This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

Who needs a gold watch or Hallmark card when you can finally pass a long-awaited policy? Outgoing Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh’s Vision Zero street safety plan had met roadblocks (no pun intended) in the Common Council. But since he introduced it in June, lawmakers have gotten behind the plan – which aims for zero traffic fatalities in Syracuse by 2055 – and now Walsh will have a real legacy on public safety.

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards often likes to say, “Queens gets the money,” but this week, it was more like, “Queens gets the housing.” It’s been a long road to get to this point, but New York City Council Member Nantasha Williams saw a major rezoning plan in her district pass the City Council, which promises to bring 11,800 units of housing to downtown Jamaica.

In a bid to increase living organ donation rates and ease the burden of donating, the state Department of Health has finally launched a reimbursement program for living donors – more than three years after the law meant to establish the program was signed into law in 2022. Elaine Perlman, the executive director of a group that promotes kidney donation called Waitlist Zero, has been involved in advocacy since donated a kidney herself almost six years ago. So it must be satisfying to see the realization of this first-in-the-nation program.

A British newspaper thought they had their hands on a mini-October surprise this week, after Bill de Blasio told the Times of London that he was pessimistic about Mamdani’s ambitious platform. But the man doubting Mamdani’s policy agenda was not former Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has endorsed Mamdani; it was actually Long Island wine importer Bill DeBlasio. The embarrassing error triggered a series of events we know Murdoch-owned outlets loathe: issuing corrections, apologizing to the former mayor and, worst of all, giving de Blasio an excuse to publish a didactic think piece on the state of news media.

Don’t expect a bromance between Democratic Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz and Republican Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin. Poloncarz apparently wants to “stick it to” McLaughlin, while McLaughlin thinks Poloncarz is a “classless, arrogant loser.” Poloncarz had intended to text a fellow Democrat but accidentally sent his comments to the daughter of a Republican Party official, prompting McLaughlin's response. We really hope Poloncarz learns his lesson before Gov. Kathy Hochul needs to give them both a time-out.

Melissa DeRosa, a former top aide to Andrew Cuomo back when he was governor (and current unofficial adviser to his mayoral campaign), recently went off on a Cornell undergraduate student who asked a question about the former governor’s sexual harassment allegations. While it’s not exactly off-brand for the controversial Democratic strategist, going after a student during an event hosted by a college club is not a great look.