Winners & Losers

This week's biggest Winners & Losers

Who's up and who's down this week?

Tis the season to express holiday wishes before a busy year to come. Transit advocates are asking for more trains and state legislators are fretting whether gubernatorial Santa will deliver on bills big and small by New Year’s Eve. The impending delivery of COVID-19 vaccines is just one sign of how Christmas is coming a little early for many New Yorkers. But no matter if you’re naughty or nice, lumps of coal have a way of stuffing more than a few political stockings. 

WINNERS:

Letitia James -

Since taking office as state attorney general in 2019, Letitia James has made a point of taking on all the Big Bads of the moment – at least from Democrats’ perspective – including President Donald Trump and the National Rifle Association. Now, she’s taking aim at Big Tech too. James led a coalition of 48 states and territories – in conjunction with the Federal Trade Commission – in filing antitrust lawsuits against Facebook on Wednesday that threaten to break up one of tech’s great behemoths. James and her co-plaintiffs face a tough fight in making their case against Facebook, but for the time being, James has proved successful at building a national profile as a true antitrust crusader.

Peter Koo -

Member deference is alive and well in Queens – and this time, the project got approved. New York City Council Member Peter Koo came out in support of the controversial Flushing waterfront rezoning for a mixed-use development, despite some very vocal pushback by some members of the community, as well as other Council members. Although it’s not quite as high profile as the scrapped Industry City rezoning or recently collapsed neighborhood rezonings, the Flushing project was still major enough to draw attention. While Koo did not enjoy unanimous support from his colleagues, the rezoning managed to avoid the ever growing development graveyard.

Liz Krueger & Félix Ortiz -

State Sen. Liz Krueger and Assembly Member Félix Ortiz for years have pushed legislation that would force New York's pension fund to drop its fossil fuel stocks. State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has balked at having the legislature supersede his authority over the fund. But they came to a compromise recently, as DiNapoli announced his plan to review and divest from many fossil fuel companies. And his latest plan goes even further than Krueger and Ortiz's proposal, pushing for net-zero emissions across the fund’s whole portfolio by 2040. The two lawmakers – along with the many climate change activists who pushed for it – can now do a victory lap for pushing the country's third largest pension fund to get greener.

LOSERS:

Robert Carroll -

One Brooklyn Democrat incurred the wrath of his fellow progressives after suggesting the time is now to discuss a proposed bill that would impose a $3 surcharge on package deliveries in New York City. Once Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez started tweeting about it, the actual details of the legislation became besides the point, as the once environmentally-minded proposal became the latest bone of ideological contention before the political left and right. Wonder why the state Senate sponsor wasn’t retweeting Bobby on this one … 

Danny Presti -

The escalation of a defiant Staten Island bar owner’s battle against Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Covid-19 mandates reached its climax on Sunday night: Daniel Presti, owner of Mac’s Public House, allegedly hit a sheriff’s deputy with his car. This occurred after the bar was ordered to be closed on Wednesday for continuously violating safety regulations, but was found to be disregarding the notice later that week, prompting police intervention. Presti, who was arrested but has since been released, is charged with assault, reckless driving, resisting arrest, among others. 

Armand Pohan -

Something smells at New York Waterway. It isn’t clear if the ferry company, led by Chairman Armand Pohan, really dumped sewage straight into the Hudson River for years. But that’s what two shit-stirrers – er, whistleblowers – claimed in a lawsuit. The EPA has been investigating, and in a difficult year since the Coast Guard briefly halted the ferries’ service for safety issues, this is another brown mark on their record

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.