This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

Who said the summer has to be sluggish for the New York City Council? Speaker Julie Menin scored a number of legislative wins this week, including the creation of a new Office of Insurance Affordability and the return of year-round outdoor dining. The latter package of bills was sponsored by others, but Council Member Lincoln Restler credited Menin with being the “most enthusiastic supporter” of the effort. Plus, she clinched the hard-to-win Staten Island seal of approval.

After months of Mayor Zohran Mamdani living rent-free in his head, Randy Mastro and his barrage of lawsuits against the new administration has flipped the script. First, a judge temporarily paused Mamdani’s rollout of the pied-à-terre tax – the end goal of one of Mastro's lawsuits. Just a day later, the former first deputy mayor scored another win by forcing the mayor to back down from his plan to replace Elizabeth Street Garden with affordable housing.

Despite being nominated as a loser two weeks in a row this past month (by us), the mayor got a win this week when a new Siena College poll pegged his favorability at 69% among likely voters in New York City, which is basically a record-high favorability number for a mayor eight months into his term. He should be able to rest easy when he vacations upstate in a couple weeks. Maybe he can treat himself to a celebratory garbage plate!

Reading proficiency scores dropped significantly in New York City schools last year, plummeting 6 percentage points among third- and eighth-graders. Third-graders saw the worst outcomes, scoring 14 points lower than they did the year prior. Of course, the city’s new schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels only had a few months at the helm of the nation’s largest school system before the academic year came to a close. But now it’s up to him and state Education Commissioner Betty Rosa to solve the problem. Godspeed.

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s lead over Republican Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman is shrinking, with less than three months until Election Day. The latest Siena College poll shows the guv has a 10-point lead over Blakeman, 49% to 39%, among likely voters. That’s just half of the 20-point margin that she had over Blakeman among registered voters in June. But there’s still time, and Hochul is holding onto solid margins in the city, while Blakeman leads in the suburbs and upstate is tied. 

It’s never a dull day in Suffolk County politics, as two countywide candidates found out the hard way this past week. Democratic county comptroller candidate Jon Estreich and county clerk candidate Anthony Portesy were reportedly pressured to drop out of their respective races to clear the way for Republicans to win. Portesy accepted and gave up his spot on the ballot, but Estreich said he’s still in it to win it.