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Opinion: The legal loophole robbing New Yorkers of mental healthcare

Patrick McGovern and Robert Hayes — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 14:21:36 -0400

Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state of New York have made progress in providing greater access to behavioral health services, with one notable exception.

Community health centers are building innovative care where it matters most: meeting patients where they are and removing barriers to care. But when it comes to accessing behavioral health remotely, many people on Medicaid are left out.

During the pandemic, virtual visit options became widely available, including for behavioral health services like talk therapy, substance-abuse support and psychiatric appointments. Although virtual visits continue to be a widely accepted practice for many types of healthcare, mental and behavioral health services lead in overall virtual visits according to a data review of commercially insured patients.

For commercially insured patients, the proliferation of app-based services focuses on matching people with licensed therapists who, most often, work in remote locations. Yet, when it comes to virtual visits for community health center patients, the New York State Department of Health requires behavioral health clinicians to be on site, with limited space at health center locations.

Community health centers like Callen-Lorde and Community Healthcare Network, which have long been leaders in delivering innovative, community-based care for beneficiaries of Medicaid, often face limits in square footage per clinic as they provide preventive care across a wide range of healthcare needs, in addition to behavioral health. Because of space limitations, we aren’t able to provide the number of behavioral health appointments necessary to meet the needs of our clinic’s Medicaid patients.

Behavioral health care provided by clinics that are governed by two other areas of mental healthcare law (known as Article 31 and 32 clinics) are allowed to provide virtual visit services in which both the provider and the patient are off site and receive the full Medicaid reimbursement.

However, Article 28 clinics like Callen-Lorde and Community Health Network were left out of this accommodation, a jarring omission for care that was reimbursed at the full rate during the pandemic. This is an oversight that has a deep impact on the patients we serve.

Community Healthcare Network and Callen-Lorde are not-for-profit Federally Qualified Health Center organizations that provide a combined 87,000 New Yorkers with primary, behavioral, wellness and other needed health and support services. We provide judgement-free, high-quality healthcare, without regard to race, religion, orientation, gender identity, immigration status or ability to pay. We turn no one away.

Innovation in community health centers removes barriers that prevent patients from accessing care when and where they need it. Virtual visits are one of the most effective tools we have to do that.

The need for behavioral health services has outpaced our ability to recruit and retain qualified behavioral health providers as many choose to work remotely, often for Article 31 and 32 clinics, or venture capital-backed for-profit app-based corporations. As such, Callen-Lorde has lost many seasoned, licensed providers in the last 18 months due to the in-person requirement.

More than 88% of Callen-Lorde’s behavioral health services are delivered via virtual visits to patients, many of whom may not feel safe leaving home, or who are working multiple jobs with little flexibility or who, like millions of other people, want the flexibility virtual visits provide.

In previous years, Community Healthcare Network has lost $1.2 million annually in unreimbursed virtual visit appointments. This stands in contrast to the full reimbursement it received for the over 6,000 virtual visits in 2020, before the carveout of Article 28 clinics from this benefit. While this budget impact is minimal for the state, it is unsustainable for community health centers to absorb.

Hochul and the New York Legislature have the power to fix this inequity by ensuring community health centers receive equitable Medicaid reimbursement for behavioral health services delivered virtually, regardless of where the patient or clinician is located. Doing so will strengthen the workforce, improve access and allow health centers to better meet the needs of the communities we serve.

This barrier to care makes no sense for a state that prides itself on caring for its most vulnerable residents, and it’s time to fix it.

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Blakeman, Constantino tender two takes on Trump

Kate Lisa — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 13:57:45 -0400

As Republicans in the state look to defend a North Country congressional seat in upcoming midterm elections, they’re also aiming to drum up support at the top of the ticket in the well-known party stronghold. And two GOP candidates who often campaign on their close ties to President Donald Trump are starting to heed different strategies when it comes to Trump, who’s widely unpopular downstate, but popular in some upstate enclaves.

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, the Republican running against Gov. Kathy Hochul, on Sunday headed to Fulton County and joined Sticker Mule CEO Anthony Constantino as he vies to replace Rep. Elise Stefanik in Congress. “We’re a team, and we’ve got to make sure that we support each other,” Blakeman said of Constantino after the event. “It’s important that we keep this congressional district red.”

The GOP pair met last fall at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private club in Palm Beach, Florida, where Constantino is a member. Both Blakeman and Constantino have since spoken with, or met with, Trump on several occasions as they look to advance his agenda in New York.

Constantino is staying as close as he can to Trump as he runs against Democrat dairy farmer Blake Gendebien in the 21st Congressional District, where there are roughly 215,000 registered Republicans compared to just under 133,700 registered Democrats. He often refers to an artificial intelligence-generated music video he made about the president that he’s particularly proud of. People have boycotted his sticker and T-shirt company because of his relationship with Trump.

Sunday’s event was no different: When asked where he disagrees with the president, Constantino would only recount a boxing opinion of Trump’s he didn’t like. Even when asked more detailed questions about the potential effects on the North Country from Trump’s threatened 50% tariffs on Canadian exports, Constantino declined to answer before speaking to the president. (He said he’s been invited to meet again with Trump and his staff sometime in the near future, where he hopes to discuss many issues with the president, a date has not yet been set.) “I think President Trump tries to do his best to do what’s right for the country, and he uses tariffs as a negotiating tactic, and I think you’ve got to trust the judgment of leadership,” Constantino told reporters, minutes before speaking behind a podium with a campaign sign with the slogan, “Nobody’s man but yours.”

The sticker magnate said White House staff told him the president will support the campaign with anything he needs, though Constantino self-funds his campaign (records show he’s given himself at least $12 million so far). He added he hopes to get the president to campaign for him in the North Country, as he did recently for Rep. Mike Lawler.

Likewise, Blakeman has never been shy about his loyalty to Trump, and has refused to publicly discuss where his views differ from the president’s. But Blakeman seems ready to talk: He told reporters in Albany last week he has “philosophical differences” with Trump on some things, like the economy, immigration and guest worker programs, and he plans to reveal them in the coming weeks.

Blakeman is one of several county leaders the state has directed to end its local 287(g) agreements, or formal partnerships with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He said he still hasn’t made a decision about how he’ll limit the existing county policy, or if the county will pursue legal action. Not doing so would represent a departure from the Trump administration’s hardline approach to immigration.

Blakeman appears to be putting his distance between himself and Trump for the first time as Republicans focus on keeping control of the U.S. House of Representatives – though it was reported Monday that the two will appear together in Nassau County on Friday. Last week, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee put NY-21 on its list of seats party leaders think they have a shot at flipping. And top Democrats in the state, like Hochul, agree, and have said they think they can take the seat back in November, likely fueled by a fiery intraparty primary fight. Blakeman didn’t take a side in that race, and only endorsed Constantino after it was over.

Stefanik backed Constantino the night he won the June primary, but had stayed silent in the contest before that. She has yet to endorse Blakeman, who became the Republican gubernatorial nominee after she suspended her campaign.

“She’s been a little busy down in Congress, and she’s been a little busy on her book tour,” Blakeman said when asked about it Sunday. “I’m sure we’ll get together at some point.”

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State Democratic Party files formal complaint over Blakeman’s AI use

Rebecca C. Lewis — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 05:00:00 -0400

The state Democratic Party is asking the state Board of Elections to take action against Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman’s use of generative artificial intelligence in his campaign materials. In a new letter to BOE officials shared exclusively with City & State, state Democratic Party Chair Jay Jacobs alleged the Blakeman campaign is violating election law through his use of AI.

Blakeman has frequently used AI to create campaign videos and social media content. According to state law, updated roughly two years ago through a provision in the state budget, “materially deceptive” media made with AI requires a disclosure. Blakeman has often not included the required disclosures.

“It has been reported that a myriad of Blakeman generated ads rely on artificial intelligence to distort reality – specifically using Governor Hochul’s image but manipulating it to say and do things that she has not,” the letter reads. “According to the media, there is no consistency in whether the Blakeman campaign includes the mandated disclaimer for the computer created communications.”

Jacobs argues in the letter that in addition to Blakeman’s lack of disclosure, the Nassau County executive’s campaign may also be misusing public matching funds to pay for AI materials that run afoul of election law. Blakeman has received millions in matching funds that have helped to substantially bolster his campaign coffers after he sued to ensure he had access to the public dollars.

“The State Board of Elections cannot permit a campaign to repeatedly flout the Election Law, and it certainly cannot permit that campaign to pull down public matching funds in furtherance of this subversion,” Jacobs writes. “The Board and the (Public Campaign Finance Board) should take all steps to ensure that the disclaimer obligations are applied consistently and that state dollars are not being used by campaigns.”

City & State first reported on Blakeman’s use of AI in his campaign materials and its potential violation of state law in May, after he posted an AI-generated video in the style of the cartoon South Park criticizing both Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s energy policies. While the visuals are clearly stylized, animated depictions of the two Democrats, the video featured realistic-sounding voices of the pair saying things neither ever said, which could easily be mistaken for actual audio clips dubbed into the video. The video itself does not contain an AI disclaimer, and Blakeman’s campaign only added one through social media posts after City & State inquired about it.

At the time, Blakeman’s campaign defended the use of AI and claimed the law did not apply to the video because of a provision exempting satire. His campaign has continued to use AI frequently on social media and defend in subsequent reporting on the issue in outlets like Politico New York, Newsday and Gothamist.

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Will the Lake Placid-New York City Olympic bid stick the landing?

Kate Lisa — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 05:00:00 -0400

When you step inside the Herb Brooks Arena at the Lake Placid Olympic Center, the site of the famous “Miracle on Ice,” a chill runs through your veins. That’s not just because the room’s kept around 45 degrees – with the ice even colder. Decades after the 1980 U.S. Men’s Olympic Ice Hockey Team prevailed with one of the most stunning upsets in sports history, the modest North Country arena still carries the echoes of 8,500 Americans screaming in unison: “USA! USA! USA!”

It’s a cry that team captain Mike Eruzione, the left winger who scored the game-winning goal to defeat the Soviet Union 4-3 on Feb. 22, 1980, can still hear at 71.

“When you walk in there, you can almost hear the chants,” Eruzione told City & State. “Even now, it’s like ghosts in there.”

The remarkable victory from the team of 20 amateur players inspired a country that, in 1980, was desperate for joy, deeply burdened by a recession, high crime and unemployment, and at a turning point in the Cold War.

The moment that cemented Lake Placid in U.S. history can never happen again – but maybe the magic of the “Miracle on Ice” could be recreated.

U.S. defenseman Mike Ramsey checks Valeri Kharlamov of the Soviet Union during the famous 1980 “Miracle on Ice” game in which the U.S. defeated the Soviet Union in a 4-3 upset and went on to win the gold medal. / Steve Powell/Allsport/Getty Images

In 2042, the Winter Olympics could return to Lake Placid. But unlike in 1980 – or even in 1932, when Lake Placid hosted the first Winter Games in the U.S. – the Adirondack town would not take all the glory for itself: State leaders are in the early stages of weighing a joint bid for a Lake Placid-New York City Winter Olympics.

Convened by Gov. Kathy Hochul in June, the 18-member Lake Placid-New York City Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games Exploratory Committee will take the next year to compile varying cost analyses, funding models and all potential consequences of a successful bid into a report by the end of 2027. State leaders and other key stakeholders will use that report to decide whether to submit a formal bid to the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee and finally, to the International Olympic Committee, which ultimately chooses a host.

But for now, the exploratory committee is grappling with one fundamental question: Hosting the 2042 Winter Olympics is something neither the most populous city in the U.S. nor the treasured mountain village could do alone. Would uniting forces make it worthwhile?

Thinking big

Like many ideas out of Albany, the Lake Placid-New York City Winter Olympics first arose on a cold night in the Legislative Office Building over some whiskey. Only a few glasses in did it occur to the group – which included Brooklyn Assembly Member Bobby Carroll and Billy Jones (the former Assembly member who represented Lake Placid) – that recent upgrades to Lake Placid’s Olympic facilities could be used for something much more.

At that point, Lake Placid was about a year away from hosting the 2023 FISU World University Games at the former Olympic facilities. To make that happen, the state spent $750 million on the facilities’ first facelift since 1980, which included efficient cooling and structure upgrades to the Olympic Center, James C. Sheffield Speed Skating Oval, the Ski Jumping Complex, as well as the Nordic Center, Biathlon Stadium and sliding track at Mount Van Hoevenberg.

“We’re spending all this money, so we’ve got this opportunity,” Carroll recalled saying to his colleagues.

The tiny rural village, which struggled to hold 50,000 spectators each day of the 1980 Games, can’t handle a modern games and its (many more) spectators alone. But, Carroll thought, New York City’s elite arenas and mass transit could.

“We have an embarrassment of riches that positions us like almost no other place in the world,” he said.

Carroll and Jones raised the idea of a joint bid to Hochul a few years ago, and she has since set her sights on making the bid part of her legacy. The governor’s top aides, Secretary to the Governor Karen Persichilli Keogh and Empire State Development President, CEO and Commissioner Hope Knight, are members of the leadership committee (Carroll, meanwhile, is part of the exploratory committee’s leadership team, and Jones co-chairs one of its subcommittees).

And committee members already have some big ideas. The Barclays Center could be optimal to hold events like hockey, figure skating, short track speed skating or curling, and venues like Madison Square Garden, Citi Field or Yankee Stadium could accommodate the opening or closing ceremonies and the bulk of the 116 medal events.

“There’s really no better city to absorb the capacity of international fans from around the world,” Marissa Shorenstein, chief external affairs officer of Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment, told City & State on a recent tour of the Barclays Center.

The Barclays Center could host hockey games once again as part of a potential Lake Placid-New York City 2042 Winter Olympics bid. / Bruce Bennett / Getty Images

Shorenstein co-chairs the Exploratory Committee’s Games Operations Subcommittee and worked on New York City’s failed bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics and the accompanying plan for a West Side stadium. The stadium was ultimately not built after significant traffic concerns and a lack of support from community and state leaders. But unlike the 2012 bid, there are currently no plans to build any new stadiums for the Winter Games – so supporters are hopeful things will be different this time.

And New York City wouldn’t need to move mountains. Instead, Lake Placid would hold the skiing, cross-country skiing, bobsled and luge events – likely a fraction of the number hosted downstate. The world-class sliding facility at Mount Van Hoevenberg was the designated backup for several events in this year’s Milan-Cortina Games, in case the Italian sliding venue wasn’t ready – and that was almost the case.

Committee members think proposing the regional split will work in their favor. “That stretch and that distance allows (us) to play to the strengths of what New York state has,” said Ashley Walden, president and CEO of the Olympic Regional Development Authority, who also chairs the state’s exploratory committee. “What the IOC is looking for is different now than what it was at that point (in 1980).”

City & State spoke with various members of the exploratory committee’s leadership team and subcommittees, which both met for the first time last month, and it was clear they broadly support the pitch. But how gung-ho New York City leaders are about the idea is still something of a question mark. Julie Su, New York City’s deputy mayor for economic justice, is on the exploratory committee, but Mayor Zohran Mamdani has said little on the proposal beyond quoting “Cool Runnings” and has deferred questions to Su.

“The infrastructure improvements and legacy investments that were made for the World Cup will continue to benefit New Yorkers for years to come,” a spokesperson with the mayor’s office said in a statement to City & State. “We look forward to continuing to work with Gov. Hochul to explore the possibility of hosting the 2042 Winter Olympics and ensuring that all major sporting events benefit the working people of New York City.”

Bumpy slopes ahead

Even as the state has plenty of existing first-rate sports infrastructure, there are still more questions than answers at this point. And those questions are big ones.

The biggest of them all: How much would the Games cost, and how much would it cost the state?

Hosting the Olympics can be a risky financial endeavor, sometimes leaving host cities in the red. The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics – which also had more than one site – cost about $8.7 billion, the second-highest in history for a Winter Games, according to a 2024 University of Oxford study. Half a dozen people interviewed for this story refused to estimate the cost at this preliminary planning stage.

Getting that answer will be a central part of the exploratory committee’s work. If the state wants a real shot to host the Winter Games, the committee must also find solutions for some of upstate’s most daunting issues that have plagued state leaders for decades: a lack of public transportation and housing.

Lodging for athletes was a major controversy during the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics, one that was only resolved when the federal government stepped in to help build the Olympic Village – on the condition that it would immediately be converted into a medium-security federal prison afterward. The Federal Correctional Institution Ray Brook continues to house over 800 incarcerated men, just five miles from Herb Brooks Arena.

Lake Placid has many more accommodations for tourists these days, but housing for residents is in short supply. Olympic Regional Development Authority spokesperson Darcy Norfolk said athletes’ housing could be easily retrofitted into affordable apartments after the games.

“There’s opportunities to build housing for the Games that could then be used for people that we need,” Norfolk said. And that housing is also crucial to Lake Placid’s long-term economic vitality: “We need people to live here so they can work here.”

Ken Girardin, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute, said housing projects of that scale are unlikely to come together without changing state laws that have long impeded construction – especially upstate. Reforms to the State Environmental Quality Review Act, the state’s Scaffold Law and prevailing wage laws would be necessary to keep costs under control, he said, in addition to the SEQRA changes made earlier this year. “When it comes to building infrastructure, New York has the lungs of a pack a day smoker,” Girardin said. “If you want to be a serious contender to host the Olympics, they need to be running a mile under six minutes, figuratively speaking.”

Girardin said Hochul would need to petition the Legislature – and soon – to change those policies and make Olympic-sized accommodations possible. Hochul’s office did not answer questions regarding whether the governor would support further legislative changes or carveouts for Olympic-related projects.

There is also, of course, the question of transportation that comes with hosting the Olympics across two sites, 290 miles apart. In Italy, Carroll and his wife attended several events and traveled the 256 miles between Milan and Cortina. A train or bus ride took spectators up to six hours – roughly the same time to drive from Lake Placid to Manhattan. The New York State Thruway can handle more vehicles than the roads of Northern Italy, but that only solves part of the problem.

The closest major international airport to Lake Placid is in Montreal, a 2 1/2-hour drive away. And there’s no direct train to the village. The need to improve rail access between the city and upstate, or potential airport upgrades will either convince, or dissuade, Olympic, state and federal leaders to hold the 2042 Games in New York, but a combination of projects could be possible. “It’s a wish list of things, like getting a faster train from New York City to even Albany,” Norfolk said.

The challenges weren’t lost on the governor, but she remains optimistic. “I want to make sure, as far off as it sounds, we take the time to get it right,” Hochul told reporters after a tour of the Olympic Center on Aug. 3. “We figure out the housing challenges, we figure out the infrastructure that has to be done with the roads in this area (and) work on linkages between New York City and the North Country and what that looks like. So there’s a lot to do, but I think we have the right amount of time to be able to do it.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul has her sights set on a 2042 Winter Olympics bid. / Mike Groll/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul

But with the 2034 Winter Games to be held in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Switzerland as the preferred 2038 front-runner, would the International Olympic Committee seriously consider a return to the U.S. only eight years later? It’s unclear which cities will pose the greatest competition to a potential Lake Placid-New York City bid, but there may be little choice.

Scientists have found the number of places that could host the Winter Olympics is rapidly shrinking due to climate change, and a 2022 study showed that Lake Placid is one of four previous Olympic hosts that will have a reliably cold enough climate by mid-century to host the Games again. The climate concerns are making the IOC prioritize bids with existing infrastructure – and where needed, new projects that would improve a host community long-term rather than sitting unused, Walden said.

Navigating the state’s red tape to build the necessary housing and transportation upgrades amid a long-standing upstate economic drought won’t be easy. Some say it would take a miracle. But Lake Placid knows a thing or two about those.

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The 2026 Top Trade Associations

City & State — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 05:00:00 -0400

Trade associations are power players in New York policymaking. Some, like the Greater New York Hospital Association, the Real Estate Board of New York and the New York State Trial Lawyers Association, are known for their enduring influence in New York City and Albany. Other trade associations garner attention amid battles over specific legislation, such as the New York Insurance Association, which lent support to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s recent crackdown on auto insurance fraud. Many of these membership organizations were established over a century ago, but some – like the Coalition for Ticket Fairness and the Ticket Policy Forum – have emerged more recently in response to an evolving economic and regulatory landscape.

These trade associations operate at the local, state or federal levels, advocating for legislative and regulatory changes on behalf of their members while also providing valuable services, including training, mentorship and networking. For each trade association on this list, we’re featuring a top leader, key details about the organization and their take on their biggest achievement in the past year.

We’re pleased to introduce City & State’s second annual Top Trade Associations.

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Opinion: NYU must provide paid family leave for all

Tiffany Cabán — Fri, 07 Aug 2026 17:28:29 -0400

What if you had to choose between bonding with your newborn child or caring for a seriously ill family member and getting paid? It’s a choice no one should have to make. Yet it's one that adjunct faculty members at New York University continue to face. That’s why, together with the city public advocate, Brooklyn and Manhattan borough presidents and 31 City Council Members, I delivered a letter to NYU President Linda Mills calling on NYU to extend Paid Family Leave to its approximately 3,000 adjunct faculty members.

In 2016, New York state passed the Paid Family Leave Act to ensure that workers don’t have to choose between making ends meet and caring for their loved ones. The law provides for up to 12 weeks of paid, job-protected leave. But because of an arcane carveout in the law, teachers at nonprofit institutions, including major research universities like NYU, are excluded from the program unless their employer voluntarily opts in.

For the last year, members of ACT-UAW Local 7902, the union that represents adjunct faculty at NYU, have been urging the university to do just that. As the daughter of a retired union worker with Otis Elevator company and a domestic worker who provided care to neighborhood children, I understand on a personal level the urgency of the NYU Adjuncts Union’s effort and am proud to support it.

Adjunct faculty teach thousands of courses at NYU each year, and this spring, I joined their union at a public rally to put a spotlight on the University’s failure to provide paid family leave, as a matter of basic dignity and respect. At the rally, I heard from NYU adjunct faculty members about their personal struggles being denied access to paid family leave. For many contingent workers, it is impossible to simultaneously make ends meet and care for their loved ones in the absence of paid family leave.

One professor spoke about having to shuttle back and forth every week, at great expense, between New York City and her family home in the Midwest to care for her ailing father, while making sure she never missed a class. Women typically bear the brunt of family caregiving responsibilities, perpetuating gender wage disparities. Studies show that paid family leave can help to close the gap, allowing women to care for their families without being forced to leave the workforce and forfeit earnings, health care and retirement savings.

Another NYU professor shared the many challenges he experienced in bonding with his infant children without access to paid family leave. Indeed, studies demonstrate that provision of this critical benefit dramatically improves family stability, maternal mental health, infant and child wellbeing and fathers’ engagement in child bonding and childcare, among other outcomes. It has positive impacts on the health and development of young children and the mental and physical wellbeing of new parents.

New York is dedicated to ensuring that workers have access to paid family leave. It is fundamental to building a caring economy in which all of our city’s residents are able to thrive and to live and work with dignity. Research also shows that access to paid family leave promotes racial equity and justice, and it has been shown to benefit not only workers and their families but also our economy and society at large.

Providing this critical benefit is good for NYU’s adjunct faculty and for its students – and for its reputation as a premier educational institution in our great city. That adjunct faculty will bear the cost of premiums through payroll deductions further underscores why this should be a no-brainer for NYU. Universities such as The New School, CUNY, Pratt Institute and the University of Rochester already provide paid family leave to their part-time teaching faculty. It’s past time that NYU did the same.

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Adriano Espaillat and Zohran Mamdani meet again

Chantal Mann — Fri, 07 Aug 2026 16:32:44 -0400

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani may be the Padrino of honor in the Bronx, but Rep. Adriano Espaillat isn’t quite ready to shower him with praise.

The mayor joined Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch and Espaillat on Friday to share security information ahead of Sunday’s National Dominican Day Parade in Manhattan. The press conference at NYPD headquarters marked the first time Mamdani and Espaillat have appeared together publicly since democratic socialist Darializa Avila Chevalier – who the mayor unexpectedly endorsed – unseated the five-term Congress member and chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in the June Democratic primary. Though Espaillat supported Mamdani’s opponent, ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in the mayoral primary last year, Espaillat was reportedly blindsided by the move since the mayor agreed behind the scenes not to do so.

Tisch opened her remarks at the press conference praising Espaillat for his leadership, as Mamdani and Espaillat stood next to each other but avoided eye contact. Espaillat did not mention or thank the mayor in his remarks. (Mamdani’s public schedule didn’t mention Espaillat would be there Friday, though Tisch’s did.)

It’s not clear if Mamdani and Espaillat will celebrate the parade together either. Espaillat will hold a pre-parade breakfast on Sunday morning where Tisch and City Council Speaker Julie Menin will be honored. But as first reported in City & State’s Heard Around Town newsletter, Mamdani had not been invited to the breakfast as of Thursday, according to his spokesperson. The mayor will host a separate Dominican heritage reception – which his predecessors, including self-declared honorary-Dominican Eric Adams, held prior to the parade – several days later, on Aug. 13. Espaillat is invited, according to Mamdani’s spokesperson.

Earlier this year, Mamdani drew backlash for reworking a Puerto Rican cultural reception at Gracie Mansion. (An initial email from the Mayor’s Office of Mass Engagement suggested there would be no reception.) In the end, rather than hosting one of the large outdoor parties that marked the Adams administration, Mamdani opted for a smaller lunch – a break in tradition that upset some Puerto Rican leaders.

Mamdani still faces some fallout in the Dominican community following the 13th Congressional District Democratic primary. While Avila Chevalier is also Dominican, almost all the community’s political leaders endorsed Espaillat. One Dominican elected said they are skipping the mayor’s reception and suggested others might too.

Espaillat declined to comment when asked by City & State Friday afternoon about his relationship with Mamdani and whether they were planning to attend each other’s events. After the brief press conference ended, Espaillat rushed out of the room and told someone in Spanish, “we have to go.”

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Should DSA table at Mamdani’s government events?

Peter Sterne — Fri, 07 Aug 2026 15:52:02 -0400

A good government group is criticizing the Mamdani administration for allowing the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America to have a table at an official government event, but the socialist group insists that it had every right to be there.

NY1 reporter Samantha Liebman tweeted a photo showing an NYC-DSA table at the mayor’s Central Brooklyn Bus Riders Town Hall Thursday night. Placed next to tables for the Mayor’s Public Engagement Unit and New York City Department of Small Business Services, the DSA presence prompted criticism that Mayor Zohran Mamdani had mixed government with politics.

“There needs to be a bright line between government-led civic engagement and political organizing,” Citizens Union Executive Director Grace Rauh said in a statement. “A government-run town hall that crosses that line is deeply concerning. The public needs an explanation from City Hall about how a partisan political organization was able to set up a table at an official city event, and what steps will be taken to keep partisan activity separate from government-run civic engagement going forward.”

But NYC-DSA believes that its presence at the event was entirely appropriate. The socialist group is best known for its electoral organizing, but it is technically registered as a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization, not a political party. That means it legally must spend at least 60% of its budget on non-electoral work.

“NYC-DSA does extensive community organizing and social welfare work, such as housing, transportation, and environmental advocacy,” NYC-DSA Co-chair Grace Mausser told City State. “We were one of many non-profit community organizations that tabled at the event, including Riders Alliance and Transportation Alternatives.”

But even if DSA sees itself as legally equivalent to transportation advocacy organizations such as Riders Alliance, they never had a presence at city government under the previous administration. “I don’t think they ever asked,” former Eric Adams spokesperson Kayla Mamelak Altus said about the org that regularly ridiculed Adams. “That being said, I’m not aware of any sort of political organization tabling at a press conference.”

Mamdani’s senior spokesperson Dora Pekec defended DSA’s inclusion in the event – and confirmed the group was specifically invited.

“For the town hall, a number of community and advocacy organizations that work on transit issues were invited to table, including Fair Fares NYC, Transportation Alternatives, the DSA’s transit working group, and Riders Alliance,” she said. “These organizations provided a variety of resources and perspectives on transit advocacy for New Yorkers.”

Mamdani has a close relationship with NYC-DSA, which he has called his political home. He is a longtime member of the socialist group, which endorsed both his 2020 Assembly run and his 2025 mayoral campaign, and was one of its “Socialists in Office” while an Assembly member. NYC-DSA played a major role in his mayoral campaign last year, and since taking office, he has appointed NYC-DSA members like Cea Weaver and Tascha van Auken to top positions in his administration.

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This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

City & State — Fri, 07 Aug 2026 05:00:00 -0400

New Yorkers with cars know the pain of alternate side parking well, even as they acknowledge it is for the noble cause of street sweeping. They also know the sheer fear of running down the sidewalk and praying they don’t have a ticket when they are even five minutes late to move their cars. Now imagine the added fear of finding a bright green sticker on your car and struggling to peel it off, on top of the $65 ticket on your dash. Well, that’s kind of the point! After a long hiatus, New York City’s green shame stickers are back, and no one is more excited than City Council Member Gale Brewer.

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Progressive groups decry House’s investigation into NYC leftist org

Peter Sterne — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 17:58:16 -0400

The influential union 32BJ SEIU and dozens of progressive groups released a joint statement on Thursday in opposition to the Republican-controlled House Ways and Means Committee’s subpoena of The People’s Forum, a nonprofit leftist activist group based in Manhattan.

“The House Ways and Means Committee’s investigation of The People’s Forum is part of a broader effort by the Trump regime and its minions in Congress to intimidate organizations whose speech they disagree with, and to threaten the very values that are essential to a free and open civil society,” reads the statement, shared first with City & State, which was signed by 71 groups. “This subpoena is an effort to chill speech and association, taking a page straight out of the authoritarian playbook.”

The New York Immigration Coalition and New York Civil Liberties Union organized the joint statement. Other groups that signed on include VOCAL-NY, New York Communities for Change, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Jewish Voice for Peace and the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America.

The powerful House Ways and Means Committee issued a subpoena to The People’s Forum on July 21, demanding information about its donors and its communications with China-based tech entrepreneur Neville Roy Singham, who is a major funder of the group. The People’s Forum must turn over the documents by Friday or risk being held in contempt of Congress.

Republican Rep. Jason Smith, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, said in a statement accompanying the subpoenas that they are designed to “expose how America’s tax laws and charitable sector may have been exploited to advance the (Chinese Communist Party’s) influence operations inside the United States” – using rhetoric that NYIC and NYCLU said evoked McCarthy-era witch hunts against leftists.

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Zellner in line for DMV commissioner, sources say

John Celock — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 17:54:46 -0400

State Sen. Jeremy Zellner is in line for a position in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration, a post which would end his longtime leadership of Erie County Democrats in a matter of months.

Multiple sources confirmed to City & State that Zellner is in line for a top job from Hochul, most likely commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles, left vacant with the retirement of Mark Schroeder this year. The discussion comes as Zellner is ramping up his campaign to win an eighth term as chair of the Erie County Democratic Committee in September. Zellner has drawn two opponents in his reelection campaign. Zellner would need to step down from his party post to accept the Hochul administration job, though he would need to be confirmed by the state Senate.

Zellner was quick to dampen speculation that he was planning to leave the county party. “I haven’t had any discussions about that, and you know, there haven’t been any discussions about that,” Zellner told City & State. “My plan is to find a position where I can continue serving as chair and doing the good work that I’ve done for the last 14 years.”

A spokesperson for Hochul declined to comment on a potential nomination.

Zellner gave up his job as Democratic commissioner of the Erie County Board of Elections to run in the special election to fill Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan’s former state Senate seat earlier this year.

The speculation that Zellner is in line for the DMV job, or another from Hochul, is being widely discussed in Western New York politics. Zellner dismisses the source of any such discussion as people who want to “cause drama.”

Discussion of Zellner’s future has reached fever pitch since the June primary, which not only saw his defeat by Assembly Member Jonathan Rivera in a landslide, but the defeat of a party-backed candidate for Rivera’s Assembly seat by Democratic Socialists of America-backed candidate Adam Bojak, as well, leading some to question the establishment’s strength under Zellner’s leadership. Dissent against Zellner has grown since the party picked him over Rivera to run in February’s special election. Zellner has long said that he recused himself from the Senate nominating process.

Zellner now faces challenges from Amherst Town Council Member John Davis and Erie County Legislator Jeanne Vinal as he looks to remain party chair. Most observers say Zellner will easily prevail over the little-known Davis and Vinal, noting that Zellner has a strong base of support within the Democratic committee. Davis’ town government colleagues and Vinal’s county legislative colleagues have backed Zellner, along with Hochul and Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, a longtime ally.

The current conventional wisdom is that the plan will be for Zellner to be reelected in September and see Hochul through her likely reelection and then step down in January to join her administration. But some are pushing for an earlier time frame. This one would have Zellner leaving at the September reorganization meeting, allowing for a new county party chair to be elected then by the full committee and then taking the helm of the party for Hochul’s reelection campaign. If Zellner were to leave after winning an eighth term, the county party’s executive committee would select his successor.

The DMV commissionership has long been filled by upstate residents, with it becoming a de facto post for a Buffalonian for most of the past 20 years when former Commissioner Nancy Naples took the job. Only Barbara Fiala, a Binghamton resident who held the post during former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s first term has broken the streak.

Zellner stressed that he has not had any discussions or received any offers to join the Hochul administration. He said his priority is next year’s open county executive race.

“If I was chosen to be on the next presidential ticket as the vice president, would I think about it? Yes. I mean, I would never say no to opportunities, but my priority here is to get reelected for an eighth term as party leader and guide our party through the county executive process of next year because it’s a really important year, and that has been my goal all along,” he said.

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Who’s staying cool in New York’s scorching summers?

Chantal Mann — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 05:00:00 -0400

It’s hot outside. At times, record breakingly hot. And it’s even hotter when you don’t have air conditioning. The U.S. Census Bureau released new estimates earlier this year of how many households have AC, with New York ranking 40th nationwide in air conditioning access at 90.2%. Since the summer heat peaked in July, here’s a look at how AC access differs across the state.

Urban vs. rural

Across the state, urban areas tend to have higher rates of AC installed in homes. Three of the five counties with the lowest rates of AC were in or near the Adirondacks. The suburbs around New York City – including Long Island’s Nassau County, which had the state’s highest rate at 97% – were the best-performing areas. Other upstate urban areas, including the counties containing Buffalo, Albany, Rochester and Syracuse, were either on par with New York City’s high rates of AC or slightly below it.

New York City

In the city, only the Bronx’s AC install rate of 87.7% fell below 90%. The Bronx and Brooklyn, which have the lowest median incomes in the city, also had the lowest AC access rates. Staten Island had the highest rate in the city and the third-highest in the state at 96.6%. However, one important point with the data is that it does not distinguish between a household having AC and actually using it. According to a survey released in 2020, 15% of city residents that had a household AC unit did not use it during hot weather – a number that has likely increased given Con Edison’s rising electric rates.

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Pataki urges candidates to accept gubernatorial election results

Kate Lisa — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 17:38:33 -0400

For just a few hours Wednesday morning, Old Albany came back to life, with sophisticated dress, food and cocktails and a man in the corner crooning Frank Sinatra’s greatest hits. The occasion: a ribbon-cutting ceremony morning to honor the former governor and dedicate the new Gov. George E. Pataki Center in Albany’s Center Square neighborhood.

But the bipartisan smattering was a return to the Albany of yesterday, complete with pre-MAGA Republican politics, for another reason: Former Gov. George Pataki wants Republicans and Democrats in the state to accept the results of November’s gubernatorial election after Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman’s suggested last week that Democrats will likely “steal” the election to win, and said he’ll only accept the outcome if it’s “fair.”

Speaking with reporters after the ceremony, Pataki wouldn’t denounce Blakeman’s recent claim that Democrats would cheat in November. “I certainly hope not,” he said when asked if he agreed with Blakeman’s assertion. But Pataki stressed that it’s important for both parties to accept the election results. “Whoever wins, wins, and the election’s over,” he said.

That’s quite the contrast from Blakeman, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s Republican challenger, who sowed distrust in the state’s election system last week – echoing a tactic of President Donald Trump’s. Blakeman refused to say he’ll accept the election results regardless of the outcome, and that his campaign expects Democrats to cheat, and said he will fight back.

But asked about Pataki’s more democratic comments on the subject, Blakeman neither doubled down, nor changed his tune. “That’s a ridiculous question. Of course, I will accept the results of the election because I'm going to win,” he said before turning on his heel to leave.

Blakeman did not attend the dedication ceremony, but had lunch with Pataki and some of his former top aides in Saratoga on Wednesday afternoon. Pataki, the state’s last Republican governor, threw his support behind Blakeman earlier this year and said they talk occasionally. He wouldn’t share what advice he’s given Blakeman as he tries to unseat Hochul. “It’s not about a Republican beating a Democrat or a Democrat beating a Republican, it’s about you being able to make people’s lives better, and I would just run a campaign based on that,” he said.

In that spirit, politicians from both sides of the aisle attended Wednesday’s ceremony. Former Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings and Gov. Kathy Hochul’s Secretary Karen Persichilli Keogh gave remarks, and Red Apple Group Chair and CEO John Catsimatidis was in the crowd, along with state Budget Director Blake Washington, state Sens. Pat Fahy and Jake Ashby, Assembly Members John McDonald III and Scott Bendett.

“As governor, you built a foundation for this state that we continue to benefit from, and it’s a real credit to you in so many areas,” Keogh said. She then jokingly thanked the former governor for his role in the landmark case Silver v. Pataki, which legally cemented the executive’s overarching authority in the state budget process.

The new center, located next to the state Republican Party headquarters on Spring Street, marks the first building to be named for Pataki, who served as the 53rd governor of the state from 1995 through 2006. The nonprofit, operated by Committee for the Governor George E. Pataki Leadership and Learning Center Inc., aims to help young people interested in government.

Pataki said both parties must put politics aside after an election in order to govern. “The election should not be the end, the election should be the beginning,” he said. “That happens after you win, and too often, people in politics see it the other way around.”

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Mamdani and allies celebrate El-Sayed’s victory in Michigan

Peter Sterne and Fariha Rahman — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 13:31:18 -0400

The Mamdani wing of the Democratic Party is celebrating after Abdul El-Sayed narrowly defeated Michigan Rep. Haley Stevens in a contentious race for U.S. Senate, dealing a defeat to the pro-Israel lobby.

“I’d just like to congratulate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed on his victory,” New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani told reporters at an unrelated press conference on Wednesday morning, highlighting the record amount of money spent against El-Sayed in the primary – a situation similar to his own race last year. “What I will say is that when you are facing $60 million in outside spending, you are facing almost what feels like surround sound across a state where people are hearing a message about you again and again and again. And to win this race as someone who is not currently holding elected office, it is a testament to what he ran on, and also the way he ran the campaign.”

Mamdani said he’s spoken with El-Sayed “a few times” and met with him when he came to New York City “years ago.” He said he sees himself and El-Sayed as part of the same political movement, though he dismissed Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson’s description of El-Sayed as a “mini-Mamdani.”

“I don't think in any way this man is a mini-Mamdani,” the mayor responded, joking that the muscular El-Sayed “can lift a lot more than I can.”

“I also think that what we're talking about is someone who has shone a light on the importance of public health and healthcare in our country for years,” he added. “And I am proud to be part of a movement of politicians and candidates who are looking to put working-class Americans back at the heart of our politics, and that's our focus here in New York City.”

The mayor’s remarks Wednesday were his first comments at length about El-Sayed, even as the candidate earned comparisons to Mamdani over the past several months while gaining momentum in the closely watched primary. Mamdani has avoided getting involved in elections outside New York City, and said he has no plans to go to Michigan to campaign for El-Sayed in the general election. But many of Mamdani’s top allies – including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, former Rep. Jamaal Bowman and state Senate nominee Aber Kawas – made the trek to Michigan in recent weeks to campaign for El-Sayed in the primary

“This is a political revolution. Not just in New York but in America,” Bowman told City & State in a text message.

The race in Michigan had influence on both sides from prominent New York politicians. U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic Senate Campaign Committee Chair Kirsten Gillibrand joined with much of the Democratic establishment to back Stevens. The two New York senators worked methodically behind the scenes to assist Stevens, even reportedly pushing for rival candidate Mallory McMorrow to drop out to try to clear the field for Stevens.

Bowman and Ocasio-Cortez were in Michigan last week, campaigning for El-Sayed on the ground. Kawas is currently in Michigan, supporting El-Sayed as well as other DSA candidates like Donavan McKinney, who defeated incumbent Detroit Rep. Shri Thanedar on Tuesday night.

“I was proud to campaign in Michigan and I am thrilled about the victories of Abdul El-Sayed, Donavan McKinney, and other candidates who will help deliver the transformative change we need in Congress,” Kawas told City & State in a text message. “As a candidate running to make life better for working people in New York, I believe we need to build a movement at the local, state, and federal level, with candidates across the country who will challenge the political establishment and have the courage to speak out against the genocide in Gaza — that’s what real leadership looks like, and voters from New York to Michigan agree.”

About 50 members of the Democratic Socialists of America, Mamdani’s political home, also flew from New York to Michigan to campaign for DSA candidates. Although DSA did not endorse El-Sayed, who does not identify as a socialist, many DSA members who went to Michigan to canvass for DSA-backed candidates like McKinney also canvassed for El-Sayed.

“The reason I came out here is because AIPAC has spent ($30 million) in this race against Abdul, and that must mean he's doing something right,” said Ella Devi Weerackody, an NYC-DSA member and political commentator. “I'm looking to build mass politics within a mass movement and I think to engage in sectionalism is not productive.

Andrew Zink, a Saugerties Village Board Trustee and member of Mid-Hudson Valley DSA, also joined the effort. “DSA members like me are more than capable of building coalitions with people who center the working class in their policies and politics,” he said.

El-Sayed has been endlessly compared to Mamdani. Both are younger, photogenic Muslim men who have not shied away from criticizing Israel and accusing the nation of committing genocide in Gaza. Both have faced accusations of antisemitism and an avalanche of spending by pro-Israel groups. And they do have an enemy in common, in the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. The United Democracy Project, a super PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, spent nearly $32 million to boost Stevens, who was ultimately backed by more than $60 million in outside spending.

El-Sayed’s defeat of a candidate backed by both the Democratic establishment and AIPAC is the latest sign that Democratic primary voters are embracing left-wing insurgents, following DSA congressional victories in New York City, Denver and Philadelphia. But the left is not unstoppable; former Rep. Cori Bush’s attempt to retake her old congressional seat from incumbent Rep. Wesley Bell in St. Louis fell badly short on Tuesday.

As the midterm elections grow closer, the two sides of the Democratic party – influenced by notable New York politicians like Schumer and Ocasio-Cortez – are battling over whose vision represents the future of the party.

El-Sayed will now face former Rep. Mike Rogers, the Republican Senate nominee, in November, in a race that will serve as a key test of whether left-wing, pro-Palestinian politics can win the day in a key swing state. If he manages to pull it off, it would strengthen the case for Ocasio-Cortez to run for president in 2028.

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Editor’s note: My slightly scary upstate swing

Jeff Coltin — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 05:00:00 -0400

Despite my impressive title, City & State has not found it proper to provide me with a chauffeur – a phenomenon in New York City government that Sahalie Donaldson got the green light to cover this week, drawing great stories out of current and former city leaders who got cars and drivers.

So instead, when I traveled to Syracuse this past week, I took Amtrak, and then the Greyhound to Buffalo when storm debris cancelled my second train, and then flew home. It was my own version of “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” – a movie that Tim Clark, commissioner of the Buffalo Niagara Film Office, proudly informed me was filmed partially in Western New York.

City & State’s office is in Manhattan, but we want to keep living up to our name, God forbid we become known as City & Downstate. So this upstate swing was a great way to meet with a bunch of players in Onondaga and Erie counties and hear what they’re thinking about politics and policy. And I had a great guide in City & State New York Advisory Board member and de facto upstate ambassador Jack O’Donnell.

The trip will inspire some City & State stories – and maybe even a ghost story. I was tickled to stay at the Richardson Hotel, which was once the Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane, and has been dubbed one of America’s most haunted hotels. In a city known for its architecture, the hotel is an absolute gem, a sprawling, gorgeous complex that also happens to have an eerie, dark and empty ballroom if one climbs the grand staircase alone to the top floor late at night. The chill down my spine had me running to call my chauffeur … but my chauffeur never existed.

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Darcel Clark is focused on preventing youth crime before prosecuting it

Fariha Rahman — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 04:00:00 -0400

A decade into her work as Bronx district attorney, Darcel Clark is on a mission to reduce youth violence in the Bronx. She says she just needs the support and funding to get it done.

The borough, newly split into Bronx North and Bronx South patrol boroughs by the New York City Police Department, has experienced an 12.5% decrease in major crime, compared to the first seven months of last year. Clark attributes that to the deployment of 200 more officers to the borough at the beginning of the summer. The state, meanwhile, has dedicated funding for community safety-led initiatives, including a $3 million grant for at-risk young people in the South Bronx, she said.

But despite the fact that violence intervention is up and shootings are down, Clark still has a long to-do list. Among those items: reforming the Raise the Age law and having her first meeting with New York City Deputy Mayor for Community Safety Renita Francois – a meeting Clark said is set for next Monday.

City & State spoke with Clark about the Bronx’s crime trends, the push to close Rikers Island and her vision for crime “prevention, intervention, prosecution and reentry.”

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

There has been a reduction in crime in New York City and the Bronx overall, what do you think has contributed to that this year?

I think that there’s just really been a greater concentration on looking at the crime in the Bronx and making sure that we’re getting the resources that we need to bring us to the point where we are. First, more policing. You know that there has been a split between north and south (patrol boroughs) of the Bronx now, so we receive more police officers. I think the police department has been helpful with us in really concentrating on the key areas where we are seeing the highest incidence of crime, and putting more police presence there. And more police presence didn’t necessarily equate to more arrests, but it was a situation where now less crime will happen because the police are there and people will think twice about doing a crime in front of the police.

(There’s) also more resources from the police and my office – and investment in the community because we need that as well. Because it’s not all about arrests. The DA and the police should be the last resort, not the first resort. But because of the failures of so many areas and agencies and the disinvestment, everybody looks to me and the police to solve all the problems.

What prevention have you been able to do in the last decade in the Bronx to lower recidivism rates?

Well, the first thing is that you have to know who the crime drivers are. It’s a small group of individuals that are causing the crime. So we now concentrate on looking at those crime drivers, and dealing with them in the cases that we present, or the diversion that we may offer in order to keep them from offending in the first place. And if they do offend and reoffend, what we can do to stop them from being recidivists. So we have a Crime Strategies Bureau now, which we started 10 years ago, and they really help us with the data to look at who the people are, where they’re committing the crimes, what crimes there are, and really how to best navigate how to lower the crime rate in those areas by removing those individuals from the community because they’re the ones that are causing the most harm.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani did not end up increasing the NYPD officer headcount. Do you think decisions like that end up hurting the Bronx in the future?

It could. But look, as long as they have police, the NYPD could deploy them wherever they want. I know that there has been a focus on deploying more police here in this county. So if they have to take them from somewhere else, they will, in order to pay attention to the crime that is happening in the Bronx. I mean, I can’t stand up or talk about the NYPD’s budget because it’s way more than mine. That’s between the mayor and the police department. I just know that when I need the help, that I can rely on the NYPD to help me get the resources that I need.

Has Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch been helpful when you’ve requested more resources?

Yeah, she’s taken the lead in making sure that the Bronx North and South (patrol boroughs) happen. She has a particular focus on looking at the Bronx because she sees the high numbers and incidents of crimes happening here. She’s also a data person, laser focused on putting the resources where they’re needed most in order to bring the crime down.

You’ve previously spoken about reforming the Raise the Age law, which sets the minimum age a child can be prosecuted as an adult to 18. What do you think about that now?

The way the law is written, the one issue I have a problem with is the gun one because that’s where I’m having the biggest problem. (Editor’s note: That part of the law allows people as young as 16 to be tried in criminal court if they’re charged with displaying a gun.) For them to say the only way that I can retain the case is once they display the gun, that’s too late. Adults, if they possess (a gun), and we have probable cause to arrest them, then they’re charged with possession. I think that possession of a gun by a young person should be held to the same standard. As long as I have probable cause, I should be able to maintain those cases because what is happening is that if we wait until they pull it out, that means they’re going to shoot it, or somebody sees them pulling out and they’re going to get shot. Then it becomes more than just a gun case.

The other part is that millions of dollars were supposed to be allocated to communities and courts and otherwise in order to fund the Raise the Age law, but New York City was exempt from that. So therefore, we have never seen any of that money. So the resources never came here. So that’s why we're going to keep having an uptick in crime. Now, of course, this was raised last year in last year’s budget, and I think the state has changed that and allocated some funds. So I hope that those funds will now be used to bring the resource coordinators, the programs, all the things that we need to finance what will helpfully help us to keep these kids from getting in trouble in the first place.

What difference do you think it’ll make in the community to have Rikers Island possibly closed and the Bronx have its own jail?

This administration seems very clear that they want to continue with the closure of Rikers. Of course, it was supposed to happen in 2027, and we know that’s next year, so it’s not going to happen. A community-based jail makes sense, but the numbers that we have in Rikers right now, if all the community-based jails were built, they wouldn’t have room for the people that we have in Rikers right now. … You know, families could be closer to them. The lawyers could get to them. The only problem that I have is that the other community-based jails are at the courthouse, and it’s only in the Bronx that it’s not at the courthouse. So to me, they might as well stay on Rikers Island because it’s going to be the same thing. They’re not as connected.

You are up for reelection in 2027. Are you going to go for a fourth round?

Yeah. I have unfinished business and I think my reputation and the work that I’ve achieved, for the people in the Bronx, they seem to be happy with the way that I’m handling things. Again, my focus is prevention, intervention, prosecution and reentry. We have to do more to prevent the crimes from happening. That means investment in community. I use my voice for that each and every day … That’s why I believe in building these intervention programs.

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Concerned about e-bikes? Julie Menin is looking into them

Sahalie Donaldson — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 14:53:38 -0400

As the New York City Council moves to consider a suite of bills aimed at making e-bikes and e-scooters safer, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said his priority is to crackdown on vehicles that are already classified as illegal.

“My first focus frankly is that which is already illegal. How to ensure that no customer is duped into believing that (an illegal e-bike) is an appropriate way to be moving around the city,” he told reporters at an unrelated press conference on Tuesday when asked whether there were any currently legal models he thinks should be illegal. “It is hard for New Yorkers to keep up with what is legal or illegal if they’re able to buy it online.”

His comments came as City Council Speaker Julie Menin announced that the legislative body would launch a sweeping review of how the city can better govern the use of e-bikes and e-scooters following a string of serious crashes, several of which resulted in deaths. Many of the 17 bills that Menin said would be part of the review are in line with Mamdani’s position to focus on the already illegal vehicles. One bill would introduce a trade-in program for riders to swap illegal models with safer ones, another would require delivery companies to register for commercial licenses – thus providing the city with stronger oversight and enforcement tools – and another would establish a task force to study how to make street infrastructure safer.

At least one measure, however, would explicitly prohibit the sale and rental of class three e-bikes, also known as pedal-assist bicycles, which are currently legal in the city.

As for the rest of the package, which will be heard at a Sept. 30 hearing, Mamdani said he’d wait to see the specifics of the proposals before taking a stance. “It is critically important that safety is something that each and every New York has, no matter what mode of transportation they use,” he said. “That continues to be a focus for us.”

The use of e-bikes and e-scooters is a highly charged issue in New York City, one on which Menin is positioning herself as a champion. On Tuesday, she posted a short-form video in which she said New Yorkers are “demanding action” on the topic. “Well the City Council is ready to act,” she said.

“We cannot wait again for tragedy to strike to become advocates for public safety,” Menin said at a press conference Tuesday morning. “We owe New Yorkers streets that are safer to bike, safer to walk, safer to drive.”

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Komatireddy’s law-and-order AG campaign

Rebecca C. Lewis — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 05:00:00 -0400

New York hasn’t elected a Republican as attorney general in over 30 years – but Saritha Komatireddy is looking to change that this year as she takes on the two-term Attorney General Letitia James. Until late last year, Komatireddy had served over a decade as a federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of New York, a record she’s running heavily on as she pitches a strong law-and-order message to voters. City & State spoke with the Republican nominee about her experience, her aspirations if elected and more. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Tell me a little bit about your background and what inspired you to run for attorney general.

I was born in New York. I was a federal prosecutor in New York for 12 years, and I live here with my husband and four kids. I want New York to be safe. Unfortunately, what we’ve seen under Letitia James is that public safety has totally deteriorated. It’s something that I've seen professionally and I’ve seen personally in my own life. Repeat offenders are out on the streets victimizing innocent people because of our broken bail laws that Letitia James supports. We see terrorists, people who commit hate crimes, people who are mentally ill, out on the streets. We see an extraordinary increase in homelessness, even though we’re spending more on homelessness than we ever have before. It’s gone up, and we see fraud. Elderly people are being scammed. The vulnerable are being scammed. No one’s doing anything about it. No one’s even acknowledging it, and that’s a problem. I decided to run for attorney general to make New York safer for my family and for every family.

What do you think the attorney general could be doing right now to address some of these issues that you’ve named? And what would be the first thing that you would do in office?

On Day One, we need to restructure the office to prioritize public safety and prosecuting crime. The reality is, right now, the attorney general has more people assigned to investigate cops than investigate criminals, and that’s a problem. It’s upside down. We need to bring in criminal prosecutors. We need to make sure that of the 700 or so attorneys in the Attorney General’s Office, at least half are assigned to prosecute crime. And then we need to use those resources to back up the (district attorneys), back up the sheriffs, back up the police departments and get the repeat offenders off the streets.

Secondly, as part of this, we see a lot of severely mentally ill people or people who are addicted to drugs out on our streets, who are also dangerous to themselves and others. We need to use our resources and our authorities to get those people into residential treatment. We have the resources to do that. We have $3 billion that New York got from the national opioid lawsuits. New York is using that money to fund drug use. We are giving people needles and giving people the equipment they need to shoot up on fentanyl and other deadly drugs. We shouldn't be using money designed to combat the opioid crisis to fund drug use. We should be using it to fund drug treatment. When I’m attorney general, I’m going to make sure we build residential treatment centers for every New Yorker who needs it, so that they are not on the streets and they are getting the help that they need.

And finally, we need to actually deal with the homeless shelters in the state. The attorney general’s charities bureau is supposed to be overseeing every homeless shelter in New York because every homeless shelter in New York is an outpost. But they don’t do that work, and so we’re in a situation where over the last decade we’ve had numerous state and federal agencies raise concerns. Instead, we’re sending $81,000 per homeless person to nonprofits, and we don’t know where it's going. You could give a guy $81,000, and he wouldn’t be on the street tomorrow. We need an attorney general who’s going to audit and investigate every homeless shelter in New York. I will do that.

It’s been over 20 years since New York has elected a Republican statewide –even longer since New York has elected a Republican attorney general. How do you plan to reach voters and succeed where others have fallen short?

I just talk to them. I’m the only statewide candidate visiting every single one of the 62 counties in New York. I go around and I talk to people where they are about their concerns, and I listen to them, and I hear their concerns. A lot of people tell me, “You’re the first one to really listen,” because every county has a repeat offender problem that they are seeing unfold in their communities. Every county is seeing their kids threatened by deadly drugs. Every county is actually dealing with this homelessness problem, and people are paying property taxes to put the homeless in hotels, which is not a solution because the state has shut down residential treatment over the years and is not fixing the problem. So these are issues that are occurring across the state and across partisan lines. People want someone who's going to deal with crime and homelessness and fraud, and it’s not really about Republican versus Democrat.

Letitia James is running very much on the platform of protecting New York from attacks from the federal government and the Trump administration. What do you make of that, and do you think that there is any merit to the idea of combating the federal government? Certainly there have been instances where funding has been in jeopardy that the state won back through lawsuits.

What instances?

There was the pulling of Second Avenue subway funding, funding for the Gateway Tunnel. There was anti-terrorism funding for over a year ago. They’re now in court again over more anti-terrorism funding that could be in jeopardy over putting new requirements on election security.

The attorney general’s job is to protect New Yorkers, to make sure they’re safe and to make sure that their rights are protected. And I will do that. I’ll do that against anyone who is attempting to make New Yorkers less safe or to violate their rights.

Including President Trump?

That includes any president, any governor, any mayor. We’re going to have a new president in two years. This is a four-year job.

Do you think the current attorney general focuses too much on federal issues?

I think it’s very clear what our current attorney general focuses on because she told us what she was going to focus on when she ran. And she’s done exactly what she said she would do. She’s used taxpayer money to pursue a personal vendetta and make herself a political celebrity. She’s completely focused on national politics. And listen, we know she’s not interested in actually being state (attorney general). She ran for governor and failed. She’s more interested in national politics. Maybe she should run for Congress and take (U.S. Sen.) Chuck Schumer's seat. But we need someone who’s actually going to do the job of attorney general and do the work for New Yorkers focused on New York and making New York safer. While she’s been pursuing her political agenda on a national scale, New Yorkers have become less safe, and it’s become more expensive.

Bruce Blakeman, the Republican on your ticket running for governor, indicated recently he believes Democrats will try to steal the election and said he would accept the results of the election as long as they were “fair and reflect what actually people voted for.” Do you have similar concerns? And will you accept the results of the election regardless of outcome?

We all want safe and fair elections, and New Yorkers deserve to have every confidence in the integrity of their elections. When I’m attorney general, I will do my part to make sure that elections are safe and fair. I’m not going to speculate about an election that hasn't happened yet.

There have been many elections in New York state to draw data from. I’m just asking about a candidate running on your ticket who is indicating that there will be widespread election fraud, and if you have a reaction to that assertion.

I think we all want safe and fair elections, and it’s very important that New Yorkers have confidence in the integrity of their elections. I can speak for myself, which is that when I’m attorney general, I will do my part to make sure that our elections in New York are safe and fair. The reality is, the issues that I’m talking about – crime and homelessness and fraud – these are issues that reach every New Yorker, and I expect to gain widespread consensus across the state and win this election.

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Rikers commission aims to seize momentum with video campaign

Sahalie Donaldson — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 04:00:00 -0400

The Independent Rikers Commission is launching a new video series aimed at informing New Yorkers about the need to close Rikers Island as New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration confronts an August 2027 deadline it is all but guaranteed to miss.

Three videos in what’s expected to be a six-part series will drop Tuesday morning, setting the stage for the commission of civic leaders to kick off a larger public education campaign that they hope will galvanize New Yorkers. The looming deadline and new leadership make this an important moment for the notorious jail complex’s future, according to the commission. “The videos are really about how we reach the larger audience of New Yorkers that may know something about Rikers, but not necessarily a whole lot. (For) those wondering, ‘How we can actually close it, whether we are going to be safer and are we better off?’” Zachary Katznelson, the commission’s executive director, said, “The answer is emphatically ‘yes.’”

Young adults, many of them formerly incarcerated or with family members who have spent time behind bars, will play a big role in the campaign. They already helped craft the videos as part of the commission’s youth fellowship. In the months to come, the videos will be used across workshops in New York City schools and other community-based settings.

The commission, a second iteration of the original group led by former Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman during former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration, released its own detailed blueprint last year on how the city can close Rikers Island.

With new leadership at the helm of city jails, including Correction Commissioner Stanley Richards and remediation manager Nicholas Deml, advocates have increasingly begun to hope that the system’s long-standing cycle of violence and dysfunction might soon come to an end. The city has made progress in other areas too, like appointing a “Close Rikers Czar” and replacing an aged medical facility with a new therapeutic unit at Bellevue Hospital. Deml, who was appointed by a federal judge in January to reform Rikers Island, released his first plan to do so last month.

But it’s no secret that the city won’t meet the August 2027 deadline to close Rikers Island and replace it with four smaller borough-based jails – a plan set by the City Council in 2019.

The incarcerated population is too high and progress on constructing the jails is too slow. While these issues began before the Mamdani administration, they are ones it must now contend with.

Setting a new deadline would be a key step, according to Katznelson. So far, Mamdani has been careful not to give a specific timeline, though internal conversations are underway.

“The city’s got to hit and earn the extension. It’s not going to just be granted with grace,” Katznelson said. “You have to earn the extra time that it’s going to take to close Rikers by showing you’re making progress to a safer, smarter, more effective system.”

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Confusion, legal questions surround ranked choice voting effort in city of Albany

Kate Lisa — Mon, 03 Aug 2026 14:53:29 -0400

Advocates for ranked choice voting are making themselves known in Albany – but the version of the system they’re pushing looks very different from the one New York City adopted in 2019, the only other example in the state. And the effort’s getting messy after some residents and local officials signed a petition to put the issue on next year’s ballot without realizing exactly what it would do. Now, progressives groups who championed the system downstate have suddenly found themselves opposing a version that would outright eliminate primaries in the capital city.

The Albany City Clerk’s Office certified a petition last week circulated by the coalition Ranked Choice Voting Albany that would bring ranked choice voting to the capital city. But that’s not all: It would create a single, nonpartisan general election for local city races to be held on Election Day each November, and would completely abolish party primaries. Candidates from all political parties and independent candidates would appear together on the same general election ballot with party registrations listed next to their names.

“We really like the idea that it lets everybody have a voice,” said Dorian Solot, co-chair of Ranked Choice Voting Albany. “There are a lot of uncontested elections (here), and we realize with this small number of candidates in a small city, we really could save resources and have a simpler process.” She added the cities of Minneapolis, Minnesota; San Francisco, California; Portland, Maine; Burlington, Vermont; and others successfully use a similar ranked voting model that forgoes a primary.

The problem, however, is that New York City is not among the municipalities that use the nonpartisan system. Voters in the city adopted a version in 2019 that introduced ranked choice voting for municipal primary elections, leaving the general election contests untouched. And it’s the main – and highest profile – example others around the state have to go on.

Both Democratic and Capital District Working Families Party leaders initially signed on to the petition assuming Albany’s ranked choice voting would resemble New York City’s version – but now both have egg on their faces after realizing the proposal would eliminate primaries altogether. They expressed concern that doing away with primaries would violate the state constitution. And now they’ve joined forces to defeat the proposal in a rare partnership.

Multiple sources told City & State the Albany County Democratic Committee plans to sue the coalition over its proposal if it reaches the ballot over constitutional concerns. The Albany city clerk certified the petition and sent it to the common council, which could vote to put it on the ballot. Otherwise, the Ranked Choice Albany coalition would need to gather roughly 1,200 additional signatures before Nov. 1 to get a place on the ballot next year.

Solot defended the petition, and said election attorneys have advised the counsel it will hold up in court. “Just because the Constitution tells you how to run a primary, it doesn’t anywhere specifically say that a primary is required,” she said.

Albany Common Council Member Jack Flynn broadly supports ranked choice voting, and said he signed the coalition’s petition in the spring without realizing it would eliminate primaries in the capital city. “Then I started researching my own self, and I realized that the primary would be gone, and I was dumbfounded,” he told City & State in an initial interview. “I don’t think that the voters are even aware of this.”

(In a subsequent text to City & State, Flynn tried to walk back his comments, saying he did know the Ranked Choice Albany proposal would end primaries when he signed the petition.)

Yet Flynn introduced an Albany Common Council ranked choice voting proposal last month that would adopt New York City’s system, and keep both the primary and general elections intact. He initially said he introduced the measure to combat the Ranked Choice Albany proposal.

But many misunderstood the petition’s fine print. Ivette Alfonso, co-chair of the Capital District Working Families Party, said she also signed the petition without realizing it wasn’t modeled after New York City’s system. Alfonso said she was approached by a woman at a public event in the spring who asked if she supported rank choice voting, and signed the petition.

“Then I come to find out that it included eliminating primaries – they’re calling it ‘one unified election,’” Alfonso said. “I blank on that phrase because it’s so silly. I regret having just signed it.”

Another Albany resident who signed the petition, but declined to be named, said she too signed because she supports ranked choice voting, and the volunteer who approached discussed supporting “a single unified election,” but did not make it clear that meant ending primary day for city races.

Solot said the coalition has been clear about its proposal – its signs read “One election, everyone votes” – and members have given dozens of presentations about it around the city, including to every neighborhood association.

Other leaders from the Capital District Working Families Party were originally part of the coalition’s steering committee as well and were in favor of its proposal, but have since come out against it. Capital District Working Families Party Secretary Andy Kaier said primary elections have been critical in electing progressive candidates endorsed by the party. The party also supports fusion voting, where two or more political parties list the same candidate on a ballot, which RCV Albany’s proposal eliminates.

“We’re much more worried about the primary system in general because it's no secret that that's how the WFP has built its political power, both in Albany, in the Capital Region, and around New York state,” Kaier said.

Progressive Democratic Assembly Member Gabriella Romero, for example, ran on the Working Families Party line in a six-way primary race for the Albany Assembly seat in 2024, and won with about 30% of the vote, or 8.9% over runner-up Ginnie Farrell. Romero told City & State supports ranked choice voting as a whole to strengthen voter participation, but opposes open primaries in the state.

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Taylor Swift’s wedding spurs fandom-led philanthropy

Phenix Kim — Mon, 03 Aug 2026 14:41:27 -0400

It’s a love story beyond the New York City nonprofit sector’s wildest dreams – as Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s Madison Square Garden wedding last month continues to inspire Swifties to fill the blank space on volunteer applications and donor rolls.

On Thursday, over two hundred Swift fans gathered for an evening of volunteering at P.S. 20 Anna Silver on the Lower East Side, to pack over 2,200 backpacks for students in need across New York City. Hosted by New York Cares, one of the 20 recipients of Swift and Kelce’s $26 million in charitable contributions ahead of their July 3 nuptials, the event seized on the growing spark of fandom inspired philanthropy.

“I think this really became for us, a gift three times over,” New York Cares Executive Director Sapreet Kaur Saluja said about the celebrity couple’s donation – which inspired fans to also give. “What we noticed was that a couple donations came through at very particular numbers, and very quickly we thought to ourselves, ‘Oh my gosh, this is one of the most values-aligned, passionate fandoms in the world.’”

What followed was a donor campaign aimed at harnessing that fandom, as New York Cares began offering donation suggestions of $13, $26, $87 and $198.90 – numbers symbolic to the Swift fanbase.

“The donations kept coming in. And then we put a call out: what if we could raise donations from 1989 individuals?” Saluja said, referring to Swift’s album named after her birth year. “We're at just about 800 now and we're very close to $25,000 raised.”

But the giving didn’t stop there. New York Cares sought to galvanize this donor base through its Stand with Students campaign, by converting them into first-time volunteers. With 350 partner organizations, the nonprofit boasts one of the city’s largest volunteer forces – with its flagship annual coat drive having distributed 52,732 coats last year.

At Thursday’s fully booked “Are You Ready For It: Pack Backpacks for Students” event, volunteers filled a gymnasium blasting Swift’s hits, clad in Taylor Swift Eras Tour t-shirts and friendship bracelets.

“I love volunteering, but it’s my first time with New York Cares,” said Mona Ghounem. “Wouldn't it be smart if they did this with each celebrity that donates? People will be like, ‘This is where the money's going, come and volunteer with us.’”

Many others also noted that the event’s Taylor Swift theme was a major pull.

“My younger daughter saw the event posted online and sent it to me, and was mom will you come with us,” said Katie Smith, wearing matching Eras Tour t-shirts with her daughter.

For organizations like New York Cares, this growing turnout indicates a hopeful shift within a sector that continues to struggle to meet demand.

“What we have seen is our partners really having a hard time,” said Saluja. “They have had budget cuts. They have anxiety. They have more clients than ever, and they're coming to us consistently asking, ‘What more can our volunteers take on?’”

But increasing need continues to be met with a growing number of volunteers. New York Cares is aiming to reach over 70,000 volunteers this year, and has already counted over 66,000 participants.

And Swifties are among those stepping up.

“I know that donating is the easiest route,” said Ghounem. “Taking a couple buses and going and doing this thing is a lot harder. But it’s even more rewarding because you actually see the fruits of the money.”

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The 2026 Above & Beyond: Social Services

City & State — Mon, 03 Aug 2026 05:00:00 -0400

The social services sector plays a critical role in New York. Facing such challenges as widening inequality, rising homelessness and an aging population, city and state governments often rely heavily on nonprofit organizations to provide care for the neediest among us. Social services nonprofits offer everything from mental and behavioral health services to programs for young children, teenagers and older adults to services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities – and much more. The sector makes up a significant share of the economy, although many nonprofits struggle to secure funding, get paid in a timely manner and recruit enough workers to carry out their work.

City & State’s third annual Above & Beyond: Social Services puts a spotlight on notable individuals in this integral sector: savvy CEOs and executive directors finding new ways to reach those in need; policy wonks pressing for more efficient processes and streamlined procurement procedures; government officials in important oversight roles; and consultants and specialists helping nonprofits focus on carrying out their missions.

We’re pleased to introduce the 2026 Above & Beyond: Social Services.

– profiles by Amanda Salazar

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Who gets a car in the Mamdani administration? These 52 officials

Sahalie Donaldson — Mon, 03 Aug 2026 04:00:00 -0400

"I think the way that you move around the city, it influences the way in which you see the city,” then-New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani told Wired last October. “Too often if you’re riding around only in a car with tinted windows, the only New Yorker you might see is a reflection of yourself.”

As mayor, Mamdani is often sitting behind those tinted SUV windows. He’s not alone. From deputy mayors to agency heads, here’s who else gets a car and driver in the Mamdani administration, according to a freedom of information request returned in late May.

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Dozens of city officials are driven around by chauffeurs. Are they living in a bubble?

Sahalie Donaldson — Mon, 03 Aug 2026 04:00:00 -0400

As mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio kicked off many of his mornings with a cross-borough odyssey by car. Boarding his private, chauffeured SUV at Gracie Mansion, police escort in tow, de Blasio would be driven about 12 miles to the Prospect Park YMCA – a roughly 35-minute drive that would have taken just shy of an hour by train.

Polly Trottenberg often sat shotgun in her city-issued car where she liked to control the music and sing along. What better way to alleviate stress as de Blasio’s Department of Transportation commissioner? Sometimes her driver would join in, she said, the two belting out Frank Sinatra as one.

Eric Adams, self-proclaimed mayor of swagger, kept a row of suits, collared shirts and ties strung along a clothing rack in the back seat of his black Chevrolet Suburban – his ride doubling as closet-on-wheels as he was whisked from flag raisings to press conferences to court appearances to dinner at Zero Bond.

As a deputy mayor in the Adams administration, Adolfo Carrión Jr. enjoyed traveling to City Hall from his home on City Island by ferry. But sometimes he had his driver meet him at the Wall Street ferry terminal to be driven the final leg of his journey.

Passenger princess status, city government edition, is a less exclusive club than one might think. Fifty-two of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s appointees travel in rarified, climate-controlled air, thanks to the full-time car and driver assigned to them, according to a list provided by the Department of Citywide Administrative Services in response to a freedom of information request from City & State.

That includes obvious big shots like First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan, schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch – officials whose jobs frequently have them on the move. But it also includes lesser-known appointees like Fuleihan’s chief of staff Freddi Goldstein, Chief Actuary Marek Tyszkiewicz and Housing Authority Chief Operating Officer Eva Trimble. Top mayoral press office officials like Joe Calvello and Anna Bahr also get their own chauffeured vehicles, as do the five other deputy mayors and more than two dozen commissioners.

Then-Mayor Eric Adams' closet on wheels / Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images

This system isn’t unique to the Mamdani administration. While exact figures aren’t available online, scores of officials working under prior mayors had their own cars and drivers, likely in roughly equal numbers. Car ownership is a politicized issue in New York, but the chauffeured life isn’t partisan or ideological among the city’s government officials. Borough presidents, the City Council speaker, comptroller and public advocate all have this perk.

“It makes a huge difference if you are like I was, going seven days a week, all day, all night, across the whole borough,” City Council Member Gale Brewer said of having a car and driver during her eight-year tenure as Manhattan borough president. “I could not have done it any other way.”

Of course, these chauffeured vehicles don’t come with a 24/7 all-access pass to the city. The Fleet Management Manual states that cars are not supposed to be used “for personal reasons,” though “brief stops for meals or other incidental activities” are acceptable while performing normal work activities.

But even with guardrails, getting driven around doesn’t exactly foster relatability – especially if it’s overly relied upon. Critics argue it’s akin to traveling around in a bubble. Add it to the long list of things that already separate public officials from the many New Yorkers who travel by public transit.

Mamdani’s perceived accessibility and pavement-pounding across the city were fixtures of his upstart mayoral campaign. He has tried not to stray from that since taking office. He has been spotted traveling by Citi Bike, train and on foot. The 34-year-old democratic socialist is acutely aware of how much his life has changed and how fixtures of his new reality – like the chauffeur and police detail – could easily alter his perception of the problems he’s supposed to solve.

Zohran Mamdani hops on a Citi Bike — going back to his campaign office in Chelsea, his campaign tells me after. A woman heckles him, shouting “communist!” pic.twitter.com/pNgkOeE8o3
— Jeff Coltin (@JCColtin) October 8, 2025

“If you spend every single day driving around in a tinted window security detail, you will have a very specific view of the city,” Mamdani said in an April interview with WBUR. By taking other modes of transportation, he said, “You actually meet other New Yorkers and you break out of the bubble that so many have come to expect of politics.”

But he’s still relying on his car and driver virtually every day.

And that can be a barrier. “I still remember feeling just a shock at becoming aware after leaving that meal,” Citizens Union Executive Director Grace Rauh said, reflecting on a dinner she shared with a deputy mayor as an early career journalist covering the Bloomberg administration two decades ago. “That realization that ‘Oh, this person’s meal with me is part of their workday, but they’re going to get driven home and I’m going to go walk to the subway.’”

Perk or necessity?

Ask just about anybody who has had their own car and driver while serving in city government, and they’ll give a strong defense in its favor: Good luck doing the job without one.

Fabien Levy, who started in the Adams administration as press secretary and finished as deputy mayor for communications, said he’d initially been skeptical about the arrangement. But while his gut reaction was to turn down his own chauffeured vehicle, the job’s demands promptly dispelled him of any illusions that he could go without.

One night after getting dropped off at home in Manhattan around 11 p.m., he received a call notifying him that a police officer had been shot – the latest in a string of officer shootings that rattled the city in early 2022. Having already sent his driver home, Levy took a cab to the crime scene, only to be stopped at the police line. It took ages to talk his way in.

Taking the train isn’t a great option for officials who need to be on their phones either, he argued. “Our subway system has no cell service, so you can’t take any calls. You can hardly send emails or text messages,” Levy said. “Depending on where you live, imagine being underground for an hour-plus and there’s an emergency situation.”

For the handful of city officials with a police detail – the mayor, speaker, comptroller and police commissioner – there are real safety reasons for being driven around. Cops and personal aides typically ride alongside them in the vehicle, which is far simpler than flanking their charge on public transportation. How many times has a video of Mamdani riding a Citi Bike or striding down the train platform gone viral? “His security team must be stressed lol” is a sentiment that frequently appears in those comment sections.

The commenters are probably on to something.

“It’s just such a liability,” said Mandela Jones, a former spokesperson for then-City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams. As one of the only speakers who lived outside of Manhattan, she would spend particularly long stretches on wheels as she traveled from her Southeast Queens home to City Hall. Jones remembered taking the train with her once, but the situation stressed out her security detail. “The subway can be a challenging space," he said. "If they were given their choice, they would keep you in a car. Their job is to protect the person and to minimize risk.”

The safety argument doesn’t carry for the majority of officials who are assigned a car and driver. It’s unlikely anyone is closely tracking the head of the School Construction Authority or the chief technology officer, for example. Most can easily take the train under the cloak of anonymity, and many do.

But former and current officials who’ve had their own chauffeur point to other benefits like efficiency. They worked frequently in the car, using the privacy to take calls, respond to emails, pour over documents and pound out press releases on their laptops.

Looking to capitalize on long stretches of time on the road, Department of Buildings Commissioner Ahmed Tigani ordered a small drop-down desk to use in the back of his vehicle. “It has really helped and was fairly inexpensive,” he said. “I read and saw a bunch of people using it during the pandemic who work in different locations, so it sounded like a smart complement to do more detailed and comprehensive work when in the car.”

Another benefit: Private vehicles come in handy for escaping and evading journalists. What better way to get the last word than to fire off a nasty barb and disappear into the safety of 3,000 pounds of metal? “You want a mint? You need one,” Phil Banks, then-deputy mayor of public safety, told The City Reporter’s Katie Honan in 2024 when she asked him about having his phone seized by FBI agents. He jumped into his car and didn’t answer the question.

Former Mayor Bill de Blasio was known for morning rides to the YMCA / Spencer Platt/Getty Images

And in the whirl of high-pressure situations and go, go, go, it’s nice to have someone to bounce ideas off – or even just to make sure you’ve eaten or got home safely. Once, hospital-bound after the cab she was riding in got into an accident, Brewer called her driver for aid, not wanting to break the news to her husband. “They really look out for you,” she said. “In many cases, they become friends because you’re with them more than you’re with family.”

Tapping the brakes

For all the reasons it may be beneficial for high-ranking elected leaders and city officials to be chauffeured around, it’s hard to imagine the arrangement not having some impact on their psyche. How could it not? In a car, you are locked in with maybe four people tops, all of whom work for you, subjected to traffic, sure, but moving through the city shielded from inclement weather, subway delays and fellow New Yorkers who might demand something of you. But on the train, bus or even walking on the street, you’re part of a far more diverse array of commuters, taking in the same inconveniences, the same interactions, the same observations. (Of course, quite a few New Yorkers regularly travel by car – particularly in outer borough neighborhoods with limited public transportation – but this is still a far cry from the chauffeur life.)

“The very people that are able to separate themselves from the experience of everyday New Yorkers through a car and driver are the ones making policy decisions,” Rauh said. “Any mayoral administration should be very judicious about who gets access and why.”

Ryan Birchmeier, who served as Eric Adams’ communications director, noted that the types of jobs that come with their own car and driver are already intense. For him, being chauffeured was just another thing in a “vortex of incoming emails and the political problem of the day” that made being grounded in reality challenging.

“You’re on the phone all the time, you’re on emails all the time,” he said. “Magically popping up in new locations is just one more iteration of getting sucked into this digital world.”

Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, also a fan of travel by helicopter / Andrew Burton/Getty Images

But several people argued that public officials actually see quite a lot in a car – things they wouldn’t see underground that can inform their perspective on issues like disinvestment in neighborhoods and redlining.

“The F or No. 5 (trains) might have no shortage of subterranean human sights, but they can’t reveal the redlining of Allerton or Hillside avenues,” said Amit Singh Bagga, who often drove himself while on the job in the de Blasio administration. “You’ll need the light of day and a set of wheels for that.”

“Forever annoyed” when she’d spot litter or graffiti coming off a bridge or the highway, former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said she would often call in issues while being chauffeured that she likely wouldn’t have seen otherwise.

“There’s pros and cons,” Quinn said. “If somebody is going to become in a bubble because part of the time they get driven, they are going to be in a bubble anyway.”

Good-government groups urge caution. City officials’ access to chauffeurs has erupted in scandal before. In 2006, then-Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum was forced to fork over several thousand dollars in repayments for using her driver for personal trips, like Hamptons visits and Costco runs. Concerns about reducing carbon emissions and the city’s dependence on vehicles have stirred conversations about shrinking the city’s fleet. With more than 30,000 vehicles, New York City has the largest municipal fleet in the nation. Environmental and bike advocates argue that’s not a flex. Though in recent years, officials have started to get driven around in more hybrid and electric vehicles, including Toyota Highlanders and Ford Mustang Mach-E’s.

There are also concerns about transparency. Asked for information about how much the city spends on drivers and city-owned vehicles for city officials, the FOIL office said that DCAS does not have the “necessary detailed agency time/salary/usage information that would be needed to report such a report.” Not to mention City & State had to submit a FOIL request to get access to this list.

“I think when it starts to get to a level of where it’s more a perk of the job, rather than a necessity, is where we would question the public policy benefits of extending more cars to the workforce,” Reinvent Albany Senior Policy Adviser Rachael Fauss said.

Of course, as with all perks and pitfalls of public service, the ride comes to an end eventually. Whether it’s in eight years, or mere months, chauffeur access ends with the job. Mayor, press secretary, borough president, agency head alike, all eventually find themselves in the same place: picking up the pieces and readjusting to their old life.

After 16 years of being chauffeured, former Manhattan Borough President and city Comptroller Scott Stringer recalled one of the first times he ordered an Uber. “I said to the guy, ‘Hey, this is my second Uber ride ever.’ And he goes, ‘Well, actually this is my first Uber ride in five years – I’ve been suspended for five years and now I’m back.’ I go, ‘What were you suspended for?’” Apparently, smoking pot while driving. “And then I realized I am back in the real world,” Stringer said.

Some look back with nostalgia. Levy bid his driver farewell in Times Square, just after the clock struck midnight on New Year’s Day, bringing the Adams administration to a close. Levy and his driver keep in touch, he said, but nothing like their daily contact before.

For others, the return to the real world was like slipping on an old skin – or so they say. “It’s all about keeping your perspective,” Carrión said. “I went right back into being a normal, average joe in a hot minute when I walked out of City Hall.”

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