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Mayor Adams Loses Series of Top Appointees in First Year-and-a-Half


Mayor Adams makes personnel announcements (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


Update: NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell announced on Monday, June 12, that she will be stepping down, without providing a reason for her resignation.  

New York City’s chief housing officer, Jessica Katz, is set to step down in July, marking the latest high-profile departures from Mayor Eric Adams’ administration in barely eighteen months.

A growing list of the Democratic mayor’s top appointees have left the administration, including senior officials who announced their resignations before the mayor’s first year in office had even concluded. It’s an unusually high level of turnover at the highest levels of city government, particularly for a mayor who has prided himself on the promise of being a good manager.

The administration continues to struggle with footing as it faces several challenges, chiefly the migrant asylum-seeker crisis that has overshadowed most of the mayor’s other priorities, while city services overall have been hamstrung by the broader agency personnel shortage that Adams has yet to solve.

Along with his chief housing officer, Adams has already seen the departure or announced departure of his first chief of staff, first deputy mayor, social services commissioner, buildings commissioner, communications director, chief counsel, and others.

Katz, who also served in the administrations of both Mayor Bill de Blasio and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, made her resignation public in an interview with Gothamist this past week. She helped craft the mayor’s housing plan, with an ambitious “moonshot” goal of creating 500,000 units of housing over the next ten years and a multitude of planks. But the administration continues to struggle with a ballooning homelessness crisis exacerbated by the influx of migrants, sky-high rents and increasing unaffordability. Accomplishing the housing plan requires significant state action, which has largely been elusive.

Katz subsequently told the New York Times that she had achieved her goals with the administration and wished to spend more time with her family. But the Times cited two unnamed sources that pointed to confusion about who was leading the administration’s housing policies and Katz’s frustration with the mayor over his opposition to a housing rental voucher bill before the City Council. Adams has also faced widespread criticism over his attempts to rollback the city’s long-established right to shelter, part of the ongoing emergency effort to house tens of thousands of new arrivals.

The Times also reported on the resignation of Melanie La Rocca, who Mayor Adams named as the city’s chief efficiency officer, a new position he created to make city government leaner and more streamlined. 

On Monday, July 12, NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell announced her resignation in an email to the department, according to news reports. “While my time here will come to a close, I will never step away from my advocacy and support for the N.Y.P.D., and I will always be a champion for the people of New York City,” she wrote, according to The New York Times. Sewell did not provide a reason for her resignation.

Besides those most recent announcements, two other officials are also headed for the door this summer. Last month, Politico New York reported that Chief Counsel Brendan McGuire and Communications Director Maxwell Young are leaving. Both are expected to be part of the mayor’s campaign operation as he looks toward a 2025 reelection bid.

In a WABC interview on Thursday, Adams brushed off the notion that officials were abandoning a sinking ship. “People come and go in government,” he said, when asked about Katz’s resignation, and offered praise for her work in his administration.

“People will try to spin it any way they want,” he added. “Brendan is leaving this year. My comms person, Max, is going on to do some great things. People come in, sacrifice their lives to be in government and then they transition to other things. This is a grind. Don't let nobody kid you.”

“We appreciate every moment each of these individuals has spent serving this city and its residents,” said Fabien Levy, the mayor’s press secretary, in a statement to Gotham Gazette. “These are extraordinarily difficult and time-demanding jobs, and we never expect anyone to dedicate an unlimited amount of time serving in these roles. Many of our employees enter city service with a list of goals they want to get done alongside Mayor Adams for the people of New York, and decide to leave when they have accomplished those goals. We appreciate every second given by all of our employees to the greatest city in the world, and each of these individuals remain close friends of Mayor Adams and the administration.”

The exodus of top officials from City Hall began late last year with Frank Carone, Adams’ chief of staff and longtime ally — and a controversial figure given his many legal entanglements prior to joining the administration and plans to cash in on his connections upon leaving it. The New York Times first reported that Carone planned to resign by the end of 2022. An attorney and Brooklyn power broker, Carone is now working on the mayor’s reelection campaign and running a new consulting business where he helps high-powered clients.

Following closely after that news, the New York Daily News reported that Lorraine Grillo, first deputy mayor to Adams, was also stepping down before the year was up. (At the end of September, Roberto Perez, head of the city’s intergovernmental affairs office, also left the administration to join the private sector. Perez had remained in his role from the de Blasio administration. Intergovernmental affairs has been one of Adams’ biggest challenges.)

“Carone leaving the way he did wasn’t unexpected. Grillo, that was unexpected that she left the way that she did,” said Hank Sheinkopf, a veteran Democratic consultant.

Sheinkopf also said that some turnover after the first year isn’t unusual, comparing it with Ed Koch’s administration that saw several deputy mayors replaced in his second year. “What is unusual is [Mayor Adams’] management style,” Sheinkopf added, “which is, he's definitely in control more so than most mayors. Decisions don't get made without him, even at what appears to be the more granular levels.”

He said Adams’ management style is akin to former Mayor Rudy Giuliani “who was a much more forceful manager” and Mayor de Blasio, who had a reputation for micromanaging his top officials. But it stands in stark contrast to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who “was one of the best managers...because he knew how to manage, he would delegate when appropriate.” So despite who serves in the highest echelons of Adams’ administration, “He is the decision maker. He’s in total control.”

“People come and go in every administration,” said George Arzt, also a veteran Democratic political consultant.

Both Carone and Grillo wanted to get the administration on the right path before moving on, Arzt said. “In every administration, there are changes, sometimes massive changes. Sometimes the mayor wants them, sometimes the [appointees] want them.”

The pattern doesn’t strike everyone as business as usual. “Several high profile departures from the Mayor’s administration does not inspire confidence when double digit vacancies and the Mayor’s budget cuts plague the city’s ability to deliver core essential services,” said Zara Nasir, executive director of The People’s Plan, a progressive coalition. “We need the administration to start taking the job of governing more seriously, and that means buckling down and getting agencies the resources and leadership they need to do the important job of serving New Yorkers in need of housing and essential services.”

Some of the administration’s early major departures have been especially controversial.

In November, Eric Ulrich, a former City Council Member from Queens, resigned as commissioner of the Department of Buildings while he was being investigated by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office for illegal gambling.

In February of this year, Gary Jenkins, commissioner of the Department of Social Services, also stepped down amid scandal. Jenkins had faced widespread criticism for his management of the city’s homelessness crisis, and was under scrutiny by the Department of Investigation for incidents involving homeless families having to stay overnight in an intake office in the Bronx.

The previous administration saw some early top resignations, but not nearly as many as the current one. For instance, in February 2015, barely into the second year of Mayor de Blasio’s administration, his chief of staff Laura Santucci left City Hall for a job with the United Nations and senior advisor Peter Ragone departed for California where his family lived.

“We're approaching the 18-month period, so I don't think it's unusual to see some changes at this stage,” said Eric Phillips, a former de Blasio press secretary turned political consultant, by email. “Senior-level jobs in city government are grueling. Frankly, most people stay in them a little longer than they should. When you're out of gas, it's the responsible thing to admit it and pass the torch to the next person."

City Council Member Joe Borelli, a Staten Island Republican, said in a text message, “I have always had more problems with commissioners that have overstayed their welcome and usefulness than those who left before they went sour.”

On Friday, Mayor Adams appointed Ana Almanzar as the new Deputy Mayor for Strategic Initiatives, a position that went unfilled for nearly half a year, since January when Sheena Wright, who previously held the post, was elevated to First Deputy Mayor.

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by Samar Khurshid, senior reporter, Gotham Gazette
     

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Digital Literacy Programming for Older New Yorkers to be Required Under Bill Passed by City Council


Seniors ready to learn (photo: John McCarten/City Council)


When the COVID-19 pandemic struck and forced a lockdown of physical access to many government agencies and services, it highlighted New York City’s stark digital divide. Some of the city’s most vulnerable people lacked access to high-speed internet connection or the knowledge and training to use them. Now, a City Council bill expected to pass on Thursday aims to address that gap for the city’s rapidly growing older adult population. 

Intro. 665, sponsored by Council Member Jennifer Gutiérrez, a Brooklyn Democrat who chairs the Council’s Committee on Technology, will require the Department for the Aging (DFTA) and the city’s Office of Technology and Innovation (OTI) to create an online digital literacy program for older adults aged 65 and above, who make up just over 15% of the city’s population. 

The program would address issues such as accessing and navigating city telehealth services; navigating online platforms and websites, including social media, that provide lessons in technology; navigating the city’s websites and mobile applications that offer access to city benefits and older adult services; and training in spotting online scams, among other topics. 

Under the bill, the program would be provided in person or through live interactive video instruction in at least one library or senior center in each of the city’s 59 community districts. It would be evaluated and updated every three years and offered in the city’s most prevalent languages

“Access to technology played a pivotal role during the pandemic, whether it was ensuring people could receive vital social services, or enabling families to stay connected,” Gutiérrez said in a statement. “It is not enough to simply hook someone up to the internet and consider our work done - true access means providing people with the necessary devices and empowering them with digital literacy to safely harness the full potential of this connection to the world.”

In 2020, then-Mayor Bill de Blasio launched an Internet Master Plan that aimed to tackle the digital divide by building out municipal broadband infrastructure across the city with a $157 million investment of capital funds. But Mayor Eric Adams quietly abandoned that plan, as Gothamist first reported, even as he evangelized about using technology to improve city government, consolidated the city’s various technology agencies into the new OTI, and launched a website that is meant to centralize access to city benefits and services. 

Adams has, however, taken other steps on digital access including by launching Big Apple Connect in September 2022, a program where the city partners with private internet providers to give public housing residents free high-speed internet access and cable. In December, the administration also collaborated with DFTA to launch the Queens Gigabit Center at the Allen Senior Center, where older adults get access to digital literacy trainings. The Brooklyn Gigabit Center which launched in March at Digital Girl also provides similar programs.  

At a January 12 City Council hearing on the older-adult digital literacy bill, OTI officials also testified that they are also already overseeing the Connected Communities initiative that provides digital literacy programs and free internet access through other city agencies and public institutions at 100 sites across the city. 

“With respect to the older adult population, OTI recognizes that older adults need particular support to engage with the benefits of digital life,” said Brett Sikoff, OTI’s executive director of Franchise Administration, at the hearing. “We believe that digital literacy programming, when paired with devices and access, combat social isolation and mobility barriers, provide basic skills for staying safe online, and helps maintain civic engagement.”

However, he said that Gutiérrez’s bill would require OTI “to more directly administer digital literacy training for seniors in a singular program with broadly defined parameters.” Instead, he said OTI’s “best function is to leverage digital literacy practitioners and expertise, rather than either staff these programs with in-house personnel, or set limitations on the curriculum practiced by the City’s partners. We worry this bill could inadvertently compromise the incredible work already underway.” 

The bill has since been revised and requires DFTA to administer the program in collaboration with OTI, rather than OTI taking the lead. “We wholeheartedly support digital literacy – particularly for older adults – and are committed to continuing to collaborate with our partners at NYC Aging to ensure older New Yorkers are able to fully participate in our modern society,” OTI spokesperson Ray Legendre said in a Wednesday statement.

DFTA welcomed passage of the bill. “The pandemic underscored the importance of technology for older adults to stay socially connected and receive the services they needed to stay in touch with family and friends, and service providers,” said DFTA Commissioner Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez, in a statement to Gotham Gazette.

She noted that the administration has taken measures to spread awareness of the federal Affordable Connectivity Program, which helps reduce broadband costs, and that DFTA’s older adult centers provide digital literacy classes and training to its members. “This bill will formalize and expand these efforts, and the Department for the Aging looks forward to working with our colleagues in government and community partners to ensure we are giving even more older New Yorkers the skills they need to age in place,” she said. 

The bill is set to pass the Council's technology committee then the full Council on Thursday. It would then be up to the mayor to sign it into law or veto it.

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by Samar Khurshid, senior reporter, Gotham Gazette
     

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Council Passes Bill Pushing Summer Youth Employment Program Across City Agencies


Summer Youth Employment Program celebration (photo: John McCarten/NYC Council Media Unit)


New York City’s Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) could be seeing a boost despite proposed budget cuts, thanks to legislation in the City Council that could lead to greater participation from city agencies.

The Council is expected to pass a bill Thursday that would set a goal for each city agency to offer youth job slots as part of the landmark program, which connects tens of thousands of students with paid job opportunities in and out of city government during the summer months when school is out.

The legislation would require each agency to offer a number of slots equal to .5% of its full-time staff. It is unclear exactly what that would mean for the overall number of SYEP slots in city agencies as many agencies already reach that threshold each year.

"This collective effort maximizes the available resources and enables a wider range of job opportunities for SYEP participants, ensuring that the program meets the diverse needs and interests of young people while fostering workforce development city-wide," said Council Member Althea Stevens, a Bronx Democrat, the Council's youth services chair, and the bill's prime sponsor, in a statement to Gotham Gazette.

The bill would also require annual reporting on the number of youth served in the public and private sectors, and a breakdown of city agency participation. Agencies that fail to meet the .5% goal would have to report why they failed to the mayor and City Council. The legislation would take effect 120 days after it becomes law, meaning the new thresholds likely wouldn't be in place until next summer at the earliest.

SYEP had a record high 100,000 slots last year, of which 8,600, or close to 9%, were at 82 city agencies and offices, and 29 City Council offices, according to the Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD), which administers the program.

When asked to respond to the bill and its likely passage this week, DYCD Commissioner Keith Howard touted SYEP's coordination with city agencies and the City Council but did not take a firm Adams administration position on the legislation.

“A record 100,000 SYEP opportunities will return this summer, including thousands of young people placed in city agencies and mayoral offices," said Howard, an appointee of Mayor Eric Adams, in a statement. "One example of the great success we have had with cross-agency partnerships was NYPD opening their doors to more than 800 SYEP internships in law enforcement last year, and this summer that number will grow to more than a thousand."

"We thank the City Council for supporting SYEP, and for once again encouraging its members to become worksites and exposing young people to the world of politics and civic engagement,” Howard added.

Mayor Adams' proposed spending plan for the 2024 fiscal year, which begins July 1, budgets for 302,000 full-time positions across city government; .5% of that total is only about 1,500, far lower than the 8,600 SYEP participants placed in city agencies in 2022. If the bill becomes law, some agencies will likely have to increase their number of SYEP offerings but the overall number of positions is unlikely to change. It would still set a new benchmark, a suggested floor for each agency, along with the accountability mechanism of the reporting requirements.

The mayor’s executive budget includes $209.6 million for SYEP, a proposed spending cut of $18.7 million from this fiscal year's adopted budget. The spending reduction is the result of $11 million less allocated to a DYCD program called "Work, Learn, Grow" and the end of one-time MetroCard funding for SYEP participants, according to a report from the New York City Council. The rest comes from savings from wages that were lower than anticipated, the report said.

Asked what impact the bill would have on agency participation rates, a DYCD spokesperson pointed out that the .5% standard was a goal, not a requirement. But the department would make efforts to see that agencies meet the threshold if it becomes law, they said.

According to Stevens, the bill would expand the types of city agency offerings and bolster "a critical pipeline" to the public and nonprofit sectors, which are facing significant workforce shortages.

Eli Dvorkin, policy director at Center for an Urban Future, a nonpartisan think tank focused on economic opportunity, said the Council's emphasis on SYEP was "encouraging" but criticized the program for being too heavily concentrated in low-paying fields and not oriented toward economically mobile career pathways.

"It's understandable that this legislation is primarily focused on encouraging placements in city agencies -- that's where the Council has the most leverage," Dvorkin wrote by email to Gotham Gazette. "But to really improve the program, the city will have to do much more to recruit private sector employers in growing industries -- from tech and healthcare to finance and the creative economy."

A Center for an Urban Future analysis of DYCD data found "placements are concentrated in low-paying industries like daycare providers and day camps (15.3 percent of all work sites), social services (7.5 percent), and retail (8.4 percent)," according to Dvorkin. A majority of SYEP government slots are in worksites at public schools.

"That's a challenge that DYCD and SBS can't tackle on their own, and it's where much more progress will be needed even if this legislation becomes law," he added, referring to the city’s Department of Small Business Services, which under the Council bill would be required to coordinate with DYCD to promote SYEP to small businesses.

Part of the problem, Dvorkin wrote, was that the program wasn't well-integrated with the year-round education system. The previous version of Stevens' bill included a year-long mentorship program for SYEP participants, but that was dropped from the final legislation. A spokesperson for Stevens did not say why it was removed.

The bill will go before the Council's Committee on Small Business on Thursday, where it is likely to advance to a full City Council vote in the afternoon. If it passes, it will go to Mayor Adams for signature or veto.

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by Ethan Geringer-Sameth, reporter, Gotham Gazette
     

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