Personality
This week’s biggest Winners & Losers
Who’s up and who’s down this week?
When Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman mistakenly placed a Brooklyn address in Manhattan in a press advisory, it wasn’t a good look. A candidate running to run the state should know the five boroughs. But geography-inspired snafus are apparently a bipartisan issue. Democratic congressional candidate Cait Conley misspelled several town names in the district she wants to represent – including where she herself lives! Though in Conley’s defense, out-of-towners like herself could be forgiven for combining Ossining and its famous Sing Sing prison into “Ossinging.”
Tim Cawley -
Con Edison is still king in New York as state regulators approved a rate hike for the utility. Sure, it wasn’t as big as CEO Tim Cawley may have wanted, but the Public Service Commission received quite a lot of pressure this time around to reject any price increase. Even the governor didn’t want to see prices rise as she runs for reelection on a platform of affordability. But the lower compromise rate increase still means more money in the bank for Con Ed.
Tricia Shimamura -
New Yorkers love their parks! And as of Jan. 17, they have a new parks commissioner. Tricia Shimamura previously worked as a lobbyist for Columbia and on the staffs of Carolyn Maloney and Mark Levine. She also ran for City Council in 2021. She is so plugged in that The New York Times featured her in a 2023 article called “How a Political Insider Spends Her Sundays.” Spoiler alert: It was at the park.
Mitchell Katz & Stanley Richards -
She lives! Mayor Zohran Mamdani reversed his predecessor’s position on Just Home, giving new life to the supportive housing project just a few months after it was put on hold amid objections from the Adams administration. That’s a big win for early supporter New York City Health + Hospitals CEO Mitchell Katz and Fortune Society President Stanley Richards, whose nonprofit is behind the project – not to mention the formerly incarcerated New Yorkers who will soon be able to call the new units home.
Nicole Malliotakis -
Melanie Griffith’s Tess in “Working Girl” proved an ambitious Staten Islander can sell south of 14th Street, at least in the movies. Now GOP Rep. Nicole Malliotakis has to prove it for real. With a state judge tossing her district, Malliotakis is likely in the fight of her political life this year. While Malliotakis doesn’t need to fake it to make it like Griffith’s character, the movie reminds everyone that Staten Islanders won’t give up without a fight.
Margaret Brunn -
Imagine going out for dinner with your friends and they all know you were just named the worst landlord in New York City. Do you think everyone would address it? Or just pretend they don’t know? Margaret Brunn, president of A&E Real Estate Holdings, was given the title by Public Advocate Jumaane Williams this year. There were more than 4,800 open violations across her 24 buildings, according to the city Housing and Preservation department. You can fix them, Margaret! Bird by Bird.
Eric Adams -
Three weeks out of office, and New York City still can’t stop thinking about former Mayor Eric Adams. Just maybe not in the way he’d like. Following his (at best flimsy, at worst fraudulent) crypto pitch last week, Adams’ tenure was under scrutiny again after it came to light that he worked out a deal with Dr. Phil’s son to allow him to trail and film NYPD officers – including on sensitive work – for a TV show. That deal is tied to just one of several previously undisclosed campaign payments Adams made. Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration has now sued to block the footage from being released.