Adams Seeks Extension for Mayoral Control of City Schools + Home Healthcare Workers Win Lawsuit
The NYC Thorn is a weekly roundup of local political news compiled by members of NYC-DSA.
NO. 261 | Monday, March 14
Local News:
Mayor Eric Adams is seeking a four year extension to the mayoral control of the city's public schools. While Governor Hochul is likely to include this in her budget proposal, some activists and legislators want to see mayoral control reformed to allow more room for community input.
Former governor Andrew Cuomo spoke against "cancel culture" at a Black church in Brooklyn last week, emerging back into public life after resigning in disgrace.
The first 100 marijuana retail licenses in New York State will be reserved for individuals or relatives of individuals who were convicted of a marjuana-related offense prior to legalization.
Mayor Adams' budget proposal does not include an increase in Parks funding to 1% of the city budget, breaking a campaign promise.
Only 10% of a $2.5 million fund raised by the Adams administration for victims of January's Twin Parks fire has been disbursed to victims.
Home healthcare workers represented by 1199SEIU won $30 million in a suit against home care agencies after proving they had been underpaid for several years. However, some labor organizers have pointed out that this is far less than what these workers are owed.
As more workers are working from home and leaving office buildings empty, both Governor Hochul and Mayor Adams signaled they would support a plan to convert some Midtown office buildings into apartments.
Hundreds of workers disrupted traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan to demand an additional $3 billion for the Excluded Workers Fund and the creation of a permanent unemployment insurance program.
Shortly after he was hired by the Adams administration as a senior advisor, Edu Hermelyn (husband of Brooklyn Democratic Party boss Rodneyse Bichotte) resigned after concerns were raised that his status as an elected District Leader violated the city's conflict of interest policy.
Lawmakers in Albany have proposed a new $250M housing subsidy program for New York State, similar to the federal Section 8 voucher program.
The New York City Board of Elections sent faulty inactive voter registration notices to 44,000 residents due to what they call a vendor error.
Elections:
Mayor Adams is backing a district leader candidate with ties to Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods to unseat the 28-year-old incumbent, a political rival who supported Andrew Yang in last year's primary.
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