Assembly Members Push to Criminalize Palestine Supporters + NYCHA Empty Apartments Surge
No. 363 | Monday, February 26, 2024
The NYC Thorn is a weekly roundup of local political news compiled by members of NYC-DSA.
Local News
In an attempt to curb solidarity actions for Palestine, Assembly Members have introduced a bill meant to outlaw peaceful protests that block bridges and roads and brand them as acts of “domestic terrorism.”
The New York Civil Liberties Union announced that it will sue Columbia University if it fails to reinstate its chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace. Columbia suspended the groups on November 10, 2023, under dubious rationale and reactionary pressure.
New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) went from having 460 to 5,000 empty apartments over the past two years after a failed centralization attempt meant to reduce that number. 240,000 potential tenants wait on units for up to years on end.
The recently enacted law that cracks down on short-term Airbnb rentals in New York City has so far had a limited effect on the city's housing market.
The Adams administration has announced that the four borough-based jails intended to replace Rikers Island will have the capacity to incarcerate several hundred more detainees than previously planned.
Blackstone, the private equity firm that is currently the landlord of Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village, dropped its court case to challenge the rent stabilization status for the nearly 11,200 units in the complex.
Mayor Adams's former chief of staff Frank Carone has registered as a city and state lobbyist, although he promised not to lobby his former boss directly.
The locations of ShotSpotter microphones in many U.S. cities, including New York, was revealed through a leak. The system designed to detect gunshots has been shown to produce false positives, target Black and brown neighborhoods, and lead to increased aggressiveness in police responses.
The bribery case against former Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin could be dropped after a key witness died this month.
The music venue Saint Vitus was suddenly shut down mid-performance last week despite the Mayor’s claims that dramatic interventions like that would no longer happen.
Hudson Yards may get a monstrous $12 billion casino.
Staten Island’s LGBTQ+ community will be holding a new separate St. Patrick’s Day parade on March 17 since the borough’s official parade still excludes LGBTQ+ groups.
Flaco the owl, who became a symbol of freedom and hope after escaping the Central Park Zoo last year and defied expectations he would not be able to hunt on his own in the city, is dead following a collision with a glass window. His death may not be in vain if it leads to initiatives to make buildings safer for our other winged friends.
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