August Primary Early Voting Begins + Adams School Cuts Reinstated after Appeal
No. 283 | Monday, August 15, 2022
The NYC Thorn is a weekly roundup of local political news compiled by members of NYC-DSA.
Local News
After the State Supreme Court ruled that the City Council would have to reconsider the education budget, an appellate judge sided with Mayor Adams' appeal, allowing $469 million in cuts to remain for the time being. Legal challenges to the budget cuts continue, and may continue into the school year.
Mayor Adams’ statements about Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s intent to bus migrants to Washington appeared to bait Abbott into sending another bus to New York, according to a report by The City.
NYCHA continues to face a budget crisis as public housing was left out of the Inflation Reduction Act.
A new bill in the City Council would give community land trusts and nonprofits the first priority when the city offers publicly-owned land for development.
Amazon is closing in on a $124 million tax break to build a warehouse in upstate New York. The funds would come from the town's school district.
A victory for retired city employees, who fought back against a plan to switch their benefits to a low-cost health care plan, is pitting them against current employees, who benefit from a fund that was set to receive the projected savings.
Elections
Early voting has begun for New York’s August primaries. Gotham Gazette released guides to the State Senate and Congressional races.
Queens Chronicle interviewed the four candidates for State Senate District 59, including DSA-endorsed Kristen Gonzalez. Soon after, Nomiki Konst dropped out of the State Senate race in the 59th District and endorsed Kristen Gonzalez.
In the past two weeks, a real estate-funded PAC reported spending $246,000 in support of Liz Crowley in the State Senate District 59 race.
The New York Times endorsed three corporate-backed centrists in competitive congressional primaries this month. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, who was endorsed by the Times, is receiving over $400,000 from the New York City Police Benevolent Association, which backed Donald Trump in 2020.
Gothamist released a profile on the race between State Senator Gustavo Rivera (District 33, North Bronx) and his machine-aligned challenger, Miguelina Camilo. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez endorsed Rivera.
State Senator Andrew Gounardes is facing a challenge from former Council Member and Bloomberg administration official David Yassky, in a radically redrawn State Senate District 26 (Western Brooklyn).
A pro-charter school PAC is supporting Angel Vazquez in his attempt to unseat State Senator Robert Jackson in District 31 (Upper Manhattan). Vazquez was previously the chief of staff for IDC Senator Marisol Alcantara, whom Jackson defeated in 2018 as part of a progressive wave.
On Long Island, which saw major gains last year for the Republican Party, the race to replace retiring Representative Kathleen Rice (D-Nassau County) is driving a wedge between State Democratic Party Chair Jay Jacobs and Rice.
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