| | | | |  | | By Joe Anuta, Emily Ngo, Jeff Coltin and Nick Reisman | | | With help from Jason Beeferman
|  Mayor Eric Adams said the city may pursue layoffs and tax increases as a means of closing its current $7 billion budget gap. | Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office | As the New York political world prepares to take a break for Christmas and the New Year, Mayor Eric Adams has been hinting at some grim news that could be looming in 2024: layoffs and property tax increases. The city is already facing a $7 billion budget gap for next fiscal year. (City Comptroller Brad Lander estimates the shortfall is even greater.) And to chip away at that gap, Adams has mandated a series of cuts to the city’s current $110 billion spending plan that have struck every agency. In recent days, he has suggested he may have to go even further. When asked during a Sunday interview, Adams said every option — including layoffs and tax hikes — is on the table, comments that followed similar remarks from last week. “If you are a homeowner and you have budgeted yourself for your rent, your electricity, your water, etc., then all of a sudden your roof caves in, your insurance policy should pick up on that. Our insurance policy was the federal government. They're not paying us,” Adams said on PIX on Politics. “So, everything in that household is going to be impacted. … We must now find out how to balance our budget.” During a press briefing last week, Adams gestured to Budget Director Jacques Jiha who was also seated at the dais and said: “Do we want to get to the point of layoffs? No. Do we want to get to the point of raising taxes on these small property owners? No. But remember by law, that guy down at the end of the table, he must balance the budget.” The mayor’s efforts to trim spending are proving unpopular with voters, and have begun to alienate even some of his closest allies. A recent Quinnipiac University Poll found 83 percent of registered voters are worried budget cuts would affect their daily lives. And as POLITICO first reported last week, DC 37, the city’s largest public-sector union, sued the administration over budget cuts that would replace union jobs with contracted employees. Not only was DC 37 an early backer of the mayor, its membership in communities of color is made up of exactly the type of New Yorkers Adams courted during his 2021 run for office. Just hours later, the Civilian Complaint Review Board announced that it would stop investigating certain types of allegations against NYPD officers because of budget cuts. (City Hall countered that the CCRB did not submit a spending reduction plan, forcing budget officials to make the cuts.) The news from the CCRB rankled those in the left flank of the Democratic Party, who have begun to more seriously mull a reelection challenge to Adams as he grapples with an FBI investigation into his campaign and the continuing migrant crisis. Layoffs and tax increases would embolden the left even more, and would prove deeply unpopular with organized labor and voters in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens — areas that formed the core of the mayor’s winning coalition in 2021. That could spell trouble for him in 2025. — Joe Anuta IT’S MONDAY. AND WE’LL BE WITH YOU ALL WEEK. Got news? Send it our way: Jeff Coltin, Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman.
| | | | A message from Tax Equity Now New York: New York City's property tax system is broken. For decades, political leaders and independent analysts have agreed that the City’s property tax system disproportionately burdens lower-income and minority neighborhoods and imposes higher taxes on the lowest-valued properties and owners. Learn more about the problem and what we’re doing to ensure NYC has the best and fairest property tax structure in the state and country by visiting TaxEquityNow.nyc. | | | WHERE’S KATHY? Making an economic development announcement in Niagara Falls and celebrating an infrastructure investment in Erie County. WHERE’S ERIC? Hosting a community conversation in Corona, Queens. QUOTE OF THE DAY: “New York City, the concrete jungle where dreams come true. It’s not just a place, it’s a state of mind…” — An AI chatbot, used by incoming New York City Council Member Susan Zhuang, who admitted to the New York Post that she answered interview questions with City & State using artificial intelligence.
|  | ABOVE THE FOLD | | | 
Migrants wait in line outside New York City’s migrant reticketing hub at St. Brigid’s in the East Village. The city has purchased over 19,300 tickets this year to relocate migrants. | Andres Kudacki/AP | FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: The reticketing program offering migrants one-way flights out of New York City spent about $4.6 million to purchase more than 19,300 tickets between March 2022 and this past November, according to the Adams administration. And while migrants can go anywhere in the world, the most frequently chosen destinations were Illinois (2,369 people), elsewhere in New York State (2,261), Texas (1,847) and Florida (1,189). As of earlier this month, only about 24 percent of migrants were returning to city shelters after the 30- or 60-day notices expired. “Already, more than half of the 154,000 asylum seekers who have come through our care have taken the next steps in their journeys,” an Adams spokesperson said in a statement. “And we’re laser-focused on using intensive case management, reticketing and legal support to help people move from shelter and stabilize their lives.” City officials have said they give asylum-seekers a choice in where they go next — including to connect with family or communities — while the GOP governors of Texas and Florida have forced, misled and exploited newcomers by bussing and flying them to blue states. Migrant advocates, including progressive City Council members critical of the mayor’s approach to the surge, have said that encouraging and pressuring people to leave means making it harder or even impossible for them to finish applying for asylum, Temporary Protected Status [TPS] and work permits. — Emily Ngo
| | WHAT CITY HALL IS READING | | |  Over 450,000 residents fled the state between April 2020 and July 2022, erasing much of the population gain accrued over the past decade. | Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images | SMALLER BIG APPLE: The city’s population dropped by 5.3 percent during peak Covid pandemic months, the decline wiping out three-quarters of the gains from last decade, state data released today will show. Many of the 468,000 residents who left between April 2020 and July 2022 moved elsewhere in the state or to New Jersey, according to the report by the State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli. The decline was steepest in the Bronx (6.3 percent) and least pronounced on Staten Island (0.9 percent). — Emily Ngo THE ADAMS CINEMATIC UNIVERSE: Show me your friends, and I’ll show you who you are, so the saying goes. So get to know Adams with the Table of Success project by Hell Gate, in collaboration with the Wayne Barrett Project at Type Investigations. The journalists painstakingly profiled four dozen people in the mayor’s orbit — from Ingrid Lewis-Martin to Jay-Z — including friends, family and staffers, as well as friends and family who became staffers. It’s an incredible, expansive site (with lots of links to POLITICO scoops and reporting on the mayor’s inner circle). And it includes fresh reporting too, like the fact that Adams’ son Jordan was a busboy at Woodland — a Brooklyn restaurant affiliated with the twin Petrosyants brothers, who are close friends of the mayor. If that sentence doesn’t make sense to you — or if it does — let your haters become your waiters and sit down at the Table of Success. — Jeff Coltin HYDRO HOMIES REJOICE: New Yorkers whose favorite accessory is a reusable water bottle will soon be able to take them into Yankees games and other sporting events. The City Council is expected to pass a bill Wednesday requiring sporting venues to let people in with reusable bottles and cups that are 24 ounces or less. The law only requires metal ones — no to Nalgene, hooray to Hydroflask — but the lead sponsor, Council Member Shaun Abreu said he hopes they’ll accept hard plastic bottles too. It’s about reducing the reliance on single-use bottles, Abreu said, and encouraging people to get in the habit of bringing their own. — Jeff Coltin More from the city: — CUNY may cut course offerings and student services like counseling as it slashes tens of millions of dollars due to budget reductions from City Hall and other financial strains. (New York Daily News) — Adams pledged again to close Rikers Island, but wavered again on the legally mandated 2027 deadline. (Gothamist) — Brianna Suggs, Adams’ ex-campaign fundraiser whose home was raided by the FBI, will do “administrative paperwork, documentation” for his reelection effort, but doesn’t have a title yet. (PIX11)
| | | | A message from Tax Equity Now New York:   | | | | | WHAT ALBANY'S READING | | |  A letter from over 80 organizations across New York State urges Gov. Kathy Hochul to opt into a federal food assistance program for students. | Alberto Mariani/AP | FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: More than 80 organizations were signed onto a letter urging Gov. Kathy Hochul to opt New York into a federal program providing food aid to students, estimating that about 2 million kids could get approximately $200 million in assistance, according to a copy shared with Playbook. “It is critical that we continue to build on our learnings from the pandemic and prioritize the wellbeing of New York kids,” the letter reads, referencing the Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer, or EBT, program. The window to sign up closes on Jan. 1. The groups that penned the letter include No Kid Hungry New York, the American Heart Association, City Harvest and the United Federation of Teachers. — Emily Ngo MEDICAID FIGHT LOOMS: Managed long-term care plans are pushing back at efforts by state lawmakers to redirect spending – setting up a potentially bruising battle in Albany when the six-month legislative session begins in January. At issue is a proposal backed by the top Democrats on the Senate and Assembly health committees, as well as the powerful labor union 1199SEIU, to largely remove private insurers from the Medicaid long-term care business. The move would change a provision of the state’s Medicaid redesign from a decade ago. And now a coalition of private insurers is banding together to preserve the current arrangement. The New York State Coalition of Managed Long Term Care on Monday will launch its advocacy campaign. The groups, which include plans like Fidelis Care and Montefiore Diamond Care, will also unveil a website to highlight their opposition. “The MLTC Coalition plans provide invaluable services to vulnerable New Yorkers and are committed to maintaining New York’s reputation as a national leader in caring for Medicaid enrollees who are older adults or have disabilities,” Emma DeVito, chair of the coalition and president/CEO of VillageCare, said in a statement to Playbook. The coalition also wants to repeal the New York Independent Assessor Program, which it argues has added an additional layer of bureaucracy. And the plans want a policy of “sustainability funding” for managed long-term care and Medicaid Managed Care Quality Incentive Programs. But key to their argument is a rejection of fee-for-service funding of long-term care, which the coalition has framed as a spending cut. “Patient satisfaction and optimal health outcomes need to be driving the agenda in Albany, and we are committed to ensuring that care options for New Yorkers who are older or have disabilities are not disrupted by irresponsible reforms or budget cuts,” DeVito said. — Nick Reisman More from Albany: — Doug Kellner was removed as co-chair of the state Board of Elections and replaced by former de Blasio special counsel Henry Berger after a dispute about the reliability of voting machines. (POLITICO Pro) — A Hochul administration official is trying to torpedo Tammy Murphy’s bid for a New Jersey Senate seat, alleging she mishandled a rape allegation. (New York Post) — Former Health Commissioner Howard Zucker will testify on New York’s Covid response to a House panel. (New York Post)
| | FROM THE DELEGATION | | | |  Mazi Melesa Pilip, the GOP candidate hoping to take George Santos’s now-abandoned seat, has launched a campaign that both emphasizes her personal background and limits press access. | Adam Gray/Getty Images | THE PILIP STRATEGY: An apparent playbook for Republicans and Long Island special election candidate Mazi Melesa Pilip is taking shape: * Limit her press availability. (She was rushed out of her rally Friday before reporters could ask her questions). * Lean on her compelling backstory. (The interviews she did Friday — with Fox News and Newsmax — described her Ethiopian and Israeli roots.) * And tie her rival in the Feb. 13 race, Democratic former Rep. Tom Suozzi, to the most left-leaning members of his party. “Their repeated failures to denounce antisemitism in the halls of Congress and on American campuses is disqualifying; as is Tom Suozzi’s association with them,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokesperson Savannah Viar told Playbook in a statement. Suozzi is a political moderate who was a leader of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus in Congress. He jested in 2019 that he wanted to join The Squad, but on support for Israel, AIPAC says there’s no daylight between him and Pilip, POLITICO reported. — Emily Ngo MEANWHILE … : George Santos’ highly anticipated interview with comedian Ziwe drops on YouTube today at 11 a.m. The ousted congressman told Playbook it was unlike any other interview he’d ever done. “I think public figures need to make themselves uncomfortable more often so that the American people can see what they really look like,” Santos said. “Enough of this façade that public figures are all perfect.” — Emily Ngo
| | | | A message from Tax Equity Now New York: New York City's property tax system is fundamentally flawed and over-taxes lower-income and minority residents. The current model unfairly shifts the tax burden onto those less able to bear it. This results in higher taxes for poorer and minority New Yorkers compared to wealthier condo, co-op, and homeowners in more affluent areas.
For over two decades, political leaders have talked about how NYC's property tax system is unfair and inequitable, but they’ve done nothing. Learn more about the problem and what we’re doing to ensure NYC has the best and fairest property tax structure in the state and country by visiting TaxEquityNow.nyc. | | | | | AROUND NEW YORK | | — A momentary power outage affected most of New York City Friday when a piece of equipment inside a Con Edison substation in Dumbo short-circuited. (New York Times) — A Westhampton cafe that is both Kosher and Halal serves as an example of confectionery coexistence during a time of war in the Middle East. (Newsday) — Buffalo Schools’ new policy against hate crimes is now being tested after a 9th grader drew two swastikas and a Star of David on a desk in a Jewish teacher’s classroom. (Buffalo News)
| | SOCIAL DATA BY DANIEL LIPPMAN | | WHAT WALL STREET IS WATCHING – “The cringiest s–t’: Blackstone roasted for Taylor Swift-inspired music video,” by New York Post’s Shannon Thaler … The wild video THE STORY THAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT — “When the New York Times lost its way: America’s media should do more to equip readers to think for themselves,” by The Economist’s James Bennet OUT & ABOUT: Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club’s heart and soul Allen Roskoff held a holiday party at his Chelsea apartment Saturday night. They ate a “Convict the Motherf—--r” cake with a graphic of Donald Trump behind bars. SPOTTED: State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, Frank Seddio, NY Dems’ Jeff Lewis, Danny Burstein, City Council’s Lynn Schulman, Keith Powers, Shekar Krishnan, Danny Dromm and Karen Koslowitz and Assemblymembers Alex Bores and Rebecca Seawright. NOT SPOTTED: Anyone on Roskoff’s personal naughty list of “homophobia, racism, sexism, blowhards.” MAKING MOVES — India Sneed-Williams has left her role as an attorney in Greenberg Traurig’s government practice to go into private practice as IQEQ Law. She’ll keep doing government and political law, as well as regulatory compliance. Sneed-Williams, who is married to Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, isn’t registered to lobby yet, but may get into it for the right client, she told Playbook. — Shams Tarek has joined the New York City Department of Environmental Protection as director of state legislative and public affairs. He most recently was deputy commissioner for external affairs at the state Office of General Services. WELCOME TO THE WORLD: Uber Communications Director Freddi Goldstein and Mitchell Martin Healthcare President Alex Cohen-Smith welcomed Dylan Audrey Cohen-Smith on Saturday. Goldstein gave birth just 11 minutes after getting to the hospital — and just a day after hobnobbing with other former City Hall press secretaries and reporters at a Gracie Mansion holiday party. ENGAGED — Neeve Nikoo, a product manager at Google, on Dec. 2 proposed to Kirsi Goldynia, an editor for CNN’s opinion team. He popped the question on the street in the West Village outside the restaurant where they had their first date. The couple met on Hinge in 2021. Pics by Eugene Krasnaok ... Another pic — Nicole Bamber, director of strategic comms at NBCUniversal, and Robert Marinaro, head of front office engineering at Allvue Systems, recently got engaged in New York at Central Park. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Cecilia Rouse … Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers … CNN’s Rachel Streitfeld, Ali Main and Lisa Respers France … WilmerHale’s Alyssa DaCunha … AP’s Will Lester (WAS SUNDAY): Chelsea Manning … Kelli Arena of the NSA … Bloomberg Business’ Allan James Vestal … Eli Pariser of New_Public … Maja Suslin … Bloomberg’s Chris Collins … Noah Rothman of National Review … Elisheva Carlebach Jofen ... Julia Sobel ... Emily Jane Fox ... Richard Plepler ... Aryeh B. Bourkoff ... Sarah Doolin Roy (WAS SATURDAY): Jake Sherman … Lesley Stahl … Peter Orszag … Bloomberg’s Rebecca Rainey … CNN’s Phil Mattingly, Liz Turrell and Jason Seher … Jenni LeCompte of FGS Global … Syed Ali, director of partnerships and operations at Trinity Church Wall Street Philanthropies (h/t Joshua Fried) … Judith Giuliani … Thomas Joannou … Adam Bromberg … Shara Siegfeld ... David Crook … Kendall Breitman … Bloomberg Government’s Zachary C. Cohen ... Elisheva Carlebach Jofen (WAS FRIDAY): Oliver Koppell ... Rabbi Joseph Potasnik ... Adam O. Emmerich
| | Real Estate | | — The building engineer who inspected the Bronx apartment building prior to its collapse last week is being suspended by the city. (New York Times) — Landlords helped secure changes to a City Council bill to ban criminal background checks on potential renters and homeowners, and it’s expected to pass this week. (The Real Deal) — A wall at Houston and Bowery famous for its street art is seeing an influx of lesser-known artists “tagging” the surface, leading to Manhattan graffiti turf war. (New York Post) | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
