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Max & Murphy on Politics


max murphy screenshots

Jarrett Murphy, left, of City Limits, and Ben Max, right, of Gotham Gazette


Each week, Ben Max of Gotham Gazette and Jarrett Murphy of City Limits discuss the latest on policy and politics in New York. Episodes, which are typically 10-15 minutes, began in February, 2016 with a focus on housing, but have expanded to other topics. Episodes are below, and can also be found on iTunes and other podcast networks. LISTEN:

June 1st, 2017: Election Season is Here!

May 25th, 2017: De Blasio in the Bronx; City's Transit System Becomes a Focus

May 17th, 2017: The Mayor's Homelessness Plan & Election Year Politics

May 8th, 2017: Controversy at Correction; The Latest in the Mayoral Race; Rezoning Politics; Stalled Voting Reforms; & More:

April 21, 2017: De Blasio Versus the Media, Re-election Year News, & The Mayor in the Boroughs

March 9th, 2017: Federal cuts looming? 421-a debates & the Mayor's new approach to homelessness

January 19th, 2017

December 2, 2016: 421-A Back from the Dead? New $ for Public Housing, and ZoneIn!

October 27, 2016: What's at stake for New York City on Election Day?

August 12, 2016: New York City Homeownership Trends, MIH gets real, and more:

July 26, 2016: With the presidential campaign in full swing and the national party platforms adopted, Max & Murphy are joined by Rachel Fee, executive director of the New York Housing Conference, to discuss federal housing policy and how it relates to New York:

June 23, 2016: In a special episode, we were joined by two leaders of Coalition for the Homeless, Mary Brosnahan and Shelly Nortz, to discuss a wide range of issues related to city and state homelessness-fighting policies, including problems around state funding and signs of progress with city management:

June 16, 2016: The Latest at NYCHA, from its Chair & CEO

June 9, 2016: A Lot to Watch for On Housing: Next Rezonings, New Legislation, State MOU?

May 26, 2016: Tenant Protection Efforts and Signs of Progress at NYCHA

May 12, 2016: NYCHA's 'Core Challenge' with guest Ritchie Torres, New York City Council member and chair of the public housing committee 

May 4, 2016: A Lot in the Spring Balance

April 21, 2016: Presidential Candidates Visit Public Housing; Next Up: 421-A

April 8, 2016: The presidential primaries are here - in New York!

April 1, 2016: Big Housing $ in the State Budget

March 25, 2016: Putting MIH Into Context

March 18, 2016: Good and Bad News for Mayor de Blasio

March 10, 2016: The Politics of De Blasio's Housing Plan Heats Up

March 4, 2016: Governor Cuomo Casts a Shadow Over Housing Hearing

Feb. 26, 2016: Amid fears of gentrification, neighborhood plans move ahead

Feb. 19, 2016: As the City Council deliberates, neighborhood planning heats up

Feb. 12, 2016: The City Council hears two major de Blasio zoning proposals

You can find more from Ben Max and Jarrett Murphy by visiting the latest reporting from Gotham Gazette and from City Limits; and find us on Twitter @TweetBenMax and @JarrettMurphy.

De Blasio Announces Plan to Push Electoral Reform in Albany


de blasio voter registration

Mayor de Blasio registers voters (photo: Edwin J. Torres/Mayor's Office)


Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Wednesday that he is about to “launch a major effort” to see voting and election reforms passed in Albany by the end of the legislative session, which runs until the middle of June.

De Blasio, a Democrat running for reelection this year, has called for reforms like early voting and same-day voter registration that have stalled in the state capital. While the mayor has expressed his support for those and other changes to the state’s antiquated electoral laws, he has done little publicly to push such reforms.

Last year, with a great deal of attention on New York’s electoral laws due to frustrations around voting in the presidential primary, de Blasio held an October press conference to make clear that he favors a slate of electoral reforms and to say he would be part of a strong push to see them passed in Albany. (The event also coincided with the deadline for first-time voters to register to vote on Election Day in November.)

When Gotham Gazette asked on Wednesday about his near-silence on the issue since that October event and the dwindling window in Albany for this year, de Blasio said during a question-and-answer session with reporters that it’s exactly the right time to make an aggressive move to see reforms pass.

"You know plenty about Albany and this is when things start to happen,” the mayor said, referencing the fact that there is usually a grand bargain package of legislation that moves at the very end of the session each year in the capital. “So we're about to launch a major effort on that front, because I think people really want electoral reform in this state. And there's a chance to do it and it's about creating the pressure needed to achieve it. So, we're going to be doing a lot in the next few weeks."

Asked for more detail, a de Blasio spokesperson said there would be more unveiled next week. Sources in the state Legislature indicated to Gotham Gazette that de Blasio’s team has engaged in conversation about pushing electoral reform before the end of session.

De Blasio has expressed support for no-excuse absentee voting; early voting; same-day voter registration; movement of the deadline to change party enrollment closer to primary day (he opposes open primaries); electronic poll books; pre-registration for 16- and 17-year-olds; and consolidated federal and state primaries.

Most of these electoral reforms have repeatedly passed the Democratically-controlled state Assembly, including this year, but they have stalled in the Republican-controlled state Senate. Good government groups and many reform-minded Democratic elected officials have rallied for change, but several of the state’s most powerful figures with the strongest bully pulpits -- de Blasio, Governor Andrew Cuomo, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, among them -- have mostly been quiet this year, both before and since a state budget was passed in early April that included a good deal of new policy, but no voting or election reforms. (Attorney General Eric Schneiderman held a press conference on electoral reform in February.)

As state budget negotiations reached their finale, Cuomo -- who had included an electoral reform agenda in his State of the State policy book unveiled in January -- said that voting reform was all but certainly not going to be included in the budget deal. It would most likely have to be part of the legislative session to follow, the governor said, indicating that the reforms were not a high priority for him. Known for aggressively seeking the policy changes that he wants, and mostly winning them, Cuomo has not held or attended a single public event on electoral reform. For 2017, he is not alone.

On Wednesday, Gotham Gazette asked de Blasio if he would be working with Cuomo, a second term Democrat seeking re-election in 2018 and whom de Blasio is engaged in a long-running feud with. "If the governor wants to work on that, I would certainly -- I'll work with anyone who wants to achieve electoral reform," de Blasio said.

A spokesperson for Cuomo, Dani Lever, issued a statement in response to a Gotham Gazette inquiry. “Since taking office, the Governor has repeatedly proposed voting reforms that have been opposed by the legislature and stalled during the budget process. We will continue to push to modernize our election system and we will work with all parties who join in those efforts,” Lever said.

The statement from the governor’s office did not specifically address Gotham Gazette questions about whether the governor will be holding any public events to promote electoral reforms or what he is doing behind the scenes to see them passed.

The comments from de Blasio and from Cuomo’s office are similar to those made last year, when de Blasio pledged to advocate for electoral reform. At his October news conference, de Blasio said “all of us here are going to be very, very actively engaged in a campaign to change state law in the coming months to finally make this a state that’s voter friendly, to finally make this a state where people can participate and not be disenfranchised.” While the mayor mentioned electoral reform during his state budget testimony in Albany at the end of January, he has done little else publicly to see reforms passed.

In November, de Blasio told Gotham Gazette that Governor Cuomo “needs to prioritize these reforms or the people will do it for him,” when asked about the governor’s role in seeking electoral reform. Cuomo has been able to see his top priorities passed virtually every year in the budget, including minimum wage and paid family leave programs in 2016 and college affordability and criminal justice reforms this year.

The main obstacle to seeing sweeping electoral reform in Albany is a Republican-led state Senate that is wary of opening up the voting process. The GOP controls a one-seat majority in the Senate and only because Brooklyn Senator Simcha Felder, nominally a Democrat, caucuses with Republicans. The eight-member Independent Democratic Conference forms a coalition with the Senate GOP.

As de Blasio indicated, the end of session in Albany annually yields new policy deals. One question is how much public advocacy from the mayor, the governor, and anyone else can sway the Senate majority. Another is what Democrats would have to be willing to give Republicans in the usual type of deal-making that characterizes Albany bargains. A third question for the prospects of state electoral reform is what Democrats may be willing to settle for when it comes to specific pieces of their reform agenda.

The “Easy Elections NY” coalition is planning a lobby day in Albany on June 13, hoping to influence the nature of whatever package of legislation is passed at the end of the session. After that day, there will be just five session days left.

***
by Ben Max, Gotham Gazette
     

Read more by this writer.

As Cities Wrestle with the ‘Sharing Economy,’ A New Alliance


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Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen (photo: @DMAliciaGlen)


City governments across the world are trying to adjust to and standardize their approaches to companies in the so-called sharing economy. With rapidly advancing technology, major financial investment, creative entrepreneurship, and little regard for the status quo, sharing economy companies -- such as Uber and Airbnb -- often catch government regulators unprepared and disrupt entrenched interests, leading to conflict. Government leaders are forced into difficult decisions, needing to balance embracing new economic opportunities, establishing the right regulatory framework, and protecting constituents.

A growing number and variety of emerging platforms in recent years highlighted the necessity to adjust existing regulations, reevaluate security measures and benefits for consumers and workers, and outline partnership frameworks between government and platform providers.

Software companies, government representatives, and gig economy experts gathered in mid-May in New York City for the 2017 Sharing Cities Summit -- “embracing and shaping the sharing economy” -- hosted by New York City Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen. Partially closed to the media, the gathering was framed as an opportunity for participants to discuss issues related to adapting to and embracing the sharing economy, in part through sharing experiences, and to come up with a set of guiding principles for cooperation.

The summit, which mostly took place over three days at the New Lab in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, addressed three key topics: “data collection and policymaking,” “consumer protection,” and “worker protection.” Its opening and closing sessions, which featured remarks by Deputy Mayor Glen, Amsterdam Deputy Mayor Kajsa Ollongren, an introduction to the topic by gig economy expert Arun Sundararajan, and others, were open to the media.

“I think that we need a common framework...to shape our approaches beyond just reacting to a single company, or even a sector,” said Glen, who oversees housing and economic development for Mayor Bill de Blasio. “Working together we can expand our own knowledge of this transformation and send a very clear signal to the companies about what our expectations are.” For the sharing economy platforms, it would mean more predictability and less political risk when expanding to different cities and countries, she added.

“The cuddling phase of sharing is far behind us,” said Ollongren, of Amsterdam. “The issue is that there are new players out there,” she continued, “new business models, and our systems are old and not fit to deal with it.”

“Crowd-based capitalism”, another term for the sharing economy concept, is an emerging form of economic activity that will be “increasingly dominant” in the coming years and will overturn, at least in part, the “20th century industrial capitalism as a way of conducting business”, explained Sundararajan, who is a professor at the NYU Stern School of Business and author of the book “Sharing Economy.” This new economic model connects various service providers, or even a collective of individual service providers, to various consumers as opposed to established institutions with many employees supplying a product to customers, it has new intermediaries and shifts the basis of consumer trust. As one of the industry experts, Sundararajan gave a 20-minute overview of the concept and moderated a panel consisting of four sharing economy platform providers: Lyft, Postmates, Managed by Q, and Getaround, at the summit kick-off dinner.

Transportation and accommodations have become essential pieces of the “sharing economy,” which is often noted as a misnomer, given that money is typically exchanged. Other sectors include professional services, like consulting, and areas within the food sector. The sharing economy will affect the energy sector as well, Sundararajan added, explaining that as the batteries that preserve solar power improve, people will start accessing and redistributing energy locally, instead of sending it back to the grid. This may lead to new regulatory challenges for the energy sector in the future.

The sharing economy is blurring the lines between casual labour and professional work and changing the significance of what it means to have a job, Sundararajan said. But despite opportunities emerging thanks to the popularity of sharing economy platforms, there are downsides. For example, sometimes freelance workers have to deal with wage theft and misclassification by employers trying to avoid legal fees.

In the light of this trend, Deputy Mayor Glen highlighted the importance of further developing the concept of “portable benefits.” Now, when more and more people are tiling together their career mosaic, there is a necessity to “level the playing field” for them and find a way to provide adequate healthcare, pension, and other benefits, according to Glen.  

“The employment model that built economic security for many during the 20th century— often a unionized job that provided a pension, health benefits, Social Security, workers’ compensation, and unemployment insurance—has become increasingly out of reach,” a report published by the Roosevelt Institute indicates. Its authors, Rebecca Smith, Deputy Director of National Employment Law project, and Nell Abernathy, Vice President for Research and Policy at Roosevelt Institute, --- the latter participated on a summit panel -- identify three key measures to address the issue: “expand the public safety net, support new models of negotiated benefits, and ensure business and public funds supplement the contributions of workers and consumers.” The report was included in the list of references for summit participants, and also reviews possible funding options for portable benefits, such as public money, user fees, business and worker contributions.    

“One out of 20 people in New York City now hire somebody on a website to do basic things,” Deputy Mayor Glen said, ”that’s just the beginning of a major transformation.”

Glen, whose administration waged a losing battle against Uber in 2015, offered a few examples of situations in which the workers and the consumers may need protection. For example, ensuring that workers are compensated fairly. Here, for instance, she gave “positive credit” to TaskRabbit for removing a system of bidding on tasks from its platform and sticking to fixed hourly rates, because it helps prevent users from bidding themselves down, she mentioned. Another priority is to ensure both quality of service and safety for consumers. Considerations must be given to workers’ hours and benefits, liability and insurance, on-time payment, and more.

New York City recently passed the Freelance Isn’t Free Act, which regulates the gig economy in the city, including mandates for contracts and payments. According to research published by City Council Member Lander, who sponsored the legislation, as of September 2016 over 70% of freelancers claimed to be victims of “wage theft or late-payment.”

The gig economy creates a vast amount of new data. “We’ve got this digital interface that is going to be be sitting between us and the things that we get,” Sundararajan said. Consequently, there is a need to figure out what to do with this data, how to regulate it and protect consumers, how the government should use it and collaborate with platforms to access it.

There are a few examples of how data exchange between sharing economy platforms and government could help improve citizen experience. For instance, in the beginning of 2017, New York City mandated Uber, Lyft and other for-hire car services share data on where drivers pick up and drop off passengers. Understanding how people move could potentially help the government improve the city’s transportation system, by identifying congested zones that are lacking enough public transport options, for example. This information will be in addition to other data already collected by the city.     

Another example is cooperation between the government of New Orleans and Airbnb that includes data sharing. The company supplies to the city the names and addresses of hosts. Airbnb came under fire in New York, where its ability to operate as it had been received a major blow through new state law cracking down on those posting illegal apartment rentals.

In light of the recent global cyber attack, protecting and regulating consumer data was also a topic highlighted repeatedly during the Sharing Cities Summit.

The forum served as the grounds for launching the Sharing Cities Alliance, an independent association headquartered in Amsterdam, that aims to bring together city leaders and sharing economy participants to exchange knowledge and data in the hopes of creating some shared principles and, possibly, regulatory frameworks. The five founding cities of the alliance are New York City, Amsterdam, Toronto, Copenhagen, and Seoul, according to a Twitter post by Deputy Mayor Glen.

Seoul was dubbed the world’s first “sharing city” by the alliance, thanks to the efforts of Mayor Park Won-soon and Seoul’s Metropolitan Government that launched the Sharing City Seoul initiative in 2012.

The Sharing Cities effort, as described on the website of the Alliance, includes a few milestones in its brief history. One is the Sharing Cities resolution signed by the United States Conference of Mayors in 2013 that promotes “better understanding of the Sharing Economy” and encourages creation of local task forces to establish regulations. Another is the launch of Amsterdam Sharing City in 2015.

***
by Natalia Erokhina for Gotham Gazette
@GothamGazette



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