The NYC Thorn is a weekly roundup of local political news compiled by members of NYC-DSA.
Local News
Plans for the LaGuardia Airport AirTrain, a project originally championed by the Cuomo administration, were officially scrapped by Governor Hochul. The estimated costs had ballooned from $450 million to $2.4 billion.
The State Senate and Assembly each passed their "one-house" budgets, which include a number of rebukes to Governor Hochul's policy agenda, including her push to expand charter schools and further roll back the 2019 bail reforms.
The City Council passed a new mandate that would require each New York City shelter serving families with children to provide either onsite or telehealth mental health services.
Health insurance coverage for the families of 150 MTA workers who died during the pandemic is set to expire in April. Union leaders will push for an extension to the coverage as part of upcoming contract negotiations this spring.
Artist and activist Lashawn Marston went on a two-week hunger strike to push the Adams administration to convert an underutilized New York City Department of Education building into a community-run space. The building at 44-36 Vernon Boulevard in Long Island City was included in the 2019 Amazon HQ2 proposal. Marston and other members of the Western Queens Community Land Trust rallied outside the building on March 12.
Following the recent failure of Signature Bank, supporters of the New York Public Banking Act, a bill intended to create a public banking plan which has been stalled for several years, sent a letter to leaders of the State legislature to introduce the measure this session.
The New York branch of the American Civil Liberties Union is suing the NYPD for the release of records related to Mayor Adams' plan to involuntarily transport people suspected of having mental illness to hospitals. The plan was announced in November, and very little information on the program has been released since then.
A growing number of elected officials have called for Queens Assembly Member Juan Ardila (District 37-Long Island City) to resign after two women accused him of committing sexual assault in 2015.
City data undermines the claim that Hudson Yards is a "model” of energy efficiency.
A Long Island town has extended a moratorium on new housing in response to Governor Hochul's call for transit-oriented development.
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