My mom passed this weekend after a brief and sudden illness.
She spent her career as a journalist and flack telling the stories of this city. She was proudest of the ones that elevated the downtrodden and marginalized.
I loved her more than words could express.
Personal news time: After 5 and a half unforgettable years in city government, including 22 months with the mayor’s office, I’m proud to be joining Metropolitan Public Strategies under
@nealkwatra
.
Ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work.
My family and I are so moved by the outpouring of love for my late mother.
As spring rapidly approaches, please consider planting something in her honor.
the met gala is a grotesque display of a decadent, late-capitalist society that is so far beyond redemption that it actually celebrates its obscene inequalities, rather than seeking to rectify them
anyway here are my five favorite outfits from last night: 🧵
BIG NEWS:
@NYCMayor
just signed legislation to put New York City’s fleet on the path to 100% zero emissions vehicles by 2038, which will:
🌡️Combat the climate crisis
🌳 Reduce air pollution and help NYers breathe easier
💰Save the city money on fuel and maintenance costs
Couldn’t be more excited for this new chapter. Covering the presidential w/ some of the best reporters in the biz has been an honor, and I am inspired by their drive and talent. But NY politics is calling me back, now more than ever. For posterity, a few ‘24 stories I’m proud of:
The relationship b/w Biden and Adams isn't the greatest to say the least, but one City Hall staffer (deputy press secretary
@CLutvak
) is headed to POTUS' reelect:
🚨🚨🚨: 200 MILLION pounds of organic waste was diverted from landfills in the past year, thanks to new initiatives put in place by
@NYCMayor
.
Check it out in today’s Playbook 👇
first sip of Celsius: hm, not bad. wonder what biotin is.
third sip of Celsius: i am a body in motion. what we call “time” exists along a flat continuum containing past, present, future until it doubles back on itself, revealing the Infinite
Solidarity with the Daily News Union. The Daily News is an indispensable resource for our city and the kind of shoe-leather reporting it specializes in is sorely needed right now.
Today, the New York Daily News Union is walking off the job for 24 hours. 🪧🪧🪧
We are fed up with Alden Global Capital’s constant cuts and apparent commitment to shrinking the paper.
Here are some reasons we’re taking a stand: 🧵
#defendtheNYDN
the public freakout over these towers - an unalloyed good for the city - show that some folks will gladly pay lip service to closing the digital divide in this city, which is a MORAL IMPERATIVE, until a vocal minority raises spurious aesthetic concerns
oops: the Adams administration may redesign the 32-foot-tall Link5G poles that have sparked backlash around the city due to their size, chief tech officer Matt Fraser revealed Friday.
More than 100 have already been installed, but it's been a bumpy ride:
Willing to wager there are more guys per capita like this on the Upper East and West Sides than anywhere else in the U.S.
Toward the end of his life, my great-uncle would go to French Roast *every day* for breakfast and order the Eggs Benedict.
The budget news today will be tough.
But behind each of these plans are scores of dedicated public servants at
@NYCBudget
who work around the clock to fund critical services and keep NYC on solid fiscal footing.
Their success is the city’s success.
a lot of celeb endorsements become embarrassing or worse in hindsight (see: everyone and FTX). but Shaq can rest easy knowing that Icy Hot will stand the test of time
Phenomenal conversation today at
@NYCBudget
with @
Kim Phillips-Fein about her riveting book, “Fear City” and the 1970s fiscal crisis.
And shout-out to
@GreenbergSez
— not only a great flack but a talented interviewer as well!
.
@Fabien_Levy
:
- Always brings his game face
- Can smell an off-topic question from a mile away
- Has made me into a better flack & public servant
Very excited for him as he steps into this new role.
And
@NewYorkStateAG
is right: Best hair in the business.
A champion for working people,
A passionate communicator.
A native New Yorker raised by working-class Jewish-Middle Eastern parents.
Our first ever deputy mayor of Persian or Iraqi descent.
There is no one I trust more to get our message out there than Fabien Levy.
This was very cool. Speed limiting technology can help hold extremely reckless drivers accountable and keep our streets safer. NY can be a leader in adopting my bill to require ISA devices for the most reckless and flagrant speeders.
Aaron Sorkin is writing a movie about January 6.
Described as a quasi-sequel to ‘The Social Network’ that follows the rise of misinformation-for-profit online that may have led to January 6.
(Source:
@MattBelloni
)
🧵: We released the Fiscal Year 2023 Mayor’s Management Report yesterday.
The MMR is our annual report card, tracking agency performance across a wide variety of metrics.
Here’s some highlights you may have missed:
What a loss.
@GothamGazette
was an invaluable resource to policy nerds and casual political observers alike.
It was that rare publication that sought to educate its readers about the city around them, and illuminate how small acts of civic engagement could make it better.
Today, thousands of New Yorkers across the city will gather to turn the page on the past year, and look forward to the new one.
They’ll take time to reflect on our successes, as well as the areas where we can improve.
Wishing a meaningful MMR release day to all who observe.
Extremely telling that, time and again, students display more empathy and understanding in these situations than the vocal minority of rabble-rousers claiming to speak on their behalf.
From a James Madison HS student re. the school housing migrant families from Floyd Bennet field last night: “Every single person I know has an immigrant as a parent or grandparent, so everyone was pretty understanding.”
This and tax policy (h/t
@Blueprint_2024
) should be central theme of Biden’s economic message: Common-sense, popular policies to level the playing field.
The news is out—and so are single-use plastics.
Tomorrow, I’m introducing a bill to require our sports arenas to allow patrons to bring reusable water bottles to games.
It’s a big deal for sports fans and our planet. 1/
“Despite the expenditure of billions in public dollars, the digital divide remains, putting New Yorkers at a distinct economic disadvantage and unnecessarily at risk.”
A real loss for the City. Dawn is a fiercely dedicated public servant and an all-around great human being.
She helped to execute on some of the admin’s most ambitious efforts — from coordinating citywide hiring halls to transitioning the city fleet to electric vehicles.
ONLY ON
@NY1
: Dawn Pinnock to step down as DCAS Commissioner
Our exclusive sit-down interview: "When you work in government, service is truly a calling"
Pinnock moving on to pursue a career opportunity outside of City government
Everyone talking about Mahomes, Purdy, Usher, Swift
Ok, like how bout we swiftly build mahomes and usher in a new era of affordable housing bc right now rents are purdy damn expensive
go ahead, laugh all you want. but today’s vote sets a dangerous precedent that will discourage future candidates who fabricate their backstory and commit hilarious crimes from seeking office. in the long run, we all lose
Fyodor Dostoevsky is the greatest content creator you've never heard of.
Reading his work changed everything I knew about business.
He often communicated ideas in long made-up stories, so I've synthesized the 7 principles to elevate your online presence from gulag to new Jag ↓
a fond farewell to vivek ramaswamy, who spent the waning moments of his campaign reinforcing his brand as “guy you hope you don’t get seated next to at a dinner party”
love reading biographies of people living in the 1800s where the author’s like, “as a student, he didn’t distinguish himself academically. so he spent most of his time reading novels.”
The Dog Mayor, Sally Long Dog, stopped by Room 9 this morning.
She is seen here sitting at my desk, possibly changing copy to be more flattering toward her administration.
She was elected last November to a two-year term.
"This week, 'BALLY LINKS' will be emblazoned on a massive green berm on the links — a symbol of
@BallysCorp
acquiring the lease of the
@BallysGolfFP
from the Trump Organization last fall — replacing 'TRUMP LINKS.'"
Love this story. I had the good fortune to be on this tour last march, and the evident enthusiasm Hakim and his fellow members of
@GreenCityForce
brought to their work was really inspiring.
"It’s ugly to be glib about people losing jobs because you chafed over some writing, to use someone else’s misfortune to air your own grievances. You come off looking pro-you, not pro-art (the pro-art stance is solidarity)."
“In times of division the Jewish community, the Islamic community, the Catholic community, the Christian community are coming together,”
@mlitwack
said. “Students cannot learn in an environment in which they are afraid.”
SCOOP🍨: Blue Marble is closing its last remaining brick-and-mortar location in Brooklyn on Dec. 24.
The closure of the Underhill Ave location was announced last week in a heartfelt blog post:
so much internet flotsam drifts by, offering momentary diversion or outrage and not much more. but some websites actually change the way you think, and help you develop a vocabulary that brings you closer to the things you enjoy. pitchfork was one of those websites
A lot of great stuff in here, but particularly exciting to see the expansion of Intelligent Speed Assistance,a common sense tech intervention that reduces speeding and saves lives, to more city fleet vehicles.
peaky blinders is amazing. you’ll be trying to follow some completely incomprehensible conversation about fixing a horse race and then “icky thump” by the white stripes starts playing. i love it
The “dog that caught the car” analogy is played out but R’s assiduously worked to entrench right-wing judiciaries (both at state and federal levels) to roll back repro rights and now they’re disavowing their rulings…what did they think would happen?
some say it's unfair to apply the NIMBY frame here but it's the same logic. either you agree there's an urgent need for universal connectivity, or you don't. if you don't, you don't get to hide behind the same process defenses trotted out to tank the high-rise going up next door
An incredible post — for non-NYC politics followers, imagine if Neil deGrasse Tyson came out now and explained you only *perceived* Obama’s suit as tan because of a trick of the light
dropping a mature groundhog a few feet onto the ground would certainly not kill or even injure the groundhog. anyone who thinks otherwise is not a gardener & does not know the first thing about the obduracy, rapacity, & sheer animal cunning of a groundhog.
Late to this incredible piece by
@GiniaNYT
, almost a Dickensian allegory about New York’s housing crisis and the obscene inequalities that are both symptom and result.
"Resorts World NYC last Thursday laid down its markers for the public — and the state — in its efforts to bring full casino gambling, 10,000 construction and permanent jobs and “a world-class entertainment resort” to South Ozone Park."
This feels like a watershed moment in modern U.S. labor politics. The
@UAW
galvanized the labor movement — and the country — in support of its cause, and won significant concessions from the auto companies.
watched altman's the long goodbye last night, and it really does feel like a relic of a bygone era. we need more detective noirs with goofy, sardonic leads