This article is adapted from our May 22 edition of RANKED CHOICES, THE CITY’s weekly election newsletter. Click here to sign up.

Dear New Yorkers,

Beep beep, new BPs coming through!

Among the many other elections in next month’s primary — dozens of City Council seats, district attorneys, the comptroller, and of course the mayor — there are also elections for the five borough presidents, known to some as “Beeps.”

They can’t bills and have a limited budget, but borough presidents do wield more power than you may think. They weigh in on land-use decisions, with influence that could make or break a project. And they also appoint to the city’s community boards, which can have a lot of hyperlocal soft power. The job can also be a springboard to other big jobs, with Mayor Eric Adams, former Brooklyn borough president, a top example. 

Learn more about the job one former official called the “convener in chief” — and who’s running in each borough — from my colleague Rachel Kahn.

We’ve updated our Meet Your Mayor quiz with more detailed answers from some of the candidates, which means now is a great time to go through your options again even if you already took it last week. 

And finally, a programming note: Ranked Choices will arrive on Tuesdays from now until the primary, so look for us in your inbox in just a few days!

— Katie Honan and THE CITY’s election team

What We’re Reading … 1t4q54

• Although he cut public worker pensions as governor, Andrew Cuomo is now ing other mayoral candidates calling for an increase. 
• The head of a local super PAC tried to remove every opponent from the ballot in a Bronx council race. He wasn’t successful. 
• It’s a YIMBY vs NIMBY fight in a lower Manhattan Council race, with a pro-housing candidate challenging an incumbent who has opposed new developments.

What’s Ahead …  5wx2n

Days until the June primary: 33

May 23: The next campaign finance disclosure deadline, which means we’ll get a fresh look at how much money each candidate has raised, and who is contributing.

May 29: First Democratic comptroller candidate debate 7 p.m. on PIX 11.

May 30: First Republican mayoral candidate debate, 7 p.m. on NY1.

June 9: 🚨Change-of-address deadline for your voter registration ahead of the primary!🚨

June 14: Early voting begins.

Your Election Questions, Answered h3j55

❓Reader Patrick S. asked: Has Kathryn Garcia made an endorsement? Why did she disappear?

Answer: Garcia came within 7,197 votes of defeating Eric Adams in 2021’s mayoral primary after a New York Times endorsement boosted her campaign focused on competency and experience. The former sanitation commissioner is no longer involved in electoral politics, and last year vehemently denied she would run for mayor again. But she has definitely not disappeared!

In September 2021, she was appointed by Gov. Kathy Hochul as the director of state operations, where she’s involved with nearly everything across New York State. It’s a huge job. 

And on May 29, she’ll be the special guest for a special live election preview event with Ben Max of Max Politics and the FAQ NYC co-hosts. Heads up: She is not planning to endorse in the mayoral race, but will talk about lots of other topics. 

Have a question for our election team? Reply back to this email or send your questions to [email protected].

THE CAMPAIGN KICKER: Speaker Adrienne Adams’s campaign announced Wednesday that her campaign had qualified for matching funds. She crossed the threshold days after Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, who has maxed out, urged his ers to chip in for Adams so she could get the city funds and help them defeat Cuomo — so far leading the primary in assists.

Our nonprofit newsroom relies on donations from readers to sustain our local reporting and keep it free for all New Yorkers. Donate to THE CITY today.

The post Your Borough’s Mini-Mayors on the Ballot appeared first on THE CITY - NYC News.

The Republican tax and spending bill that ed the U.S. House of Representatives Thursday would punch a hole as big as $20 billion in the $254 billion state budget enacted just weeks ago.

It could force more than 1 million New Yorkers off Medicaid statewide. 

And it would confront both the state and city with tough choices about finding the money to replace lost federal aid or see safety net programs dramatically downsized.

But the federal package would also provide tax breaks to certain targeted New Yorkers.

Restaurant servers and others who get most of their money from tips and seniors who take the standard deduction would benefit. Upper-middle-class families are also winners — mostly in the New York City suburbs — who pay large local property and state income taxes and carry a sizeable mortgage would all benefit from fourfold increase in the deduction for state and local taxes, also known as SALT.

Some working poor New Yorkers will see an increase in their child tax credits, as long as they have enough income to make the credit useful.

The Republican plan still faces hurdles in the Senate, where some Republicans have already said they oppose parts of the bill, especially those cutting Medicaid. President Donald Trump, whose intervention this week was crucial in getting all the House Republicans on board, can afford to lose only three Republican senators if the bill is to become law.

New York Democrats wasted no time in attacking the plan, which also targets food, medical and housing aid for the poor.

“With the age of this budget, the Republican delegation tore up SNAP benefits, slashed funding for affordable housing, killed clean energy projects and enacted the largest Medicaid cut in history — and they did it all while still managing to roll over on the SALT cap,” said Gov Kathy Hochul. “Pathetic.”

The seven New York House Republicans, most of them representing swing districts, have made the calculation that the tax cuts will be more popular with their constituents than any damage to the state budget.

“We wanted to make sure this is targeted to the middle class, that we are providing real tax relief to those families who have been crushed by New York’s highest-in-the-nation tax burden under Democratic Party rule,” said Rep. Mike Lawler, who represents suburbs north of New York City.

Costly Medicaid Restrictions 41t1o

The biggest impact by far comes from attempts to sharply reduce spending on the Medicaid program. 

Changes to Medicaid could cost the state $13.5 billion, the Hochul istration estimated earlier this week, with most of the money coming from prohibitions on using health care funds for immigrants — both legal and undocumented.

Hochul estimates the state will lose $1 billion it uses to cover care for undocumented immigrants and another $1.6 billion for a tax on insurers it uses to boost federal aid, and $570 million to enforce strict new rules. 

The biggest reduction will come from the state’s Essential Plan, which provides very low-cost insurance for people making slightly more than would allow them to get the most help for Affordable Care Act plans — fully funded by the federal government. The bill would force the state to move legal immigrants to Medicaid, cut the reimbursement rate to providers and result in the loss of almost $8 billion in federal aid.

The bill requires able-bodied adults to either work at least 20 hours a week, volunteer for the same number of hours or be attending school — something New York does not require. It also imposes paperwork and recertification requirements. The two steps could result in about 1 million people losing their Medicaid coverage, experts estimate, some because they don’t qualify but most because they find meeting the requirements too onerous.

Currently, about 7 million people statewide are in the Medicaid program, which covers 60% of New York City residents.

The reduction in food assistance could force the state to find $1 billion if it is to make up for the loss of federal money. And while not part of this bill, the Trump budget proposal for the fiscal year beginning in October would slash billions from housing aid and put strict time limits on the use of vouchers, which would also force tough decisions by the city and state whether to find the money to replace the federal aid or see evictions soar.

The impact of the bill wouldn’t be just felt in the budget. The Medicaid cuts could reduce health care jobs in the state by 78,000, the progressive Fiscal Policy Institute estimated this week, about 4% of the total in that sector.

Tax Relief — for Some 5a6e2g

While Democrats talk about budget cuts, Republicans will be emphasizing tax cuts — especially one increasing the amount of state and local taxes that people can deduct on their tax returns, to $40,000 from $10,000. But it will actually help a relatively small number of New Yorkers.

State and local tax deductions are only available if you itemize instead of taking the standard deduction. Since that deduction this year for a couple is $30,000, taxpayers need more than that in state and local taxes, mortgage interest, medical bills and charitable contributions to make itemizing worthwhile. It is likely that only couples who live in counties near the city with sky-high property taxes — like Westchester, where the average tax bill is a little more than $15,000 per year — pay substantial state income taxes and have mortgages will benefit.

The higher deduction will be of no use to the best-off New Yorkers, since it begins to phase out at $500,000 in income and is completely eliminated at $600,000. Groups like the Partnership for New York City say such people are increasingly moving to lower-tax states like Florida because of the tax burden and that threatens the state’s finances because the top 200,000 payers for half of all the income tax revenue the state collects.

Not only does the bill not provide any benefit to the wealthiest New Yorkers, it eliminates a workaround that has saved those people collectively billions of dollars in federal income taxes especially for business owners and others in partnerships. Profits from these businesses are ed through to the owners, which converts business owners’ personal income taxes into deductible business taxes. States create new taxes, usually elective, that are paid by businesses and subtracted from net income attributed to owners. The owners get credit on their state personal income taxes for having paid that tax already. The effect: a full deduction of state income taxes on business owners’ federal tax returns.

Meanwhile, workers whose income is primarily from tips won’t have to pay income taxes on up to $25,000 in income as long as they make less than $160,000, partially fulfilling a Trump campaign promise not to tax tips. While the House decided it could not go along with his plan to end taxes on Social Security benefits, it did increase the standard deduction for seniors by $4,000.

The bill also increases the child tax credit to $2,500 from $2,000 for each dependent. But while the Democratic child tax credit ed in COVID relief bills worked as a simple payment to those who qualify, the Republican version is helpful only to those who have enough income to pay taxes offset by the credit.

The bill keeps in place tax cuts that were enacted in 2017 in the first Trump istration and were scheduled to expire at the end of the year. But they, too, are temporary, expiring at the end of the president’s term in 2028.

age of the House bill comes just weeks after Hochul and the legislature agreed on a $254 billion budget that ignored both the efforts in Washington to slash federal aid and growing concern that Trump’s economic policies will send the economy into a recession that will reduce expected revenues.

“The state chose to adopt a budget that increases state spending 12%, yet put no money aside to mitigate the initial blows of looming federal cuts,” said Andrew Rein, president of the fiscal watchdog Citizens Budget Commission.

The city is on course to also adopt a budget next month that increases spending. Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander on Thursday reiterated his proposal that the city increase its reserves by some $2 billion. The Citizens Budget Office and the Independent Budget Office have all suggested putting more money aside, but the mayor and City Council so far have resisted such a step.

Mayor Eric Adams had no comment on the House Republican tax bill or its impact on the city budget.

The city has $8 billion in reserves, a figure that has not been increased for several years.

Our nonprofit newsroom relies on donations from readers to sustain our local reporting and keep it free for all New Yorkers. Donate to THE CITY today.

The post House Budget Bill Deals Big Blows to New York appeared first on THE CITY - NYC News.

This story first appeared in our free weekly summer newsletter, Summer & THE CITY. Sign up here.

Summer unofficially kicks off Memorial Day weekend with the opening of New York City’s public beaches, with hundreds of lifeguards deployed to 14 miles of shoreline.

For new lifeguards, the work to don the orange uniforms began months ago on pool decks across the city. And the process for working at beaches (and at public outdoor pools when those open at the end of June) has also changed since the lifeguards and lifeguard supervisors got their first new contract in four decades last year, just before the start of beach season.

The talks were contentious and required an arbitrator. But the changes will ideally stem a drastic and dangerous lifeguard shortage, and change a process and culture that many people said worsened the problem.

“I know the struggle that it’s been for 40 years,” outgoing Parks Department Commissioner Susan Donoghue told THE CITY in an interview, a week before she’s set to step down. “I also knew that we could change it.”

On an early Sunday last December, dozens of mostly teenagers lined up on the tile at the pool inside Fort Hamilton High School in Brooklyn, taking turns jumping into their lanes for a swim for the first qualifying swim of the season. 

Having these tests, and the subsequent weeks-long training course, at different pools around the city only began last year.

Previously, everything was offered at one or two pools in Manhattan, which the city’s Department of Investigation found in a 2021 report was one of many ways the union maintained a fiefdom over the program. 

This year, the Parks Department added training courses at Far Rockaway High School in Queens, Curtis High School on Staten Island, and James Madison High School in Brooklyn, in addition to Fort Hamilton. They plan to add a pool in The Bronx for the course next year, a spokesman said. 

Since she was appointed by Mayor Eric Adams in early 2022, Donoghue and her staff have tried to wrest some control of the lifeguard program away from the union and back into the Parks Department. A lot could only be done through the contract, so throughout the union negotiations, the agency looked at what they could control, like adding a retention bonus for guards who stayed all summer and a pay bump, she said. 

And she wanted to ensure the guards felt more like Parks Department employees as opposed to seasonal union staffers. More lifeguards were featured in recruiting ads and marketing material, and First Deputy Commissioner Iris Rodriguez-Rosa organized meet-and-greets at city beaches. 

“They should be featured, the work they do is incredible, they’re brave public servants and we want to be highlighting the work they do,” Donoghue said. 

Back at the pool, some struggled to complete the required 50 yards in under 50 seconds — another recent change, with more seconds added to the time — to get to the next step on their journey. 

But others, like Alexia Triolo, 16, of Bay Ridge, whizzed through the test. She first learned to swim as a baby, when her aunt’s friend taught her mom how to teach her to hold her breath underwater, she said. 

She then told her mom to drop Triolo in the pool so she would learn to swim back up.

“My mom couldn’t do it, so she did,” Triolo told THE CITY. She later excelled in official Mommy and Me swim classes, where the instructors told her mom to say her daughter was older because her skills already exceeded the other kids.

She first ed a swimming team at 7, and she now competes for Xaverian High School and with the club team Freedom Aquatics.

Since February, Triolo has spent Sunday mornings at Fort Hamilton, completing the required city lifeguard training she called “tough but also very exciting and fun.”

Boosting the Ranks 166d5n

During a recent class, future lifeguards swam from end to end on a red rescue board, quickly popping up to sit and make a turn. 

The students took turns pretending to be a drowning victim as two classmates propped them up on the board to paddle them to safety. Some of the swimmers flipped over on their boards. Others struggled to get up.

“You’ll get better at it,” an instructor told them.

So far, Parks Department officials are cautiously optimistic that their changes boosted recruitment. This year, 515 people who ed the initial swim test ed for lifeguard training, compared to 500 last year. 

But there are always drop-offs, as would-be guards find new jobs or lose interest. Parks has 374 people enrolled in the training course and are awaiting ing the final test. Last year, 270 new lifeguards ed the final test.

A spokesperson for the Parks Department said they believe changes to training and the test will yield a higher ing percentage than before.

The agency also certifies lifeguards through the summer, so a final tally on guards was not available and doesn’t include returning lifeguards, who don’t have to take a full training course. 

Beach Dreams 661g1a

Maddie Theis also ed her qualifying swim the same day as Triolo at Fort Hamilton.

The 16-year-old from Broad Channel, Queens, goes to The Scholars Academy in Rockaway Park, and first learned to swim when she was 4 years old. 

She’s spent the last 15 Monday evenings at the pool at Far Rockaway High School.

Despite being a few blocks from the Atlantic Ocean and the city’s longest stretch of beach, the courses were never previously offered there. 

For Theis, she’s always liked “the quietness when I’m under the water, but I also enjoy the adrenaline when I’m at a meet competing with other swimmers.”

She wants to pursue a job in the medical field and feels being a lifeguard will help her towards that goal, she said. 

During a recent class in late April, students started class by swimming laps in the more than 100-year-old pool at Far Rockaway. Then they practiced carrying a drowning victim without a board, learning first on the pool deck how to delicately grab another classmate’s chin up and out of the water. 

“The training is tough,” Theis said. “The instructors are strict and don’t make any excuses.” 

Both Triolo and Theis are still taking part in training before taking the final swim test. Some have to take additional training at a pool in Manhattan on Memorial Day, Theis said.

Under the changes from the Parks Department, a timed swim test is not required for shallower “kiddie” pools, but still is for the beach and larger pools. This is another way the agency hopes to boost its lifeguard ranks while keeping pools open. 

Theis hopes the long process will be worth it when she es, she said. “It’s a tough course but I believe it will be worth it,” she said.

Her dream is to work at Rockaway Beach, one of the city’s most dangerous beaches. 

Triolo hopes to the test and make it to Manhattan Beach in Brooklyn, which is where she first dreamt of being a lifeguard. (The Parks Department does their “best to accommodate location requests,” a spokesperson said.)

“I always looked up to the lifeguards saving lives everyday,” she said, encouraging other young people to try out next year.

“The fact that I can potentially be saving lives is very fulfilling and humbling.”

Our nonprofit newsroom relies on donations from readers to sustain our local reporting and keep it free for all New Yorkers. Donate to THE CITY today.

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While New York City’s campaign finance system caps how much money people can give to campaigns, there are no limits on what corporations can give to independent influence groups, which in turn can spend as much as they want to their preferred candidates. 

Some of the most influential real estate and financial interests in the city have coalesced behind former Governor Andrew Cuomo, flooding an independent expenditure committee called Fix the City. In all, that group has amassed more than $9 million in donations — more than any individual candidate in the running is permitted to spend on the primary race if they’re participating in the public matching program.

But corporations and special interests have set their sights on City Council races as well, spending $1.7 million so far on independent expenditures to try and influence races across the city, according to campaign filings updated Tuesday. Such groups can spend unlimited sums so long as they do not coordinate with campaigns.

With the primary election coming up on June 24 and early voting starting June 14, spending is likely to accelerate. In 2021, when a majority of seats were open contests because of term limits, independent expenditure committees eventually spent $6.5 million on Council races.

Here are the biggest outside spenders so far in this year’s Council contests:

Airbnb 302w30

The biggest spender on Council races thus far is a group called Affordable New York, which is exclusively funded by Airbnb. Filings with the Campaign Finance Board show the company has allotted $5 million to the project and spent $547,669 on seven Council races thus far. 

The company’s interest in municipal elections is no secret. In 2022, the City Council ed a law barring most short-term rentals and requiring hosts to with the city. Now an effort is underway to roll that law back. One bill under consideration would allow rentals in one- and two-family homes. Airbnb is spending to help reelect five of the bill’s cosponsors: Althea V. Stevens, Mercedes Narcisse, Kevin C. Riley, Selvena N. Brooks-Powers, and Oswald Feliz. The group is also spending on incumbent Amanda Farías and on behalf of Tyrell Hankerson, Council Speaker Adrienne Adams’s chief of staff, who is running to replace her term-limited boss currently running for mayor. 

Uber 5g5yc

In a new spending blitz reported on Tuesday, Uber sunk $392,702 on internet ads and mailers promoting eight Council candidates, including seven incumbents: Carmen de la Rosa, Eric Dinowitz, Crystal Hudson, Darlene Mealy, Julie Menin, Mercedes Narcisse and Althea Stevens. Its biggest spending, though, is in a race for an open seat in Queens currently held by term-limited Francisco Moya, covering ​​East Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, LeFrak City and Corona. The ride-hailing giant has invested $102,094 to boost Yanna Henriquez, one of three leading candidates in a competitive contest there. 

The Council has made attempts to regulate the ride-share and food delivery giant in recent years, including by raising the minimum wage for drivers and app delivery workers. City Limits reported app companies have responded by restricting the number of people who can use the app at any given time, among other ways to skirt the new pay mandates. And lawmakers are mulling other reforms, including a bill that would require apps to post an option for tipping the delivery worker before a customer completes their payment, and another one that would require companies to disclose how they planned to calculate worker pay in advance. Uber is spending on ads to help promote three co-sponsors of that legislation: Hudson, Menin, Narcisse. 

Asked about the independent groups’ efforts, Jacob Hunter, Hudson’s campaign manager, said candidates had no control over outside spending but that Hudson is still committed to expanding protections for delivery workers. 

“Nothing can or will change her unwavering for the immigrant communities that comprise the for-hire vehicle and delivery worker industries,” he said. 

Teachers Unions i3a60

New York State United Teachers and the American Federation of Teachers have amassed $1.5 million in a fund called United for NYC’s Future to candidates this election cycle. So far they have spent money on mailers and online ads in two Council races, aiming to boost incumbent Upper East Side Councilmember Julie Menin and Queens candidate Dermot Smyth.

A former public school teacher turned union representative, Smyth is running for the open seat spanning Maspeth, Middle Village, and Glendale that Robert Holden, a conservative “Common Sense” Democrat, is term-limited out of. 

Mike Jenkins 28145b

The fourth largest spender on Council races is former Wall Street mogul Mike Jenkins, who has sunk $218,809 into an independent group, Ending Homelessness & Building a Better NYC, promoting Wilfredo Lopez, a former legislative director for Councilmember Ben Kallos (D-Manhattan) who is running in a crowded field to replace term-limited Councilmember Diana Ayala in Manhattan and The Bronx. Jenkins, one of the founders of the investment firm Jane Street Capital, is the sole contributor to the group, and has put in $1.6 million to the fund so far. Jenkins pulled a similar move back in 2022, flooding a Bronx assembly race with more than $200,000 in of candidate Emmanuel Martinez. The spending didn’t work, however and George Alvarez — who is currently representing the district in the Assembly — beat Martinez handily. 

While the motives behind Jenkins’ investment are unclear, in early May the group began posting videos on social media opposing One Fair Wage legislation, which is a nationwide effort to up the minimum wage of tipped workers to the same minimum wage as everyone else. The Council has no authority in the matter but the state legislature is considering an aligned measure. 

In addition to Lopez’s campaign, Jenkins’ PAC has also said it’s endorsing Working Families Party-backed Erycka Montoya in the crowded race to replace Moya, as well as Manhattan Council incumbents Yusef Salaam and Christopher Marte. 

Big Real Estate  4i583d

An independent expenditure committee called Jobs for New York, which is backed by many of the Real Estate Board of New York and run by people who also work for REBNY, has spent $166,323 on mailers sent to voters in two Council districts. In Brooklyn’s 38th District, spanning parts of Sunset Park, Gowanus, Park Slope, Borough Park and Dyker Heights, the group is backing challenger Ling Ye, who is attempting to oust the Democratic Socialists of America-endorsed incumbent Alexa Avilés. 

In the open race for Moya’s seat, the group is backing Shanel Thomas-Henry, who is leading a crowded field ahead of Montoya,. 

Both Avilés and Montoya have called for the Rent Guidelines Board to freeze rents for tenants in stabilized housing this year. Jobs for New York has raised $1.18 million from major New York real estate interests that include Extel, Rockrose Development, RXR, Vornado and Rudin Management. 

Madison Square Garden 6p3946

The independent expenditure committee named the Coalition to Restore New York is exclusively funded by Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp., committee filings show. For years urbanists have mulled ousting the infamous arena in order to fully reconstruct crumbling Penn Station wedged below it, and the next Council will consider whether or not to extend MSG’s permit to continue to host large-scale events past 2028. In 2023, the Council approved just a five-year extension of the arena’s permit, the shortest extension it had ever offered.

Now MSG is targeting three Council races, favoring Brooklyn incumbent Darlene Mealy and two newbies: Smyth for Holden’s seat in District 30 and Maya Kornberg in Brooklyn. Kornberg is attempting to oust incumbent Councilmember Shahana Hanif’s for her District 39 seat, which covers Kensington, Borough Park, Windsor Terrace, Park Slope, and Gowanus. 

Hanif, who co-chairs the Council’s Progressive Caucus, has been a critic of MSG CEO James Dolan, introducing a bill last year to ban facial recognition technology used by MSG. That measure has since stalled in committee, after heavy lobbying against it from MSG, the Daily News reported. 

Hanif is also facing the only negative campaigning reported thus far by an outside group in a Council race, from a group called Brooklyn BridgeBuilders. Thus far, the group founded by “neighbors alarmed by rising antisemitism” has spent $13,326 on attack flyers. The group have taken aim the Councilmember’s pro-Palestinian stance, drawing donations from people who include Douglas Durst of The Durst Organization, Daniel Loeb, of Third Point LLC, and Jed Walentas of Two Trees Management.

Our nonprofit newsroom relies on donations from readers to sustain our local reporting and keep it free for all New Yorkers. Donate to THE CITY today.

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This year, elected offices across the city are up for grabs: all 51 City Council seats, comptroller and mayor. New Yorkers in each county also have the opportunity to select their next borough president, a role that’s something like a local mini-mayor.

BPs, or “beeps” for fun, have a lot less power than the mayor, but they act as cheerleaders for their borough, and have a lot of sway over appointments to various civic boards, land use decisions, how money is allocated to community projects, and more.

“If you care about the identity and community of a borough, if you care about the resources going into your community — you’re going to care who your borough president is,” said Sharon Lee, who served as interim Queens borough president in 2020. 

We spoke to Lee and former Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer (now a Council member) about what a borough president is and why you should care — and at the end, a brief guide on who’s running for the office in each borough:

What a borough president does  256d39

If you care about what gets built in the city — and how — you should care about your borough president. Development, zoning, real estate — “it’s the main issue, to be honest with you,” said Brewer, especially in Manhattan.

The borough president officially weighs in on land use proposals with an advisory vote and a written decision. While their input isn’t binding, it can be quite influential to the City Council who have ultimate say.

The BP’s sway trickles down through the community boards via their appointments of those groups’ volunteer . BPs handle the community board application process, from creating the form, to interviewing, selecting and appointing candidates.

This gives them significant power to shape the boards according to their goals, and it can have a big impact on neighborhoods. For example, as THE CITY has reported, Borough President Mark Levine has appointed many pro-housing to Manhattan’s community boards in recent years — much to the chagrin of some preservationist who have not been reappointed.

And it’s not just the community boards. BPs also appoint people to many other civic groups. “There are a number of hospital boards, library boards — all these different roles of civic engagement,” said Lee. “So discerning who are the right people to serve in those roles, and to amplify voices of all the communities, as diverse as they are, I think that’s really important.”

Borough presidents also have the time and the know-how to bring different groups together to tackle specific issues: Former Manhattan Deputy Borough President Adrian Bonilla told THE CITY in 2021 that he thought of the role as the “convener in chief.”

Brewer agrees: “You’re the convener — you’re the Manhattan person who knows all 12 [community] boards, all the neighborhoods, the problems that needed to be addressed,” she said. During her tenure, Brewer created multiple task forces: from help for struggling churches being pressured to sell real estate, to ways to improve construction safety and study small businesses. 

“We had materials or legislation that came out of every single one,” she said.

The BPs also have 5% of the city expenses budget at their disposal to fund local initiatives, like buying technology for public schools, renovating local parks or spearheading community health outreach.

What to look for in a borough president candidate 50692p

To Lee, the borough president needs to be someone you can trust to make decisions for what resources go where. 

“Knowing that resources are not unlimited and how to allocate them in the fairest way, and an equitable way, requires discernment,” she said. 

Both Lee and Brewer agreed that a good borough president prioritizes listening to their constituents. During her tenure, Brewer moved the BP’s offices to street level so people could just walk in and talk with her staff. “We did a ton of constituent work — at that time we were the only elected official in Harlem on the street, everybody else was in that tall building,” she said, referring to the state office building.

Lastly, since the BP’s role is mostly advisory, there’s a lot of flexibility in what projects they take on. “There are charter-mandated things that we have to do, but there’s also a lot of leeway in of what priorities and what agenda an individual borough president wants to take in her or his tenure,” Lee explained.

So, when voting, look for someone who has a track record of getting things done, and whose priorities align with yours. 

“People think they’re not relevant and I understand that,” said Brewer of the role. “But I can tell you, you have to fight for your borough. There is nobody else doing that fighting.”

Who’s running? 166x44

THE BRONX

Vanessa Gibson (D)

Vanessa Gibson was elected in 2021 as the Bronx borough president. Before that, she was a member of the State Assembly and the City Council. 

During her tenure, she’s partnered with local farmers markets to combat food insecurity, worked on maternal health and public safety initiatives, and assisted with the redevelopment of the Kingsbridge Armory.

She’s racked up powerful endorsements so far this year: the Bronx Democratic Party, unions like 1199 and 32BJ SEIU, the Working Families Party and other elected officials in The Bronx. 

But despite being “well-liked,” as described by City Limits, she’s facing a rare competitive challenger: Rafael Salamanca.

Rafael Salamanca (D)

City Councilmember Rafael Salamanca is running to unseat Gibson, and he’s making a powerful go at it: He’s currently raised $762,724 according to Campaign Finance Board records, nearly double the amount that Gibson has (though he has fewer weighty endorsements).

He’s currently chair of the City Council’s Land Use Committee, where he sponsored a bill requiring developers looking for city subsidies to set aside 15% of units for people experiencing homelessness. 

“I’m a product of the South Bronx, I was born and raised here and I’m currently raising my 10-year-old son here,” Salamanca said in a forum at Lehman College in early May. “I run for borough president because Bronx families deserve leadership that fights for them, delivers results and ensures that our borough remains a place where Bronx residents can raise their families and thrive.”

BROOKLYN

Antonio Reynoso (D)

Antonio Reynoso was elected Brooklyn borough president in 2021. He was raised in a Dominican family on the south side of  Williamsburg where he still lives today, according to his campaign. He was previously on the City Council, where he chaired the Sanitation and Solid Waste Management Committee.

He has earned a large slate of endorsements, from elected officials like Rep. Nydia Velasquez (D-NY), Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, the WFP, and unions like 32BJ SEIU and the United Auto Workers.

During his tenure, Reynoso has focused on health, allocating $40 million in 2023 to build maternal health facilities in Brooklyn’s three public hospitals. He also unveiled an ambitious plan for the borough called “a proposal for a different way to manage the city,” which included adding more bike lanes and parking fees to pay for them, planting more trees, and rezoning to expand housing.

Khari Edwards (D)

Khari Edwards is the head of corporate responsibility at Ayr Wellness, a cannabis company. He lost to Reynoso in 2021, and has not held elected office before. 

Born in Crown Heights, Edwards is a community advocate, and founded the initiative to reduce gun violence “It Starts Here.” As borough president, he pledges to prioritize education and job training, focus on constituent services, and further his work to prevent gun violence. 

He’s been successfully fundraising, and with public matching funds has $469,835 in his campaign coffers. (Reynoso has $756,296, according to the last disclosure.) Edwards has also been endorsed by prominent buildings workers union DC37.

Janine Acquafredda (R)

Janine Acquafredda, a conservative candidate for borough president, is a real estate broker. She was born and raised in New York.

Acquafredda has raised a little under $4,000, and has not yet qualified for public matching funds. She says she’s focused on improving public safety, expanding opportunities for first-time homebuyers and advocating for New Yorkers who drive. 

“I’m not ashamed to say it: I have a car. And I pay for these streets,” Acquafredda said in a speech to the Brooklyn Republican Club in early May. “Why is Citi Bike — who’s actually owned by Lyft — why are they profiting off of putting their bikes in my parking spots?”

As the only Republican running in Brooklyn, Acquafredda faces no primary challenge and will be on the ballot in November.

MANHATTAN

There is no incumbent in the Manhattan race (current Borough President Mark Levine is running for comptroller), so the path is cleared for three Democratic candidates in the race.

Brad Hoylman-Sigal (D)

State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal’s website boasts that in the 12 years since he was first sent to Albany he has ed over 350 bills “focusing on a range of issues, including housing access, affordability, public safety, LGBTQ+ rights and education.”

He’s won the endorsements of former Manhattan borough presidents Brewer and Ruth Messinger, Manhattan Democratic Party Chair Keith L. T. Wright, Congressman Jerry Nadler (D-Manhattan), and healthcare workers union 1199. Hoylman-Sigal currently has $960,906 in the bank, according to the latest campaign disclosures.

Hoylman-Sigal lives with his husband and two daughters in the West Village, and would be the first openly gay person to hold the position.

Keith Powers (D)

Keith Powers, the term-limited Council member representing parts of the east side of Manhattan, is running a campaign centered on land use policy and affordable housing. He’s a third-generation resident of Peter Cooper Village and StuyTown. 

Powers has narrowly outraised Hoylman-Sigal with $1,027,402 currently in his campaign coffers. He also boasts a large slate of endorsements including from Reps. Nydia Velasquez (D-Brooklyn) and Adriano Espaillat (D-Manhattan), along with union 32BJ and the Teamsters. 

“If you want big ideas and if you want common sense, then I really believe that I am your candidate for borough president,” Powers said at an uptown forum in March.

Calvin Sun (D)

Calvin Sun is an emergency medicine doctor and “lifelong New Yorker” who has not held public office before. Sun’s campaign is focused on healthcare for all, improving the cost of living and education, according to his website.

Sun has raised a large amount of money at $377,084, but significantly less than his opponents, who are currently working with around a million each.

Sun’s background in medicine, and his work on the front lines during the Covid-19 pandemic, inform his approach to policymaking. “People are forced into ERs because they can’t afford preventive care, or worse, they end up on the street, turning their housing crisis into a healthcare crisis,” he said to the Murray Hill Neighborhood Association about the importance of affordable housing, and how it relates to the migrant crisis and homelessness. 

STATEN ISLAND

Since both of these candidates are running unopposed within their parties, Staten Islanders will be able to cast their votes in the November general election.

Vito Fossella (R)

Vito Fossella is the current borough president of Staten Island. During his tenure, Fossella has sued the city to try and overturn congestion pricing, a law ed allowing non-citizens to vote in city elections, and City of Yes.

His run in 2021 was endorsed by President Donald Trump, which marked his return to politics after a drunk driving scandal in 2008 that revealed his secret second family. So far, Fossella’s campaign has $77,304 to its name, and no public matching funds.

Michael Colombo (D)

Michael Colombo is a Democratic challenger for Staten Island Borough President. His priorities as borough president would be affordable housing, improving public transportation (the Staten Island buses are notoriously slow) and public health, according to his campaign website.. 

Though Colombo is a Democrat, he’s stressing his identity as a working-class Staten Islander above all. “I don’t give a damn about party politics. I care about my home. I care about our families, our neighborhoods and our future,” he said at his campaign announcement.

So far, Colombo has $67,805 in his campaign coffers, and has not been awarded any matching funds.

QUEENS

Like Fossella and Colombo, the Queens borough president candidates are not part of the June primary. They will face off in November’s general election.

Henry “Ike” Ikezi (R)

Henry Ikezi works in real estate, and says on his website that through that work he has “revitalized distressed neighborhoods, creating over 1,000 homes and improving countless lives.”

Ikezi’s top issues are job training, affordable housing and public safety with increased NYPD presence. 

He’s raised over $15,000, but is now left with only $974 after spending on fundraising and consulting services, the latest campaign finance records show. 

Donovan Richards (D)

Donovan Richards is the current borough president in Queens. In office, Richards has allocated funds to bolster hospitals, affordable housing, clean energy and local nonprofit organizations.

During his time on the City Council, where he was elected in 2013, Richards was chair of the subcommittee on zoning and franchises, where he ed a significant rezoning in the Rockaways to spur housing development. He was later chair of the committee on public safety, where he “stood up to the NYPD.”

Richards raised nearly $260,000 but seems to have spent more than $270,000, leaving his campaign currently $11,296 in the red. According to campaign disclosures, he’s paid $90,418 to Dynamic SRG, a Peekskill-based campaign consultant.

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Ex-Mayor Bill de Blasio recently agreed to pay back taxpayers $330,000 for his misuse of an NYPD detail during his ill-fated 2019 campaign for the White House, itting that he’d made a mistake and withdrawing a lawsuit fighting the demand for restitution.

The hardworking taxpayers of New York City, however, aren’t off the hook.

Public records obtained by THE CITY via Freedom of Information Law request show that the Law Department has paid out more than $284,000 to an outside firm, Clarick Gueron Reisbaum, to defend the city against de Blasio’s lawsuit, including his short-lived appeal after the case was tossed by a lower court.

Questions about who should pay for de Blasio’s presidential campaign police coverage first emerged in a 2019 article in THE CITY. Two years later, the city Department of Investigation issued a devastating report excoriating the mayor for dragging the NYPD detail across the nation during 31 campaign stops as he struggled in vain to gain traction in the presidential sweepstakes.

DOI advised the city Conflicts of Interest Board (COIB) that de Blasio must pay back $319,000 for the cost of travel, lodging and meals for the cops who shadowed the mayor and his wife during his quixotic political endeavor. In June 2023, COIB ordered the now ex-mayor to cough up the $319,000, and also to pay a $155,000 fine — the first such sanction against a mayor.

De Blasio immediately sued COIB, alleging that it had no jurisdiction to tell the mayor what to do and that restricting his use of the detail effectively violated both his First Amendment free speech rights and his 14th Amendment rights to equal treatment under the law.

Entering the litigation on COIB’s behalf, Clarick Guerson Reisbaum soon responded in kind, moving to dismiss the case. Attorney Emily Reisbaum labeled the mayor’s argument as “a chilling vision of an imperial mayoralty,” arguing that the taxpayers should not foot the bill for the costs of de Blasio’s political ambitions.

This January, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Shahabudden Abid Ally dismissed his suit, calling de Blasio’s arguments “remarkable” and finding that the case was “meritless.” De Blasio then filed an appeal.

On May 14, he suddenly reversed course, g off on an unprecedented settlement with COIB by withdrawing his appeal and agreeing to pay the $319,000 in restitution plus a $10,000 fine. “I made a mistake and I deeply regret it,” he said.

De Blasio did not return a call from THE CITY seeking comment.

Additional reporting by Reuven Blau

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A Brooklyn businessman served as a proxy for the government of Uzbekistan to leverage  Mayor Eric Adams’ stature as the leader of the nation’s biggest city to sanitize the regime’s tarnished image, law enforcement records reviewed by THE CITY allege. To curry the mayor’s favor, the businessman, Tolib Mansurov, allegedly arranged illegal straw donations to his mayoral campaigns.

In return, the mayor hosted a City Hall event for local Uzbek leaders, performed one of his signature flag-raising events for the Central Asian country and assisted Mansurov in his battles with the buildings department, prosecutors allege in recently unsealed documents.

Mansurov’s purported mission to influence the mayor on behalf of a foreign country mirrors other behind-the-scenes maneuvers uncovered by the FBI and the city Department of Investigation in their years-long probe of Adams’ fundraising practices. An intent, it appears, was to purchase the legitimacy of the Office of the Mayor to burnish the reputation of Uzbekistan, which has been cited for human rights violations — a similar pattern to alleged straw donations from Turkish foreign interests.

Mansurov “is connected to the government of Uzbekistan and works to influence Adams on behalf of Uzbek and Central Asian causes,” Manhattan federal prosecutors alleged in documents filed in the now-defunct corruption case against Adams. They note that during the time he was scaring up donations for Adams, Mansurov was in constant with the Uzbek mission to the United Nations.

Prosecutors also describe a foreign source for some of Mansurov’s finances, citing evidence that he’d received millions of dollars through an elaborate money-laundering scheme from a foreign entity based in Cyprus to finance his purchase of real estate in Brooklyn. Mansurov is a dual U.S. and Uzbek citizen.

Reached by phone Friday, Mansurov declined to answer THE CITY’s questions about the allegations in the government filings, stating, “I’m sorry I’m not available right now” before hanging up.

Mansurov has not been charged with a crime but has agreed to cooperate with law enforcement in the hopes of winning leniency if he is charged, the documents state. In conversations with prosecutors, Mansurov has denied the money-laundering allegations but has itted raising tens of thousands of dollars for Adams on three separate occasions, including reimbursing some of the donors to provide the mayor with illegal straw donations that the mayor’s campaign used to obtain matching funds.

In one text session in which the mayor solicited yet another round of donations for his reelection campaign, Adams gushed to Mansurov, “You have always been my strongest go to person.”

Seeking 736tb

The trend of foreign interests with dubious histories conniving to obtain from Adams was first exposed in the federal indictment of Eric Adams last fall. Manhattan federal prosecutors charged the mayor with soliciting and accepting tens of thousands of dollars in travel perks and a bevy of illegal “straw donations” for his campaigns in exchange for providing assistance to the government of Turkey.

In return, prosecutors alleged, the mayor helped the Turkish consul navigate a dispute with the Fire Department over a Midtown office tower the government was trying to open in time for a visit by Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. At the request of Turkish officials, Adams also cut ties with a local community center perceived as opposing Erdogan, and, at their request, did not speak out on the anniversary of the Armenian genocide, the indictment alleged.

Meanwhile, Chinese community leaders have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Adams’ campaigns — including some that appear to be illegal straw donations.

Winnie Greco, for instance, was the mayor’s liaison to the Asian community before her homes were raided by the FBI last year in an ongoing probe of Adams’ fundraising activities. Greco coordinated multiple big-money fundraisers for Adams, and has in the past in her roles first as a volunteer and then as a government-paid aide to Adams steered Adams away from events honoring Taiwan, enemy to the Communist Party of China, and arranged for Adams to appear at events featuring the Chinese Consul General Sun Guoxiang, an investigation by THE CITY found.

Both Turkey and China have long been criticized for human rights violations and suppression of an independent press, as has Uzbekistan, the Central Asian country Mansurov represented in his effort to gain Adams’ , according to a 2024 report by Human Rights Watch.

Shahida Yakub, a journalist who was recently denied entry to Uzbekistan over her work critical of the regime of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, said the authorities routinely punish journalists for work the government deems subversive, including arresting bloggers and putting them in psychiatric facilities.

“If they don’t like something — criticism in particular — they’re going to go after you,” she said.

The Uzbeki effort to gain the public relations benefits of Adams’ friendship reflects a desire to present an image to the world that they embrace Western values, she said — an image that paints over the reality of censorship and anti-democratic activities.

“They’re trying to get themselves legitimacy, especially in the West,” she said. “They always want to be liked by the U.S. The mayor of New York is important.”

Traveling the Silk Road 3l3337

Mansurov’s work for the Uzbek government surfaced earlier this month in documents a judge ordered unsealed after President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice succeeded in getting the criminal case against Adams dismissed.

In the documents, prosecutors describe Mansurov as a prominent member of New York City’s Uzbek community with deep ties to the Uzbekistan regime. Throughout 2023 and into 2024 while he was raising money for Adams, he had 292 communications with a phone ed to a member of the Uzbekistan mission to the United Nations, they allege. (The mission did not respond to THE CITY’s request for comment.)

In seeking search warrants for a variety of addresses and electronic devices, prosecutors presented evidence of Mansurov’s interaction with top levels of the Uzbek government. His social media postings include references to his “dinner with Uzbek officials,” a meeting with the Minister of Natural Resources of Uzbekistan, and a photo of what appears to be a watch in a ceremonial case he got as a gift from the president of Uzbekistan. “Thank you Mr. President,” the posting states.

The records in of search warrants also outline an aggressive effort by Mansurov to lobby for City Hall’s , particularly by targeting Fred Kreizman, commissioner of the mayor’s Community Affairs Unit. Investigators documented 55 calls Mansurov made during 2023 to Kreizman’s phone.

Adams also sat for a March 2023 meeting at City Hall with Javlon Vakhabov, Uzbekistan’s ambassador to the United States and Canada. Also in attendance was Edward Mermelstein, the mayor’s commissioner for international affairs, and Rana Abasova, the mayoral aide prosecutors say was instrumental in helping to orchestrate the Turkish straw donations.

They also note the interaction between City Hall and the Silk Road Foundation, a nonprofit Mansurov set up in 2023 to help migrants from Central Asian countries (including Uzbekistan) settle in the United States.

Silk Road co-hosted at least three events Adams attended, including dinners in April 2023 and March 2024 at Brooklyn restaurants to participate in the Muslim fast-breaking evening meal during Ramadan.

And Silk Road ed with the Uzbek mission to the United Nations to co-sponsor a Sept. 2, 2023, event where Adams raised the Uzbek flag at Bowling Green. Afterwards Mansurov posted a photo of himself with Adams, gushing, “Happy Uzbekistan Independence Day! Mayor Eric Adams made history by being the first to raise the Uzbek flag on Wall Street! A proud moment for NYC’s vibrant Uzbek community.”

Silk Road also co-hosted a July 2023 roundtable discussion between Adams and of the Uzbek community at City Hall. After the event an Uzbek participant praised Silk Road on social media, writing,”HISTORIC EVENT the 1st ever Uzbek community roundtable with Mayor Eric Adams took place inside City Hall. Very proud of Silk Road Foundation and Tolib Mansurov for being the leaders who really care about their community and working hard to bring resources to their people.”

Mansurov has been the recipient of millions of dollars in funds from overseas. He owns two Brooklyn-based firms, one of which was involved in the February 2024 purchase of an apartment building in Brooklyn for $13.5 million.

To purchase that property, prosecutors alleged that in 2020 Mansurov “appears to have engaged in money laundering activity” that starts in January 2020 with a deposit of $11.7 million from a Cyprus-based entity into a bank he’s a signatory on.

“Over the course of approximately the next two weeks, those funds were wired among a series of s for which Mansurov was a signatory until they were used to purchase a building in Brooklyn,” stated an FBI agent whose identity was masked in the affidavit filed to obtain a search warrant. “Based on my participation in money laundering investigations, I know that the rapid movement of large sums of money between s is indicative of an effort to conceal or disguise the nature and source of the funds.”

Mansurov’s first fundraising effort for Adams appears to have begun in December 2020 when Mohamed Bahi, then a volunteer in Adams’ 2021 campaign, reached out to Mansurov for financial help on the mayor’s run for City Hall, prosecutors say.

The solicitation took place after Adams had won the general election but before he took office. Bahi asked Mansurov to raise $10,000 for the mayor’s 2021 campaign, according to prosecutors. When Mansurov offered to write a check, Bahi explained companies can’t donate and the limit for individual donations to mayoral candidates is $2,000.

To overcome the campaign finance restrictions, Bahi instructed Mansurov to get enough of the donations within the limits to make the $10,000 goal, prosecutors say. Mansurov told law enforcement he then arranged for four of the employees of one of his companies, United Elite Group, to each make $2,000 contributions. He himself contributed another $2,000, then reimbursed each of his workers with cash, he told prosecutors.

Six months later, in mid-June 2023, Adams texted directly with Mansurov, seeking more donations for his planned 2025 re-election bid, according to the search warrant records. Mansurov told prosecutors he arranged for 10 more donations of $1,000 each, reimbursing one of the donors.

At one point in their communications, Mansurov suggested the mayor text him using Signal, an encrypted app that can automatically delete communications after a set time. Adams responded “Okay.”

It appears the mayor embraced that suggestion when, about a year later, he reached out to Mansurov via Signal asking for more donations to help him boost his claims for matching funds, the filings state. (The city Campaign Finance Board provides campaigns with $8 for every $1 candidates raise from New York City residents up to the first $250.)

What’s remarkable about the conversation between Adams and Mansurov is its timing: it took place in mid-May 2024 — months after the FBI and DOI had approached the mayor after an event near Washington Square Park and confiscated several of Adams’ electronic devices.

Using a new personal phone he obtained after his interaction with law enforcement, Adams texted Mansurov, stating, “I need a big favor.” The mayor explained that he needed to quickly get 1,000 donations of $250 each to qualify for matching funds.

He asked Mansurov to scare up 20 of these smaller donations, praising him as “my strongest go to person.”

During his discussions with prosecutors, Mansurov told prosecutors that he initially believed the mayor was seeking 20 individual donations, but in a subsequent conversation, Bahi “referred to Adams’ request as a request for $5,000,” indicating the mayor didn’t care how he got it, just that he needed it arranged in $250 chunks.

The documents do not state whether Mansurov succeeded in reaching Adams’ requested goal, although records show that Oybek Shakirov, the chief financial officer of his company, United Elite Group, made a $250 donation that June. Shakirov was also one of the employees Mansurov says he reimbursed in the 2020 straw donor scheme.

During his repeated efforts to meet the mayor’s contribution needs while seeking to gain Adams’ for his country, Mansurov at one point made a more personal request related to problems he was having with the Department of Buildings on a six-story condo he was building in Crown Heights.

At one point he connected his fundraising to his request for assistance with resolving a partial stop work order the Department of Buildings had put on his property. In a July 25, 2022, text message reviewed by law enforcement, Mansurov complained to someone whose identity was blacked out that the bank had “stopped financing our project” because of the violation.

“I’m in deep shiiiit because of it. You guys couldn’t protect me from DOB.”

That same day in a text with Bahi, he wrote, “I don’t want to hear about politicians anymore…please keep me away from all of them. No more fund risings [sic] or BS promises lol.”

Two months later, DOB issued another partial stop work order, charging that the required on-site inspector for concrete pours couldn’t produce certification of his qualification. Despite his feelings about politicians, Mansurov tried a more direct approach, texting Adams himself. In a February 5, 2023, text, Mansurov explained his DOB issues to the mayor and stated, “I need help. I never asked you or anyone for favors but I am having a hard time with DOB.” He added he’d “reached a certain limit that only you can lift.”

Mansourov added: “Please help me so I can continue giving back to the community.”

Later that day Adams responded, “Let me look into this.”

The DOB lifted most of the partial stop work order on Feb. 12. Two days later Mansurov texted the mayor again, thanking him “for your help,” writing that the DOB issue was “partially resolved” and promising “my continued .”

In June 2024, the FBI and DOI for the first time confronted Mansurov and the four straw donors. All denied the donations were reimbursed. A few days later, however, Mansurov reversed course and agreed to talk with the federal prosecutors leading the investigation of Adams.

Adams was indicted in September, and a month later prosecutors filed a criminal complaint against Bahi alleging that he’d deleted Signal from his cell phone just before the agents entered his home to seize his electronic devices.

Early this year, prosecutors announced Bahi had agreed to plead guilty to a conspiracy charge related to the straw donor scheme. Since then, however, the Trump Justice Department got the indictment against Adams dismissed. To date, Bahi has yet to formally plead guilty to any charges.

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As governor, Andrew Cuomo was the mastermind behind an unpopular reform approved in 2012 that slashed pension benefits for future public employees and raised their retirement age at 63 — while previously hired employees could retire at 62 and teachers at 55.

Back then, Cuomo said the creation of the Tier 6 track put the state on course to save $80 billion over the next 30 years and was necessary to rein in rising pension costs.

So his declaration at a Saturday forum for mayoral candidates seeking the endorsement of the United Federation of Teachers that he now s efforts to reverse certain elements of Tier 6 — including a proposal to reduce the retirement age to 55 — raised eyebrows. 

Aligning with rival candidates Zohran Mamdani, Zellnor Myrie, Jessica Ramos, Brad Lander and Scott Stringer in stating for more generous benefits, Cuomo said change is necessary to help recruit public workers.

“The state has the funding, the pension fund threat is over — roll back Tier 6,” he said at the United Federation of Teachers mayoral candidates forum. “We have to attract the best teachers to our New York City schools.” 

It was a remarkable about-face from the former governor, whose new position moved him onto common ground with his most progressive foes in the Democratic mayoral primary.

Interest in boosting pension benefits from candidates seeking teachers union and other public worker endorsements comes as New York faces steep federal funding cuts to Medicaid and other benefit programs that could put serious strains on city and state budgets.

The next mayor would be powerless to address the pensions, which are a statewide issue. But that hasn’t stopped labor leaders from putting the mayoral hopefuls on the spot, hoping they can use their clout to influence legislators and Gov. Kathy Hochul to approve changes to the state’s pension system.

UFT president Michael Mulgrew, who co-moderated the forum and asked Cuomo about rolling back Tier 6, repeatedly made the point during the event that mayoral makes a big difference in Albany. In 2012, then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg was an avid booster of Tier 6 who helped Cuomo garner to shrink benefits.

‘Bold and Transformational’ 3n4r5e

Rank-and-file who spoke with THE CITY said they’re not buying Cuomo’s change of heart. And other labor leaders said that simply reducing the retirement age for workers doesn’t go far enough, and that workers also need relief on pension contribution payments and to be able to use overtime earnings to help set pension rates.

“No, I do not trust Cuomo at all on Tier 6 or regarding anything for that matter,” said Ryan Bruckenthal, a special education teacher in Manhattan. “He is the reason we have Tier 6, he ran the state like a dictator, and I don’t have any reason to believe that would change if he were elected mayor.”

At the UFT mayoral candidates forum, Mamdani and Myrie, who are both state lawmakers, pointed out that they themselves are in Tier 6. “It was exciting to see the man who created it, in-person,” Mamdani said of Cuomo.

The changes, enacted with bipartisan in the state legislature, were more moderate that what Cuomo, then in his first term as governor, said was necessary at a time of fiscal uncertainty and rising pension costs.

Cuomo had sought to end early retirement packages, raise the retirement age to 65 for all new hires, restrict pensions for the highest-paid employees, and to scale back retirement benefits even for newly hired law enforcement and firefighters.

In the end he compromised, raising the retirement age to 63 for new hires, banning the use of overtime pay to pad pensions, and increasing the employee contribution rates into the state pension system by three percentage points to 6% for the highest earners. The changes meant that New York City was poised to save $21 billion over the next 30 years, state and local officials said at the time, as part of the $80 billion in projected savings.

“This bold and transformational pension reform plan is a historic win for New York taxpayers and municipalities,” Cuomo said. “Without this critical reform, New Yorkers would have seen significant tax increases, as well as layoffs to teachers, firefighters and police.”

To unions and critics of Tier 6, the changes amounted to new hires working longer and contributing more to earn a reduced pension. Today, more than half of state and local government employees are in Tier 6, according to the state comptroller’s office.

In the 13 years it’s been in place, Tier 6 has saved taxpayers in state and local governments outside of New York City $1 billion annually, according to a 2021 estimate from the Empire Center for Public Policy, a conservative Albany-based think tank. ers of the 2012 reform say New York’s pension system is still far more generous than those other states, even for workers in Tier 6.

“It’s a little disorienting to hear Cuomo change on Tier 6 because it was his bill, he pushed hard for it to go through, he compromised and didn’t get everything he wanted, and then he bragged about it as an accomplishment,” said Bill Hammond, a senior fellow at the Empire Center.

“From my point of view, it was a good thing he did for the taxpayers of the state and I don’t think that the public employees have anything to complain about,” he added.

But its critics say the increased contribution requirements and reduced retirement benefits make it more difficult to recruit and retain new hires, especially in competitive fields like IT, cybersecurity and nursing. And the restrictions on overtime have been devastating for transit workers, said Transportation Workers Union international president John Samuelson.

“We’re forced to work thousands of overtime hours a year, in many cases, and then they tell us that we can’t pension off the money,” he said in an interview Monday. “We don’t have a choice to say, ‘No, we’re not going to do that work’ — we’re stuck with it.” 

In recent years, unions have been able to reverse some elements of Tier 6. Last year, lawmakers included several changes green-lit by unions into the state budget, including an extension until 2026 of a pandemic-era policy that excludes employees’ overtime earnings from being counted in setting their pension contribution rates.

But winning the most salient demands — reducing the retirement age, employees’ pension contributions, and changing overtime requirements — is still an uphill battle, said Henry Garrido, executive director of District Council 37, which represents many New York City municipal staff.

“If Tier 6 was such a bright spot, it wouldn’t be such a problem to try to recruit and retain so many workers,” he said.

While the next mayor has no direct control over the state pension system, he or she will have “a bully pulpit like no other” to influence local and state lawmakers and the governor on their policy goals — if they cultivate positive relationships with them, said Samuelsen.

“It’s the easiest lift in the world for any mayoral candidate in New York City to say they’re going to dramatically reverse the damage that Tier 6 did to workers, because they have every opportunity to hide behind the governor,” he said.

Asked about Cuomo’s potential motives, Samuelsen said, “He’s probably being sincere. If I was him I’d be looking to roll it back too. It’s a complete ball and chain on him.”

Others are similarly pleased with the former governor’s newfound flexibility on the issue.

“I think it’s a recognition that we shouldn’t have been there in the first place — though, I mean, this is a problem of his creation,” said Garrido. “So I’m glad to see that he saw his error of his ways, but it’s still an issue for whoever becomes the mayor, or whoever becomes and continues to become the governor of the state of New York.”

UFT who spoke with THE CITY were more skeptical of the former governor. He was the only candidate who was booed at any point during the mayoral forum. None of the dozen or so surveyed after his remarks believed he would actually work to change Tier 6.

The bottom line, said special education teacher Travis Malekpour: “He had eight years to fix this and made no effort to do so.”

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Subway and bus riders are fuming over OMNY glitches that billed them late, kept them from tapping through turnstiles — and have them enduring lengthy waits for customer service on the MTA’s new fare-payment system.

Commuters have been caught off-guard in recent weeks by bugs that, in some cases, have charges showing up days late on bank statements or creating trouble while tapping.

Vanessa Campos, 28, told THE CITY that she was charged 18 times between Monday and Tuesday despite just taking a pair of round trips between her home station in The Bronx and her job in Manhattan. 

The tip-off, she said, was her phone repeatedly vibrating after she tapped in on Monday morning at the Kingsbridge Road station to take the D train to 125th Street.

“It just kept buzzing, back to back, back to back and I’m like, ‘Ok, it’s not a text message, it’s not a call,’ and it was just a bunch of transactions,’” Campos said. “So when I went on my bank app, I saw 12 transactions from yesterday and this morning, I tapped it once and got charged for six trips.”

But MTA officials insist riders are not being charged for trips they didn’t take and instead pinned the issue on bugs that they say will be worked out — by the end of this year. 

That’s when the MetroCard goes the way of the token and is replaced by the tap-and-go fare-payment system now used by two-thirds of all New York City Transit riders.

The bugs can include delays in processing bank-card payments, which then show up in bulk on bank statements.

“We have not seen anybody overcharged,” said John McCarthy, MTA chief of policy and external relations, told THE CITY Tuesday evening on a t call with Jessie Lazarus, the transit agency’s deputy chief of commercial ventures. “What we’re seeing is delayed charges and then they come in a cluster.”

Lazarus said that ongoing upgrades to OMNY’s software could show up throughout the summer, leading to delays in processing.

The MTA’s aim, she said, is to make the OMNY system “bulletproof” by the time the agency sunsets the MetroCard and moves to full tap-and-go. But she acknowledged that riders may sometimes encounter slowdowns in $2.90-per-trip taps being processed if there are software issues.

“Our goal and our North Star is kind of instant [payment] settlement,” Lazarus said.

The commuter anger over charges marks another chapter in the sluggish transition from to OMNY from MetroCard, which itself began replacing the token in 1994.

On social media, riders grumbled about payment for trips showing up while they were out of state, over being locked out for weeks from using pre-tax benefits cards that allow access to the transit system and of failing to connect to OMNY customer-service representatives through its phone line and online portal.

Several people said the customer service line routinely said there were over 100 people waiting to be helped ahead of them.

“When I call customer service, my calls are repeatedly dropped,” one rider posted to X.  

Chelsea Hall, who commutes between Elmhurst and Hudson Yards on the No. 7 line, told THE CITY that her attempts to get answers on why her pre-tax benefits card was repeatedly declined yielded nothing.

“It seems like a mess, especially since I tried to reach out to customer service and I still haven’t heard back from them over email,” Hall, 33, said. “Using the train and the bus here is the only way that most people get around, so to have to add on an extra five or 10 minutes to your commute to buy another fare card is an inconvenience and a waste of time.”

According to the MTA, pre-tax benefit cards issued by a third party are also facing similar software issues.

In an attempt to ease rider concerns, the MTA on Tuesday evening posted a notice on its app and its website warning of “tap-and-go processing delays,” and noting, “Rest assured you’re not being overcharged.”

The shift to tap-and-go technology has been plagued by numerous problems, including software issues that slowed its debut and not yet being available for use on Metro-North and the Long Island Rail Road. 

Parents of schoolchildren have also lodged numerous complaints about their OMNY cards, as Chalkbeat reported in February and March.

MTA officials insist the kinks will be ironed out in time for the full shift to OMNY.

“This is our system adding capacity and becoming scalable so that by the time we get to MetroCard sunset in January 2026, we’re good to go,” Lazarus said.

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A crowd of people came out in Bedford-Stuyvesant Monday to talk about a pernicious issue in the neighborhood: property fraud, deed theft and predatory real estate speculation.

THE CITY newsroom, which has completed many investigations on the topic, led a community conversation, hosted by JPMorgan Chase at their Brooklyn Community Banking Branch in Bed-Stuy, with experts who help New Yorkers grapple with the problem every day.

Marco Villegas, program officer for global philanthropy at JPMorgan Chase, said Bed-Stuy may be the epicenter of speculators trying to wrongfully get their hands on property in New York City — if not the entire United States.

The red flags for New Yorkers to watch for are numerous. Scott Kohanowski, general counsel for the Center for NYC Neighborhoods, said he’s worked with clients who have been approached by scammers through social media, family and even their church communities.

Kim Allman, interim executive director of Abode Alliance, told attendees unequivocally: find trusted legal help, and keep in mind that not all attorneys are created equal. Your uncle with a law degree doesn’t necessarily know about the complexities of estate or property law.

Attendees were invited to ask questions and share their stories in an off-the-record conversation with the ists.

The conversation was moderated by Rachel Holliday Smith, managing editor at THE CITY, which has published numerous stories about property-related fraud and patterns of real estate speculation. Those include our award-winning Deed Finders series, which documents how speculators scoop up shares from unsuspecting heirs in a scheme that’s destroying generational wealth in the city’s Black and Latino neighborhoods.

More recently, THE CITY published an investigation of the secretive family who grabbed buildings from immigrant owners across Brooklyn, including the site of the beloved Sherita billboard on Atlantic Avenue.

JPMorgan Chase is a sponsor of THE CITY’s independent journalism, including this series of community conversations hosted at Chase’s community bank branches throughout New York City.

Our nonprofit newsroom relies on donations from readers to sustain our local reporting and keep it free for all New Yorkers. Donate to THE CITY today.

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