Winners & Losers 1/13/17

Gov. Andrew Cuomo evaded unhappy state lawmakers during his State of the State tour this week, but an emergency helicopter landing was a reminder that the governor can only control so much. Then again, the more conspiratorial-minded among us might suspect that the whole thing was a ploy to get the state comptroller to approve funding for a new helicopter. Whatever the case, here are this week’s Winners & Losers.

WINNERS

Byron Brown – Buffalo’s mayor must have felt like the luckiest guy in the world when Cuomo unexpectedly announced that Western New York would receive $1 billion in economic development funding during his 2012 State of the State address. Well, this week it was déjà vu all over again. Cuomo, much to the chagrin of observers from other upstate cities, announced during his stop in Buffalo this week that the city would see ANOTHER $500 million in investment – Buffalo Billion Phase II. Eat your heart out, Rochester.

Ruben Diaz Jr. – The gloves are off between Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, but the Bronx Beep may be able to score on a power play after Cuomo promised to further fund the Kingsbridge Armory redevelopment. The big Bronx boondoggle is currently held up by its developer’s financing dispute with the de Blasio administration, but Diaz would love nothing more than to get the project underway – and skate into City Hall.  

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – This silver-spooned environmental attorney has had Cuomo’s ear on green issues since the two were brothers-in-law, and the agreement to close Indian Point was a huge win for his Riverkeeper organization. RFKJ had the president-elect’s ear too, coming out of a Trump Tower meeting with hopes of chairing a commission to push the debunked theory that both he and Trump support linking vaccines to autism.

Jared Kushner – Once merely a scion of a wealthy real estate family, newspaper publisher, and son-in-law of a billionaire real estate developer/reality TV celebrity, Kushner now is one of the most powerful people in America. As adviser to that same father-in-law, President-elect Donald Trump, Kushner will soon have the ear of the leader of the free world. Oh, yeah. He got a lot of ink this week, too.

Josh Mohrer – As the governor likes to say, “Upstate matters!” (Apparently that needed to be said?) Among his 30-plus proposals announced during his regional State of the State addresses, Cuomo said he will push for ridesharing services to expand to upstate New York – a boon for Mohrer, Uber’s New York chief. The measure has repeatedly failed to pass in Albany in the last few years, but the governor’s full-throated support may be the leverage needed to get it across the finish line.

LOSERS

Al D’Amato – Ohhh boy. What else can we say about D’Amato? The ex-senator (a.k.a. Rogue One) got kicked off a JetBlue flight for trying to rally the passengers against the crew. Apparently he needs to work on his campaign skills, because only one other passenger decided to support his short-lived takeover attempt. Regardless, majority rule doesn’t work here, and you can’t filibuster your way into commandeering an airplane. And if you’re going to try and stage a protest, you should probably follow the wise words of noted philosopher/rapper Jay-Z: “We don’t believe you, you need more people.”

MaryEllen Elia – Do you know how safe your children are? The state might not know, either. After launching its universal prekindergarten program, an audit released by the state comptroller’s office found Elia’s state Education Department needs to provide better oversight and monitoring of site inspections. Some have been inspected regularly for health and safety – and some not at all. Yikes.

Carmen Fariña – Never say never. When de Blasio first came into office, he promised to support struggling schools, not shut them down. Except that’s exactly what New York City will be doing now. The news broke that the city Education Department will close or merge nine schools next year. As head of the department, Fariña will be held responsible by those who hoped for a complete break from the Bloomberg administration.  

Peter Rose – We’re not saying that this NYPD captain “has, like, no moral standards,” but victims don’t appreciate when you downplay a rape because it wasn’t committed by a stranger. Rape is rape. The police commissioner himself had to scramble this week to clean up after Rose’s word vomit. Keep gambling with comments like that, and he’ll be in more trouble than his namesake.

Polly Trottenberg – The de Blasio administration may be spinning the 2016 traffic fatality numbers, which were 5 deaths lower than 2015, as another success. But cyclist and pedestrian deaths increased, prompting sharp criticism. Then there are the 10 traffic deaths that have occurred in just the first 10 days of 2017. Many of those were hit-and-runs, which in 2016 led to arrests only 13 percent of the time. While there have been successes, it's unclear why Trottenberg’s DOT is celebrating.