Three democratic socialists vote against Adams’s budget + Rajkumar considers a comptroller run
No. 382 | Monday, July 8, 2024
The NYC Thorn is a weekly roundup of local political news compiled by members of NYC-DSA.
Local News
The New York City Council voted to approve the city budget, which will enable libraries to resume Sunday service, with a vote of 46 to 3. The three dissenters are NYC Democratic Socialists of America (NYC-DSA)–endorsed Alexa Avilés (District 38, Sunset Park, Red Hook) and Tiffany Cabán (District 22, Astoria, Jackson Heights), and democratic socialist Shahana Hanif (District 39, Park Slope, Kensington).
Hell Gate explored Mayor Eric Adams’s annual budgetary bait-and-switch in which the mayor’s office manufactures a budgetary crisis with extremely low revenue projections, proposes cuts to public services, and goads the City Council into spending months fighting the proposed cuts.
Kingston became the second city in New York State (after Albany) to opt into "Good Cause" eviction.
Service delays on both Amtrak and New Jersey Transit trains entering and leaving Penn Station are likely to continue for over a decade.
New York State elected officials are split on Governor Kathy Hochul’s pause on congestion pricing, with Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), Nydia Velázquez (NY-7), and Ritchie Torres (NY-15) and Senator Chuck Schumer opposed to the pause, and Mayor Eric Adams, Senator Kristen Gillibrand, Representative Hakeem Jeffries (NY-8) and several Republicans supporting the pause.
Rides on electric Citi Bikes are getting more expensive.
Election News
Assembly Member Jenifer Rajkumar (District 38, Woodhaven), a close ally of Mayor Adams, has opened an exploratory committee to run for New York City Comptroller in 2025. Incumbent comptroller Brad Lander is considering running for Mayor against Adams.
City & State broke down how much State legislative candidates spent per vote in last month's primaries. All DSA candidates were out-spent significantly by their opponents; notably Assembly Member Emily Gallagher (District 50, Greenpoint and Williamsburg) won with over 75 percent of the vote despite her opponent spending 8 times more than her campaign did per vote.
The NYC Local
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