City Council kills the Mayor's veto of how many stops bill

NY Post

NYPD cops will be forced to report on even their most minor interactions with the public after the City Council on Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected Mayor Eric Adams’ veto of the “How Many Stops Act’’ — which he and other critics argued would threaten public safety.

Adams, who fought the bill tooth and nail in recent weeks, failed to sway the two council members he needed to beat the override — which passed in a bruising 42-9 vote.

The Democrat-led council also voted to override Adams’ veto of another bill banning solitary confinement in Big Apple jails.

“These bills will make New Yorkers less safe on the streets, while police officers are forced to fill out additional paperwork rather than focus on helping New Yorkers and strengthening community bonds,” Adams said in a statement after the vote.

“Additionally, it will make staff in our jails and those in our custody less safe by impairing our ability to hold those who commit violent acts accountable.”

Under the NYPD bill, officers will have to record the “apparent” race, gender and age of nearly every person they question — even someone who could just be a potential witness to a crime, or other of the lowest-level encounters.

Adams, a former NYPD captain, and police advocates had been adamant that the bill would bog cops down in a sea of unnecessary paperwork and slow down investigations.

“Today’s override is one more step toward the city council goal: Destroy the world’s best police

department,” NYPD Detectives Endowment Association president Paul DiGiacomo said.

“Thanks to the politicians, the divide between the police and citizens will grow. And so will retirements of our best, most experienced detectives. Heartbreaking.”

 

Cuomo the fisherman allows dumping in Jamaica Bay

Yes, folks instedda workin, Gov Cuomo decided to veto legislation that would have protected Jamaica Bay from dumping because...drumroll...he wants DEC to be able to dump in it.

Last year, State Senator Joe Addabbo and Assembly Member Stacy Pheffer-Amato passed legislation to extend sunsetting environmental protections in place for the Bay:

In his veto statement, Cuomo said the legislation would change the criteria for fill Jamaica Bay borrow pits to comply with the federal criteria for the unrestricted ocean dumping of dredged material, which is not applicable to Jamaica Bay.

Under this bill, the Department of Conservation would be required to utilize more restrictive, and costly federal ocean dumping criteria to test the materials instead of DEC’s existing standard, and further, the legislation would make this enhanced standard permanent, Cuomo continued.

“The increased costs and time associated with the bill’s required fill standards will impact the availability of applicants with high-quality material for use as fill, which is critical for the restoration of these pits. This bill would make the procurement of this material, and in turn, the achievement of revitalization goals for Jamaica Bay extremely challenging, if not halt restoration altogether.”

Translation: We have to further contaminate the Bay in order to save it.

The bill was reintroduced and passed again, but the outcome was the same.

GOVERNOR CUOMO VETOES JAMAICA BAY PROTECTION BILL ! Looks like Governor Cuomo has vetoed the Jamaica Bay Protection...

Posted by Jamaica Bay Ecowatchers on Friday, November 27, 2020

This session, if the bill is passed again, it will likely survive Andrew "follow the science" Cuomo as there is now a veto-proof majority in the Senate.

Cuomo veto allows pollution to continue in Jamaica Bay

 

QNS:

Disappointed and surprised by Cuomo’s decision to veto the legislation, Dan Mundy Jr., president of the Broad Channel Civic Association and vice president of the Jamaica Bay Eagle Watchers, said they’re hoping to persuade the governor to save the environment. 

“After 30 years of work, Jamaica Bay is the cleanest we’ve ever seen,” Mundy said. “This summer we had a humpback whale inside the bay, right now we have a resident seal population. Our group conducts scuba diving operations out here on a regular basis and we have a 70-foot-deep amazing shipwreck that we’re exploring.” 

Betty Braton, chair of Community Board 10, said the governor’s decision to veto the bill was “very shortsighted” and she hopes he reconsiders. 

“For many of us here, it’s been a lifelong work to make sure that this bay comes back to what it once was. You know, history tells us some bad decisions were made over the years. It had a very serious impact and people were working very hard to turn that around,” Braton said. “I hope that our legislators will continue the work they’ve been doing, which has been outstanding getting this bay back to what it once was: a jewel.”

Cuomo vetoes 2nd MetroCard transfer

From the Daily News:

Gov. Cuomo vetoed legislation late Monday that would have given commuters a second free transfer on pay-per-ride MetroCards.

In his veto message, Cuomo said the bill the Legislature approved had “fiscal, policy and technical flaws.” He said he was ordering the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to take steps that would make it easier for riders affected by service disruptions to complete their journeys without paying another fare.

The new policies Cuomo ordered include having Transit Authority staff distribute manual tickets for an additional subway or bus trip during unplanned disruptions.

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz (D-Bronx), who sponsored the measure, said he was disappointed by the governor’s veto and that Cuomo’s remedies don’t go far enough.

The legislation, Dinowitz said, was intended to assist commuters who live in underserved areas of the city and not just those struggling with temporary service disruptions.

Cuomo changes mind on veterans bill

From Capital New York:

Just weeks after he vetoed it, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday he would push for a version of a measure in the state budget allowing service members to purchase credit toward the public retirement system based on their years of service.

The vetoed legislation, sponsored by Assemblywoman Amy Paulin and state Sen. Bill Larkin, would have allowed members of a public retirement system to obtain three years of service credit for up to three years of military duty if they were honorably discharged. The bill would have also broadened eligible servicemembers to include those who served in peacetime and those who served during more-recent conflicts.

“The Governor and legislative sponsors plan to work over the next two months to refine the proposal for introduction in the next budget,” Cuomo’s office said in a press release.

In his veto message in October, Cuomo said the legislation included “no viable funding source.”

NYPD union wants Melissa to knock it off

From the Capital New York:

During a closed-door meeting with Mayor Bill de Blasio last week, the city's police union leaders asked the mayor to denounce what they perceived as anti-police actions by City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, according to Ed Mullins, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association.

In a radio interview with Joe Piscopo on Monday, Mullins said the union presidents voiced displeasure to the mayor about Mark-Viverito donning an "I can't breathe!" T-shirt to protest a Staten Island grand jury's decision not to indict an officer in the death of Eric Garner.

Mark-Viverito and many other council members wore the shirts at a Council meeting last month, shortly after about 20 members staged a "die-in" outside City Hall to protest the decision. (Mark-Viverito did not participate in that demonstration.)

Mullins called the meeting with de Blasio a "golden opportunity" for the mayor to improve his broken relationship with police unions, but said de Blasio defended Mark-Viverito, his close political ally.

"He defended it with—they have a First Amendment right, she's not his puppet, and that she felt very strongly about a grand jury decision," Mullins said on the AM970 show "The Answer."

"What he did was he reasoned her actions. But the question was would you denounce her actions, and he didn't answer that," Mullins said.

Do ya think that perhaps it was the fact that deBlasio handpicked Viverito as Speaker and then proceeded to not veto anything she and her council minions passed that made the police union think that he'd hold some sway over her.

And there's a split in the Council with regard to how to proceed with police reform bills.

Working hand-in-hand

From Capital New York:

In his first year as mayor, Bill de Blasio has signed into law every bill passed by the Council. It's only the second time in more than two decades a mayor went through a calendar year without having vetoed a single piece of legislation.

De Blasio enjoys a close relationship with the Council's speaker, Melissa Mark-Viverito, a like-minded, left-of-center Democrat who de Blasio personally lobbied members to elect in January.

Both sides of City Hall touted the close alliance.

"Whether it's extending paid-sick days to over a million more New Yorkers, successfully fighting to provide free lunch to hundreds of thousands of New York City middle-school students or being a national leader on immigration reform, the City Council is proud of its record of standing up for New Yorkers," said Robin Levine, a spokeswoman for Mark-Viverito.

Marti Adams, a spokeswoman for de Blasio offered a similar sentiment, listing shared priorities.

"From municipal IDs to paid sick leave to the slew of Vision Zero initiatives, we're proud of our legislative accomplishments to date," Adams said. "Mayor de Blasio will continue to work with the City Council on legislative actions aimed at improving the lives of everyday New Yorkers and tackling the very issues that New Yorkers elected him to address."

The Council still has one more scheduled meeting this year, but neither side of City Hall was aware of any imminent legislation that might result in a veto.

And this is something to brag about?

Affordable housing is crappily built

From the NY Times:

Five years ago, Arisleyda Estrella and Ron Skinner could not wait to move into their first home, a new three-story row house in Brooklyn with a big living room, hardwood floors, a front stoop and a small garden.

But the thrill of winning a lottery that enabled them to buy one of 31 city-subsidized houses set aside for moderate-income families in a Bedford-Stuyvesant community wore off quickly. Like her neighbors, Ms. Estrella and her husband said they had battled ever since with the builder and implored city officials to deal with many problems, like cracks in the foundation walls, a leaky roof, a sinking backyard, windows that move with the wind, crumbling front steps and an undersized boiler.

“We love our home,” Ms. Estrella said of the house, which is on Pulaski Street. “The architecture is wonderful; it’s well thought out. But we got the worst craftsmanship. We trusted the city. We feel like we were bamboozled.”

Ms. Estrella and other owners of city-subsidized housing insist that oversight is critically needed for one of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s main initiatives, the largest municipal housing program in the country.

They, along with a group of construction unions, support a bill that the City Council approved unanimously last month that would require the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development to publicly disclose information about builders of affordable housing, including how they were selected, the size of their subsidies, construction complaints for each project and workers’ wages.

But Mr. Bloomberg has vowed to veto the legislation, saying a key element of the bill would be costly and irrelevant to resolving construction-related complaints at what city housing officials say are a relatively small number of projects. The City Council will almost certainly override the veto.

Council suddenly grows a pair

From the Daily News:

The City Council passed a controversial “prevailing wage” bill Wednesday — setting the stage for a clash with Mayor Bloomberg, who has vowed a veto.

The measure would raise pay for hundreds of service workers at some 41 buildings that receive city tax breaks. The salary bump would be determined by the City Controller’s prevailing-wage scale.

Repairmen and cleaners at major office buildings whose pay is now governed under that scale earn $24.74 per hour, or roughly $50,000 a year. Workers covered under the bill would get a pay increase of 35% to 45%, officials said.

The bill passed 45 to 4, an indication the Council most likely has the two-thirds vote needed to override a mayoral veto.

The Council successfully overrode mayoral vetoes on two other bills Wednesday. The first was a measure to ban the Sanitation Department from slapping fluorescent stickers on cars parked in violation of alternate-side and other parking laws designed to clear the way for street sweeping.

The second was a bill to require traffic agents to rip up muni-meter tickets if a motorist produces a paid receipt within five minutes of the summons.