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De Blasio Albany Testimony; City Council Passes Legislation; & More: The Week Ahead in New York Politics, February 10


New York City Hall

New York City Hall


What to watch for this week in New York politics:

The week begins with a great deal of attention on the shootings of two NYPD officers in separate weekend incidents in the Bronx, allegedly committed by the same assailant. Both officers, one who was sitting in an NYPD van and the other who was in an NYPD precinct house, are in stable condition (the officer shot on Saturday night was released from the hospital on Sunday).

NYPD officials and others are calling the shootings assassination attempts and tying them to recent anti-police protests, during which protestors vandalized subway stations and called for violence against police officers. The exact motives of the shooter, suspected of being the one to pull the trigger in both incidents and reportedly an individual with a long criminal record including violent incidents and paroled in 2017, are not evident at this time. In separate press conferences on Saturday night and Sunday morning, Mayor de Blasio addressed the shootings and called violence against police officers an attack on all New Yorkers.

The week also begins amid an ongoing feud between Governor Andrew Cuomo and President Donald Trump over the Trusted Traveler Program. As the two continued trading comments and accusations, Cuomo was in Washington D.C. on Saturday and Sunday to attend the 2020 National Governors Association Winter Meeting. While there, he gave remarks to the association and, in a separate event, interviewed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in front of a live crowd.

There’s a great deal happening this week, both locally and beyond, including the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary on Tuesday. In Albany, state legislative budget hearings will continue this week, starting with Mayor de Blasio’s testimony on Monday.

In the city, the City Council has a busy week, including a Stated Meeting where bills will pass and new bills introduced. Among the legislation expected to pass is Council Member Brad Lander’s Reckless Driver Accountability Act.

There are many events to be aware of this week -- see our day-by-day rundown below. Also, this Friday (Feb. 14) is the deadline for New Yorkers who are already registered to vote to change their party affiliation and have it impact which party primaries they can vote in for the April presidential primary and June congressional and state legislative primaries.

***Do you have events or topics for us to include in an upcoming Week Ahead in New York Politics?
e-mail Gotham Gazette editor Ben Max: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.***

The run of the week in detail:

Monday, February 10
The New York State Board of Regents will hold its monthly meetings on Monday and Tuesday in Albany.

The State Legislature is in session on Monday in Albany. At beginning at 11 a.m., there will be a joint legislative budget hearing on local governments, led as usual by New York City, with Mayor Bill de Blasio testifying on Governor Cuomo’s executive budget proposal and the city’s state priorities. City Comptroller Scott Stringer and City Council Speaker Corey Johnson will also testify, as well as leaders from other cities around the state. After de Blasio testifies he will hold a media availability, then meet privately with legislative leaders, according to his public schedule. In the evening de Blasio will appear in his usual Monday evening segment on NY1's Inside City Hall, in the 7 and 11 p.m. hours.

On Monday in Albany, the New York State Conference of Mayors and Municipal Officials will host its annual legislative meeting. Comptroller Tom DiNapoli will be among those in attendance.

At noon Monday in Albany, Council Speaker Corey Johnson will deliver remarks at a press conference with a coalition of labor leaders.

At the City Council Monday:
--At 10 a.m., the Committee on Transportation will hold a hearing on Council Member Brad Lander’s Reckless Driver Accountability Act, a piece of dangerous driving legislation expected to pass this week.
--At 10 a.m., the Committee on Resiliency and Waterfronts will hold an oversight hearing to share updates on the Build-it-Back Sandy Funding Tracker.
--At 10 a.m., the Committee on Immigration will hold an oversight hearing on the dismantling of the U.S. asylum system and its impact on immigrant New Yorkers. The committee will also hear a resolution from Chair Carlos Menchaca on “maintaining the availability of asylum-related protections for individuals and families with a well-founded fear of persecution due to domestic or gang-related violence.”
--At 11 a.m., the Committee on Economic Development will meet on two pieces of food policy legislation.
--At noon, the Committee on General Welfare will meet on several bills related to food assistance.
--At 1 p.m., the Committee on Public Safety will hear a bill sponsored by Council Member Mark Treyger on individualized responses to hate crimes. The bill “would require the Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes (OPHC) to provide an individualized response to alleged violent hate crimes...provide information to the affected community within 24 hours of the occurrence of a violent hate crime when practicable…[and] notify the Mayor, the Speaker of the Council, the Public Advocate and the council member of the district in which a violent hate crime has occurred.”

At 7:30 a.m. Monday, Brooklyn Borough Adams will appear on Fox5’s “Good Day NY”; at noon outside 1 Police Plaza, Adams will hold a “solidarity press conference with business and elected leaders following attempted assassinations of NYPD officers in the Bronx’s 41st Precinct” - participants will include Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, Staten Island Borough President James Oddo, Manhattan Chamber of Commerce President Jessica Walker, Council Member Fernando Cabrera, Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, and others; and at 5:30 p.m., Adams will appear on News12 Brooklyn’s “Ask the BP.”

At 11:30 a.m. Monday, the city’s Department of Small Business Services Commissioner Gregg Bishop will appear on WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show.

Tuesday, February 11
"On Tuesday, Mayor de Blasio will meet with World War II veteran Sidney Walton. This event is closed press. In the afternoon, the Mayor will sign Intro. 1785 to expand healthcare benefits to surviving family members of City employees who die in the line of duty or who die from a 9/11 illness. The Mayor will also sign Intros 420-B, 873-A, 891-A, 904-A, and 919-A to further reduce lead exposure in New York City. This event is open press. There will be no Q-and-A. Later, the Mayor will deliver remarks at a contract rally for 32BJ. This event is closed press."

At 8:15 a.m. Tuesday, the New York City Bar Association will hold a breakfast with New York State Department of Financial Services Superintendent Linda Lacewell, who will discuss the state of the New York insurance industry, the Department's accomplishments in the past year, as well as areas of regulatory concern.

At 9 a.m. Tuesday, the New York City Board of Corrections will hold its first public meeting of the year.

The State Legislature is in session on Tuesday in Albany. And at 9:30 a.m., there will be a joint legislative budget hearing on elementary and secondary education. New York City Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza is among those who will testify.

At the City Council on Tuesday:
--At 10 a.m, the Committee on Finance will hear a bill sponsored by Chair Daniel Dromm that “would authorize the Downtown Flushing Transit Hub business improvement district to increase the amount it expends annually, extend its boundaries, provide additional services and the modify of existing services, and change the method of assessment upon which the district charge is based as set forth in the BID’s amended district plan.”
--At 10:30 a.m. the Committee on Rules, Privileges & Elections is expected to approve the nomination by Mayor de Blasio of Aloysee Heredia Jarmoszuk as the next chair of the Taxi and Limousine Commission, moving the nomination to a full Council vote.
--At 11 a.m., Council Speaker Johnson, Council Member Brad Lander, other Council members, and safe streets advocates will rally outside City Hall to celebrate the impending passage of the Reckless Driver Accountability Act.
--At 1:30 p.m., there will be a full-Council Stated Meeting to pass and introduce legislation. Speaker Corey Johnson will host the usual pre-Stated press conference at 12:30 p.m.

At 9 a.m. Tuesday, Comptroller Scott Stringer will deliver remarks at the New York Immigration Coalition Legislative Breakfast in Manhattan.

At 11 a.m. Tuesday, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams will attend the lease-signing ceremony for Brooklyn Community Pride Center at Restoration Plaza.

At 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in Manhattan, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams will delivers keynote remarks at the Cadwalader Black and Latino Association Event, discussing "Black History Month, the ongoing struggle for progress across a wide range of issues, and the work the office is undertaking."

At 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, the Brooklyn Historical Society will host “The Toxic City: Lead Poisoning and its Silent Attack on the Vulnerable.” The event will cover the history of lead poisoning in New York City and its impact on marginalized populations, particularly low-income communities of color. Speakers will include Matthew Chachère, activist in the fight against lead poisoning; Dr. Morri Markowitz, Director of Lead Poisoning Prevention and Treatment at Montefiore Children’s Hospital; and Cordell Cleare, candidate for City Council District 9. The discussion will be moderated by Christopher Werth, senior editor at WNYC who has recently broken important news about lead exposure in city schools.

Wednesday, February 12
The State Legislature is in session on Wednesday in Albany. And at 9:30 am., there will be a joint legislative budget hearing on public protection. At noon, the Senate Standing Committee on Racing, Gaming and Wagering will hold a meeting to discuss “the economic impact of the three unused downstate casino licenses.”

At 10 a.m., the New York City Campaign Finance Board will hold a public meeting.

At the City Council Wednesday:
--At 10 a.m., the Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises will meet.
--At 1 p.m., the Committee on Cultural Affairs, Libraries and International Intergroup Relations will hold an oversight hearing on the closure of the Court Square Library.
--At 1 p.m., the Committee on Governmental Operations will meet on several bills.
--At 1 p.m., the Subcommittee on Landmarks, Public Sitings and Dispositions will meet.

At 4 p.m. Wednesday, the Civilian Complaint Review Board will hold its monthly meeting.

At 5 p.m., this week’s Max & Murphy show will air on WBAI radio, 99.5FM and wbai.org, and include a discussion of Mayor de Blasio’s 2020 agenda and the City Council’s recently-released plan to fight homelessness with Council Member Stephen Levin.

At 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, the Voter Assistance Advisory Committee (VAAC) of the New York City Campaign Finance Board will hold a public meeting at which “NYC Votes and the VAAC will discuss plans to help naturalized citizens in New York City register to vote and mobilize get out the vote efforts in 2020 and beyond.”

At 6 p.m. Wednesday, the New York League of Conservation Voters will hold a forum with Queens Borough President candidates, where they will be asked “where they stand on environmental and sustainability issues, including how the City can meet its 80x50 climate goals, improve access to clean transportation, and reduce waste,” among other issues. Candidates Costa Constantinides, Elizabeth Crowley, Anthony Miranda, and Donovan Richards are participating in the forum, which will be moderated by Katie Honan of the Wall Street Journal.

At 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, City Comptroller Scott Stringer will host “Trailblazers: Program and Award Ceremony in Honor of African-American History Month” at Long Island University in Brooklyn.

Thursday, February 13
Beginning at 8 a.m. Thursday, “Robin Hood will host its fourth annual No City Limits Conference, convening national leaders across sectors in the fight to increase economic mobility from poverty in order to spur innovative solutions and increase collective impact. In conjunction with Columbia University, Robin Hood will launch its Annual Poverty Tracker Study, which documents the dynamics of poverty and disadvantage in New York City. Following this, a series of panels, presentations and speakers will focus on addressing poverty through academic work, innovative research, and civic engagement.” Speakers will include Stacey Abrams, American politician and founder of Fair Fight, Fair Count; Esther Duflo, 2019 Nobel Laureate and Co-Founder of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab at MIT; Wes Moore, CEO, Robin Hood; Nicholas D. Kristof, Columnist, The New York Times and co-author, "Tightrope"; Alexis McGill Johnson, Acting President and CEO, Planned Parenthood Federation of America; and others.

At 8:30 a.m. Thursday, the Association for a Better New York will host a breakfast with Donna De Costanzo, Director, Eastern Region, Climate & Clean Energy Program of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). De Costanzo will “discuss her career path and her policy work addressing climate pollution, energy efficiency, renewable energy deployment, and clean transportation.”

The State Legislature is in session Thursday in Albany. And at 9:30 Thursday in Albany, the State Legislature will hold a joint budget hearing on economic development. And at 1 p.m., a joint budget hearing on taxes.

At 10 a.m. Thursday, the New York City Campaign Finance Board will hold a general meeting.

At the City Council Thursday:
--At 11 a.m., the Committee on Land Use will meet.
--At 1 p.m., the Committee on Civil Service and Labor will meet on two bills related to fast food industry employment.

At 5:30 p.m. Thursday in Spencerport, the Board of Regents is holding another in a series of public meetings about high school graduation requirements.

On Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in Red Hook, the city Economic Development Corporation is hosting a community meeting on the proposed BQX streetcar.

Friday, February 14 & the Weekend
At 8:15 a.m. Friday, the Center for New York City Law will host a breakfast with Janet Sabel, Attorney-in-Chief and Chief Executive Officer of Legal Aid Society, who will speak about “working towards justice one case at a time.”

Mayor de Blasio may make his weekly appearance on WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show on Friday at 10 a.m.

Beginning Friday, it is New York State Black and Puerto Rican Legislative Caucus weekend in Albany.

***
Have events or topics for us to include in an upcoming Week Ahead in New York Politics? E-mail 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 Ben Max & Claire Del Sorbo
@GothamGazette

New York City Economy Continues Setting Records, But Slower Growth Expected


comp dinapoli growth

(photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


New York City has experienced a remarkable and extended economic recovery since the devastation wrought by the global recession, with job growth continuing at levels higher than the state and the entire country, according to the latest report from State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. But the New York City Independent Budget Office, a fiscal watchdog agency, predicts that job growth in the city will sharply decline over the next two years across all private sector industries as the national economy begins to slow its pace of growth.  

“New York City is benefiting from the longest and largest job expansion since the end of World War II,” reads the new comptroller’s report, released Wednesday. Between 2009-2019, the city added 907,600 jobs, a 24.3% growth rate, compared to the state’s job growth of 14.5% and the country’s rate of 15.3%.

The massive addition of jobs – including as many as 87,200 in 2019 – came despite broad expectations that job growth would slow last year, as experts and watchdogs say the current economic expansion is inevitably slated to end. In 2019, the city had 4.6 million jobs, a record high, with unemployment at a historic low of 4.1% (down from 9.3% in 2009). The trend beats the previous record period of job growth between 1992 and 2000, according to the report. 

Following the recession, the city’s workforce and employment landscape has also diversified, with greater addition of jobs outside the financial and banking sector on which the city has been so dependent for employment and tax revenue. About 35,300, or 40%, of the jobs added in 2019 were in the health care sector (which, along with the state’s new $15 minimum wage, has ironically been one of the factors contributing to a $4 billion budget gap in Medicaid spending that the state faces). Business services (accountants, lawyers, programmers) and social assistance jobs came in second and third after health care in 2019 city job growth.

There were a few sectors of the economy that saw slower growth – for instance, construction – and even some that experienced moderate job losses, including full-service restaurants in the leisure and hospitality sector, and the securities industry in the financial sector. But the comptroller’s report predicts that jobs will continue to solidly grow in 2020.

The Independent Budget Office, however, predicts that job growth will slow significantly in 2020 and 2021. “Ours is forward looking, and that's retrospective,” said IBO Director Ronnie Lowenstein, of the two reports, in a phone interview, acknowledging that job growth has been “spectacular” in the last few years. “But we're anticipating that it's going to fall sharply.”

IBO’s forecast is based on the Federal Reserve’s larger national analysis, which sees growth falling to roughly 1.9% in 2020 compared to 2.3% for 2019, Lowenstein noted. “So the first thing that’s feeding into our more pessimistic forecast here is the fact that we’re expecting U.S. growth to slow, which is very much the mainstream forecast,” she said. It is remarkable to some that not only is the country, and the city, ten years into the recovery with sustained growth, but that the forward-looking discussion is about slower growth, not recession.

Specifically referring to the boom in health care jobs and business services, Lowenstein said that IBO’s outlook was a bit more wary. “Certainly we're not anticipating that they're going to be shedding jobs, but we firmly expect the rate of growth in these positions to kind of slow,” she said. “We're anticipating that we're going to stop adding so many of these jobs and that's going to really show up as a major dent in the numbers we’ve been enjoying.”

If these jobs contract, however, it may not have a significant impact on the city’s revenue, she said. New York City relies heavily on property taxes for revenue, and jobs in these sectors tend to be either part-time or lower pay than other industries. “All jobs are good but not each job contributes equally to the local economy,” she said, citing, for instance, jobs in the tech sector that carry much higher pay and therefore have a larger footprint on personal income tax revenue.

There are few signs of worry, Lowenstein said, as IBO projects that revenues will continue to be “reasonably robust” and will exceed projected city expenditure. Though the city budget has grown enormously under his tenure, Mayor Bill de Blasio has been cautious in increasing spending in his $95.3 billion preliminary budget proposal this year. “As part of the Administration’s strong fiscal management we make cautious tax revenue estimates, remain focused on savings, and maintain substantial budget reserves,” said mayoral spokesperson Laura Feyer, in an email. “Slowing job creation, noted by both the IBO and Comptroller, is factored into our current tax revenue forecasts.”

But, Lowenstein did note that IBO’s revenue forecast this year is “nearly identical” to the city’s Office of Management and Budget’s numbers, “which doesn’t happen very often.” OMB has, in the past, been more conservative in its revenue predictions, allowing more mayoral administration flexibility if more spending is required down the line.

“It's interesting that we're not seeing a lot of new revenues for the current fiscal year at this point,” she said. “Is that a warning flag? Yeah, I guess so. Either that or we’re really accurate this time around.”

***
by Samar Khurshid, senior reporter, Gotham Gazette
     

Read more by this writer.

Note - This article has been updated.

De Blasio's State of the City; Monitoring Coronavirus; & More: The Week Ahead in New York Politics, February 3


New York City Hall

New York City Hall


What to watch for this week in New York politics:

This week 

The week begins with anticipation of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s 2020 State of the City address, likely his next-to-last as mayor, which he’ll deliver on Thursday, but much of the week will be dominated by national politics. The Iowa caucuses, the first Democratic contest of the presidential election, are on Monday; President Donald Trump will deliver his State of the Union address on Tuesday; and impeachment proceedings will continue on Monday and Tuesday leading to the scheduled vote in the Senate on Wednesday.

In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo is likely to continue the rollout of his 2020 agenda. After having presented his State of the State and his executive budget, Cuomo has been re-announcing pieces one-by-one, at times at events. Cuomo made an appearance Saturday night at the Human Rights Campaign Greater New York gala, announcing that the state would be renaming Brooklyn’s East River State Park “after Marsha P. Johnson, a pioneer of the LGBTQ rights movement and a transgender woman of color,” which will mark the first New York state park named after an LGBTQ person, according to his office.

On Sunday, Cuomo held a press conference at his Manhattan office where he “announced the deployment of 26 bilingual mental health professionals and 25 state building inspectors to Puerto Rico to assist in the recovery efforts as the island continues to recoup from a string of devastating earthquakes. Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul will lead a delegation to Puerto Rico today along with the deployments and visit the towns of Peñuelas, Guayanilla and Yauco to tour earthquake affected areas. The deployments follow a series of initial damage assessments conducted by the Governor and his delegation during their trip to Puerto Rico on January 14 and 15.”

The two houses of the state Legislature, meanwhile, continue to hold joint hearings on the executive budget on individual areas like transportation and health.

The Legislature is in session on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday this week in Albany, with budget hearings also set for all three of those days.

But the week also begins with local and national officials dealing with the new Coronavirus. Mayor de Blasio and city health officials announced on Saturday the first suspected case in the city, with a patient who, according to the city health department, “recently traveled from China and presented with fever and cough or shortness of breath without another common cause, like influenza and other cold viruses, identified on testing. The individual, who is under-40-years-old, has been hospitalized at NYC Health + Hospital/Bellevue and is in stable condition. Testing to determine whether this is a confirmed case of the novel Coronavirus will take a minimum of 36-48 hours and depends on CDC testing capacity.”

De Blasio and other city officials spoke with the media on Saturday with an update, as outlined by the health department, which then followed up on Sunday saying “Two additional people in New York City have been identified for testing for the novel coronavirus. Both individuals, who are over 60-years-old, had recently been in mainland China and presented with fever and cough or shortness of breath without another common cause, like influenza and other cold viruses, identified on testing.” Both individuals are hospitalized, with tests sent to the CDC for completion within 48 hours.

During his Sunday press conference focused on assistance to Puerto Rico, Cuomo gave the latest state update regarding the new Coronavirus, saying that there were still no confirmed cases in the state, and that as of this afternoon, samples from 12 New Yorkers have been sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for testing, 11 of which had come back negative. Cuomo said there was one sample from New York City outstanding -- but that number then increased to three by the evening, per the city health department. “Additionally, today the Governor announced New Yorkers can call a hotline at 1-888-364-3065 where Department of Health experts will be available to answer questions regarding the Novel Coronavirus. The Department of Health has created a dedicated website as a resource for New Yorkers.”

There's a lot happening this week -- see our day-by-day rundown below.

***Do you have events or topics for us to include in an upcoming Week Ahead in New York Politics?
e-mail Gotham Gazette editor Ben Max: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.***

The run of the week in detail:

Monday, February 3
The State Legislature is in session on Monday in Albany. And at 11 a.m. Monday, there will be a joint legislative budget hearing on mental hygiene.

At 9 a.m. Monday, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer will speak at a City College press conference. At 7:15 p.m., Brewer will speak at the Metropolitan Museum’s Lunar New Year celebration.

On Monday Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul and New York Secretary of State Rossana Rosado are leading a state delegation “to continue New York's efforts and support for Puerto Rico.”

At the City Council on Monday:
--at 10 a.m. the Committee on Criminal Justice will hold an oversight hearing on jail violence. [Read: Council to Examine Persistent and Growing Violence Plaguing City Jails]
--at 11 a.m., the Committee on Rules, Privileges, and Elections will consider Mayor de Blasio’s nomination of Aloysee Heredia Jarmoszuk as the next chair of the city Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC). City Council Speaker Corey Johnson will be among those to deliver remarks.

At noon outside City Hall, Council Speaker Johnson will join “Council Members, Advocates and Tenants to Call on Albany to Fund Public Housing, Enact Measures to Fight Eviction and Homelessness.”

At 10 a.m. Monday at Brooklyn Borough Hall, “Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams will host a roundtable with community leaders and medical professionals to discuss the growing public health issue of Alzheimer’s dementia and developing comprehensive strategies for responding to the illness and its impact on elderly New Yorkers. There are currently 400,000 people in New York State with Alzheimer’s disease. In 2025, a projected 460,000 New Yorkers aged 65 and older will struggle with this disease, a crisis that will not only cause suffering for many people and families, but also place a major strain on public resources. The Borough President and other participants will discuss measures to raise awareness about the influence of community and lifestyle on brain health in collaboration with Drs. Sherzai's Healthy Mind Initiative.org.”

On Monday at 11::45 a.m. in Albany, “Senate Deputy Leader Michael Gianaris will hold a news conference to announce new support for his anti-puppy mill legislation (S.4234-A). This will immediately follow a meeting of the Domestic Animal Welfare committee, which will consider the legislation.” Gianaris will be joined by Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal and other legislative sponsors, as well as advocates and dogs.

At 12 p.m., in response to Governor Cuomo’s New Year’s Eve announcement that he would enact One Fair Wage for all tipped workers except restaurant workers, women restaurant workers and their allies will “stage a mass public self-defense training in front of the Governor’s office in New York City to raise awareness of the problems resulting from the tipped minimum wage exception on restaurant workers, who face the highest levels of sexual harassment in any industry.” Speakers will include Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, playwright Eve Ensler, actresses and #TimesUp activists Alysia Reiner and Carmen LoBue, musician and social justice artist Taina Asili, and more.

At 1 p.m. Monday, the New York City Planning Commission will hold a review session.

On Monday at 5 p.m. in three different locations around the state, there will be public meetings held by the Board of Regents and State Education Department as part of an ongoing process “to gather feedback on what a state diploma should signify to ensure educational excellence and equity for every student in New York State. The meetings are an integral part of Phase I in the Board and Department’s review of graduation measures and will offer opportunities for stakeholders and members of the public to share input.” Monday’s meetings will be in Malone, Ithaca, and Harrison.

Mayor de Blasio will appear in his weekly segment on NY1’s Inside City Hall on Monday in the 7 and 11 p.m. hours.

Tuesday, February 4
The State Legislature is in session on Monday in Albany. And at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday there will be a joint legislative budget hearing on higher education.

At 9 a.m. Tuesday in Albany, Comptroller Tom DiNapoli will attend the New York State Public Employees Conference (PEC) 43rd Annual Legislative Breakfast.

At 10 a.m. Tuesday, the New York City Board of Standards and Appeals will hold a public meeting.

At 11 a.m. Tuesday, the Committee on Land Use will meet.

At 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, the Museum of the City of New York will host the “Cultivating Culture in NYC” panel to discuss the challenges facing the city’s arts and cultural organizations today. Speakers include MCNY president Whitney A. Donhauser; Weeksville Heritage Center president and director Rob Fields; director and chief curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem Thelma Golden; and president and CEO of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Daniel Weiss. The discussion will be moderated by former Cultural Institutions Group chairman John Calvelli.

Wednesday, February 5
The State Legislature is in session on Monday in Albany. And at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday there will be a joint legislative budget hearing on workforce, and at 1 p.m. on housing.

At 9 a.m. Wednesday, BetaNYC and the Mayor’s Office of Operations will convene over breakfast to discuss the newly created Algorithms Management and Policy Officer (AMPO) role within the agency. The AMPO “will regularly engage with the public and will work to ensure that fairness, transparency, human-centered design, and privacy protection are central to the use of algorithmic tools and systems that City agencies may use to support their decision-making.”

At the City Council on Wednesday: at 1 p.m. the Committee on Aging will hold an oversight hearing as a follow-up to the Unpaid Caregivers’ Comprehensive Plan and Report.

At 5 p.m. Wednesday, this week’s Max & Murphy show on WBAI radio, 99.5FM or wbai.org, will feature interviews with 2021 mayoral candidates Dianne Morales and Loree Sutton.

At 6 p.m. Wednesday, the NYC Parks’ Ebony Society and Art & Antiquities will host a book talk with author Eric K. Washington on his book Boss of the Grips: The Life of James H. Williams and the Red Caps of Grand Central Terminal. Washington will provide “an illustrated talk about the nearly forgotten life of James H. Williams (1878-1948), the former African-American chief of Grand Central Terminal’s iconic Red Caps. The mostly Harlem-based baggage porters once formed the essential labor force of America’s most august railroad station.”

Thursday, February 6
At the City Council on Thursday: at 10 a.m. the Committee on Small Business will hold an oversight hearing on “‘ghost kitchens,’ ‘virtual restaurants,’ and the future of the restaurant industry.”

At 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Mayor Bill de Blasio will deliver his 2020 State of the City speech from the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan.

At 6 p.m. Thursday, the Center for New York City Affairs is hosting a seminar titled “Is School Integration Possible in New York City?” Speaker Clara Hemphill will “explore the historical roots of school segregation and the prospects for change in the country's largest school system.”

At 6 p.m. Thursday in Albany, the New York Civil Liberties Union will host a town hall on public school disciplinary measures and the school-to-prison pipeline.

The New York City Economic Development Corporation is hosting a community meeting on the proposed BQX streetcar on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at Brooklyn Borough Hall.

At 7 p.m. Thursday, Queens Assemblymember Stacey Pheffer Amato will be hosting a Commuters Town Hall with the leadership of the MTA NYC Transit Team.

Friday, February 7 and the weekend
At 8 a.m. Friday in Syracuse, the Business Council of New York State will host the CEOs Speak 2020 Conference. Guests will have the opportunity to “hear how your business colleagues are viewing the national and state-level forces shaping New York’s business climate and impacting company’s day to day operations.”Speakers include Business Council President Heather C. Briccetti, Director of the Siena Research Institute Donald Levy, and others.

Mayor de Blasio may make his weekly appearance on WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show on Friday at 10 a.m.

***
Have events or topics for us to include in an upcoming Week Ahead in New York Politics? E-mail 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 Ben Max & Claire Del Sorbo
@GothamGazette



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