Traffic near Grand Central Station. Photo courtesy of Getty Images. Update: As of April 1, the State Legislature and Gov. Cuomo passed the 2020 budget, congestion pricing included. Although the…
The First Unitarian Congregational Society in Brooklyn Heights opened their doors this past Saturday, March 23 for a tenant town hall meeting discussing universal rent control. The meeting, organized by the Housing Justice For All coalition, outlined nine points they want state legislators to pay attention to come June 15 when the state’s current rent laws are set to expire.
Valentine’s Day fell on a Thursday this year. Although most New Yorkers had plans to celebrate after work, a conference room in Downtown Brooklyn was buzzing with excitement and it was barely two o’clock in the afternoon. A staff member of New York Communities for Change had just interrupted an ordinary meeting to inform everyone that Amazon was pulling out of the deal to bring half of their second headquarters to Long Island City, Queens. The news broke on Twitter, but soon all the major media platforms had confirmed the news. This was an enormous victory for NYCC, one of the grassroots organisations that vehemently opposed the deal. It was also a victory for Jonathan Westin, NYCC’s executive director, who stood among his staff smiling, in disbelief.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio made a recent trip to Iowa, signaling that the two-term mayor is inching closer to a potential, and long-speculated presidential run in 2020. If he ends up entering the race, he will be the second New Yorker (excluding President Donald Trump) in the running, following the state’s junior U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.