Details on Mayor Bill de Blasio's first State of the City address are sparse but the mayor is expected to focus on the main themes of his campaign--including income inequality and the push to tax the wealthy to fund pre-kindergarten. He is also expected to discuss living wage legislation. Gov. Andrew Cuomo who is at odds with de Blasio over his plan to fund universal pre-k won't be in attendance. Cuomo will be delivering a regional budget message in Watertown. De Blasio will deliver his speech at LaGuardia Community College in Queens. While the speech will be the focus of the New York City political world today attention will soon turn to de Blasio's first budget speech that he is set to deliver on Wednesday.
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In Election Year, Governor is in a Giving Mood (Crain's)
Cuomo’s Tax Overhaul Plan Could Mean Windfall For Banks (NY Times)
Schneidrman Plan Would Make Lenders Responsible For Abandoned Houses (Daily News)
Cardinal Dolan, Catholic Bishops Suport DREAM Act (Daily News)
Report Rips State Handling of Superstorm Sandy Response (Albany Times Union)
State Silent on Reports of Disabled Abuse (Albany Times Union)
City Wastewater Plants Still Vulnerable (Wall Street Journal)
Narrow Legal Standard Means Drivers Rarely Charged in Fatal Crashes (Wall Street Journal)
LICH Sale in Limbo as Losses Mount (Crain's)
Advocates Petition De Blasio to Make Swift Stop-And-Frisk Reforms (DNAinfo)
Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced yesterday a plan to cut the one-way toll on the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, which connects Staten Island with Brooklyn. Staten Island residents enrolled in E-ZPass will now pay $5.50, down from $6 or $6.36, depending on how often they cross the bridge. Truck drivers crossing the bridge over 10 times per month will see tolls slashed by 20 percent. The move will cost the state and MTA about $7 million each. A number of groups questioned the move, including urban planners, transportation advocates, and transit workers, who all say the money could be better spent. But Sam Schwartz, a congestion pricing booster, says high fees on a bridge that has nothing to do with the central business district are unfair, and that the lower price may reduce traffic on overused bridges.
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Settlement Of $60,000 Each In Snowball Cop Suit (NY Post)
Mayor Calls For Probe Of ACS After Queens Girl's Death (DNAinfo)
De Blasio To Build On Bloomberg’s Young Men’s Initiative (Politicker)
Confusion Over Empty Assembly Seats In The Bronx (Bronx Bureau)
Police Union Talks New Contract With de Blasio (Capital)
Judge Tosses Suit Over World Trade Center Security (Associated Press)
Abundance Of Snow A Boon For Hundreds Without Jobs (NY Times)
De Blasio Wants New Plan For $100 Million Underemployed Teachers (Daily News)
Queens Wants Northern Blvd. Included In Mayor's Traffic Safety Plan (DNAinfo)
Obama Has Power To Delay LIRR Strike Until July (NY Post)
De Blasio Names Wife As Chair Of Mayor's Fund To Advance NYC (Daily News)
De Blasio Takes Issue With Times Profile On Sanitation Commissioner (Capital)
Gentrification Has Changed And So Has New York (NY Observer)
>Yesterday's storm dumped four inches of snow on the city, bringing the total for the month to one foot so far, well over the average of 1.3 inches for this time of year. The back-to-back storms have also raised questions of a salt shortage. The state supplied an emergency shipment of 2,000 tons to the city yesterday, but the city says it will have arranged for enough salt to get through the storm expected this weekend. The city has seen a higher-than-average 40.3 inches this winter so far, but the winter of 1995 saw 75.6 inches. Mayor Bill de Blasio seems to have grown accustomed to speaking about snow, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo calls the storms the "new normal" as we enter a new era of climate change.
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The Daunting Logistics Of The Pre-K Plan (Capital)
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Queens Mom Charged In Beating Death Of 2-Year-Old (DNAinfo)
$8 Billion Earmarked For Upgrade Of NY Airports (Crain's)
City Workers Paid Nearly Twice Salary Of Private Sector (NY Post)
Brooklyn Has Most Drug Overdoses—And Spike In Heroin Deaths (Daily News)
De Blasio Reaffirms 'Swift Settlement' Of Central Park Five Suit (Daily News)
City's Most Dangerous Streets For Pedestrians (am New York)
Statehouses Divided Over Anti-Boycott Bills (Wall Street Journal)
PATH Link Going Offline For Weekends (Wall Street Journal)
Long Island Railroad Union Votes To Approve Strike (Newsday)
State Judiciary Requests 2.5 Percent Budget Hike (Albany Times Union)
Authorities Shut Down $170 Million Pill Ring (Associated Press)
NYPD Beta-Testing Google Glass (Venture Beat)
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