State Budget Ratified + Pro-Palestine Student Protestors Arrested
No. 426 | Monday, May 12, 2025
The NYC Thorn is a weekly roundup of local political news compiled by members of NYC-DSA. We Are Looking for New Volunteers to Join our Editorial Team! If you are interested, please contact us:
Local News
Over a month late, the State budget has finally been ratified. City & State has an overview of what was included in the final version, including discovery reforms (watered down from what Governor Kathy Hochul proposed), a school cell phone ban, and “inflation rebate” checks to qualifying New Yorkers. All three mayoral candidates in the state legislature voted for the bill.
Pro-Palestine student protesters at Columbia University briefly occupied a room in the school’s main library before the school called in the NYPD, who made 78 arrests. The next day, the NYPD tased a Brooklyn College student while making arrests at a pro-Palestine demonstration outside the campus.
A street safety–oriented redesign of Third Avenue in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, which would reduce traffic and add bike lanes in response to a high rate of traffic fatalities, has been put on hold by the Adams administration
Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch are trying to garner support for their collaboration with ICE by making questionable claims about the presence of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua in New York City.
The City Council is getting closer to passing a pack of bills called the Street Vendor Reform Package, which would reform the street vendor system in New York City by making it easier to get a street vendor license.
Election News
City & State published a profile of Zohran Mamdani.
A competitive general election is likely, as Andrew Cuomo’s campaign announced that he will also be running as an independent in November regardless of the results of June’s primary.
Cuomo’s campaign may have violated campaign finance rules by writing a message on his website to any potential super PACs supporting him. Super PACs are supposed to operate independently of campaigns.
Approximately $400k have been donated to Cuomo’s super PAC by real estate executives who are being sued by the City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development for a failure to make required safety fixes in their buildings.
The Campaign Finance Board has once again denied the Adams campaign City matching funds.
The Brooklyn Democratic party is supporting a primary challenge to progressive City Councilmember Lincoln Restler (Council District 33, North Brooklyn).
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