Gotham Gazette

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Government

Amid Heightened Tension, Advocates Push Cuomo to Veto Police Discipline Bill


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Protesters Thursday night in NYC (photo: @WarOntographer)


A day after a Staten Island grand jury declined to indict NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo in the chokehold death of Eric Garner, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, two of most powerful men in the state, said they are interested in passing major criminal justice reforms during next year's legislative session.

There is no need to wait that long to take significant action, says a coalition of groups operating under the banner "This Stops Today" (after words spoken by Eric Garner shortly before his death), that includes Communities United For Police Reform, Center for Popular Democracy, Make the Road NY and the NYCLU, among others. The coalition and other advocates are calling on Cuomo to veto a bill passed in both houses of the Legislature that would allow the rules for police disciplinary action to be decided in collective bargaining with unions rather than by elected officials.

The bill, S7801/A9853, and Cuomo's veto of it, is a major platform item for those involved in action across New York City in response to the grand jury decision. For a second straight night on Thursday, protesters flooded streets, chanting, shutting down major roadways and staging 'die-ins.' The bill passed overwhelmingly in the Senate and Assembly. The only votes against in the Senate came from Sens. Liz Krueger and James Seward.

On Thursday, Gov. Cuomo told Susan Arbetter on The Capitol Pressroom that he wants to look at reforming police training and the grand jury system, and at instituting body cameras for police across the state. "I think long term this is something we have to look at this session," Cuomo said. "I think we need a comprehensive look."

Speaker Silver issued a statement saying he is committed to "working with Governor Cuomo, my colleagues in the Legislature, Mayor de Blasio and with law enforcement to improve the manner in which we police our streets and to restore the people's faith in our legal system."

Neither Cuomo nor Silver discussed the police conduct bill. The governor's office did not return a request for comment for this story.

New York City Council members including Brad Lander and Jumaane Williams have also called on Cuomo to veto the bill. "If signed into law, this bill would severely undermine the City's ability to hold police officers accountable for their actions," said the two in an August statement.

"The Council Member and many of his progressive colleagues are on record calling on the Governor to veto the bill. The need for strong civilian oversight of police discipline is more important now than ever," a representative from Lander's office told Gotham Gazette on Thursday.

The legislation has been pushed through the Legislature with the support of law enforcement unions only to be vetoed by Govs. David Paterson, Eliot Spitzer, George Pataki, and Mario Cuomo.

The Brooklyn NAACP is asking constituents to call and write to Cuomo to urge his veto. "This bill would strip local public officials of disciplinary authority over the police officers they employ, which would have a detrimental impact on the accountability of local police departments, and thus safety and public confidence in the police," reads the form letter offered by the group.

Cuomo did not veto any legislation before Election Day this year, but has used some controversial vetoes since.

The state's Court of Appeals ruled once in 2006 and once in 2012 that police discipline should be left in the hands of public officials and not determined during collective bargaining with unions.

"Police officers – who put themselves in harm's way for the sake of public safety – have the right to fair treatment and due process," reads the August statement from Lander and Williams, who co-authored the controversial NYPD-related Community Safety Act which passed in 2013 over a veto by then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg. "At the same time the authority to investigate police misconduct, and pursue discipline when appropriate, must be held by government officials who are accountable to the public. As we saw just last week in the police union press conference blaming Eric Garner for his own death, the unions' inclination is to protect their members at all costs."

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by David King, Albany editor, Gotham Gazette
@DavidHowardKing

Privacy, Storage Questions Loom as NYPD Begins Camera Pilot


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Scene from the NYPD demo of a traffic stop using body cameras (photo: @NYPDNews)


QUEENS, NY—Beginning Friday some members of the NYPD will, for the first time, use body-worn cameras while patrolling the streets of New York. This high-tech tool is the latest rollout in a series of police reforms promised by Mayor Bill de Blasio, but one that, at least for now, has many unanswered questions.

The pilot program will begin Friday in the 120th and 40th precincts as well as PSA 2. Next week members of the 23rd, 103rd, and 75th precincts will receive training and then begin to use the cameras. The program will include 54 officers and supervisors, all of which volunteered for the pilot program, and test two different types of cameras.

"We believe this will be an important step forward for our police department and for our city," Mayor Bill de Blasio said from the new Police Academy in Queens where officers will undergo body camera training. "This pilot program is a sign of great hope and possibility and something that will not only give us that additional information, but will give people greater confidence."

Police Commissioner William Bratton, who has been eyeing the new technology since 2005 in his days with the LAPD, said the pilot program will last for three months. During that time the largest department in the nation will navigate many of the thorny issues that police departments around the country are grappling with.

When Bratton first announced the pilot program at One Police Plaza in September he mentioned the extraordinary cost of storing the terabytes of data that will result from camera use. As the NYPD is set to begin its use of body cameras this week, the issue of storage still has not been worked out.

Comments by Bratton and his Deputy Commissioner of Information and Technology, Jessica Tisch, indicate the City will use cloud storage, a method of storing information remotely.

"There is no way for us to store the volume of data that we will be collecting on premise which means we will likely have to use a cloud solution the Commissioner was referring to, which means you pay by the amount of data that you store," Tisch said.

[Related: Pre-Pilot Program, a Test Run for One NYPD Body Camera]

Cloud storage has become much more commonplace in recent years, although security concerns regarding the relatively new technology have also cropped up. Tisch was not asked and did not address security concerns regarding the use of cloud technology.

Tisch said during her study of the LAPD body camera program their officers typically came back with four hours of video for a ten hour shift. She said the pilot program will give the department a good idea of how much storage they will need as the program expands and at that point they will be able to determine a cost estimate associated with storage.

In an interview in October, Captain Michael Skillern of the Houston Police Department said the 100 cameras his department was using captured roughly 1 terabyte of data per day. At the time, they were storing their data on physical servers, but Skillern said due to the large amount of data, they would be moving to a cloud service.

Another unanswered question is how long the NYPD would be keeping the data, another issue to be sorted out during the pilot program. Public Advocate Letitia James, who has led the push for the use of body cameras by the NYPD, said her office will be looking at policies around the country and working with civil liberty and advocacy groups to find best practices.

She urged the video data be stored "for as long as the statute of limitations for filing a claim against the department, which in New York is about three years."

James argues that the use of body cameras could save the city millions in settlement money. Last year the City spent $212 million in legal costs settling police-related lawsuits, according to James, and almost $1 billion in the last five years.

James also discussed access to video, another thorny issue that has been particularly sticky in Seattle. An anonymous requester has been testing the freedom of information laws by requesting police video from body cameras by submitting Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for "any and all videos" to departments around Washington State. He posts some of the videos on YouTube.

Due to privacy laws, the Seattle Police Department has to obscure some portions of the videos, a laborious process that the department says is unsustainable due to cost and time. As a result of this anonymous requester the Seattle Police Department is considering abandoning the program altogether.

Commissioner Bratton acknowledged the problems in Seattle at Wednesday's press conference, but stopped short of saying if the NYPD would be unable to handle similarly large volumes of requests.

When asked if the videos made during the pilot program would be available by FOIL request, Bratton, Tisch, and de Blasio did not directly answer the question.

"That is part of why we are doing the pilot to understand what the legal issues are to," de Blasio said. "We have a lot of lawyers. They will be looking at this."

He added, "The Commissioner raised the point, there are some ways that this could create an untenable situation in terms of someone requesting tens of thousands of hours of data when we are trying to keep up with it. We have to sort that out."

De Blasio said that while these details had not yet been ironed out, the only way to figure them out is to "get started down the road."

"We are dealing with a lot of unexplored territory on this issue that the public, you in the media, and we in the police profession and the courts for that matter don't fully understand," Commissioner Bratton said. "We are going to all learn together."

[Related: Pre-Pilot Program, a Test Run for One NYPD Body Camera]

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by Kristen Meriwether, Gotham Gazette
@MeriwetherK

The Commission Question: Would One Work for Legislative Pay Raises?


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State Sen. Brad Hoylman, center, is outspoken about legislator pay (photo: @bradhoylman)


New York state legislators haven't had a raise since 1999, when they traded major policy points like allowing the creation of a charter school system in the state for a whopping 36 percent pay hike. Now, with the days ticking down for this lame duck legislature to enact a raise for the next class, legislative leaders are looking to make another trade to hike their salaries and possibly that of executive staff and commissioners. It's a process that critics insist highlights Albany's quid pro quo nature.

Sen. Brad Hoylman, a Democrat from Manhattan, says the bargaining must look "terrible" to the public and that the practice is "intellectually dishonest." He says that there is major resistance to finding another way to do pay raises because "Some people don't want to give up the convenient trade to get big issues passed."

This year a bevy of issues have been linked to a potential legislative pay raise including a minimum wage hike; the DREAM Act; and major campaign finance reform. Republican Leader Dean Skelos has rejected calls for trades on those issues, but said he would support "other reforms" in trade.

"We haven't seen any proposal," said Michael Whyland, spokesman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. "The Speaker supports a pay raise for members." Spokespeople for Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Senate Republicans did not respond to requests for comment.

A minority of legislators, Albany denizens, and good government groups have quietly pushed for a commission on pay raises that would examine the pay levels of other similar positions in the state, inflation, and cost of living; and recommend salary adjustments every four years.

On Monday, Comptroller Tom DiNapoli announced his support for such a commission, telling reporters: "[A]s other governments have done [it] probably would make the most sense to have a commission take care of that question. It's something that probably should have been done a long time ago instead of happening at the end of the year with a lot of other horse trading being talked about."

Hoylman, who editorialized in support of a pay raise commission in the Daily News earlier this month told Gotham Gazette that a commission could address a number of concerns connected to pay raises.

"The commission would establish whether a raise was needed in the first place. There would be experts who would look at other government offices, consider cost of living, and other factors," said Hoylman, who would want the commission to include a limit on how much outside income a legislator could make and ban certain conflicts of interest.

Hoylman and good government groups point to the state's Quadrennial Commission on Judicial Pay Raises - a group of experts that meets every four years to examine judicial pay raises. The commission is made up of appointees by the Governor, legislative leaders, and Chief Judge. Their recommendations go into effect unless overruled by legislation passed by both houses of the Legislature and signed into law by the Governor.

Dick Dadey, executive director of good government group Citizens Union, has repeatedly called for any pay raise passed this month to be connected to a series of reforms including a quadrennial commission

Hoylman notes that California and Pennsylvania both have this type of commission, but that their legislatures are full time. New York legislators are the third-highest paid in the nation behind those two states, but New York legislators are considered part time.

California's commission actually trimmed legislative salaries during the state's budget crisis in 2009, but last year it recommended a 5.3 percent increase to the current $90,526 base salary.

In New York City, the mayor's commission recommends pay adjustments every four years. The City Council voted itself a raise in 2006. Members are currently paid a base salary of $112,500 a year, but can bring in unlimited amounts of outside income.

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick is currently in a showdown with the state Legislature in his state over salary recommendations by a commission created in this year's budget. The commission made up of academic leaders and business heads recommended raises for the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, and heads of both houses of the Legislature. The Governor would get a raise of over $30,000 and a housing stipend of $65,000. However, Patrick, who is leaving office, has refused to approve the raises unless the Legislature makes budget cuts to alleviate a major shortfall. So the commission has not done away with horse trading for raises.

"The commission would put an end to passing pay raises in any sort of legislative 'big ugly,'" said Dadey, referring to the end-of-session deals that often include all sorts of compromises. "But this is Albany, you are never going to remove politics from it completely."

E.J. McMahon of the Empire Center, a fiscal policy think tank, told Gotham Gazette he does not support a pay commission. "I would resist the gimmick of having some commission set in motion automatic pay increases," said McMahon. "This is something that should be voted on each discrete time it is done."

While any commission on pay raises would likely be touted as independent, the track record of other commissions in Albany indicates that interested parties would stack it with their lackies in order to get the results they desire.

Hoylman said that he is not in direct opposition to pay hikes for legislators and those in other government positions - he just wants to change the process by which they are decided. "Some of my colleagues are literally scraping by as the only breadwinner in the family. Seventy-nine thousand dollars is not a lot of money if it is the only income for a family living in the city or the suburbs. The commission needs to establish the need [for a pay raise] to give the public confidence."

Hoylman also echoed statements made by Cuomo about executive staff and Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman on judges, saying, "There is the thought that a better salary could attract better candidates."

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by David King, Albany editor, Gotham Gazette
@DavidHowardKing

Note: Gotham Gazette is an independent publication of Citizens Union Foundation, sister organization of Citizens Union

New City Report Recommends Against Contract Goals for Veteran Owned Businesses


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photo: @USArmyReserve


On a day when New York military veterans received welcome news regarding contract procurement at the state level, those looking to do business with New York City did not fare so well.

A report released on Tuesday, December 2 by a trio of city agencies recommends against creating contract procurement goals for businesses owned by service-disabled veterans, something advocates have been pushing for the last several years. The report, A Roadmap for Supporting Veteran Businesses, was authored by the Department of Small Business Services (SBS), the Mayor's Office of Contract Procurement, and the Mayor's Office of Veterans' Affairs.

"Given the limited pool of veteran owned companies able to do business with the City and the availability of other City certification programs like M/WBE and EBE, a goals program for veterans is not recommended at this time," the report says.

By contrast, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Tuesday that 21 businesses qualified under the newly created Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Business Act, which passed the State Legislature in May. The act sets the State goal of six percent of State contracts going to veteran-owned businesses. At the federal level, the goal is three percent.

For years, advocates in New York City have been fighting to see a procurement goal for the City, which last year spent $17.8 billion on vendor contracts. Goals for minority- and women-owned businesses have been in place for years, although a recent report by Comptroller Scott Stringer showed most City agencies are failing to meet those goals.

A year ago, in December of 2013, the City Council passed Local Law 144 of 2013 which requires SBS to conduct a study to "analyze veteran owned business enterprises and opportunities for such business enterprises in city procurement." The report was due to the City Council on December 1 of this year and was made public late Tuesday. It will be the subject of an upcoming city council hearing.

The report cites a small population of veterans in New York City, saying the 235,000 veterans represents just 2.3 percent of the city's 8.4 million residents. The report shows Austin, Texas as a superior example with an 11.8 percent veteran population, but does not note that the figure only represents roughly 38,000 veterans due to Austin having a much smaller overall population than New York.

Using a survey of 150 veteran business owners (VBO) conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the City estimates a veteran business owner population of approximately 15,400. It estimates only 700 city veterans would be eligible under the service-disabled designation used by the state and federal governments.

The report notes the difficulty of certification processes, which "would require the type of process veterans expressed concerns about in a survey." A certification process was designed and implemented in six months in New York State and has been ongoing at the federal level since the late 1990s. Cities such as San Antonio, Nashville, and Chicago have all implemented certification processes for their own veteran-owned business procurement goals.

The report includes seven recommendations for increasing outreach to veterans, better training VBOs on how to do business with the City, and creating a designation for VBOs who wish to be potential vendors with the City. There is currently no way for the Mayor's Office of Contract Services to track which businesses are veteran owned, so the recommendation in this regard would allow the City to eventually obtain a more accurate measure than the survey.

One of the recommendations suggests providing access to M/WBE or EBE certification for veterans. There is currently no exclusion for veterans to certify as M/WBE or EBE so long as they qualify, but as the story of a veteran recently profiled by Gotham Gazette shows, M/WBE and EBE categorization can leave some veterans out in the cold.

Retired Army Captain Scott Davidson recently headquartered his business, Veteran Soldier Management Service, in New York and hoped to do business with the City as a service-disabled veteran. But Davidson, who is a white male, found no contract opportunities. In fact, one procurement officer suggested he find a woman or person of color to take over ownership of his business so he could take advantage of the M/WBE program.

Davidson spoke to Gotham Gazette by phone Tuesday evening, calling the report's recommendation "shocking."

"Thank God we have federal work, because that is where we are succeeding tremendously," Davidson said. "But I can do that anywhere. I don't need to do that in New York."

He added, "[Being a veteran] is the only status that is earned. It is sad to see that is not recognized."

The report offers an odd dichotomy indicating in multiple instances how the City must choose to focus on contract procurement for veterans or helping VBOs start and/or maintain businesses, but not recommending the setting of procurement goals. The City has created and maintained multiple programs to help veterans find employment and for helping veteran-owned businesses, including the Workforce1 Veterans Employment Initiative, and NYC Business Solutions (which is not veteran specific, but can help veterans).

Workforce1 has connected veterans and military spouses to more than 10,000 career development and training services and nearly 2,500 job opportunities since July of 2012, according to the report. This has led to a 150 percent increase in veterans matched to employment annually since 2011.

But the report gives no indication of the resources (manpower or dollars) that it would take to implement a procurement goals program, nor, more importantly, does it explain why setting these goals would have negative effects, whether on the ability of SBS or other agencies to help veterans with employment or business opportunities or some other kind.

At a recent city council committee hearing on an unrelated veterans issues, Councilman Eric Ulrich, chair of the council veterans committee, mentioned his committee would be holding a hearing on this report and the issue of contract procurement on December 15. The hearing is on the council website calendar, though no agenda has been included as of press time.

"The Department of Small Business Services has prepared a realistic roadmap for helping veteran entrepreneurs in our city," Ulrich said of the report by email Tuesday. "While we can always do more, I believe this is a positive step in the right direction and one that will allow us to assist veteran business owners who wish to do business with the city." 

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by Kristen Meriwether, Gotham Gazette
@MeriwetherK

Justice Tingling, Who Struck Down 'Soda Ban,' Named New York County Clerk


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Hon. Milton Tingling has been named the new New York County Clerk (photo: uft.org)


The judge who put the brakes on Mayor Bloomberg's 'soda ban' will be the next New York County Clerk.

State Supreme Court Justice Milton A. Tingling was appointed County Clerk last week by the Appellate Division, replacing Norman Goodman, who has served as clerk for 45 years. Tingling will take office on January 1.

It seems unlikely that Tingling, 61, will have a dramatic effect on city policy as County Clerk, which is largely a managerial role. The clerk summons Manhattanites for jury duty, keeps court records, and collects revenue. A clerk's most visible platform might be his or her signature at the bottom of every jury summons.

Goodman, 90, told the New York Law Journal he was surprised that Tingling wanted the clerk job, as Tingling was re-elected to a second term on the Supreme Court just last month. Both County Clerk and State Supreme Court Judge come with a salary of $174,000 a year.

Tingling's highest-profile decision was his 2013 rejection of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's proposed regulation of large sugary beverages. He ruled that Health Department didn't have authority to enforce the ban, which would have made it illegal for some businesses to sell some sugary drinks in containers larger than 16 ounces.

The proposed regulation was "arbitrary and capricious" because it would apply only to some businesses and only some sugary drinks, Tingling wrote in his decision, adding that the regulation would "eviscerate" the separation of powers between the Mayor and the City Council.

"Such an evisceration has the potential to be more troubling than sugar sweetened beverages," Tingling wrote.

Another of Tingling's rulings, in 2010, ended the state practice of shackling juvenile offenders while taking them to court.

Tingling was nominated for his new job by State Assembly Member and County Democratic Party Chair Keith Wright, a childhood friend. Wright himself had been rumored for the position, though some say he has his eye on Rep. Charles Rangel's congressional seat.

Both sons of judges, Tingling and Wright are old friends who went to rival New York City high schools – Tingling to Horace Mann and Wright to Fieldston.

"He was a better football player than I was, used to come over and try and steal all of our girls," Wright, who represents Harlem, told Gotham Gazette. "He became a very talented lawyer and a great judge."

The New York Post reported last month that Wright was considering applying for the job.

"I don't know where the New York Post got that from, but they didn't call me," Wright said.

Tingling, who grew up in Washington Heights, also has political connections with other Upper Manhattan elected officials. Former Mayor David Dinkins chaired his unsuccessful 2008 campaign for Surrogate's Court judge, Rangel was that campaign's honorary chair, and longtime State Assembly Member Herman Farrell supported Tingling in his first election.

Tingling also donated to the campaign of City Council Member Inez Dickens, State Board of Elections records show.

Tingling did not respond to a request for comment.

He served as a Civil Court Judge from 1996 to 2000, and a Supreme Court Justice since then. Tingling graduated from Brown University and earned his J.D. from North Carolina Central University School of Law.

In a statement announcing Tingling's appointment as the next County Clerk, Appellate Court Presiding Justice Luis Gonzalez said, "Justice Tingling has distinguished himself as an able jurist and is admired for his high commitment to the judiciary and fair administration of justice."

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by Casey Tolan, Gotham Gazette
@CaseyTolan 

Hailing Higher Tax Revenue, City Lowers Expected Taxi Haul


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Taxis (photo: @nyctaxi)


NEW YORK—When Mayor de Blasio signed his first executive budget at the end of June, the City was expecting income of $766 million from the sale of 550 taxi medallions. But five months later, those estimates have been substantially reduced. According to the November Financial Plan released Tuesday, the City is now forecasting $506 million less coming into City coffers this fiscal year.

Officials from the city's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) attributed the dip to more realistic planning, not a shaky medallion market or competition from startups Uber and Lyft.

"The original plan was very aggressive," an official from OMB said at a budget briefing on Tuesday. "Actually, no one has ever seen a plan like that before in New York City. This is a much more realistic plan."

Instead of selling 550 taxi medallions this fiscal year (FY 2015), the City will only sell 200. The plan calls for the sale of 350 medallions in each fiscal year from 2016 through 2019. The $1.5 billion projected revenue from medallion sales by fiscal year 2018 remains the same, according to OMB.

Medallions are not cheap, with the average price at roughly $1 million. In February of this year the City sold 168 medallions with the average winning bid at $863,000. In March it sold an additional 32 with an average price of $2.3 million.

The "aggressive" nature of the original plan was known and approved by de Blasio's budget team in June, so what's changed? In addition to heeding warning from the Financial Control Board about what was clearly an accelerated plan, officials from OMB cite a much lengthier than anticipated process to close on medallion sales.

Part of that longer process is due to the fact that the new medallions being sold must be for wheelchair accessible taxis, a determination recently made after years of litigation. Those vehicles take longer to build, something apparently not originally factored in.

The City was also awaiting final approval from Albany regarding its Accessibility Plan, which the City must follow to make the entire fleet of over 13,000 taxis wheelchair accessible by 2020. Plan approval was needed to move forward with more than 400 medallion sales and was finally given by state lawmakers in August. The City spent the months since the passage of its budget looking at past schedules and factoring in the Accessibility Plan to formulate a new roadmap.

"We had the luxury of being able to do all that research into past medallion sales scheduling and we thought it was the smarter, wiser way to go considering the new dynamic of the accessible medallions," Allan Fromberg, spokesperson for the city's Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) said by phone Tuesday evening of the new plan.

Unspoken at the budget briefing were the fiscal realities surrounding the taxi medallion sales. When then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg positioned medallion sales into his final two budgets, the city was facing a much different fiscal picture.

The medallion sales were sorely needed to plug budget gaps that plagued the city, a byproduct of the Great Recession and higher healthcare and pension costs. As we near the end of the 2014 calendar year, the financial state of the City is stronger than it has been thanks in large part to a bullish stock market and better than expected tax revenue. Out-year budget gaps are below historic averages, meaning the medallion sales are less of a budget lynchpin and more of a bonus - or contingency plan.

"Thankfully we are at a place, budgetarily, where we can make smart decisions based on policy and good regulatory practice rather than budgetary needs," Fromberg said.

While outlook still seems bright for medallion sales, there is the great unknown of how new tech companies like Uber and Lyft will affect the medallion market in the future. The City is hedging its bet that medallion sales, which have climbed exponentially in the last decade, will, at the very least, stay at recent levels.

OMB projects each medallion will sell for the same between now and the end of the Financial Plan, which runs through fiscal year 2018. Gotham Gazette asked OMB for that budget figure, but was referred to TLC. A spokesperson for TLC could not provide the figure, but said it was a conservative estimate.

Uber and Lyft have only recently begun operating in New York City and in the coming years even more competition could be introduced into the marketplace.

Gotham Gazette asked OMB at the budget briefing if the emergence of Uber and Lyft played a factor into the revision of the numbers. The question was referred to TLC.

Fromberg said TLC "looked at a lot of factors" when coming to new renderings.

"I wouldn't point to one particular company or mode of transportation. I think we looked at a broad swath of things," Fromberg said. "But at the end of the day it really did just come down to smart scheduling."

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by Kristen Meriwether, Gotham Gazette
@MeriwetherK

Legislators, Advocates: Dream Act On Cuomo's Shoulders Now


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Gov. Cuomo marches in the Columbus Day Parade (photo: Governo's Office via flickr)


Despite major Republican victories across the state (and country), a number of Latino legislators and immigrant advocates say they expect New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to make the DREAM Act a priority next legislative session.

These stakeholders expect action not only because Cuomo campaigned on the issue and included mention of it in his victory speech, but because urban districts delivered big for him during the Democratic primary and general elections while other areas of the state showed little enthusiasm for his re-election.

"No one has gotten assurances," said one source who asked for anonymity, "But we are pretty bullish on this. The fact that the Senate Democrats lost hoists the responsibility on the governor. There was a chance last year that [State Senator Jeff] Klein could get something through, but the situation in the Senate is so bad that the DREAM Act is screwed without Cuomo's leadership."

Latino legislators began a push to make the DREAM Act part of the governor's next budget proposal during the post-election Somos Conference in Puerto Rico. The legislation would allow the State to provide college tuition assistance to undocumented immigrants going to school in New York.

This past March, during the Albany iteration of the Somos conference, legislators made a similar effort. At that time, Cuomo refused to agree to put the act in his fiscal year 2015 budget, but pledged to continue to support the act. The bill came to a rushed Senate vote last year and failed 30-29.

Sen. Jose Peralta, the lead sponsor of the DREAM Act in the Senate, told a crowd gathered to watch President Barack Obama's announcement of his executive order on immigration last week that he believed Cuomo would make the DREAM Act part of his executive budget, according to the New York Observer. However, in a subsequent interview with Gotham Gazette, Peralta said it was "too early to make predictions."

Sen. Adriano Espaillat said he wants Cuomo to include the DREAM Act in his next budget and says that past bipartisan achievements have demonstrated a way forward on the DREAM Act. "While Senate Republicans have repeatedly taken anti-immigrant positions, I am optimistic we can pass a DREAM Act in 2015," Espaillat told Gotham Gazette. "My 2002 legislation allowing undocumented immigrants to qualify for reduced tuition at CUNY and SUNY schools passed a Republican-controlled Senate almost unanimously, and Republicans have been pressured before in allowing successful votes on marriage equality and gun violence protections."

Republican leader Sen. Dean Skelos refused to link The DREAM Act to legislative pay raises that have been discussed this month. "We're not doing the Dream Act, we're not doing minimum wage, we're not doing taxpayer financing," Skelos told reporters earlier this month when asked about a possible deal on legislative pay raises. Skelos has lumped the DREAM Act into Mayor Bill de Blasio's "liberal agenda" and de Blasio invested significant effort into ousting Republicans from the majority this election season - efforts that Skelos heavily criticized. And there's no indication that Republicans have any intention of letting that go.

On top of that, a number of Senate Republicans ran against the DREAM Act and other issues backed by New York City Democrats.

States such as Texas and California already have their own DREAM Acts on the books. Meanwhile, as elsewhere, Latino voters are becoming more of a force in New York state politics. Opponents of the act claim it would divert tuition assistance away from citizens.

The current version of the legislation sponsored by Peralta would establish a DREAM Fund commission that would be tasked with finding private money for scholarships for immigrant children. The commission would not be supported with state funds. Similar legislation has been pushed by Sens. Klein and Espaillat.

Cuomo made The DREAM Act a key part of his campaign literature that was distributed in New York City and mentioned the act prominently during campaign stops in the five boroughs. And, on election night in November, Cuomo pledged, "We are going to pass the Women's Equality Act. We are going to pass public finance. We are going to pass the DREAM Act."

Advocacy groups like Make the Road New York staged protests at some of Cuomo's campaign stops and urged voters to make it clear to Cuomo that their support hinged on his commitment to passing the act.

Peralta said of himself and his fellow Democrats, "Despite the Republican wave we still have 30 votes in the Senate so [the bill] could still come to the floor. It could be in the budget, but it is too early to tell."

However, a number of sources in the Democratic conference insist that Cuomo will be the one to initiate action this year. They point out that Cuomo won by his highest margins in the Bronx and basically has the electoral profile of "a liberal New York City Democrat."

Cuomo dominated his primary opponent, Fordham law professor Zephyr Teachout, in the Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn, but she ran up votes against him in upstate counties like Albany, Greene, Ulster and Dutchess County.

In the general, Cuomo won the Bronx 86.6 percent to Astorino's 11 percent. He won Brooklyn 78.8 percent to Astorino's 15.5 percent. Cuomo performed much worse upstate in traditionally liberal Albany County, winning 44 percent to Astorino's 41.9 percent and Howie Hawkins' 12.9 percent. Cuomo won Eerie county, home to Buffalo, by only a few percentage points and lost Niagara County in Western New York 42 percent to Astorino's 54.7 percent.

"Despite being a fiscal hawk, the governor really didn't do well with the kind of voters he would lose if he supported The DREAM Act," said one Democratic source. "He already lost them."

Scenarios being pushed by DREAM supporters include one whereby Cuomo introduces the act as part of the budget with the caveat that the program is phased in so that funding for the program does not immediately impact the fiscal picture. They imagine the governor and Legislature might negotiate a slightly "watered down" version of the act with Senate Republicans signing on in exchange for something most dear to them.

Peralta isn't thrilled by the prospect. "I don't know how much more watered down it could get. I don't know if I could support that as a sponsor," he said.

Legislators are preparing for the possibility that there could be significant back and forth on the DREAM Act in budget negotiations and that Cuomo may look to them to be the faces of the debate as he focuses on the bipartisan nature of any deal.

Some lawmakers believe Cuomo will be looking to make a splash on immigration issues this year to show he can marshall bipartisan effort on issues that are paralyzed by partisan bickering in Congress. They expect Cuomo sees 2015 as the year to act with 2016 another legislative election year and federal action always possible, especially as the parties seek to woo Latino voters heading into the next presidential and congressional contests. A Cuomo spokesperson did not return a request for comment.

Many Senate Democrats are still holding out hope around the future of Klein's IDC (Independent Democratic Conference). They note that mainline Democratic leader Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins has had talks with Klein and the IDC about a possible partnership and that the Republicans and the IDC have not formally announced any agreement. Republicans do not need the IDC to control the chamber this year but support would make things a lot easier. And, an agreement like one being rumored that would see the IDC agree to coalesce with Republicans through 2016 might serve as a firewall against a Democratic surge fueled by a Hillary Clinton presidential run.

Advocates say that action on the DREAM Act might actually bolster Republicans chances of holding on to the majority come 2016 because it will endear them to Latino constituents.

Earlier this month NYU announced it will allow undocumented students who have lived in the state for three years to apply for financial aid. Assembly Member Francisco Moya, lead sponsor of the DREAM Act in the Assembly, touted NYU's move in a statement: "I applaud New York University for taking this bold step forward. Although we must still act on the state level to pass the DREAM Act, so that all of New York's students are able to apply for financial aid, NYU's decision to act with compassion and vision is to be commended."

***
by David King, Albany editor, Gotham Gazette
@DavidHowardKing

Council Moves to Enhance Voter Registration Through City Agencies


Jumaane Williams

CM Jumaane Williams at a city council hearing (photo: William Alatriste)


At a hearing Monday, the New York City Council's Committee on Governmental Operations approved the latest drafts of two bills that enhance the responsibility of city agencies to conduct voter registration and a resolution calling for the State Legislature to pass similar legislation.

These measures are an attempt by the Council to improve the compliance of City agencies with Local Law 29, also known as the Pro-Voter Law, which was passed in 2000. The law requires 19 city agencies to handle voter registration applications for customers.

The new legislation is headed to the full Council for a vote on Tuesday and then, if passed as expected, to the desk of Mayor Bill de Blasio. The bills expand the mandate of the Pro-Voter law to seven additional agencies and create a standard for enforcing the law, including required semi-annual reports from participating agencies. Implementation of the existing law has proven to be a problem, with city agencies failing to uphold their responsibilities to offer registration forms to New Yorkers doing other business with the City.

The accompanying resolution calls upon the State Legislature to augment existing agency-assisted registration laws to include codes on registration forms that would help track agency performance and registration statistics.

Council Member Ben Kallos, chair of what he called the "good government committee," introduced Intro 493 A which expands scope of the Pro-Voter law and sets a deadline of December 1, 2015 for agencies to integrate their forms with voter registration.

The second bill, Intro 356 A, which establishes reporting requirements for the agencies, and the accompanying resolution, were introduced by Council Member Jumaane Williams.

"The last election was abysmal," Williams said of voter turnout in response to questions from Gotham Gazette. Stating that the city and state are falling behind in civic participation, he said, "This should be an issue that all parties - Republicans, Democrats, third parties - every party should be working to increase participation."

The push for increased voter registration began in July with Mayor de Blasio's Directive 1, which ordered agencies under the Pro-Voter law mandate to create plans for implementing the law. Then, in October, the City Council introduced the two new bills in response to a report released by a coalition of good government groups which showed the City's lax compliance with Local Law 29.

According to the report, 84 percent of clients at 14 of these agencies were not provided registration applications when they should have been. Additionally, only 2 out of 5 applicants with limited English proficiency were given translated applications, and agents were not trained in the application process.The report was compiled by the Pro-Voter Law Coalition, comprised of the Center for Popular Democracy (CPD), the Brennan Center for Justice at the NYU School of Law, Citizens Union of the City of New York, and the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG). Their investigation was aided by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund.

The report's importance is highlighted by the fact that over 30 percent of New Yorkers who were interviewed at the agencies were not registered to vote.

The de Blasio administration initially rejected the two bills over privacy concerns and on the grounds that they came too close on the heels of Directive 1 and wishing to see agencies given more time to comply. Taking those concerns into consideration, changes were made to Williams' bill on reporting mandates. Williams disagreed with the administration but eventually came around to ensure changes were made in the proposal which will protect applicants' information while still allowing the Board of Elections to track registration data from agencies.

"I'm expecting (the) resolution to have a serious impact in Albany," said Council Member Kallos to Gotham Gazette. "Whether it's the Assembly or the Senate, we can all agree that government works better when we measure what its doing and this will take a step towards that."

Representatives of the good government groups that authored the report also testified at the hearing. Steven Carbo, director of Voting Rights and Democracy Initiatives at CPD praised the proposals, asserting, "Likely hundreds of thousands, if not millions of eligible voters were never given the opportunity to register to vote over the years, perpetuating regrettably low rates of voter registration in New York particularly among lower income, of color and immigrant citizens," he said.

Peggy Farber, legislative counsel for Citizens Union, called the proposals "meaningful steps to improve the pro-voter law, to codify the important work of the administration."

On Tuesday, the bills and the resolution will head to the full Council for a vote at the Stated Meeting, where they are very likely to pass.

***
by Samar Khurshid, Gotham Gazette
@samarkhurshid

Note: Gotham Gazette is an independent publication of Citizens Union Foundation, sister organization of Citizens Union

Text Me the Money: New Form of Donations Coming to City Campaign Finance Program


Stringer Dunham event

Come 2017, Lena Dunham will be able to text $10 (or more) to Scott Stringer (photo: Andrew Walker/Getty)


NEW YORK—We are a few years from the local elections of 2017, but changes to the campaign fundraising process are well underway.

By year's end the New York City Campaign Finance Board (CFB) is expected to pass new rules that will govern how campaigns accept contributions via text message. The rules stem from Local Law 11 of 2013 which allows candidates running for local offices to accept contributions through what is typically a cell-phone-based format. If a text-message donor is a New York City resident, the given funds will be eligible for public matching dollars from the CFB.

"Text message contributions provide candidates with the potential to engage a wider set of contributors and the Board with an opportunity to expand the reach of New York City's landmark small donor matching funds program," CFB Chair Rose Gill Hearn said on Monday at a public hearing on the proposed rules. "There are, however, practical challenges to text message fundraising."

The CFB held Monday's hearing on the proposed rules to address some of those challenges with stakeholders. The proposed rules will limit text message contributions to $99, a cap the CFB says will help ensure eligibility compliance. There was no objection to the donation limit at Monday's hearing, but there was a hearty discussion about the rules regarding the timing of texted contributions and how candidates will verify donors are using their own phones.

Text message contributions will be fairly easy to make, but the process is more complex than a simple credit card or cash donation. For starters, the fees for such donations are exponentially higher than credit card fees, in some cases reaching 50 percent. Non-profits like the Red Cross, which was among the first to use text message donations in 2010 following the disastrous earthquake in Haiti, are able to negotiate a lower rate because of their humanitarian missions.

But campaigns do not have that ability (at least not yet). The question for the CFB is how to take a fee into account when establishing limits and matching funds. With credit card fees, which are significantly lower than text messaging fees, the CFB currently counts the amount delivered to the candidate, not the original donation amount. The fee is considered an expense and goes against candidate spending limits. When considering matching funds, the CFB matches the full contribution to the candidate, not what is delivered after fees are deducted.

"Though there are strong advantages to text contributions, there are certain drawbacks to new technology," Peggy Farber, legislative counsel for Citizens Union, said in her written testimony. "The public should not compensate for drawbacks in service."

Citizens Union, a good government group, wants to see the credit card rules continue with text messaging. Since the technology is new, it is unlikely the CFB will stray far from its current rules, although that could change before 2017 when text message donations may be used widely.

Another thorny issue the CFB must consider is the timing of its release of matching funds. Text message donations are not paid to campaigns until the cell phone bill of the donor is paid, leaving a much larger gap than traditional credit card or cash donations.

To help get money to campaigns faster a third party messaging vendor is often used. The messaging vendor buys a campaign's accounts receivables at a discount, giving the campaign a portion of texted donations up front. Once the cell phone bill is paid and the balance received, the messaging vendor gives the rest to the campaign (this is, in part, why fees are so high on text message donations).

The CFB will have to decide when eligible funds are to be matched: at the time of donation, when the messaging vendor pays the campaign, or when the cell phone bill is paid. No decision on this matter was reached at Monday's hearing, but guidance is expected in the final rules.

(All of the specifics of the CFB's current public matching fund program can be found in its website.)

Lauren George, associate director of Common Cause New York, another good government group, suggested campaigns focus on soliciting text message donations earlier in election season to allow for the longer process.

"Candidates who reach their matchable contribution limit earlier in the campaign will receive their matching funds earlier, alleviating the end-of-campaign scrambles and delay, but will also be freed up to engage in that most effective campaign tool, extensive voter contact," George said.

Verification, especially for funds a candidate is trying to have matched, will be a critical step in the text message donation process. But how that will be done is still up in the air - simply using the name and address on the cell phone bill as verification does not always work.

Many cell phone users are a part of family plans where the bill comes under one name and address, but users may live elsewhere. Robert Bishop, a lawyer representing several candidate committees, pointed to his own family plan with his wife and three daughters as an example. The bill is in his name, but his children live all over the country.

"Taking into account the overwhelming popularity of family plans among the wireless community, the Board should define a registered user as not only the plan's subscriber but also the users whose phone numbers are covered by the account," Bishop said in his written testimony.

The Board is expected to adopt a set of rules for text message donations by the end of this year, but those rules may change drastically depending on how the technology is used in the 2016 presidential election. In 2012, President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney both accepted text message donations. They were used, though, on a very small scale because the Federal Election Commission approved the regulations only a few months before Election Day.

As potential presidential candidates begin to ramp up their fundraising, text message donations are expected to play a factor in fundraising, although it is too early to tell how much of one. How the issues the CFB is facing locally are dealt with at the federal level could have a major impact on how the rules shake out in New York City for 2017.

"A lot of innovation for campaign technology is driven by the presidential campaigns," Eric Friedman, assistant executive director for public affairs, said following Monday's hearing. "[Text message donations] may need to go through 2016 for the market to change."

That could mean finding a way to lower fees or identifying an easier verification process.

"It is on us to make it as easy as possible so everyone can take advantage," Friedman said.

***
by Kristen Meriwether, Gotham Gazette
@MeriwetherK

Note: Gotham Gazette is an independent publication of Citizens Union Foundation, sister organization of Citizens Union

The Week Ahead in New York Politics, November 30


New York City Hall

New York City Hall


What to watch for this week in New York politics:

This week sees a fairly busy schedule of committee hearings at the City Council beginning on Tuesday, with the first December Stated Meeting scheduled for Monday, Dec. 8.

We're continuing the watch for word from the Staten Island special grand jury convened by District Attorney Dan Donovan in the aftermath of the death of Eric Garner. We should know soon if the grand jury is recommending charges against the police officer whose chokehold around Garner's neck led to Garner's death. We're also watching for more fallout from the killing of Akai Gurley, an unarmed black man shot by a police officer in the stairwell of a NYCHA building in Brooklyn. The City Council Committee on Public Housing, chaired by Council Member Ritchie Torres, will hold a hearing Tuesday, Dec. 9 on "The Relationship between Lighting and Safety in the Wake of the Akai Gurley Shooting."

Also watch this week for word of a special legislative session in Albany, where lawmakers may be called to look at lame-duck legislation, including a pay raise for the next Legislature (which will look very much like the current one, of course). If this special session is indeed called, we may very well see those elected to fill vacant Assembly and Senate seats sworn in early so that they can vote on any end-of-year bills.

Mayor Bill de Blasio begins his week delivering "remarks at the World AIDS Day event at the Apollo Theatre." De Blasio then heads to Washington, D.C., where he "will meet with President Obama and elected officials, community and faith leaders, and law enforcement officials in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building to discuss how communities and law enforcement can work together to build trust to strengthen neighborhoods across the country; the Vice President will also attend."

City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito also begins her week speaking at the World AIDS Day event; as do Public Advocate Tish James and Comptroller Scott Stringer. Then, Stringer "visits constituents at Hamilton Grange Senior Center [and] the Lt. Joseph P. Kennedy Senior Center." In the evening, Stringer "attends West Side Federation of Neighborhood and Block Associations Annual Holiday Party," all according to his public schedule.

Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña begins her week with a tour of "a classroom with Deputy Mayor Richard Buery at P.S. 15, a community school in Manhattan. She will then host a press conference to make an announcement."

What to watch for this week in detail:

Monday, Dec. 1
The League of Conservation Voters will host its annual New York Dinner on Monday, December 1, featuring Hillary Clinton, and honoring the retiring president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, Frances Beinecke.

Also Monday evening, Citizen Action of New York's annual gala. The event will feature Attorney General Eric Schneiderman as a speaker and will honor former Citizen Action board member Catherine Abate; Eddie Bautista of the NYC Environmental Justice Alliance; Dr. Joan Mandle of Democracy Matters; and John Samuelson of TWU Local 100. The host committee is a long list of Democratic elected officials, activists, and organizations.

And on Monday evening, Council Member Carlos Menchaca is hosting a "meeting and community conversation on the proposed plan for the redevelopment of the Sunset Park Library. The proposal consists of a new and larger library and roughly 50 units of housing, all of which would be affordable and accessible to our community."

Monday is also World AIDS Day.

Tuesday, Dec. 2
The City Council schedule for Tuesday, December 2, is set to include: the Committee on Juvenile Justice will meet for an oversight hearing regarding "Examining DYFJ's Juvenile Justice Oversight Board"; and the Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises will hold an oversight hearing on "Cablevision Franchise Agreement and Collective Bargaining."

Tuesday morning, the CUNY Graduate Center will host a seminar looking at the implementation of universal free lunch in all New York City middle schools: "This fall, universal free lunch was implemented in all New York City middle schools, feeding 160,000 middle school children in grades six through eight. At this seminar we'll discuss progress, challenges, successes and the way forward."

On Tuesday at noon, there is said to be a rally "Billionaires Bought Our Government, Now They Want to Take Control of Our Schools" on the steps of Tweed Courthouse, headquarters of the city Department of Education.

Community Voices Heard will hold its annual Shirley Chisholm "Lights of Freedom" Awards dinner on Tuesday evening, Dec. 2, celebrating "the hard work of our honorees and members who have been fighting for justice and equality for all low income and working New Yorkers" and honoring NYS Senator and Democratic Conference Leader, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, among others. The event's host committee includes Co-Chair and New York State Senator Gustavo Rivera; Council Members Lander, Rosenthal, Mark-Viverito, and Torres; and Assembly Member-Elect Michael Blake, among others.

Tuesday evening, "2014 Elections and Looking Forward to 2016"..."A progressive conversation" featuring: Zephyr Teachout - Gubernatorial Candidate for Democratic and WFP Party Nominations; Gloria Mattera - Green Party; Wilfredo Larancuent - International Vice President Workers United/SEIU; and Daniel Altschuler - Make the Road Action Fund, WFP Secretary.

Tuesday evening will see the latest installment of the popular monthly NY Tech Meetup in Manhattan: "Join fellow technologists for an evening of live demos from companies developing great technology in New York."

Also Tuesday evening, Comptroller Stringer is hosting a Jewish Heritage & Culture Celebration.

Tuesday is also Giving Tuesday.

Wednesday, Dec. 3
Wednesday will feature the "2014 Campaign Roundtables: Reflecting on the NYS Governor and State Senate Races" at the New School, featuring two impressive panels:

Panel on the 2014 Governor's race: 9 am to 10:45 am, moderated by Rob George, The New York Post:

  • Kate Albright-Hanna, communications director, Teachout campaign
  • Alexis Grenell, City & State
  • Peter Kauffmann, senior advisor, NYS Democratic Committee
  • Michael Lawler, campaign manager, Astorino campaign
  • Brian Murphy, CUNY Baruch College
  • William O'Reilly, consultant, Astorino campaign
  • Jessica Proud, spokesperson, Astorinio campaign
  • Zephyr Teachout, Democratic primary candidate
  • Matt Wing, Cuomo communications director

Panel on the NYS Senate Race race: 11 am to 12:30 pm, Moderated by: Jeff Smith, assistant professor of politics and advocacy, The New School, and Brigid Bergin, WNYC Radio:

  • Gerald Benjamin, SUNY New Paltz
  • Tom Doherty, Mercury strategy firm
  • Blair Horner, New York Public Interest Research Group
  • Naomi Konst, The Accountability Project
  • Ben Lazarus, StudentsFirstNY
  • Janos Marton, former special counsel, Moreland Commission
  • David Nir, Daily Kos
  • Jeff Plaut Democratic pollster
  • Basil Smikle, Basil Smikle Associates

Wednesday morning will see "Diane Ravitch on the Uses and Abuses of Education Data" at the CUNY School of Journalism: "Education historian Diane Ravitch, Research Professor of Education at New York University, is one of the nation's leading scholars warning about the uses and abuses of testing, privatization, charter schools and other education strategies. In conversation with Prof. Andrea Gabor of Baruch College and Errol Louis of the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, Ravitch will talk about the crisis inflicted on public education in the name of reform."

Wednesday will also feature the Manhattan Institute Book Forum: Lessons of Hope: How to Fix Our Schools, with the author and former chancellor of the New York City schools Joel Klein: "In this revealing and provocative memoir, the former chancellor of the New York City schools offers the behind-the-scenes story of the city's dramatic campaign to improve public education, and an inspiring blueprint for national reform."

Wednesday's City Council schedule will include: a meeting of the Committee on Civil Rights to examine a bill aimed at "Prohibiting discrimination based on one's arrest record or criminal conviction"; a meeting of the Committee on Transportation regarding oversight of "App Technology and the Transformation of the Taxi and For-Hire Industries" and evaluation of a bill aimed at "Removing the off-street parking requirement for base station licenses."

Prior to that civil rights committee hearing, there will be a Fair Chance Act Rally at 9 a.m. on the steps of City Hall.

In honor of World AIDS Day there will be a City Council event Wednesday evening at City Hall to commemorate the day, with City Council Speaker Mark-Viverito, Council Member Corey Johnson, the Council's LGBT Caucus, and others.

An event on Wednesday evening: "The Responsive City: In collaboration with the Program on Profits and Purpose at New America."

Thursday, Dec. 4
Thursday's City Council Schedule will include: a meeting of the Committee on General Welfare regarding oversight of " EarlyLearn NYC" and a meeting of the Committee on Environmental Protection regarding the oversight of "Citywide Localized Flooding" and consideration of a bill in relation to "Filing semi-annual reports on catch basin cleanup and maintenance."

Thursday will see "Rebuilding Our Neighborhoods: The Koch Plan 25 Years Later: Join the Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development and JPMorgan Chase, with Special Speakers for a policy conference on the 25th anniversary of the historic Koch affordable housing plan and the lessons it holds for today's NYC housing policy. The conference will honor the very first affordable housing Financed with the LIHTC program – Equality House – built on the Lower East Side by Asian Americans for Equality (AAFE)."

SCEC Demo Night will also be Thursday, December 4th: "Interested in learning how teams of NYC teachers are evaluating edtech tools based on real classroom challenges? Come hear from the EdTech Evaluation Fellows about their emerging practices and lessons learned and see their matched companies demo their products. You might just find like-minded teachers and new solutions to common education challenges."

Also look for "Invisible Child: One Year Later," an event at Brooklyn Historical Society that will follow up on the important New York Times series focused on a young homeless girl, Dasani Coates. WNYC's Andrea Bernstein will speak with Andrea Elliot, the author of the Times series, and one of Dasani's teachers.

On Thursday, Council Member Robert Cornegy, Jr. is hosting a "Cut Out the Violence" commemoration event in Brooklyn to recognize and call attention to the epidemic of gun violence and its victims.

According to a release from Center for an Urban Future, on Thursday, December 4th, "several of New York City's leading architects will unveil innovative new design ideas for strengthening New York City's branch libraries at a design showcase and policy symposium that is being convened by the Center for an Urban Future and the Architectural League of New York. The design showcase and policy symposium, which will be held at the Japan Society in Midtown, will also feature panel discussions about the future of branch libraries with speakers that include HPD Commissioner Vicki Been, NYCEDC President Kyle Kimball, City Council Majority Leader Jimmy Van Bramer, City Council Member Brad Lander, Borough President Eric Adams, former Chicago Public Library Commissioner Mary Dempsey, David Kramer of the Hudson Companies, Michelle de la Uz of the Fifth Avenue Committee, Jukay Hsu of the Coalition for Queens and many other distinguished community leaders, developers and policy experts."

Friday and the weekend, Dec. 5-7
Friday, Dec. 5, will see the Crain's 2014 Best Places to Work Awards.

Friday will also see "NYC Latino Civic Engagement Forum" hosted at CUNY's Murphy Institute and by a number of organizations including Bridgeroots, El Puente, Citizen Action of New York, and more. Our Ben Max will be a panelist.

On Friday, New York Law School will host "Housing Justice: A Public Forum on New Yorkers' Right to Counsel in Eviction Proceedings." Details: "The New York City Council is considering legislation that would make New York City the first place in the US to establish a right to counsel in eviction proceedings. Join us to hear from bar leaders, judges, community members and other experts on the impact that the right to counsel would have on housing and homelessness, public welfare, and the administration of justice and to hear what we can learn from experiences throughout the US and around the world."

Saturday, Dec. 6, will include continuation of the "Fall 2014 Chancellor's Parent Conference Series: Middle School" at Tweed Court House.

Beginning Sunday, Dec. 7, "The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will visit the United States of America," arriving in New York and attending "a private engagement on behalf of the American Friends of The Royal Foundation that evening." The Duke will head to Washington, D.C. on Dec. 8 while The Duchess remains in New York, where she will be rejoined by the Duke. [All of the details included here come from this press release]

"On his return to New York, His Royal Highness will attend a reception organised by the Royal Foundation, in recognition of the conservation work carried out by Tusk Trust and United for Wildlife partners: Wildlife Conservation Society; Conservation International and The Nature Conservancy.

"The Duchess of Cambridge will carry out two engagements in New York while The Duke visits Washington. Her Royal Highness will be accompanied by The First Lady of New York City, Chirlane McCray, on a visit to a local child development centre. They will learn about how this organisation fosters the healthy development of children and families by providing high-quality mental health and educational services, which is an issue strongly supported by The First Lady. Her Royal Highness will also attend a lunch, hosted by the British Consul General in New York, to celebrate the achievements of a successful British community in New York from the culture, arts, hospitality and business sectors.

"On Monday evening, Their Royal Highnesses will attend an NBA Basketball game to help launch a new collaboration between the Royal Foundation, United for Wildlife and the NBA.

"On Tuesday 9th December The Duke and Duchess will visit a youth organisation to see the work they carry out in partnership with an inner city youth development foundation. Both organisations focus on programmes and projects that promote positive youth development and social learning. During the visit, The Duke and Duchess will learn about the wide-ranging support services on offer to young people to help them reach their potential, particularly through an arts-in-education model that supports the artistic and intellectual development of the participants.

"The Duke and Duchess will then attend an event celebrating the wealth of British talent in the creative industries based in New York. The reception will be in association with the UK Government's GREAT campaign. The Duke will also attend a technology themed event, hosted by a New York-headquartered technology company, which will bring together entrepreneurs from both the UK and the US.

"The final engagement of the visit will be the University of St. Andrews 600th Anniversary Dinner at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The evening event will support scholarships and bursaries for students from under-privileged communities, new student sports facilities in St Andrews, investment in the university's medical and science faculties and a lectureship in American Literature at St. Andrews."

***
Have events or topics for us to include in an upcoming Week Ahead in New York Politics? Email Gotham Gazette executive editor Ben Max any time: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (please use "For Week Ahead" as email subject).

***
by Rati Mukhuradze and Ben Max
@GothamGazette

Previous version of this post started with a look at Thanksgiving week:

What to watch for this week *and next* in New York politics:

This week will be a short one for public political events, but there's quite a bit going on at the start of the week, not the least of which is a busy Monday schedule of committee hearings at the City Council, followed by a full-body Stated Meeting on Tuesday, at which several bills will be passed and others introduced. Tuesday also features a City Council training hosted by Council Member James Vacca aimed at helping council members and their staffs learn to better utilize the City's open data portal.

We're also continuing the watch for word from the Staten Island special grand jury convened by District Attorney Dan Donovan in the aftermath of the death of Eric Garner. We should know soon if the grand jury is recommending charges against the police officer whose chokehold around Garner's neck led to Garner's death. And now, many will be watching for more fallout from the killing of Akai Gurley, an unarmed black teenager shot late Thursday night by a white police officer in the stairwell of a NYCHA building in Brooklyn.

Mayor Bill de Blasio begins his week with only one event on his public schedule, though it is closed to the press: "Mayor de Blasio will host a community meeting with local elected officials and community members at City Hall as part of the administration's ongoing efforts to engage the community and build more support for the City's bid for the 2016 Democratic National Convention."

Public Advocate Tish James and City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito will begin their weeks at "Food Bank for New York City Legislative Breakfast" in Manhattan.

What we have for the next two weeks in detail:

Monday, Nov. 24
The New York City Campaign Finance Board will hold a public hearing Monday morning at its Manhattan office on rules regarding text message campaign contributions: "on proposed rules setting minimum requirements for receiving text message contributions to be eligible for public matching funds." Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, among others, will testify. "SMS contributions provide candidates with the potential to engage a wider set of contributors and the CFB with an opportunity to expand the reach of NYC's landmark small-dollar matching funds program. Read more about the challenges and opportunities posed by SMS contributions at the CFB's blog."

On Monday morning, "New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito joins Hunter College President Jennifer Raab, Margarette Purvis, president and CEO of Food Bank For New York City and others at a legislative breakfast to release a report on the state of hunger and the emergency food network in the city a year after cuts to SNAP, Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College," according to City & State NY. According to her public schedule, Public Advocate James will also be in attendance. This will be followed on Monday by a Council General Welfare Committee oversight hearing on hunger in New York City, among other agenda items (see below).

Monday, the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's Bureau of HIV/AIDS will launch "New York Knows" in Manhattan (after iterations in the Bronx and Brooklyn), "bringing together Manhattan community partners to encourage those who do not know their HIV status to get tested—and to link those who test positive to care and support services."

On Monday at 1 p.m., "Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance convenes a roundtable with law enforcement partners to discuss a new grand jury report on fraud related to minority and women business enterprises," according to City & State NY.

Monday's City Council schedule will include: a meeting of Committee on Transportation to see the introduction of new bills relating to "increasing the number of accessible pedestrian signals"; the Committee on General Welfare will hold an oversight hearing on "Hunger in New York City"; a meeting of the Committee on Cultural Affairs, Libraries and International Intergroup Relations to consider a resolution: "recognizing and commemorating January 13th as Korean American Day in the City of New York"; and a meeting of Committee on Health to consider new bills relating to pet shops:

  • Proposed Int. No. 55-A - Regulating pet shops.
  • Proposed Int. No. 73-A - Updating the definition of "pet shop" within the animal abuse registration act.
  • Proposed Int. No. 136-A - Spaying, neutering and licensing of animals sold in pet shops.
  • Proposed Int. No. 146-A - Microchipping animals sold in pet shops

Monday evening is The Riders Alliance 2014 Gala in Manhattan. BP Brewer, among many other elected officials, will be in attendance. [Read our look at the advocacy work of Riders Alliance as it and others seek a more responsive, effective MTA]

Tuesday, Nov. 25
Tuesday's City Council schedule includes: a meeting of Committee on Finance to consider the following:

  • Resolution concerning the increase in the annual expenditure for the Steinway Street, 34th Street, 125th Street, 47th Street, 86th Street Bay Ridge, Columbus/Amsterdam, Forest Avenue, Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn, 161st Street, and Sunnyside Business Improvement Districts, and the setting of the date, time and place for the hearing of the local law increasing the annual expenditure for such districts.
  • Resolution approving the new designation and changes in the designation of certain organizations to receive funding in the Expense Budget.
  • And other such business as may be necessary

And the City Council will hold a full-body Stated Meeting in the Council Chambers at 1:30 p.m., presaged, as always by a pre-Stated press conference led by Speaker Mark-Viverito.

Tuesday evening, NYC Department of Education will hold 2014 Panel for Educational Policy meeting at the High School of Fashion Industries in Manhattan.

Wednesday, Nov. 26
Watch for pre-Thanksgiving news dumps, everyone!

Thursday, Nov. 27 through Sunday Nov. 30
Happy Thanksgiving! We hope you enjoy the holiday. As always, lawmakers, advocates, and many other volunteers will be spending time at food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, and other places serving those in need.

It's a quiet weekend politically, of course. But, things pick up again starting Monday, December 1 - here's what we have for the first week in December as of now, we'll update for Sunday Nov. 30, and please do send us items to include any time:



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Editor's Choice


Gotham Gazette: New York Voters Approve $4.2 Billion Environmental Bond Act
New York Voters Approve $4.2 Billion Environmental Bond Act
Gotham Gazette: 
New York City Voters Approve Racial Justice Ballot Measures
New York City Voters Approve Racial Justice Ballot Measures
Gotham Gazette: 
Housing Development in New York City Slows to a Crawl as Officials Debate Tax Incentives
Housing Development in New York City Slows to a Crawl as Officials Debate Tax Incentives
Gotham Gazette: 
City Council Examines Low Voter Turnout, Moving Local Elections to Even Years City Council Examines Low Voter Turnout, Moving Local Elections to Even Years