Tenants Fight Deregulation + Leave it Blank Gets 12%
No. 369 | Monday, April 8, 2024
The NYC Thorn is a weekly roundup of local political news compiled by members of NYC-DSA.
Local News
Tenants blockaded the entrance to the headquarters of the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) to protest the powerful pro-landlord lobby group for its negotiating role in a statewide housing deal that could roll back parts of the 2019 rent stabilization laws. DSA-aligned and other progressive elected officials signed a letter opposing any legislation that could “weaken New York’s rent stabilization system.” A construction workers union is also demanding a $40 minimum wage in any 421-a tax break replacement.
The City’s Department of Investigation confirmed New Yorkers’ frequent observations that local police disproportionately fail to ticket permitted vehicles for parking violations.
Continuing the messy rollout of the legalized recreational marijuana industry, a State Supreme Court judge struck down several cannabis regulations and then scaled back the ruling on the following day.
The FBI is investigating Mayor Adams's use of free airfare upgrades provided by Turkish Airlines.
The NYC Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice (MOCEJ) published its first report on environmental inequality in each borough. It found about half of all New Yorkers live in "environmental justice areas" that experience disproportionate negative impacts from pollution.
Members of the NYPD have grown increasingly unhinged and abusive on social media with little accountability.
The City profiled several migrants dealing with the aftermath of the Times Square police assaults that went viral in January.
A group of State lawmakers requested that Governor Hochul declare the opioid epidemic a statewide public health emergency. The step would provide additional resources such as waiving copays for treatment and expanding Medicaid coverage.
The City will pay $17.5 million to settle a lawsuit by two Muslim American women who were forced to remove their hijabs before being photographed after an arrest.
The Association of Legislative Employees reached a landmark tentative agreement with Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, making it the first union of its kind in the City.
New York City’s restaurant and bar industry is mirroring the City’s uneven pandemic recovery, in which a “new Gilded Age” of expanding affluent options exists alongside a housing crisis with skyrocketing rents and record numbers of evictions.
The ugly, ominous Brooklyn Tower is facing foreclosure.
What you need to know for today’s solar eclipse.
Election News
The “Leave It Blank'' campaign announced that “blank” received about 12% of the vote in Tuesday’s Democratic presidential primary vote in New York. The rate of blanks represents a marked increase compared to four years ago.
Representative Gregory Meeks (NY-5, Queens) and the Queens Democratic machine are fighting to keep control over a powerful judicial seat and the money flow it sustains.
The NYC Local
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Revolutions Per Minute
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