Gotham Gazette

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Corey Johnson

Corey Johnson

  • Will the New City Council Reform Its Rules?

    City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams (photo: John McCarten/NYC Council Media Unit)


    With a new City Council class and new speaker leading the legislative body, there is another opportunity to change the Council’s internal rules, which haven't been formally revised since 2014.

    It's a relatively obscure corner of public policy because in a city of 8.8 million people the rules apply only to the 51 elected Council members and a few hundred Council staff. But Council members and advocates have for years pointed to measures that

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  • Advice for Adrienne Adams from Her Predecessors as City Council Speaker

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    City Council chambers (photo: Emil Cohen/NYC Council)


    In a near-unanimous vote on Wednesday, Adrienne Adams, a Queens Democrat, was elected the new Speaker of the City Council, making history as the first ever Black leader of the 51-member legislative body. The Speakership gives her a citywide purview with all its incumbent challenges, made even more pressing by the covid pandemic and the city’s ongoing recovery attempts. Rates of both gun violence and unemployment remain high, and the city is facing a number of other crises related to housing, education, and

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  • Approving Blood Center Project, City Council Overrides 'Member Deference' for First Time in Over a Decade

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    Th City Council (photo: William Alatriste/City Council)


    The New York City Council voted 43-5 to approve a rezoning of the New York Blood Center to create a new life sciences hub on the Upper East Side, in a rare vote that overrode the wishes of local Council Member Ben Kallos.

    The Council has typically followed the tradition of “member deference” on land use matters, voting along with the member whose district includes the proposed rezoning. In the case of the Blood Center, negotiations had been going on for many months among

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  • City Council to Examine Bill Loosening Rules Around Mailing Constituents Before Elections

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    City Council chambers (photo: Gerardo Romo/NYC Council)


    With less than three months before the end of its term, the City Council is assessing legislation that could weaken rules meant to prevent the use of government resources for political purposes.

    City officials are banned, with few exceptions, from sending official mass mailers to constituents for 90 days before a primary or general election. The rationale behind that blackout rule is to thwart the potential use of city funds and resources to boost an elected official’s image and political

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  • City Council Schedules Oversight Hearing on NYC School Reopening

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    Council Speaker Johnson, right, and Council Member Treyger (photo: John McCarten/City Council)


    UPDATE: On Saturday August 21, following the publication of this article on the evening of Thursday August 19, the City Council scheduled an oversight hearing by the education committee on the city's school reopening plans for Wednesday September 1. The hearing will come less than two weeks before the first official day of school for more than 900,000 public school students on Monday September 13. The article below has been

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  • City Council Goes More Than 5 Months Without Oversight Hearing on Covid Vaccination Effort

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    City Council Speaker Corey Johnson and Health Chair Mark Levine (photo: John McCarten/City Council)


    After weeks of flagging covid vaccine rates, ongoing racial disparities among the vaccinated, and the troubling spread of the Delta variant, Mayor Bill de Blasio is taking his first steps to impose more coercive vaccine policies in New York City. The mayor announced on Monday an upcoming mandate for all city workers to be vaccinated or subject to weekly covid testing, while encouraging private sector actors to institute their own

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  • Board of Elections Releases Corrected Initial Unofficial Ranked-Choice Runoff, with 120,000+ Absentee Votes Uncounted

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    Maya Wiley, Kathryn Garcia, and Eric Adams


    The New York City Board of Elections on Wednesday released a corrected tabulation of preliminary, unofficial ranked-choice votes from the June mayoral and comptroller primary elections, a day after an initial release that included erroneous numbers. 

    On Tuesday, the BOE published an unofficial tally that included roughly 135,000 more ballots than were cast by primary night. The extra ballots were said to be left over from a test run prior to what was supposed to be the initial RCV runoff count

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  • Mayor and City Council Reach Agreement on De Blasio's Last Budget, $98.7 Billion ‘Recovery' Plan

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    Mayor and Council Speaker in 2019 (photo: John McCarten/City Council)


    Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Council Speaker Corey Johnson on Wednesday announced an agreement on a $98.7 billion “recovery budget” for the 2022 fiscal year, which begins Thursday.

    The budget, the final one for both de Blasio and Johnson as they reach term limits, was $100 million more than the executive budget that the mayor unveiled in April, flush with billions in

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  • Board of Elections Sows Chaos in Mayoral Race with Errors in First Unofficial Ranked-Choice Count

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    Voters voting (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    The New York City Board of Elections began tabulating preliminary, unofficial ranked-choice votes cast in this year’s primary elections on Tuesday, offering what was thought to be a glimpse of the possible result of races across the city even though more than 120,000 absentee ballots have yet to be counted at all. But not long after the BOE published its first preliminary ranked-choice runoff in the Democratic primaries for mayor and comptroller, it became evident that errors had been made and the

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  • Democratic Comptroller Candidates Spar at Back-to-Back Debates

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    (l-r) Brian Benjamin, Brad Lander, Corey Johnson, Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, David Weprin


    Leading Democratic candidates for New York City Comptroller, the city's chief fiscal officer, met for two debates this past week, just ahead of the Saturday start of early voting, where they laid out a range of positions and occasional attacks.

    Candidates discussed how they would use the comptroller's power to audit city agencies, provide oversight of city budgeting, manage the city's sizable pension funds, and more. They also answered questions on hot-button issues

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  • Effort to 'Defund the NYPD' Appears Stalled Ahead of De Blasio's Final Budget

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    De Blasio and the NYPD (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    Even though cutting NYPD funding has become a popular position among many candidates running for mayor, City Council, and other offices this year, the city’s current leadership seems unlikely to embrace any significant cuts to the police department in the upcoming budget amid a sustained increase in gun violence and a glut of federal funding.

    “The voters of this city overwhelmingly, I'm convinced, want a balance. They want reform. They want non-discriminatory policing. They want respectful

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  • City Budget Negotiations and Comptroller Primary Collide

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    Corey Johnson and Brad Lander (photo: John McCarten/City Council)


    The war of words between City Council Member Brad Lander and Council Speaker Corey Johnson, both Democratic candidates for city comptroller, continues to escalate as Lander raises concerns that Johnson will leverage the city budget to help his chances of winning the June primary. 

    Johnson and Lander are among the top contenders in the Democratic primary for New York City comptroller, which also features a number of sitting state legislators and several first-time candidates

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  • The Money Race in the Democratic Comptroller Primary with One Month To Go

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    (l-r) Top: Brian Benjamin, Brad Lander, Kevin Parker, David Weprin, Corey Johnson; Bottom: Reshma Patel, Zach Iscol, Michelle Caruso-Cabrera,Terri Liftin


    This article was updated on May 29, reflecting the Campaign Finance Board's latest public funds payment made on May 27. 

    As candidates filed their latest campaign finance disclosures on Friday, the Democratic primary for New York City Comptroller has become one of extremes. The leading campaigns have millions in the bank as they head into the closing stretch of the race while

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  • What's The [DATA] Point? $250 Billion, Democratic Comptroller Candidate Forum

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    What's The [Data] Point? Episode 107 -- $250 billion [You can download What's The [Data] Point? wherever you get your podcasts, including on iTunes]

    $250 billion—the assets held by the five pensions funds for which the New York City Comptroller is custodian, administrator, and investment advisor. But that's not the Comptroller's only

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  • Democratic Comptroller Candidates Pitch Skills and Plans to Budget Watchdog

    Brad Lander, Brian Benjamin, Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, Corey Johnson, David Weprin, Zach Iscol

    (l-r) Brad Lander, Brian Benjamin, Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, Corey Johnson, David Weprin, Zach Iscol


    Six leading candidates running in the Democratic primary for New York City Comptroller in the June election appeared at a forum on Tuesday to offer their perspectives on the role of the office, solutions to the city’s uncertain fiscal future, and how they would wield their powers to ensure city government is effective and fiscally responsible. 

    The candidates at the

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  • WATCH: 30 Minutes with the Candidates for New York City Comptroller

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    (l-r) top: Brian Benjamin, Brad Lander, Kevin Parker, David Weprin, Corey Johnson; bottom: Reshma Patel, Zach Iscol, Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, Terri Liftin


    The Democratic candidates for New York City Comptroller joined "Decision NYC with Ben Max" for in-depth one-on-one interviews about their campaigns and visions for

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  • Decision NYC: Corey Johnson Discusses His Run for Comptroller

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    Corey Johnson (photo: John McCarten/City Council)


    As part of the "Decision NYC with Ben Max" series of candidate inter views from Manhattan Neighborhood Network and Gotham Gazette, Democratic candidates for New York City Comptroller talked about their campaigns ahead of the June primary. In this episode, Corey Johnson joined host

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  • Corey Johnson Launches Bid for New York City Comptroller

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    Corey Johnson (photo: City Council)


    New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, a term-limited Democrat, announced on Tuesday that he is running for Comptroller, making a late entry into and shaking up a race that is well underway and already features several sitting elected officials seeking the Democratic nomination.

    Johnson, who represents District 3 on the west side of Manhattan and has had a citywide perch as Council speaker, was considered a top potential contender for the mayoralty before he dropped out of the race in September, citing

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  • 'Wholly Unacceptable': City Council 'Deeply Concerned and Frustrated' with De Blasio Delay on Cuomo-Ordered Police Reform Plan

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    Mayor de Blasio and Police Commissioner Shea (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)


    Update, March 5, 2021: Shortly after the publication of this story and after having declined to comment for the story over multiple days, the de Blasio administration on Friday released the first of a three-part draft plan with 36 proposals. "The plan will now move through a public comment period where it will undergo further revision based on the feedback of the public and through a process with

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  • Amid Great Uncertainty, City Council Begins Examining De Blasio's $92.3 Billion Preliminary Budget

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    Budget Director Jacques Jiha (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    The New York City Council on Tuesday began its examination of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s $92.3 billion preliminary budget for the 2022 fiscal year, which begins July 1. The hearing was the first of many that will take place over the next few weeks as the Council digs into the mayor’s final budget plan of his eight-year tenure and as key questions remain about the city’s fiscal future. 

    The coronavirus pandemic stripped the city of billions in tax revenue,

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  • City Council, De Blasio Administration Clash Over Comprehensive Planning Legislation

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    New York City (photo: Benjamin Kanter/Mayoral Photo Office)


    City Council members and officials from Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration clashed at a Tuesday hearing over proposed legislation to overhaul, consolidate, and in some ways expand the city’s planning processes into a singular ten-year procedure that would align budget, policy, and land use decisions.  

    The proposal was released by City Council Speaker Corey Johnson in December and seeks to replace what he calls redundant, antiquated, inequitable, and ineffective existing

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  • City Council Jumps Into Police Reform Action Amid De Blasio Delay in Meeting Cuomo Mandate

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


    When Governor Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order in June mandating that localities set blueprints for broad police reform or risk losing state funding, he tasked mayors and other municipal leaders to engage the public and local legislatures in a collaborative reform process. Now, in response to delays and limited communication from Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration, the New York City Council has signaled that it will move ahead with its own police reform agenda to meet

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  • City Council Speaker Unveils Comprehensive Planning Legislation

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    New York City development (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    City Council Speaker Corey Johnson on Wednesday unveiled legislation that would overhaul New York City’s long-term planning processes, eliminating duplicative procedures, streamlining agency coordination, and establishing a more proactive, holistic approach to land use and budgeting that prioritizes racial and economic justice. 

    For decades, the city’s zoning, land use, and development have been subject to disparate sets of mandates and guidelines, some overlapping and redundant, in

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  • Despite Requests, No Sign of De Blasio Plan for Managing Billions in City Borrowing He's Seeking

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    Mayor de Blasio (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)


    Mayor Bill de Blasio continues to insist that New York City needs authorization from the state to borrow billions of dollars in operating funds to balance its budget, at least in the absence of federal aid to cover some of the massive loss in revenue from the pandemic fallout. The drastically-slashed new city budget for this fiscal year passed July 1 included $1 billion in undefined labor savings, which de Blasio said could be covered by federal aid or borrowing, or, if neither of those come through,

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  • Where De Blasio's Push to Borrow Billions Stands

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    The Financial Control Board meets (photo: Benjamin Kanter/Mayor's Office)


    Mayor Bill de Blasio has until the end of September to present a state fiscal oversight body with a plan to find $1 billion in savings that will help balance the city budget for the current fiscal year. In lieu of a federal aid package to help replace lost tax revenue due to the coronavirus pandemic, the mayor and labor union leaders are pushing the Legislature and Governor Cuomo to allow the city to borrow billions of dollars to cover operating expenses, a proposal that many city and state

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