Gotham Gazette

The Place for New York Policy and politics

Bill de Blasio

Bill de Blasio

  • The July Mayoral Money Race

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    Mayor de Blasio (Edwin J. Torres/ Mayoral Photography Office)


    Election season is in full swing, with barely two months to go till the September primary election, and mayoral contenders are busy on the campaign trail, reaching out to voters, building name recognition and, perhaps most importantly, raising campaign funds. The latest campaign finance disclosures filed on Monday show Mayor Bill de Blasio is still in the lead in fundraising, but a few of his opponents are beginning to pick up steam and have posted significant fundraising numbers of their

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  • Malliotakis Files Records Request for Mayor's Travel Expenses

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    Assemblymember Nicole Malliotakis (photo: Felipe De La Hoz/Gotham Gazette)


    As Mayor Bill de Blasio spent his third day in Queens for his week-long City Hall in Your Borough initiative, presumptive Republican mayoral nominee Assemblymember Nicole Malliotakis showed up at his Manhattan workplace to reprimand the mayor for a lack of transparency for his numerous trips out of the city.

    “I believe it's important that when we ask the mayor how much has it cost the taxpayers for various trips around the United States, or around the world, that he give the public that answer,” she

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  • Calls For Long-Term Solutions As City Transit Crisis Worsens

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    Governor Cuomo with MTA Chair Joe Lhota (photo: Governor's Office/Flickr)


    Two separate subway track fires on Monday, in the morning and evening, that led to stoppages on multiple lines and delays across the system were just the latest incidents that put the spotlight on problems with New York City’s subways. The last few weeks have seen chronic delays, a recent A-train 

    Rikers May Close. So Should Attica.

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    Governor Cuomo at Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora (photo: Governor's Office Flickr)


    In much the same way that the movement to end stop-and-frisk policing eventually became a rallying cry for political hopefuls, so, too, has the appeal to close the Rikers Island jail complex now become de rigueur among New York City elected officials. Where though is the corresponding clarion call to close Attica, Sing Sing, or any number of New York State’s brutal and obsolete prisons?

    The

    Longshot Mayoral Hopeful Outraises & Outspends Opponents, Technically

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    Michael Tolkin (center) at a Reform Party forum (photo: Tolkinformayor.com)


    Michael Tolkin, a 32-year-old tech entrepreneur who is among over a dozen long-shot candidates running to unseat New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, appears to have outspent every other contender in the race, including the mayor, with a $5 million in-kind contribution to his own campaign.

    An in-kind contribution is one in which goods or services instead of cash are given to a campaign, and in this case the entire contribution is also listed as an expenditure towards “campaign literature and

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  • New York's Top Democrats Rally Against Obamacare Repeal Bill

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    Governor Cuomo at Monday's healthcare rally (photo: Governor's Office)


    At a packed auditorium at Mount Sinai Hospital Monday afternoon, four of the state’s top elected Democrats united in a show of force to rally against a common enemy: the Republican-led U.S. Senate’s bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as Obamacare.

    Governor Andrew Cuomo, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio banded together on Monday, pledging to take legal action should the

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  • De Blasio’s Progressivism Doesn’t Include Right to Public Transit

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    Mayor de Blasio & First Lady McCray (photo: Edwin J Torres/Mayor's Office)


    In his three-and-a-half years as mayor of the nation’s largest city, Bill de Blasio has focused his administration on bridging gaps between the haves and the have-nots, expanding opportunity for those left behind during the city’s recent boom years. He’s instituting universal pre-kindergarten, funded record levels of affordable housing, provided legal help to immigrants facing deportation and tenants facing eviction.

    De Blasio has espoused a progressivism centered

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  • Malliotakis Outlines Developing Campaign Platform in Quest to Unseat De Blasio

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    Nicole Malliotakis, middle (photo via @NMalliotakis)


    State Assembly member and mayoral candidate Nicole Malliotakis discussed her campaign Friday with Gotham Gazette executive editor Ben Max and City Limits executive editor Jarrett Murphy for their Max & Murphy podcast.

    The 36-year-old Republican lawmaker, who represents parts of Staten Island and Brooklyn, joined the race in late April and became the

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  • Max & Murphy Podcast: Republican Mayoral Candidate Nicole Malliotakis

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    Ben Max, left, of Gotham Gazette, and Jarrett Murphy, right, of City Limits


    Max & Murphy is a podcast focused on New York City politics and policy hosted by Ben Max of Gotham Gazette and Jarrett Murphy of City Limits. Recent episodes of the podcast can be found here and can be dowloaded from iTunes and other podcast networks. The podcast began with a focus on

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  • De Blasio, NYPD Won’t Release Taxpayer Cost for Germany Trip

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    Mayor de Blasio & NYPD leaders (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)


    Asked about the cost to taxpayers for his recent trip to Germany, Mayor Bill de Blasio reiterated at a press conference Wednesday that expenses for himself and three aides were paid for by the organizers of a protest rally the mayor was asked to headline. As for his NYPD security detail, which did come at taxpayer expense, the mayor said, “The NYPD always provides some kind of estimate so please ask them for that.”

    But, news outlets had already been asking the NYPD for that cost estimate

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  • Democratic Challengers Fire Away at De Blasio. Is Anybody Listening?

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    Mayoral candidate Sal Albanese (photo: @SalAlbaneseNYC)


    Mayor Bill de Blasio won the mayoralty in 2013 on a progressive platform deriding the “Tale of Two Cities” that had developed in New York. He identified an unsustainable level of income inequality and biased police department, and promised an activist government focused on creating more opportunity for all. In some respects, de Blasio has followed through. But the mayor has also dealt with criticism from various corners on what have been deemed the failures of his administration.

    As de Blasio

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  • ‘Zombie’ Charter School Agreement Rests on Interpretation of Ambiguous Law

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    (photo: Demetrius Freeman/Mayor's Office)


    A much talked-about provision of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s 13th-hour deal to have his control over city schools extended was the agreement that 22 revoked or surrendered charter school charters could be reissued without counting towards the predetermined state cap on the number of charter schools.

    In exchange for a two-year extension of mayoral control of city

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  • De Blasio Made a Charter School Deal, But Isn’t Interested in Talking About It

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    Mayor de Blasio at City Hall, June 29 (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    Mayor Bill de Blasio negotiated a deal to extend mayoral control of city schools in exchange for a set of administrative actions benefitting charter schools. When the mayor celebrated the extension of mayoral control -- which was due to expire at the end of June, but was extended June 29 -- he did not release the details of the charter-friendly promises he was making to Republican state Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan, Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo, and

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  • Max & Murphy Podcast: Eric Phillips, Press Secretary for Mayor De Blasio

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    Ben Max, left, of Gotham Gazette, and Jarrett Murphy, right, of City Limits


    July 5, 2017: Eric Phillips, press secretary for Mayor Bill de Blasio, talks with Max & Murphy about his job, the mayor's relationship with the press, and more.

    Eric phillipsEric Phillips has been the lead conduit between Mayor Bill de Blasio and the city's press corps for more than a year. His job is 24/7, he explains, as he joins us for

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  • Nicole Malliotakis on Trying to Become New York’s First Female Mayor

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    Assemblymember Malliotakis with Fearless Girl (via @NMalliotakis)


    In 2013, one storyline of the raucous and unpredictable Democratic mayoral primary was Christine Quinn’s bid to become the first woman elected Mayor of New York City. Then the City Council Speaker and the early frontrunner in the race, Quinn largely avoided talking about that history-making potential. Running as the continuity-with-change

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  • After Promising More, De Blasio Explains Limited Voting Reform Push

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    De Blasio voting (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)


    On May 31 Mayor Bill de Blasio said that he and partners were “about to launch a major effort” to change state laws governing elections and voting in New York. ”I think people really want electoral reform in this state,” de Blasio told Gotham Gazette at an unrelated press conference. “And there’s a chance to do it, and it’s about creating the pressure needed to achieve it. So, we’re going to be doing a lot in the next few weeks on it.”

    In the subsequent days, de Blasio led two telephone

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  • Mayoral Control Extended in Special Session with Usual Albany Process

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    Gov. Cuomo on Thursday (photo: Philip Kamrass/Governor’s Office)


    To prevent the impending lapse of mayoral control over New York City schools, the state Legislature and Governor Andrew Cuomo passed a two-year extension Thursday as part of a larger omnibus bill, which included a pension enhancement for certain uniformed workers, special recognition for former Governor Mario Cuomo, and several benefits for upstate areas.

    A special session was called Wednesday by Gov. Cuomo specifically to address mayoral leadership over city schools, which was set

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  • 5 Reasons Mayoral Control is on the Verge of Lapsing

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    Mayor de Blasio in Albany (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    Mayor Bill de Blasio’s control of the New York City school system is only good for the rest of this week. The state Legislature ended its scheduled legislative session last Wednesday without a deal on an extension, something Governor Andrew Cuomo called “dereliction of duty,” and de Blasio has said puts the futures of 1.1 million schoolchildren at risk.

    The New York Times ...

  • Mayoral Control Debate Ignores Need for Community Control

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    Mayor de Blasio (photo via The Mayor's Office)


    Since Mayor de Blasio’s cries about the dire consequences of the State Legislature not granting him an extension of mayoral control over the city’s public schools didn't seem to work, this perhaps provides us with a little space to have a more open and less hysterical discussion about possible alternatives. What I find striking about the mayoral control debate is the false assumption that there exists a wide consensus on the need for it.

    A May 2017 Quinnipiac Poll, consistent with other polls on the subject, found that

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  • Policy Implications of the Mayor’s Paris Climate Order

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    Mayor de Blasio tours the Electrical Industry Training Center in Queens (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


     Soon after reports surfaced that President Donald Trump would withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement, a landmark accord to limit global temperature increases signed by nearly every country, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that he would sign an executive order committing New York City to the agreement. On June 2, after Trump confirmed the rumors in a White House Rose Garden speech, the Mayor ...

  • More Than Mayoral Control: De Blasio’s End of Session Priorities

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    De Blasio & Heastie (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    It is easy to mistakenly think there is only one thing Mayor Bill de Blasio wants from state lawmakers before they conclude the dwindling legislative session in Albany. Negotiations over an extension of soon-to-expire mayoral control of New York City schools have sucked most of the oxygen from the proverbial room -- though not the room, of ‘three men’ fame, which sat empty for months, until Monday -- leaving little time and attention for de Blasio’s other top priorities needing

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  • ‘Interventionist’ De Blasio Unveils Ten-Year Jobs Plan

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    The Mayor & his jobs plan (photo: Felipe De La Hoz)


    Holding up a glossy, 114-page booklet emblazoned with “New York Works” in bold yellow lettering – the same words hanging from the wall behind him – Mayor Bill de Blasio promised on Thursday to make New York City the “capital of cyber security.”

    Cyber security is one plank in the mayor’s ten-year job creation plan, which he announced from the sleek Garment District offices of SecurityScorecard, a firm specializing in cyber security monitoring and threat detection. Cyber

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  • With Subways in Crisis, It’s Showtime for Mayoral Candidates

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    (photo: The Governor's Office)


    Standing near a City Hall subway stop, Staten Island Assembly member and GOP mayoral candidate Nicole Malliotakis railed against Mayor Bill de Blasio’s handling of the city’s transit system and its state-controlled operator, the Metropolitan Transit Authority.

    At a podium set up just outside a 4 and 5 train entrance -- the same station that the mayor and his family emerged from for his inauguration on January 1, 2014 -- Malliotakis said last Friday that de Blasio has been ineffective and pledged that if she is elected

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  • Max & Murphy Podcast: Democratic Mayoral Candidate Bob Gangi

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    Ben Max, left, of Gotham Gazette, and Jarrett Murphy, right, of City Limits


    Max & Murphy is a podcast focused on New York City politics and policy hosted by Ben Max of Gotham Gazette and Jarrett Murphy of City Limits. Past episodes of the podcast can be found here and can be dowloaded from iTunes and other podcast networks. The podcast began with a focus on housing in early 2016, but has expanded into other areas, now

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  • De Blasio Launches Voting Reform Push with Tele Town Hall

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    Mayor de Blasio votes (photo: Samar Khurshid/Gotham Gazette)


    Mayor Bill de Blasio held a telephone town hall with constituents on Wednesday night focused on voting reform. It was the first step in what the mayor recently promised would be “a major effort” to see electoral reforms like early voting passed through the state Legislature before the end of session in Albany, which is June 21.

    Joining de Blasio as hosts of the call

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