Teachers’ Union Sues To Stop Congestion Pricing + Bronx Assembly Member Resigns
No. 356 | Monday, January 8, 2024
The NYC Thorn is a weekly roundup of local political news compiled by members of NYC-DSA.
Local News
The United Federation of Teachers filed a lawsuit to block the implementation of congestion pricing in the City.
Adrienne Adams (District 28, Jamaica) was reelected as City Council Speaker, as was most of her previous leadership team. Amanda Farias (District 18, Parkchester) was newly elected Majority Leader to set up a potential transition after other members of Council leadership are term-limited out of office next year.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said he is unlikely to pursue overrides of any of the vetoes Governor Kathy Hochul issued last month.
Hell Gate documents the long and lucrative lobbying career of Mayor Eric Adams’s former Chief of Staff, Frank Carone.
Mayor Adams and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams traded personal attacks stemming from Williams’s support of the How Many Stops Act, which was passed by the City Council last month. The bill, which is opposed by the mayor, would increase transparency around New York Police Department stops.
State legislators are considering a new bill to reduce the prevalence of lockdown drills in New York schools, which were made mandatory for public and private schools in 2016.
Sixty-seven percent of New Yorkers support higher taxes on large corporations and the top 5% of New York State income earners.
Election News
Bronx Assembly Member Latoya Joyner (District 77, Morris Heights) announced her resignation one day into the new legislative session, saying she was leaving for a job in the private sector. Her resignation leaves Democrats with just a one-vote supermajority in the State Assembly, and will trigger a special election, likely to be held in April. The current male District Leader in the district, Yves Filius, is said to be interested in the seat.
Twenty-nine Democrats on the City Council petitioned the State Board of Elections to bar Donald Trump from the 2024 presidential ballot, similar to recent decisions in Colorado and Maine.
Micah Lasher, an aide to Governor Hochul and a longtime figure in Upper Manhattan machine politics, is likely planning to announce a run for retiring Assembly Member Danny O'Donnell's seat (District 69, Upper West Side), joining three other candidates.
The NYC Local
We're excited to say that Alex Chan, David Kim, and David Turner have revived our chapter's labor newsletter The Local. It arrives every other week with a focus on labor organizing, bargaining, and local legislation that impacts NYC's workers. Give them a follow and thoughts about what you'd like to see from a socialist labor newsletter.
Revolutions Per Minute
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