Gotham Gazette

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Committee on Veterans

Committee on Veterans

  • Without Chair, Council Committee Hears Bills Aimed to Help Discharged Military Veterans

    Council Member Chaim Deutsch

    Council Member Deutsch (photo: Emil Cohen/City Council)


    A bill that would require the New York City Department of Veterans Services to help veterans discharged from the military solely for their LGBTQ status to upgrade or change the narrative of their discharge status and “extend all city benefits and services” to them was introduced to the City Council’s Committee on Veterans at a hearing on Monday.

    Introduced alongside it was a bill that would require DVS to create a unit to assist veterans with discharge characterization upgrades and offer

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  • City Council Checks In On Department of Veterans Services, Discusses Reporting Bill

    committee vets hearing

    Veterans Services Commissioner Loree Sutton, middle (photo: Emil Cohen/City Council)


    The New York City Council’s Committee on Veterans met Monday to discuss a bill that would require the city’s Department of Veterans Services to release an annual report detailing certain information about its work to help the city’s military veterans, including the number of its employees and types services it is

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  • An End-of-Term Agenda for the City Council Veterans Committee

    City Council Ulrich hearing

    Council Member Ulrich (photo: John McCarten)


    In early 2014, City Council Member Eric Ulrich was appointed chair the veterans committee by Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito. At that time I wrote that no one within the veterans community knew what to expect, and as one of a few Republicans in a largely Democratic City Council, there were some who opposed Ulrich’s selection.

    Fast forward nearly four years and the majority of the veterans community agrees that without his leadership and guidance, there would not have been a renewed conversation

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  • Budget Hearing Shows Veterans Department Settling into Agency Status

    ulrich flags

    Council Member Ulrich (photo: William Alatriste)


    The City Council Committee on Veterans held a preliminary budget hearing Monday, hearing testimony from the Department of Veterans Services and advocates for military veterans in New York City.

    Council members, led by committee Chair Eric Ulrich, heard from Loree Sutton, the commissioner of the Department of Veterans Services, and others in assessing the department’s budgetary needs for the upcoming 2018 fiscal year, which begins July 1.

    Formerly the Mayor’s Office of Veteran’s Affairs, DVS was

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  • Planned Change to Veterans Department Budget Causes Stir

    bdb vets via nycveterans

    photo: @nycveterans


    Mayor Bill de Blasio’s preliminary budget, released January 24, proposes nearly $1 billion in increased spending for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1. But a conspicuous, albeit infinitesimal, reduction for one agency has irked elected officials and advocates.

    The mayor’s spending plan, which will be evaluated by and negotiated with the City Council, includes a $318,000 decrease in the budget for the newly-minted Department of Veterans Services, which was created last year as an agency outside

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  • Long-Awaited, City's New Approach to Veterans Services Moves Ahead

    sutton buery veterans city hall

    Commissioner Sutton, left, at a City Hall ceremony (photo: @RichardBuery)


    With Veterans Day approaching, veterans advocates in New York say they want to see the long-term vision of the newly created city Department of Veterans’ Services and how its Commissioner plans to tackle the most significant, persistent issues affecting the city’s military veterans.

    More than 210,000 veterans live in New York City, making it one of the largest veteran populations in the nation, more so than some entire states. The administration of

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  • The Week That Was in New York Politics, November 9-13

    week in review bus readers

    photo: Stanley Kubrick via Museum of the City of New York


    Gotham Gazette's Week in Review, Friday November 13

    PHOTOS OF THE WEEK: NYPD Commissioner Bratton addresses the media after a shooting Monday morning near Penn Station, via @NYPD1Pct; City Council Members-elect Barry

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  • The Week Ahead in New York Politics, November 9

    New York City Hall

    New York City Hall


    What to watch for this week in New York politics:

    Wednesday is Veterans Day, with parades, resource fairs, and events to honor and aid veterans taking place before, on, and after the day itself. Mayor Bill de Blasio will hold a breakfast reception to honor the military veterans Wednesday morning. On Thursday, the City Council will hold a hearing on veteran homelessness, which the mayor vowed to end by the end of this year as part of a national pledge.

    The

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