealthy New Yorkers to "remove themselves from New York taxation" and the $8 billion annually would not be achieved. McMahon also noted that New York is currently "one of only 12 states that impose a tax on estates of deceased residents" and that "only six states have inheritance taxes, with rates from 10 to 18%."
The Invest in Our New York coalition is comprised of prominent progressive advocacy groups including the Alliance for Quality Education, Citizen Action, Empire State Indivisible, Make the Road New York, New York Communities for Change, New York Working Families Party, NYC-DSA, Strong Economy for All, VOCAL-NY, New York Communities for Change, and Upstate Downstate Housing Alliance/Housing Justice for All.
Business Leaders Warn Tax-the-Rich Bills Will Leave New York Poorer. But Don't Call it a Threat to Pull Up Stakes...
The City
Feb. 17, 2021
The city's big-business leaders say they find themselves caught between a rock and a hard place.
The rock is the suggestion from leaders in Albany that the only way to stem momentum for an income tax increase on the wealthy is for the city's leading CEOs to go public with threats to move thousands of jobs. CEOs see this as impossible: It would anger their employees and might set off the very exodus they are seeking to avoid.
The hard place is seeing a tax hike go through, which, they argue, would have the same effect.
"I was here in the 1970s when we lost 800,000 people and half our Fortune 500 companies," Kathy Wylde, CEO of the Partnership for New York City told THE CITY. "We face a similar threat today."
The latest salvo from the Partnership, issued in an "alert" sent out Wednesday, argues that federal aid in the Biden administration pandemic assistance plan likely to be approved by Congress soon provides more than enough money to solve the state's budget problems — at least in the short term.
The alert also notes that city and state tax revenues continue to exceed projections. And it calls any increase "punitive," designed to penalize people who supposedly got richer during the pandemic. That could threaten New York's long-term health, business leaders and Gov. Andrew Cuomo say, since the top 1% of taxpayers pay more than 40% of all the income taxes collected in the state.
The Partnership alert came on a day when a bill was introduced in Albany to hike taxes on individuals making more than $300,000 a year. Previous proposals had been targeted at those making at least $1 million. Supporters of the latest proposal include Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris (D-Queens), city Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and the Working Families Party.
"Someone making $50,000 and someone making $1 million should not pay nearly the same tax rate, as they do now," State Sen. Robert Jackson (D-Manhattan) told The Associated Press.
Some supporters say that the higher taxes are needed to help shore up the state budget at a time when many New Yorkers are grappling with job, food and housing instability while Wall Street is strong. Others, like Invest in Our New York, want to use the money for a major expansion of the state budget.
Swoon Over Miami
The current language in the $1.9 trillion Biden aid package contains more than $50 billion for New York, according to a letter House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent members of the New York Congressional delegation. Included is $12.6 billion for the state, $10.6 billion for local governments, almost $9 billion for transit, $12.3 billion for education and $3 billion for Medicaid.
Cuomo has said $15 billion would solve the state's budget problem for this year and allow for an expansion of programs for the fiscal year that begins April 1. Mayor Bill de Blasio's executive budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 is balanced without any of the aid.
Meanwhile, revenues continue to outpace estimates: Data from the state comptroller released this week showed state tax receipts for the first 10 months of the fiscal year are $1.7 billion higher than anticipated by the governor's budget office last month — an estimate that already had been revised upward.
All state tax receipts in January totaled $11.4 billion, which actually exceeded last year's take by $550.5 million.
The threat that rich New Yorkers and the companies they run would flee has been spotlighted in recent headlines with an eye on Florida.
"Join Us in Miami! Love, Masters of the Universe" in The New York Times detailed how Silicon Valley tech founders and Wall Street titans have moved south. The Wall Street Journal's "Low Taxes and High Temperatures Lure Finance Firms to Miami" talked about two major private equity firms opening offices in the Sunshine State.
Anecdotes of the richest New Yorkers moving to Florida, which has no state income tax, abound, including a CNBC piece headlined, "Leaving New York: High Earners in Finance and Tech Explain Why They Left the 'World's Greatest City.'"
The New York Stock Exchange has publicly said it may move if a proposed stock transfer tax is revived.
"Looking at it from an employer's perspective, we have a situation where we have a lot of employees working outside the city, there are a number of companies in New York that are portable like investment firms that could pick up and move somewhere else," said Steven Swartz, CEO of the Manhattan-headquartered media company Hearst and co-chair of the Partnership. "It is important from a business and city and state perspective on welcoming all the people back and showing them we want them to come back."
'Other Options'
The Citizens Budget Commission agrees with the Partnership on the sharply improved financial picture and the risks of a tax hike.
"The fiscal reality is that we are in good enough shape in the short and medium term, we have other options and we do not need to raise taxes," said CBC President Andrew Rein. "And raising taxes can hurt our economy."
The CBC recently said that the state's budget could be balanced without a tax increase by borrowing for capital projects that are currently paid from the operating budget and reducing what it has long argued is wasteful economic development spending.
It said the amounts saved — about $2 billion over each of the next three fiscal years and another $1 billion in 2025 — equal the total raised from both an income tax increase and delaying middle class tax cuts scheduled for next fiscal year.
The state needs to use the federal aid to restructure its budget because the economic recovery here is expected to be much weaker than in the rest of the country, Rein said.
Swartz said while this is not the time to raise taxes, when the long-term revenue outlook is clearer business, labor, community leaders and government officials should come to a consensus on whether more money is needed.
Changing Political Tide
Democrats gained a super-majority in the state Senate last November to go with one in the Assembly, meaning the party can override a veto from Cuomo. The governor's budget proposal included an income tax increase, only if federal aid is insufficient.
Even moderate Democrats, especially in the suburbs, fear a primary challenge from progressives, which drives them to support a tax increase, Wylde said. In addition, legislators don't believe companies will leave, leading to whispered suggestions from Albany power brokers that CEOs publicly say they are considering moving out.
"It would be a terrible thing for companies to start threatening to leave," she said. "It will upset their employees and it will create the potential for momentum that makes an exodus inevitable."
A spokesperson for the state budget office said the Cuomo administration did not want anyone to threaten to leave New York.
"The Partnership rightly points out that the issue is getting New Yorkers to return after leaving at the height of the pandemic's toll on the city," said the spokesperson, Freeman Klopott. "We've said from the start that tax increases won't be necessary if the federal government provides $15 billion in funding, following through on its promises to provide funding that offsets devastating revenue losses caused by the pandemic."
Others think going public makes sense.
"You speak up and then what? You get criticized on Twitter? There's a protest in front of your apartment or even your beach house? So what?" asked former Bloomberg administration aide Bradley Tusk, whose consulting firm is now advising mayoral candidate Andrew Yang.
"The fact that business leaders are paralyzed by such intangible fears is a good reminder of how politically impotent the business community is in the first place," he added.
Business leaders decry crime uptick across communities in New York City
Feb. 17, 2021
The city's big-business leaders say they find themselves caught between a rock and a hard place.
The rock is the suggestion from leaders in Albany that the only way to stem momentum for an income tax increase on the wealthy is for the city's leading CEOs to go public with threats to move thousands of jobs. CEOs see this as impossible: It would anger their employees and might set off the very exodus they are seeking to avoid.
The hard place is seeing a tax hike go through, which, they argue, would have the same effect.
"I was here in the 1970s when we lost 800,000 people and half our Fortune 500 companies," Kathy Wylde, CEO of the Partnership for New York City told THE CITY. "We face a similar threat today."
The latest salvo from the Partnership, issued in an "alert" sent out Wednesday, argues that federal aid in the Biden administration pandemic assistance plan likely to be approved by Congress soon provides more than enough money to solve the state's budget problems — at least in the short term.
The alert also notes that city and state tax revenues continue to exceed projections. And it calls any increase "punitive," designed to penalize people who supposedly got richer during the pandemic. That could threaten New York's long-term health, business leaders and Gov. Andrew Cuomo say, since the top 1% of taxpayers pay more than 40% of all the income taxes collected in the state.
The Partnership alert came on a day when a bill was introduced in Albany to hike taxes on individuals making more than $300,000 a year. Previous proposals had been targeted at those making at least $1 million. Supporters of the latest proposal include Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris (D-Queens), city Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and the Working Families Party.
"Someone making $50,000 and someone making $1 million should not pay nearly the same tax rate, as they do now," State Sen. Robert Jackson (D-Manhattan) told The Associated Press.
Some supporters say that the higher taxes are needed to help shore up the state budget at a time when many New Yorkers are grappling with job, food and housing instability while Wall Street is strong. Others, like Invest in Our New York, want to use the money for a major expansion of the state budget.
Swoon Over Miami
The current language in the $1.9 trillion Biden aid package contains more than $50 billion for New York, according to a letter House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent members of the New York Congressional delegation. Included is $12.6 billion for the state, $10.6 billion for local governments, almost $9 billion for transit, $12.3 billion for education and $3 billion for Medicaid.
Cuomo has said $15 billion would solve the state's budget problem for this year and allow for an expansion of programs for the fiscal year that begins April 1. Mayor Bill de Blasio's executive budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 is balanced without any of the aid.
Meanwhile, revenues continue to outpace estimates: Data from the state comptroller released this week showed state tax receipts for the first 10 months of the fiscal year are $1.7 billion higher than anticipated by the governor's budget office last month — an estimate that already had been revised upward.
All state tax receipts in January totaled $11.4 billion, which actually exceeded last year's take by $550.5 million.
The threat that rich New Yorkers and the companies they run would flee has been spotlighted in recent headlines with an eye on Florida.
"Join Us in Miami! Love, Masters of the Universe" in The New York Times detailed how Silicon Valley tech founders and Wall Street titans have moved south. The Wall Street Journal's "Low Taxes and High Temperatures Lure Finance Firms to Miami" talked about two major private equity firms opening offices in the Sunshine State.
Anecdotes of the richest New Yorkers moving to Florida, which has no state income tax, abound, including a CNBC piece headlined, "Leaving New York: High Earners in Finance and Tech Explain Why They Left the 'World's Greatest City.'"
The New York Stock Exchange has publicly said it may move if a proposed stock transfer tax is revived.
"Looking at it from an employer's perspective, we have a situation where we have a lot of employees working outside the city, there are a number of companies in New York that are portable like investment firms that could pick up and move somewhere else," said Steven Swartz, CEO of the Manhattan-headquartered media company Hearst and co-chair of the Partnership. "It is important from a business and city and state perspective on welcoming all the people back and showing them we want them to come back."
'Other Options'
The Citizens Budget Commission agrees with the Partnership on the sharply improved financial picture and the risks of a tax hike.
"The fiscal reality is that we are in good enough shape in the short and medium term, we have other options and we do not need to raise taxes," said CBC President Andrew Rein. "And raising taxes can hurt our economy."
The CBC recently said that the state's budget could be balanced without a tax increase by borrowing for capital projects that are currently paid from the operating budget and reducing what it has long argued is wasteful economic development spending.
It said the amounts saved — about $2 billion over each of the next three fiscal years and another $1 billion in 2025 — equal the total raised from both an income tax increase and delaying middle class tax cuts scheduled for next fiscal year.
The state needs to use the federal aid to restructure its budget because the economic recovery here is expected to be much weaker than in the rest of the country, Rein said.
Swartz said while this is not the time to raise taxes, when the long-term revenue outlook is clearer business, labor, community leaders and government officials should come to a consensus on whether more money is needed.
Changing Political Tide
Democrats gained a super-majority in the state Senate last November to go with one in the Assembly, meaning the party can override a veto from Cuomo. The governor's budget proposal included an income tax increase, only if federal aid is insufficient.
Even moderate Democrats, especially in the suburbs, fear a primary challenge from progressives, which drives them to support a tax increase, Wylde said. In addition, legislators don't believe companies will leave, leading to whispered suggestions from Albany power brokers that CEOs publicly say they are considering moving out.
"It would be a terrible thing for companies to start threatening to leave," she said. "It will upset their employees and it will create the potential for momentum that makes an exodus inevitable."
A spokesperson for the state budget office said the Cuomo administration did not want anyone to threaten to leave New York.
"The Partnership rightly points out that the issue is getting New Yorkers to return after leaving at the height of the pandemic's toll on the city," said the spokesperson, Freeman Klopott. "We've said from the start that tax increases won't be necessary if the federal government provides $15 billion in funding, following through on its promises to provide funding that offsets devastating revenue losses caused by the pandemic."
Others think going public makes sense.
"You speak up and then what? You get criticized on Twitter? There's a protest in front of your apartment or even your beach house? So what?" asked former Bloomberg administration aide Bradley Tusk, whose consulting firm is now advising mayoral candidate Andrew Yang.
"The fact that business leaders are paralyzed by such intangible fears is a good reminder of how politically impotent the business community is in the first place," he added.
Business leaders decry crime uptick across communities in New York City
Crain's
Feb. 17, 2021
The New York City business community is sounding the alarm that a rise in crime across the five boroughs is no mere perception, but instead a worrisome reality.
"We are very, very concerned," said Tom Grech, president of the Queens Chamber of Commerce. "Broadly speaking, there's been a spike and it's the quality-of-life stuff that's damaging business."
Grech grouped public urination, drug use, homeless encampments, and physical altercations as the quality-of-life issues that most affect business owners. He described weekly reports from his members attesting to homelessness and graffiti plaguing Long Island City and robberies and burglaries occurring in the daylight in Southeast Queens.
Between 2019 and 2020, New York City saw a 97% rise in shootings and 45% increase in murders, according to NYPD figures. While crimes like subway murders and knife slashings garner headlines and create a negative perception, it is the petty crimes and quality of life issues that most concern businessowners on the ground in different boroughs.
"What we're seeing right now is homelessness is turning into petty crime," said Tony Saunders, public safety director for the Bed-Stuy Gateway BID. "Businesses are dealing with it every day. It's something that we get complaints about."
Saunders described petty larceny and shoplifting occurring in the neighborhood, with burglars taking advantage of darkened commercial properties and robberies that go unreported.
In Midtown, leadership at the Bryant Park Corporation and the 34th Street Partnership describe a hostile streetscape that has gotten progressively worse for one of Manhattan's busiest commercial districts.
"Bryant Park is a much nicer area, but we did have quality-of-life issues, people with mental problems and drug problems, so we increased security in the park," explained Kevin Ward, the vice president of security for Bryant Park and the 34th Street Partnership. "34th street is a different story."
Ward described 34th Street and the surrounding blocks as being overrun by unlicensed street vending—a phenomenon that has proliferated since Mayor Bill de Blasio called off NYPD enforcement last summer—and homeless encampments across 7th Avenue and 8th Avenue, with drug use and assaults among the crimes he's had to respond to.
"Low-level crime really affects Midtown tremendously," Ward said. "When people come back hopefully it will improve conditions. But this is our greatest challenge."
When asked for the causes of the uptick in crime, the business leaders point toward actions taken by City Hall and Albany. The 2019 bail reform law abolished cash bail for nonviolent offenders and misdemeanors. In June 2020, City Council voting to transfer $1 billion out the NYPD in de Blasio's FY21 budget. This in turn led the NYPD to cut its street crime unit and homeless outreach unit.
"We engaged in political activity, reforms that were needed, but we failed to explain them the right way," explained Richard Aborn, president of the Citizens Crime Commission. "Bail reform was much needed, but it went too far. The pressure was taken off to arrest people."
Aborn further argued that the police protests following George Floyd's murder destabilized the relationship between cops and communities in New York, while Covid-19 created delays in the prosecution of criminal court cases.
"It sent the message there was less risk associated with crime," Aborn explained. "There's a narrative out there that says the risk of committing crime is down because the system isn't responding as it used to."
One low-level crime that has not been enforced, according to business district leaders, is drug use.
As the executive director of the Sutphin Boulevard BID in Jamaica, Queens, Glenn Greenidge overseas a commercial corridor that is one of the busiest transportation hubs in the city: 15 bus routes come through, the JFK AirTrain makes its connection there to the Long Island Railroad, together with three subway lines.
He said the area is now overrun by drugs.
"There is some heroin and some crack but a majority of it is marijuana. They're literally blocking the doorways of small businesses," Greenidge said, adding the drug dealers openly drink and get aggressive with people walking to their transportation connection. "The marijuana is plaguing us."
Flagrant drug use is now a problem in Midtown, according to Ward, who emphasized that 7th Avenue and 8th Avenue see users engaging in the harder drug use of heroin and synthetic marijuana, also know as K2.
"People on it get agitated and are prone to violence and assaults," he said.
While New York is historically in a better place than it was even 20 years ago—burglaries, robberies, and grand larceny are all down over 50% from 2001 figures—the concerns about petty crime are leaving business executives left to wonder if the city can recover from the perception that New York is dangerous and crime-ridden.
"If the streets are not safe, if people continue to be pushed on the subways by the criminally insane, if people don't feel safe as soon as it gets dark, then people will not come back," said Jeff Wiesenfeld, a wealth manager and former aide to Gov. George Pataki.
Even Gov. Andrew Cuomo's latest push to legalize marijuana has been met with opposition by members of Midtown's business community.
"The last thing we need in the midst of this drug use is the whole Midtown area to smell like a drug den," said Dan Biederman, president of the Battery Park Corporation and the 34th Street Partnership. "Legalization of marijuana will make this worse and the perception worse."
NYPD Reformer's City Council Candidacy Finds Financial Support From Fellow Officers
Feb. 17, 2021
The New York City business community is sounding the alarm that a rise in crime across the five boroughs is no mere perception, but instead a worrisome reality.
"We are very, very concerned," said Tom Grech, president of the Queens Chamber of Commerce. "Broadly speaking, there's been a spike and it's the quality-of-life stuff that's damaging business."
Grech grouped public urination, drug use, homeless encampments, and physical altercations as the quality-of-life issues that most affect business owners. He described weekly reports from his members attesting to homelessness and graffiti plaguing Long Island City and robberies and burglaries occurring in the daylight in Southeast Queens.
Between 2019 and 2020, New York City saw a 97% rise in shootings and 45% increase in murders, according to NYPD figures. While crimes like subway murders and knife slashings garner headlines and create a negative perception, it is the petty crimes and quality of life issues that most concern businessowners on the ground in different boroughs.
"What we're seeing right now is homelessness is turning into petty crime," said Tony Saunders, public safety director for the Bed-Stuy Gateway BID. "Businesses are dealing with it every day. It's something that we get complaints about."
Saunders described petty larceny and shoplifting occurring in the neighborhood, with burglars taking advantage of darkened commercial properties and robberies that go unreported.
In Midtown, leadership at the Bryant Park Corporation and the 34th Street Partnership describe a hostile streetscape that has gotten progressively worse for one of Manhattan's busiest commercial districts.
"Bryant Park is a much nicer area, but we did have quality-of-life issues, people with mental problems and drug problems, so we increased security in the park," explained Kevin Ward, the vice president of security for Bryant Park and the 34th Street Partnership. "34th street is a different story."
Ward described 34th Street and the surrounding blocks as being overrun by unlicensed street vending—a phenomenon that has proliferated since Mayor Bill de Blasio called off NYPD enforcement last summer—and homeless encampments across 7th Avenue and 8th Avenue, with drug use and assaults among the crimes he's had to respond to.
"Low-level crime really affects Midtown tremendously," Ward said. "When people come back hopefully it will improve conditions. But this is our greatest challenge."
When asked for the causes of the uptick in crime, the business leaders point toward actions taken by City Hall and Albany. The 2019 bail reform law abolished cash bail for nonviolent offenders and misdemeanors. In June 2020, City Council voting to transfer $1 billion out the NYPD in de Blasio's FY21 budget. This in turn led the NYPD to cut its street crime unit and homeless outreach unit.
"We engaged in political activity, reforms that were needed, but we failed to explain them the right way," explained Richard Aborn, president of the Citizens Crime Commission. "Bail reform was much needed, but it went too far. The pressure was taken off to arrest people."
Aborn further argued that the police protests following George Floyd's murder destabilized the relationship between cops and communities in New York, while Covid-19 created delays in the prosecution of criminal court cases.
"It sent the message there was less risk associated with crime," Aborn explained. "There's a narrative out there that says the risk of committing crime is down because the system isn't responding as it used to."
One low-level crime that has not been enforced, according to business district leaders, is drug use.
As the executive director of the Sutphin Boulevard BID in Jamaica, Queens, Glenn Greenidge overseas a commercial corridor that is one of the busiest transportation hubs in the city: 15 bus routes come through, the JFK AirTrain makes its connection there to the Long Island Railroad, together with three subway lines.
He said the area is now overrun by drugs.
"There is some heroin and some crack but a majority of it is marijuana. They're literally blocking the doorways of small businesses," Greenidge said, adding the drug dealers openly drink and get aggressive with people walking to their transportation connection. "The marijuana is plaguing us."
Flagrant drug use is now a problem in Midtown, according to Ward, who emphasized that 7th Avenue and 8th Avenue see users engaging in the harder drug use of heroin and synthetic marijuana, also know as K2.
"People on it get agitated and are prone to violence and assaults," he said.
While New York is historically in a better place than it was even 20 years ago—burglaries, robberies, and grand larceny are all down over 50% from 2001 figures—the concerns about petty crime are leaving business executives left to wonder if the city can recover from the perception that New York is dangerous and crime-ridden.
"If the streets are not safe, if people continue to be pushed on the subways by the criminally insane, if people don't feel safe as soon as it gets dark, then people will not come back," said Jeff Wiesenfeld, a wealth manager and former aide to Gov. George Pataki.
Even Gov. Andrew Cuomo's latest push to legalize marijuana has been met with opposition by members of Midtown's business community.
"The last thing we need in the midst of this drug use is the whole Midtown area to smell like a drug den," said Dan Biederman, president of the Battery Park Corporation and the 34th Street Partnership. "Legalization of marijuana will make this worse and the perception worse."
NYPD Reformer's City Council Candidacy Finds Financial Support From Fellow Officers
Gothamist
Feb. 17, 2021
When NYPD Lieutenant Edwin Raymond blew the whistle on alleged arrest quotas pushed by the department, he became a target of scorn and derision from his superiors who wrote poor job evaluations, which hobbled his career. His revelation that a numbers-obsessed NYPD was purposefully arresting Black and brown New Yorkers as a means of being "proactive" -- which he opposed despite confidants advising he keep quiet -- earned him national prominence and exhortations from supporters to run for office.
Five years after secretly recording superiors pressing him to meet arrest quotas, which resulted in an ongoing federal class action lawsuit filed by 12 officers (Raymond included) against the city, he took his supporters' advice by running in this year's Democratic primary for Brooklyn's 40th Council District. The winner of the primary will succeed Councilmember Mathieu Eugene, the 12-year legislator who is term-limited. The central Brooklyn district covers Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Kensington, Midwood, Prospect Park, and Prospect Lefferts Gardens and overlaps with the 67th Precinct.
Other candidates include Rita Joseph, Josue Pierre, and Blake Morris, who have all qualified for the city Campaign Finance Board's matching funds program, putting them ahead of Raymond, who still hasn't qualified for funds.
In gathering financial support, Raymond, who is still on active duty for the NYPD, has found surprising donors in his campaign: active-duty officers that include a captain, detective, and scores of rank-and-file cops.
A review of campaign finance records shows 141 donations to Raymond's campaign from 132 active NYPD members, more than any other Council candidate this election cycle and running second to Eric Adams, a mayoral candidate and retired police officer. Current filings show he's received $12,940, representing 14% of the $90,910 total campaign contributions he's received. His contributions from NYPD officers are four times more than the council candidate with the most donations officers in the 2013 election cycle, which was Daniel Dromm, who received a total of $2,925 for his campaign.
While 132 individual donors might seem small when compared to size of the NYPD, they're a show of support from those working in a department whose members often stay in line for fear of retribution. It's what makes these donations striking: in keeping with transparency, the Campaign Finance Board requires campaign treasurers to disclose an individual donor's name, address, and current employer.
For Raymond, who's largely running on a platform of police accountability, the funds from active-duty officers confirmed support for a progressive reformer primed to use his insider knowledge of the system to effect change. Some of his ideas include placing more NYPD civilian personnel into management positions that encourage greater transparency, while also ending the quota-based practice Raymond says contributes to racial disparities in the criminal justice system. Raymond says the urgent need for reform is strong department-wide.
"There are thousands of justice-minded officers who are simply afraid," Raymond said. "One of the most shocking things in the experience were the many officers that found ways to reach out to me, sometimes in tears. Fathers whose wives don't work, who want to do things differently, but they can't risk jeopardizing their careers; single mothers who wish to do things differently, but they have two children, they're single, and they just can't risk jeopardizing their careers. And so many other people who tried things differently, and faced retaliation, sometimes career-ending, career-damaging.
Raymond added, "These are the thousands of members of the service I speak for. Obviously, I'm advocating for the community, but people have no idea how how many cops don't agree with the system."
His contributions come from all over the department, with the bulk of them originating from officers living in Brooklyn. In some cases, contributors put down that they work at One Police Plaza, the main headquarters of the NYPD, which codifies department policy.
"I think even people within the NYPD are looking for reforms, and restructuring," George Artz, a political consultant, said. "[Raymond] reflects their values."
But while the contributions demonstrate support for Raymond, they also demonstrate a bifurcated department—those quietly pushing for reform are often drowned out by louder voices complaining of city overreach in message boards and news conferences. The latter comes largely from police unions, particularly by leadership from the Sergeants Benevolent Association and Police Benevolent Association, the largest police union representing patrol officers.
The PBA has largely leaned right, most recently endorsing Republican President Donald Trump's failed re-election bid. It was an unprecedented step by a union that rarely makes candidate endorsements, but instead consistently pours money into key races while railing publicly against reforms. A review of campaign records shows the PBA's political action committee—who derive their funds from undisclosed members—hasn't played a significant role this election cycle so far, contributing $8,000 to candidates, with no monies earmarked to any contender in the 40th Council District race.
Despite support from officers, Raymond remains behind his opponents financially. But should he win, he could become a greater thorn in the NYPD's side, especially if he succeeds in his aim to lead the Public Safety Committee, which convenes hearings on police matters.
"We've never had a public safety chair with law enforcement experience," Raymond said. "Think about someone who's in charge of education who's never taught."
NYC Will Use Teacher Interviews Of 4-Year-Olds For Gifted & Talented Program Admissions
Feb. 17, 2021
When NYPD Lieutenant Edwin Raymond blew the whistle on alleged arrest quotas pushed by the department, he became a target of scorn and derision from his superiors who wrote poor job evaluations, which hobbled his career. His revelation that a numbers-obsessed NYPD was purposefully arresting Black and brown New Yorkers as a means of being "proactive" -- which he opposed despite confidants advising he keep quiet -- earned him national prominence and exhortations from supporters to run for office.
Five years after secretly recording superiors pressing him to meet arrest quotas, which resulted in an ongoing federal class action lawsuit filed by 12 officers (Raymond included) against the city, he took his supporters' advice by running in this year's Democratic primary for Brooklyn's 40th Council District. The winner of the primary will succeed Councilmember Mathieu Eugene, the 12-year legislator who is term-limited. The central Brooklyn district covers Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Kensington, Midwood, Prospect Park, and Prospect Lefferts Gardens and overlaps with the 67th Precinct.
Other candidates include Rita Joseph, Josue Pierre, and Blake Morris, who have all qualified for the city Campaign Finance Board's matching funds program, putting them ahead of Raymond, who still hasn't qualified for funds.
In gathering financial support, Raymond, who is still on active duty for the NYPD, has found surprising donors in his campaign: active-duty officers that include a captain, detective, and scores of rank-and-file cops.
A review of campaign finance records shows 141 donations to Raymond's campaign from 132 active NYPD members, more than any other Council candidate this election cycle and running second to Eric Adams, a mayoral candidate and retired police officer. Current filings show he's received $12,940, representing 14% of the $90,910 total campaign contributions he's received. His contributions from NYPD officers are four times more than the council candidate with the most donations officers in the 2013 election cycle, which was Daniel Dromm, who received a total of $2,925 for his campaign.
While 132 individual donors might seem small when compared to size of the NYPD, they're a show of support from those working in a department whose members often stay in line for fear of retribution. It's what makes these donations striking: in keeping with transparency, the Campaign Finance Board requires campaign treasurers to disclose an individual donor's name, address, and current employer.
For Raymond, who's largely running on a platform of police accountability, the funds from active-duty officers confirmed support for a progressive reformer primed to use his insider knowledge of the system to effect change. Some of his ideas include placing more NYPD civilian personnel into management positions that encourage greater transparency, while also ending the quota-based practice Raymond says contributes to racial disparities in the criminal justice system. Raymond says the urgent need for reform is strong department-wide.
"There are thousands of justice-minded officers who are simply afraid," Raymond said. "One of the most shocking things in the experience were the many officers that found ways to reach out to me, sometimes in tears. Fathers whose wives don't work, who want to do things differently, but they can't risk jeopardizing their careers; single mothers who wish to do things differently, but they have two children, they're single, and they just can't risk jeopardizing their careers. And so many other people who tried things differently, and faced retaliation, sometimes career-ending, career-damaging.
Raymond added, "These are the thousands of members of the service I speak for. Obviously, I'm advocating for the community, but people have no idea how how many cops don't agree with the system."
His contributions come from all over the department, with the bulk of them originating from officers living in Brooklyn. In some cases, contributors put down that they work at One Police Plaza, the main headquarters of the NYPD, which codifies department policy.
"I think even people within the NYPD are looking for reforms, and restructuring," George Artz, a political consultant, said. "[Raymond] reflects their values."
But while the contributions demonstrate support for Raymond, they also demonstrate a bifurcated department—those quietly pushing for reform are often drowned out by louder voices complaining of city overreach in message boards and news conferences. The latter comes largely from police unions, particularly by leadership from the Sergeants Benevolent Association and Police Benevolent Association, the largest police union representing patrol officers.
The PBA has largely leaned right, most recently endorsing Republican President Donald Trump's failed re-election bid. It was an unprecedented step by a union that rarely makes candidate endorsements, but instead consistently pours money into key races while railing publicly against reforms. A review of campaign records shows the PBA's political action committee—who derive their funds from undisclosed members—hasn't played a significant role this election cycle so far, contributing $8,000 to candidates, with no monies earmarked to any contender in the 40th Council District race.
Despite support from officers, Raymond remains behind his opponents financially. But should he win, he could become a greater thorn in the NYPD's side, especially if he succeeds in his aim to lead the Public Safety Committee, which convenes hearings on police matters.
"We've never had a public safety chair with law enforcement experience," Raymond said. "Think about someone who's in charge of education who's never taught."
NYC Will Use Teacher Interviews Of 4-Year-Olds For Gifted & Talented Program Admissions
Gothamist
Feb. 17, 2021
New York City's controversial Gifted and Talented program for toddlers will move to a teacher-administered interview and lottery model, after a contract to administer the traditional test was defeated by the city's educational policy panel last month.
Mayor Bill de Blasio has said this will be the last year the G&T program will exist in its current form with screening young children -- the test is usually given before kids enroll in kindergarten.
The new plan, which rolls out on March 8th, will include parents alerting their preschools that they are interested in participating in the G&T program. Then an educator from the child's preschool will administer a questionnaire that will then determine if the student will be eligible to enter a random lottery for the approximately 2,500 available G&T kindergarten seats.
Each year, about 15,000 students vie for the program, according to the Department of Education. Siblings of students already enrolled in schools with G&T programs will get priority, which the DOE said is consistent with previous policies.
Since many four-year-old children aren't yet enrolled in a preschool program to determine eligibility for G&T, the DOE said those interested families should sign up for a seat in a pre-K program in order to complete the assessment. If that's not an option, the DOE's Early Childhood team will also conduct remote interviews with interested parents to complete the G&T questionnaire.
The lottery will be conducted in May and offers will be sent out this summer.
"Our focus continues to be on maintaining stability for families this year, while beginning the community engagement process that will lead to a more permanent plan to reform the system," said DOE spokesperson Katie O'Hanlon in an email statement.
Additional details on what the teacher interviews will look like, what metrics teachers will use for recommending G&T participation, and how parents can sign up for the process, were not immediately available Wednesday.
The $1.7 million contract with NCS Pearson was narrowly voted down January 28th by the city's Panel for Educational Policy. Since 2012, Pearson has administered the G&T test for New York City, which is the only city in America to test 4-year-olds to determine entry into special kindergarten programs as well as one of five specialized elementary schools.
The G&T program, as well as the city's specialized high schools which require entrance exams, have become a battleground for the fight to desegregate schools -- critics say these programs are discriminatory and hoard resources for a small percentage of children. The G&T programs are disproportionately white and Asian, making up roughly 70% of students even though these groups make up only about 30 percent of the overall public school population. At the same time, only 43% of students in G&T programs are low-income, even though over 72% of the general public school population experiences poverty, according to the City Council.
Advocates say these programs offer the best education for accelerated students, and the outcry has only come after the G&T programs and specialized high schools have grown in Asian enrollment.
"We remain committed to finding a fairer and more equitable way forward to identify and meet the needs of students who would benefit from accelerated learning and enrichment, informed by a citywide engagement plan," O'Hanlon said. "We believe deeply that widescale changes are needed to address the racial disparities in who has access to G&T programs and look forward to a long-term transformation."
A spokesperson for PLACE, an education advocacy group that supports gifted programs while also expanding their admissions criteria, called the move a "good stopgap" as the city reconsiders screened schools altogether.
"On the one hand, an objective test is preferable because we don't have to worry about things like teacher bias, or the fact that kids are remote and on Zoom, and how is the teacher going to be able to make an appropriate assessment of a child?" said Deborah Alexander of Queens, who also sits on the Community Education Council for District 30.
"We're pleased that they are providing some sort of assessment, and an acknowledgement that this is not a program for every child. It is not an educational setting environment for every child," Alexander added.
Proposed reforms to NYC school policing would limit arrests, use of handcuffs, and hospital transfers
Feb. 17, 2021
New York City's controversial Gifted and Talented program for toddlers will move to a teacher-administered interview and lottery model, after a contract to administer the traditional test was defeated by the city's educational policy panel last month.
Mayor Bill de Blasio has said this will be the last year the G&T program will exist in its current form with screening young children -- the test is usually given before kids enroll in kindergarten.
The new plan, which rolls out on March 8th, will include parents alerting their preschools that they are interested in participating in the G&T program. Then an educator from the child's preschool will administer a questionnaire that will then determine if the student will be eligible to enter a random lottery for the approximately 2,500 available G&T kindergarten seats.
Each year, about 15,000 students vie for the program, according to the Department of Education. Siblings of students already enrolled in schools with G&T programs will get priority, which the DOE said is consistent with previous policies.
Since many four-year-old children aren't yet enrolled in a preschool program to determine eligibility for G&T, the DOE said those interested families should sign up for a seat in a pre-K program in order to complete the assessment. If that's not an option, the DOE's Early Childhood team will also conduct remote interviews with interested parents to complete the G&T questionnaire.
The lottery will be conducted in May and offers will be sent out this summer.
"Our focus continues to be on maintaining stability for families this year, while beginning the community engagement process that will lead to a more permanent plan to reform the system," said DOE spokesperson Katie O'Hanlon in an email statement.
Additional details on what the teacher interviews will look like, what metrics teachers will use for recommending G&T participation, and how parents can sign up for the process, were not immediately available Wednesday.
The $1.7 million contract with NCS Pearson was narrowly voted down January 28th by the city's Panel for Educational Policy. Since 2012, Pearson has administered the G&T test for New York City, which is the only city in America to test 4-year-olds to determine entry into special kindergarten programs as well as one of five specialized elementary schools.
The G&T program, as well as the city's specialized high schools which require entrance exams, have become a battleground for the fight to desegregate schools -- critics say these programs are discriminatory and hoard resources for a small percentage of children. The G&T programs are disproportionately white and Asian, making up roughly 70% of students even though these groups make up only about 30 percent of the overall public school population. At the same time, only 43% of students in G&T programs are low-income, even though over 72% of the general public school population experiences poverty, according to the City Council.
Advocates say these programs offer the best education for accelerated students, and the outcry has only come after the G&T programs and specialized high schools have grown in Asian enrollment.
"We remain committed to finding a fairer and more equitable way forward to identify and meet the needs of students who would benefit from accelerated learning and enrichment, informed by a citywide engagement plan," O'Hanlon said. "We believe deeply that widescale changes are needed to address the racial disparities in who has access to G&T programs and look forward to a long-term transformation."
A spokesperson for PLACE, an education advocacy group that supports gifted programs while also expanding their admissions criteria, called the move a "good stopgap" as the city reconsiders screened schools altogether.
"On the one hand, an objective test is preferable because we don't have to worry about things like teacher bias, or the fact that kids are remote and on Zoom, and how is the teacher going to be able to make an appropriate assessment of a child?" said Deborah Alexander of Queens, who also sits on the Community Education Council for District 30.
"We're pleased that they are providing some sort of assessment, and an acknowledgement that this is not a program for every child. It is not an educational setting environment for every child," Alexander added.
Proposed reforms to NYC school policing would limit arrests, use of handcuffs, and hospital transfers
Chalkbeat
Feb. 17, 2021
New York City Council members are considering a raft of legislation meant to reform the role of school policing. But the bills, which will be considered at a hearing on Thursday, are already drawing mixed reactions from those who say that the proposals don't go far enough.
When it comes to police reform, the nation's largest school system has trailed others in the wake of the police killings last year of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville, and the mass protests that followed.
In Los Angeles, the nation's second-largest district, the school board voted on Tuesday to cut a third of its school police officers and put the money toward the education of Black students. Several other school districts have cut ties with their local police departments.
New York City officials have stopped short of that, however. The most controversial of the Council bills would enshrine in city law a promise Mayor Bill de Blasio made last summer to transfer oversight of school police officers from the police department to the education department by June 2022. It also would bar school police from making arrests, using handcuffs, wearing their uniforms on school grounds, and would also require retraining to focus on "de-escalation" and "restorative justice" techniques.
Mark Treyger, a co-sponsor of the bill and chairman of the Council's education committee, said he hopes the legislation will prompt a more public discussion about what it means to put school policing in the hands of the education department. "The administration has done a very poor job as far as including all of the relevant stakeholders," he said. "This is about driving the conversation forward." The bills are also a response to an executive order issued by Gov. Andrew Cuomo this summer, which required local governments to come up with police reform proposals.
But even advocates who favor sweeping reforms to school policing are raising questions about whether city lawmakers have the authority to mandate these changes to the school safety division — on its own one of the largest forces in the country with over 5,000 officers. They argue it is a mistake to invest resources that could be spent elsewhere to train law enforcement.
"The City Council has never been able to legislate what the [education department] has done before," said Dawn Yuster, director of the School Justice Project at Advocates for Children. The bill has also drawn criticism from the Urban Youth Collaborative and a handful of other advocates, including the New York Civil Liberties Union, whose leaders penned a letter to the City Council stating their opposition to the legislation mandating the transfer of school safety to the education department.
"This bill would further entrench policing in New York City schools instead of investing in the staff and programming that students deserve," they wrote, suggesting the school safety division be "disbanded" instead of moved between agencies.
Local 237, the union that represents school safety agents, pushed back against the suggestion that their presence should be reduced. "Removing School Safety Agents from a child's safety net encourages criminal behavior, and, with no one watching, would embolden troublemakers, and will cost lives," a spokesperson wrote in a statement.
Over the summer de Blasio promised significant reductions in police spending, in part by moving the school safety budget to the education department, an accounting maneuver that has yet to take place, according to the city's Independent Budget Office. The mayor and City Council did not substantially reduce the school safety division's $425 million budget, which has grown significantly in recent years, despite calls from advocates to shift that money into social services for students.
The mayor has supported school safety reforms in the past, including efforts to reduce suspensions and a 2019 effort to limit the use of on-campus arrests and summonses for low-level offenses, an overhaul that won praise from some advocates.
"Moving 5,000 employees between two agencies is an incredibly complex process and it is critically important we thoughtfully engage all student, community, labor, and advocate partners to get this right," said Nathaniel Styer, an education department spokesperson. "We look forward to a substantive and constructive conversation with the Council."
A second bill under consideration would minimize the role of the police in responding to student mental health crises and transporting them to the hospital for a psychological evaluation — one of the most common reasons students end up interacting with the police.
School safety agents should refrain from intervening when a student is facing an emotional crisis unless it's at the request of the school staff, according to the legislation, and only after making sure other de-escalation techniques have been tried first. It also discourages calling in patrol officers from outside the school and limits the use of metal and Velcro handcuffs "unless restraints are necessary to prevent serious physical injury." If a student needs to be taken to the hospital, it should be at the discretion of a "clinically trained mental health professional," according to the bill.
In 2019, the police transported about 3,400 students to hospitals because they were experiencing an emotional crisis, or roughly 30% of all police interventions in schools that year, according to an analysis of city data by the New York Civil Liberties Union. About 87% of those students were Black or Latino, despite being 67% of the student population, and about 9% of those incidents involved the use of handcuffs. A 2017 report found students as young as five years old in emotional distress have been handcuffed.
"We want a mental health approach taken," said Yuster, especially given the trauma students will likely bring to school in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. "If there is a student in emotional crisis, there's no reason to restrain them.
Feb. 17, 2021
New York City Council members are considering a raft of legislation meant to reform the role of school policing. But the bills, which will be considered at a hearing on Thursday, are already drawing mixed reactions from those who say that the proposals don't go far enough.
When it comes to police reform, the nation's largest school system has trailed others in the wake of the police killings last year of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville, and the mass protests that followed.
In Los Angeles, the nation's second-largest district, the school board voted on Tuesday to cut a third of its school police officers and put the money toward the education of Black students. Several other school districts have cut ties with their local police departments.
New York City officials have stopped short of that, however. The most controversial of the Council bills would enshrine in city law a promise Mayor Bill de Blasio made last summer to transfer oversight of school police officers from the police department to the education department by June 2022. It also would bar school police from making arrests, using handcuffs, wearing their uniforms on school grounds, and would also require retraining to focus on "de-escalation" and "restorative justice" techniques.
Mark Treyger, a co-sponsor of the bill and chairman of the Council's education committee, said he hopes the legislation will prompt a more public discussion about what it means to put school policing in the hands of the education department. "The administration has done a very poor job as far as including all of the relevant stakeholders," he said. "This is about driving the conversation forward." The bills are also a response to an executive order issued by Gov. Andrew Cuomo this summer, which required local governments to come up with police reform proposals.
But even advocates who favor sweeping reforms to school policing are raising questions about whether city lawmakers have the authority to mandate these changes to the school safety division — on its own one of the largest forces in the country with over 5,000 officers. They argue it is a mistake to invest resources that could be spent elsewhere to train law enforcement.
"The City Council has never been able to legislate what the [education department] has done before," said Dawn Yuster, director of the School Justice Project at Advocates for Children. The bill has also drawn criticism from the Urban Youth Collaborative and a handful of other advocates, including the New York Civil Liberties Union, whose leaders penned a letter to the City Council stating their opposition to the legislation mandating the transfer of school safety to the education department.
"This bill would further entrench policing in New York City schools instead of investing in the staff and programming that students deserve," they wrote, suggesting the school safety division be "disbanded" instead of moved between agencies.
Local 237, the union that represents school safety agents, pushed back against the suggestion that their presence should be reduced. "Removing School Safety Agents from a child's safety net encourages criminal behavior, and, with no one watching, would embolden troublemakers, and will cost lives," a spokesperson wrote in a statement.
Over the summer de Blasio promised significant reductions in police spending, in part by moving the school safety budget to the education department, an accounting maneuver that has yet to take place, according to the city's Independent Budget Office. The mayor and City Council did not substantially reduce the school safety division's $425 million budget, which has grown significantly in recent years, despite calls from advocates to shift that money into social services for students.
The mayor has supported school safety reforms in the past, including efforts to reduce suspensions and a 2019 effort to limit the use of on-campus arrests and summonses for low-level offenses, an overhaul that won praise from some advocates.
"Moving 5,000 employees between two agencies is an incredibly complex process and it is critically important we thoughtfully engage all student, community, labor, and advocate partners to get this right," said Nathaniel Styer, an education department spokesperson. "We look forward to a substantive and constructive conversation with the Council."
A second bill under consideration would minimize the role of the police in responding to student mental health crises and transporting them to the hospital for a psychological evaluation — one of the most common reasons students end up interacting with the police.
School safety agents should refrain from intervening when a student is facing an emotional crisis unless it's at the request of the school staff, according to the legislation, and only after making sure other de-escalation techniques have been tried first. It also discourages calling in patrol officers from outside the school and limits the use of metal and Velcro handcuffs "unless restraints are necessary to prevent serious physical injury." If a student needs to be taken to the hospital, it should be at the discretion of a "clinically trained mental health professional," according to the bill.
In 2019, the police transported about 3,400 students to hospitals because they were experiencing an emotional crisis, or roughly 30% of all police interventions in schools that year, according to an analysis of city data by the New York Civil Liberties Union. About 87% of those students were Black or Latino, despite being 67% of the student population, and about 9% of those incidents involved the use of handcuffs. A 2017 report found students as young as five years old in emotional distress have been handcuffed.
"We want a mental health approach taken," said Yuster, especially given the trauma students will likely bring to school in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. "If there is a student in emotional crisis, there's no reason to restrain them.
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