Mayor Bill de Blasio and his administration looked to reboot their relationship with the press yesterday after budget battles with Albany came to an end this week. De Blasio met with city hall reporters in acasual setting and trumpeted winning pre-kindergarten funding as "A real liftoff moment for this administration." He downplayed his budget disagreements with his former boss Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who at times seemed particularly interested in thwarting the new mayor. "We had some disagreements, its not exactly a state secret." de Blasio said. His administration is also looking to strengthen its communications team with a veteran press aide, new speechwriters and web media experts. Even with the state budget finalized, de Blasio's interaction with Albany is far from over as he is expected to launch a major push for his Vision Zero traffic safety plan in the capital in the coming weeks.
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State legislators will begin a marathon session today where they will vote on a budget agreement that was reached late Friday night and into Saturday morning. Today's session is expected to last well into Tuesday. As is, the agreement sets aside $300 million in prekindergarten funding for New York City, establishes a city renters' tax credit and focuses on tax relief for upstate homeowners. The budget strips de Blasio of some of his power to control city charter schools as it mandates the city find space for charters in public buildings or pay for alternative space. A deal was not reached on The DREAM act and good government groups are unhappy with the campaign finance portion of the budget that would create a trial system for this year's comptroller race only. Those groups are urging Comptroller Thomas Dinapoli not to participate in the system because of its hasty assembly and are calling on Gov. Andrew Cuomo and legislative leaders to come up with a more comprehensive deal. Cuomo told reporters on Saturday that he will end his Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption as long as legislators pass the deal they reached that includes the campaign finance trial, stronger bribery laws and a new elections enforcement position at the State Board of Elections.
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