Winners & Losers
This week’s biggest Winners & Losers
Who’s up and who’s down this week?
To promote city hiring events, an artificial intelligence-generated voice that sounds like Eric Adams has been calling New Yorkers and speaking to them in many different languages. The mayor said people have been stopping him on the street saying “I didn’t know you speak Mandarin!” It’s sort of creepy, yes, and it’s just the latest in a series of flirtations with new tech. It sort of makes you long for a mayor who would go back to the basics. Maybe someone like Sally Long Dog, the first female dog mayor, who toured City Hall to great fanfare this week, puzzling onlookers who missed her election.
Lee Zeldin -
Lee Zeldin must have been singing “Don’t You, Forget About Me” on his way out of Congress. The 2022 gubernatorial runner-up received three votes for speaker, all from Long Island Republicans. Another 214 votes and Zeldin gets a $223,500 a year gig that comes with one of Washington’s best balconies, the ability to hang out with Kamala Harris at joint sessions, a likely invite to Tammy Haddad’s annual brunch and the chance to manage the unmanageable.
Francisco Moya -
While some potential snags remain, the ball is officially rocketing down the field towards one of Queens Council Member Francisco Moya’s biggest goals: bringing a professional soccer stadium to Willets Point in a manner that would infuse the surrounding community with affordable housing and economic opportunities. With the land review process now underway, the reality is inching nearer.
Masha Gindler -
A dearth of immigration lawyers, confusing bureaucratic systems and language barriers make the process of applying for asylum – let alone receiving the status – a steep uphill battle for the tens of thousands of migrants who have come to New York City since last spring. But the city’s Asylum Application Help Center, led by Masha Gindler, has managed to help file more than 5,600 asylum applications since its launch this summer. Still, the center has much more work ahead of it than behind it, both in filing asylum applications and applications for Temporary Protected Status.
Timothy Pearson -
In a pretty confusing altercation, Eric Adams adviser Timothy Pearson allegedly grabbed a migrant shelter security guard by the neck and “threw her to the ground,” according to one account reported by The City. After that, there was an arrest, as you might expect, but it was the security guard, not the mayor’s ally, who was cuffed. Witnesses called Pearson, an ex-cop, “aggressive.”
Inna Vernikov -
New York City Council Member Inna Vernikov had to surrender her handgun permit and her beloved pistol last week after she was arrested for openly carrying a pistol to a protest outside of Brooklyn College last week in apparent violation of the state’s strict gun laws. Although she’s likely to dodge any jail time, she now faces an ethics investigation and a growing number of politicians have called for her to be expelled from the City Council.
Louis Molina -
Another week, another wave of Rikers Island drawing ire. With skepticism mounting that the embattled jail complex will close by its August 2027 deadline, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams is rolling out another independent commission tasked with ensuring the goal is met. That means greater scrutiny on New York City Correction Commissioner Louis Molina as he contends with an increasingly likely federal takeover. Meanwhile, questions remain over a secret lounge allegedly stocked with stashes of unused equipment found inside a shuttered Rikers Island jail.