| | | | |  | | By Jeff Coltin, Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Rich Mendez
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“We welcome all changes,” City Council member Julie Menin said after getting pushback on a bill to license hotels. | Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images | NEW YORK MINUTE: The Community Commission on Reparations Remedies in Albany will hold its first public hearing this afternoon — the first time the body is convening since Gov. Kathy Hochul last year approved the panel’s creation. More on the meeting below. EXTENDED STAY: The political pushback New York City Council member Julie Menin got on her controversial bill to license hotels was “unprecedented,” an ally of hers told Playbook. So Menin has already amended the bill just 10 days after it was introduced to address the complaints from furious opponents among hotel owners, the real estate industry and restaurateurs. The clause mandating specific staffing levels will be removed when the new draft is posted, Menin said, because hoteliers said that would kill the industry. Another piece that investors feared would have an unintended impact on real estate investment trusts is gone too. “We welcome all changes,” Menin said. The bill has a powerful backer in the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council — so much so that industry groups went straight to the union in seeking a delay. The labor organization is pushing the bill to give it leverage during upcoming contract negotiations It has other boosters, too: Attorney General Tish James and the city’s five district attorneys are urging the council to approve the measure, POLITICO Pro first reported. The bill would require hotels to obtain an operating license, restrict the use of subcontracted workers and mandate hotels meet certain staffing, safety and cleanliness standards. So why does law enforcement care? Because the stated aim of the bill is to address safety concerns. “We have seen first-hand through the cases that come before our offices how some hotels have become dens for dangerous crimes, including drug dealing and human trafficking, and sex trafficking,” district attorneys Alvin Bragg, Darcel Clark, Eric Gonzalez, Melinda Katz and Michael McMahon said in a letter to Speaker Adrienne Adams and council members. “This bill offers an opportunity to address persistent criminal activity at certain hotels.” And it’s not just violent crime: customer complaints about hotels to the city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection doubled in the last five years, Menin said, from 149 in 2019 to 315 in 2023. The hotel association is pushing back. “Like any industry, there are bad actors,” President Vijay Dandapani said in a statement. “But they are few and far between in the hotel industry. Anyone who says there is a safety issue with New York hotels is lying to advance a self-interested agenda.” Menin delayed a hearing originally scheduled for today to allow the sides to continue negotiating. While the past couple of weeks have been a headache for Menin, she will reap a political windfall if the hotel workers union throws its support behind her expected candidacy for council speaker next year. — Jeff Coltin and Janaki Chadha IT’S TUESDAY. Got news? Send it our way: Jeff Coltin, Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman.
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|  | ABOVE THE FOLD | | | 
After much speculation, City Comptroller Brad Lander is set to announce his bid for mayor today. | William Alatriste/NYC Media Unit | LANDER IN THE RING: City Comptroller Brad Lander is set today to announce his bid for mayor, previewing his case against Mayor Eric Adams in an interview with New York Magazine that argues Adams is failing across the board. “Mayor Adams is not providing the leadership that the future of the city demands,” the progressive Brooklyn Democrat told the publication exclusively. Landers lists public safety, housing affordability, early childhood education and the basics of running city government as the areas where he believes Adams has fallen short — issues on which Lander and left-leaning allies have fought the mayor. “The problems he’s solving are the ones he created,” Lander told New York Magazine. An example? The mayor’s deal with the council to restore tens of millions of dollars in library funding cuts that the mayor himself had previously made. Lander and Adams have a frosty relationship. Very frosty. Adams, a centrist Democrat also from Brooklyn, has mocked and denigrated Lander, who as the city’s fiscal watchdog was elected to be a check on the mayor. The comptroller enters a race quickly getting crowded on Adams’ political left. Former City Comptroller Scott Stringer, who ran for mayor in 2021, and state Sen. Zellnor Myrie have been laying the groundwork for their campaigns while Lander’s own news has leaked out in Playbook and the Daily News before he could announce it himself. Adams has been made vulnerable by federal investigations and suffers from record-low polling, but the retired NYPD captain boasts a solid base of support that includes working-class Black New Yorkers. — Emily Ngo
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Rep. Pat Ryan takes aim at Republican challenger Alison Esposito in a new attack ad. | Mary Altaffer/AP Photo | GUILT BY ASSOCIATION: Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan’s new ad attacks Republican challenger Alison Esposito — by associating her with Adams and Bill de Blasio. Ryan has tagged her as “Upper East Side Alison” who has voted at her Manhattan address for the last 20 years before relocating to Orange County, where she grew up. That means Esposito “called Bill de Blasio and Eric Adams mayor,” a voiceover in the video ad says, over photos of the pair — rather than the mayor of Goshen, whose name her campaign screwed up earlier this year in a post on X. “This has nothing to do with the policy or personality of either the mayors,” Ryan spokesperson Sam Silverman told Playbook, but the fact that the national GOP “has recruited her to run in a place where she can’t even name the mayor.” The ad isn’t a direct criticism of either Democratic New York City mayor, but it’s hard to imagine a more popular mayor being used in the same manner by a fellow Democrat. There’s no public polling of the mayor in NY-18, but a Siena survey from August 2023 found just 21 percent of registered voters had a favorable opinion of the mayor. — Jeff Coltin MYTHBUSTERS: For all the talk of restoring cuts, the final city budget reinstated just 6.7 percent of the $4 billion in savings for fiscal year 2025. The idea that most of the budget cuts were restored is just one of the “myths” the fiscal watchdogs at the Citizens Budget Commission are countering in a briefing out today and shared first in Playbook. The dust may have settled on the June 28 deal, but the CBC is kicking it up again, countering talking points from both the mayor and the council. Adams would be happy to read that CBC agrees the cuts were necessary to close the gap — something the council messaged against. But Adams might not welcome the claim the city will need to find an extra $1.6 billion this year to maintain municipal service levels, due to his administration’s under-budgeting. — Jeff Coltin More from the city: — Some Jewish leaders are raising concerns over Comptroller Brad Lander’s ties to far-left activists who voiced anti-Israel rhetoric, as he weighs a run for mayor. (Jewish Insider) — City Council member Susan Zhuang said she wasn’t involved in organizing a protest march condemning her arrest for biting a cop — but her text messages seem to contradict that. (Daily News) — Amid an ongoing revolt against Brooklyn Democratic Party Leader Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, Zhuang proved a steadfast ally, delivering her loyal votes. (THE CITY)
| | | | A message from Walmart:   | | | | | NEW FROM PLANET ALBANY | | |  Gov. Kathy Hochul wants New York to be a "firewall" for Democrats in November. | Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images | HOCHUL HOSTS: The state Democrats’ newly launched coordinated committee is in full swing. Hochul held a conference call Monday night with elected officials as the state party rolled out the effort to elect Democrats down the ballot in November — following a rough showing for the party two years ago when losses in the Empire State helped the GOP gain control of Congress. The call included House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Reps. Greg Meeks and Adriano Espaillat. Hochul on the call said she wants New York to be “a firewall” for the party. “I want to make sure Vice President Harris has the allies in Congress to accomplish her agenda,” Hochul said, according to an attendee. Hochul has been trying to build out the state party into a more lasting entity with an infrastructure behind it. The move is meant to be a clear departure from the Democratic Committee’s traditional role of revolving solely around the political needs of the governor. — Nick Reisman REPARATIONS MEETING: Democratic Assemblymember Michaelle Solages believes the first meeting of the Community Commission on Reparations Remedies will help “begin the healing process in Black communities.” Solages, a Long Island Democrat, told Playbook Monday that today’s inaugural meeting is the outcome of years of pushing for a measure that struggled to gain traction in Albany. “It was the work of members and community advocates getting together to have a vision for the long term of healing our communities,” Solages said. “We fought through a lot of misinformation and disinformation to where we can have a conversation.” The meeting is the initial step in an 18-month study to assess potential reparations for the descendants of enslaved people as well as the effects of the slave trade in New York. Reparations could take multiple forms, including support for housing programs meant to improve Black ownership. A report with recommendations is expected to be issued by the end of 2025. “My expectations are open,” Solages said. “I’m not going into this looking for one portion of reparations. It could be an investment in programs, it could be breaking down unjust systems. There are many different facets – a simple apology.” — Nick Reisman More from Albany: — State education officials are weighing whether to require mixed-gender sports teams at high schools. (LoHud) — Lawmakers are considering new requirements for members of the Parole Board. (Spectrum News)
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Rep. Ritchie Torres continues to flex his fundraising muscles, contributing more than $5 million to House Dems' campaign arm. | William Alatriste/NYC Council Media Unit | TORRES BOOSTS DCCC: Rep. Ritchie Torres has once again proven his fundraising prowess, contributing a combined $5.5 million to House Democrats’ campaign arm, according to numbers that are first in Playbook. The Bronx Democrat has paid 100 percent of his DCCC dues, which are $275,000; raised more than $349,000 for the DCCC and about $4.9 million for the DCCC’s Frontline and Red to Blue efforts as of the end of June. “The latter number puts him in the top tier of Democratic members’ contributions to help flip the House in November and make Hakeem Jeffries the first Black Speaker in American history,” Torres campaign finance director Jeff Larivee told Playbook. Torres was the leading fundraising among freshman Democrats in the House last cycle and his perch as co-chair of the Equality PAC, which helps to elect LGBTQ candidates, has only helped him increase his reach and influence. — Emily Ngo RNCC BOOSTS ESPOSITO: Esposito’s bid to unseat Ryan in the Hudson Valley could see momentum after her addition Monday to the NRCC’s Young Gun program, House Republicans’ effort to flip blue seats. The program directs resources to the party’s most viable challengers. Esposito, a retired NYPD deputy inspector who also ran for lieutenant governor, is one of 26 newly named members of “Young Gun.” She said in a statement the district needs a representative who “stands for commonsense, not be a rubber stamp for the failed policies of President Biden and Vice President Harris.” NRCC spokesperson Savannah Viar piled on, accusing Ryan of backing policies that are “wreaking havoc on New Yorker's safety and security.” Ryan is a member of the DCCC’s Frontline program to defend battleground House Democrats. His spokesperson Sam Silverman doubled down on the campaign’s argument that Esposito is an outsider, saying “more DC extremists” are throwing their support behind her and chiding, “Maybe they can give her directions from NYC to the Hudson Valley!” — Emily Ngo
| | NEW YORK STATE OF MIND | | — A New York judge banned Wayne LaPierre, the former head of the National Rifle Association, from holding a paid position with the organization for a decade. (AP) — Upstate communities are moving on measures for “good cause” eviction and rent control regulations. (City & State) — Buffalo officials say a program that provides monthly cash payments to low-income mothers has shown success. (Buffalo News)
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Learn more about Walmart’s commitment to those who serve. | | | | | SOCIAL DATA | | Edited by Daniel Lippman WEEKEND WEDDING — David Wright, a CNN Politics reporter/producer, and Natalie Lylo, an MSNBC coordinating producer, got married Saturday on Great Diamond Island, Maine. A lone wild turkey crashed the ceremony. The couple met at CNN in 2015. MAKING MOVES: Peter Lezama is now head of sales at Gusto. He most recently was an independent consultant and is a Square and Bloomberg alum. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: POLITICO’s Jeff Coltin … Julian Kline … NYT’s Jim Rutenberg … former Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) … former CFTC Chair Tim Massad … Suzanne Nossel of PEN America … Michael Short … MSNBC’s Isaac-Davy Aronson … (WAS MONDAY): Jason Levin ... Rabbi Meir Soloveichik Missed Monday’s New York Playbook PM? We forgive you. Read it here. | | | | 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 | | | | |
