A Spooky Time in New York Politics
Tricks and treats from around the city
Join us on Election Day for charter amendment canvassing and results watching!
Boo! Imagine a New York next Wednesday morning where we’ve missed the opportunity to speed affordable housing production—or where we’ve chosen city leaders who want to deliver more of the same politics that got us into our current crises. Scary, isn’t it?
Whether we wake up to a future that’s sweet or sour is in our hands:
Sign up for a weekend canvassing shift for the charter amendments
Join us to distribute literature on Election Day
Celebrate with us as we watch the results come in on Tuesday night
Know folks who are still on the fence about the charter amendments? Share our voter guide; op-eds from Mark Levine, Carlo Scissura, young Democratic leaders, and the Daily News; and voter guides from the League of Women Voters, Citizens Budget Commission, Hot Girls for Zohran, Municipal Arts Society, and New Kings Dems.
In the meantime, the non-election news around the city and state has been a mix of treats and tricks. Here are some updates you may have missed:
Housing ups and downs
🍬 The major OneLIC rezoning that could legalize nearly 15,000 new homes was approved by a City Council committee yesterday and will soon get a full council vote.
👹 In the meantime, the dire signals of our housing crisis are getting worse. Rent-stabilized units are in crisis, and older New Yorkers are facing the impossible choice of living in squalor or leaving the city they call home.
On the waterfront
🍬 After years of NIMBY opposition to the East Side Coastal Resiliency plan to protect lower Manhattan from flooding, the new park is being lauded as “f****ing awesome.”
👹 We’re going to need far more work to get done to protect us from rising water levels, as captured in this New York Times interactive. It’s especially dire as New York loses federal help to advance clean energy.
The city taking on the streets
🍬 Queens Council Member Julie Won’s legislation to mandate life-saving daylighting at intersections citywide has the support of hundreds of community groups, from the DSA to the Staten Island Conservative Party. More locally, the city rolled out a new vision for a tangled Chinatown intersection.
👹 Also rolled out: a 15mph speed limit on e-bikes—even though cars can still speed unimpeded. We really need to make a dent in car hegemony: rates of driving are still increasing in the city.
On public transit
🍬 Governor Hochul officially advanced the Interborough Express, to link Queens and Brooklyn by rail (and support tens of thousands of new homes), to the next phase of development.
👹 A temper tantrum from the federal government stalled the 34th street busway.
Service delivery suffering
🍬 The state will be providing $30 million in emergency food assistance to New Yorkers who rely on SNAP.
👹 But that’s because the federal shutdown means the benefits will be cut off for the 1.7 million New Yorkers who rely on them come November 1.