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      How Redistricting Made Park Slope and Staten Island Into an Unlikely Pair

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      New congressional maps that merge conservative Staten Island with liberal Park Slope will aid Democratic efforts to win a Republican-held House seat in New York.At The Original Goodfella’s, a well-known Staten Island pizzeria where photographs of Republican politicians are prominently displayed, the news sank in painfully: This borough, a rare conservative outpost of New York City, was being tossed into a congressional district with the liberal residents of Park Slope, Brooklyn.“Park Slope is more of a younger crowd with yuppies, hipsters,” said Carlo D’Angelo, 28, a Trump supporter who, when asked about who won the 2020 presidential election, said, “Only the man in the sky, only God, knows.”Staten Island was more “family-oriented and traditional,” he added, speaking near a framed display of a fork that ex-mayor Bill de Blasio, a Park Slope resident, scandalously used to eat pizza. “It’s two different, completely different, viewpoints.”The feeling was mutual outside the Park Slope Food Coop, the famously liberal Brooklyn grocery where social consciousness pervades every aisle, in a neighborhood that is home to many left-leaning families. Pamela Plunkett, 57, stood nearby, across the street from a meditation center, as she questioned how the wildly divergent politics and needs of residents in the new district would work.“I hate to say it, they’re one of the five boroughs, but it’s almost like they’re an outlier,” she said of Staten Island, noting differences in attitudes around issues including politics and the pandemic. “That’s why I’m worried about being grouped in with them.”The once-in-a-decade redistricting effort has created unusual congressional district lines all over the country, reflecting a partisan process embraced by Republicans and Democrats alike. But perhaps no other district in New York City contains constituencies so clearly in opposition to each other as the reconstituted 11th, whose new lines are expected to better position the Democratic Party to seize a seat now held by Representative Nicole Malliotakis, the lone Republican in the New York City delegation. Max Rose, a Democrat, is hoping that the inclusion of Park Slope, Brooklyn, in the 11th Congressional District will aid his chances of regaining his seat.Dave Sanders for The New York TimesOn Staten Island, the occasional “Thin Blue Line” flag in support of law enforcement flutters in spacious front yards of single-family homes, while in dense brownstone Brooklyn, “Black Lives Matter” signs have often dotted windows, reflecting national debates over both crime and police brutality. Voters on either side of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge are often vocal about their political identities — but many liberal Brooklynites joined marches to protest the Trump presidency, while conservative Staten Islanders embraced him early, even with other Republicans in the running in 2016.“They put two communities together that have literally nothing in common other than they happen to all live in the same city,” said City Councilman David Carr, a Staten Island Republican. “In terms of values, in terms of interests, they couldn’t be further apart. And they’ve created a district that’s going to be permanently at war with itself.”The new lines reflect an aggressive reconfiguration of the state’s congressional districts led by Democratic lawmakers, creating clearer opportunities to flip several House seats in this year’s midterm campaigns, as Democrats strain to maintain their congressional majority in a difficult political environment.What to Know About Redistricting and GerrymanderingRedistricting, Explained: Answers to your most pressing questions about the process that is reshaping American politics.Understand Gerrymandering: Can you gerrymander your party to power? Try to draw your own districts in this imaginary state.Killing Competition: The number of competitive districts is dropping, as both parties use redistricting to draw themselves into safe seats.New York: Democrats’ aggressive reconfiguration of the state’s congressional map is one of the most consequential in the nation.Legal Battles: State supreme courts in North Carolina and Ohio struck down maps drawn by Republicans, while the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily restored Alabama’s map.Before redistricting, the district was anchored in Staten Island and included parts of more conservative southern Brooklyn enclaves. Under the new lines, the district sweeps into many neighborhoods that are home to wealthy liberal voters and younger left-wing activists — though neither part of the district is monolithic: There are Staten Island Democrats and some Brooklyn conservatives, especially in the Bay Ridge area.In 2020, the district supported Mr. Trump by about 10 percentage points. If the new district lines were in place for the 2020 election, the district would have backed President Biden by roughly the same margin, according to data compiled by the City University of New York.Ms. Malliotakis said the new lines seemed aimed at “silencing the voices of the current district, and tilting the scale to give whoever the Democratic nominee is an advantage.”Representative Nicole Malliotakis, a Republican, defeated the Democratic incumbent, Max Rose, in New York’s 11th Congressional District in 2020.Stefani Reynolds for The New York TimesThe Staten Island Republican Party dubbed redistricting plans “cancel culture,” an effort to “subvert the voices of Staten Islanders by tying our borough to de Blasio’s Park Slope.”Democrats have defended the congressional maps as fair, while Republicans have filed a lawsuit, which may face an uphill battle.“Had we sought out people that voted the same way in order to keep them together, that would have been the definition of illegal gerrymandering,” said State Senator Michael Gianaris, a Democrat and leader of a task force that drew the lines. “Maybe at the end of the day, this will have the effect of bringing people together,” he said.That will be exceedingly difficult in the 11th, should the lines hold.But whatever the evident governing difficulties, a fierce battle is unfolding to represent the district as Ms. Malliotakis, who has tied herself closely to Mr. Trump and voted against certifying the results of the 2020 election, runs for re-election. She also broke with her party to vote for the infrastructure bill.While candidates in many races face difficult balancing acts between appealing to the most die-hard partisans in a primary and achieving broader appeal in a general election, those tensions will be thrown into sharp relief in the 11th District.“It certainly gives the Democratic nominee a very good chance,” said John Mollenkopf, director of the Center for Urban Research at the Graduate Center of CUNY, of the new district lines. “But that’s going to take a Democratic nominee who can appeal to the more conservative Democrats on Staten Island.”How U.S. Redistricting WorksCard 1 of 8What is redistricting? More

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      After an Unexpected Rise, Hochul Cements Her Front-Runner Status

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      Gov. Kathy Hochul, who will become the state Democrats’ standard-bearer today, was not a sure bet when she replaced Andrew Cuomo last summer.Good morning. It’s Thursday. We’ll look at how Gov. Kathy Hochul assembled a campaign juggernaut. We’ll also look at the difficulties facing would-be small business owners who dream of becoming marijuana retailers in New Jersey.Cindy Schultz for The New York TimesThink back to last summer, when Kathy Hochul became governor. She had made friends, but not headlines, in her six years as lieutenant governor. New York’s political class did not see her as the kind of powerhouse they were accustomed to — assertive, even audacious. And perhaps most of all, male.The Democratic primary was little more than nine months away, to be followed by the election for a full four-year term a few months later. Many Democrats figured there would be a battle for the Democratic nomination for governor, with Hochul struggling to keep her job.My colleague Nicholas Fandos writes that they could scarcely look more wrong now.She is set to win the Democratic Party’s endorsement for nomination to a full term on Thursday. And, in a nod to Hochul’s history-making status as the first woman to lead New York, Hillary Clinton is scheduled to introduce her at the state Democratic convention in Midtown Manhattan.[How Kathy Hochul Went From Unexpected Governor to Clear Front-Runner]Hochul has reached this moment after a brisk campaign to corner party leaders and crowd out potential rivals that was as efficient as it was congenial. She put a new face on a state government mired in scandal. She also amassed $21 million in campaign contributions by January, more than her rivals combined.It is all the more remarkable given that just a year ago, her political career appeared headed toward a dead end. Before former Gov. Andrew Cuomo became caught up in allegations of sexual harassment, his aides had curtly informed Hochul that he planned to remove her from the ticket when he ran for a fourth term in 2022.Since then, Hochul has benefited from repeated good fortune, including the decision by her most serious rival, Letitia James, the state attorney general, to abandon a campaign for governor. Polls now show Hochul with a comfortable lead.But she faces accusations from her primary opponents — Representative Tom Suozzi and Jumaane Williams, the New York City public advocate — that she is obfuscating on issues like crime and housing, or kowtowing to special interests that have contributed to her campaign. And political strategists say there are signs that Hochul is not yet generating the kind of enthusiasm among the Black, Latino and young voters around New York City that she may need to assemble a winning general election coalition.“Enthusiasm means everything,” said Gabby Seay, a labor strategist who served as James’s campaign manager. “She has to work in order to build that relationship where folks are on fire about her candidacy. The question is, does she have time to do that while she is governing?”.css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-1kpebx{margin:0 auto;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1kpebx{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1kpebx{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-1kpebx{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-1gtxqqv{margin-bottom:0;}.css-1g3vlj0{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-1g3vlj0{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-1g3vlj0 strong{font-weight:600;}.css-1g3vlj0 em{font-style:italic;}.css-1g3vlj0{margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0.25rem;}.css-19zsuqr{display:block;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-qjk116{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-qjk116 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-qjk116 em{font-style:italic;}.css-qjk116 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:visited{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}For her part, Hochul told reporters on Tuesday that she intended to “run like an underdog until it’s over.”WeatherA southwest wind will drive in mild air with temps approaching 60. Expect rain overnight and a low of 54 as a cold front approaches.alternate-side parkingIn effect until Feb. 21 (Washington’s Birthday).Slimming down the city budgetMayor Eric Adams’s first budget proposal called for across-the-board cuts of about 3 percent for most city agencies along with a gradual reduction in the city’s work force, which had grown to the largest ever under his predecessor, Bill de Blasio.Adams’s $98.5 billion spending plan is $4 billion less than the current budget. He said it fulfilled a campaign promise to uncover savings and make city government more efficient.Adams announced higher funding for priorities like a summer youth jobs program. But he said funding for the Police Department would remain “basically flat” at about $5 billion. Saying he disagreed with efforts to defund the police, he said he could improve public safety by moving officers from desk jobs to street duty.“We’re going to redeploy our manpower, we’re going to make sure that everyone who is supposed to be on the streets doing their job is doing their job,” said Adams, a former police captain, “and then we will make the analysis if we have to put more money into it.”Adams shielded some city agencies from his budget cutting, among them the Correction Department, which faces a crisis at the Rikers Island jail complex, and the Health Department, which oversees City Hall’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.The latest New York newsKen Kurson, a close friend of former President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, was facing felony charges of spying on his former wife. He pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors in a plea deal.Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro retired after 53 years in the F.D.N.Y.A city program gives 260,000 low-income New Yorkers half-price transit rides. Advocates and transit leaders want Mayor Eric Adams to expand financing and eligibility.The New York attorney general’s office recovered over $400,000 for consumers who said they were misled by coronavirus testing labs.The rocky road to a retail marijuana storeBryan Anselm for The New York TimesNew Jersey is legalizing marijuana, and hundreds of entrepreneurs are scrambling to be ready to apply for licenses to become cannabis retailers. But there are twists and turns on the road to opening a business in a new industry.Lawmakers drafted the cannabis law to remedy wrongs in the state’s criminal justice system, which disproportionately ensnarls Black and Latino people. As recently as 2018, Black residents were more than three times as likely as white residents to be charged with possessing marijuana, although roughly the same numbers of Black and white New Jerseyans use marijuana.For Black men like Michael White, who was charged with low-level drug possession as a teenager decades ago, running a shop that sells marijuana would be a way to write a new ending to a familiar war-on-drugs story.His mother, Bessie White, is 78 and determined to get a license for a store that she, he and the next generation of the family could oversee. They have a name for it — Simple ReLeaf. The play on the word “relief” reflects their focus on homeopathic remedies. But they say the hurdles are high for small-business owners in an industry dominated by deep-pocketed corporations.If they win approval, they will face competition. At least eight companies that already operate medical marijuana dispensaries have applied to become retailers. Each claims it has stockpiled enough cannabis to satisfy patients and recreational users alike — a gauge for dispensaries that want to move into the adult-use market.Some companies have pressed the state to speed the process. Lawmakers had hoped the adult-use market would be up and running by Feb. 22, but the state will not meet that deadline. Some of the companies claim that cannabis they stockpiled to sell to retail customers will grow moldy if it is stored much longer. Others have said they may fire workers they have already hired.The Whites and their relatives also face another roadblock — marijuana remains illegal under federal law. My colleague Tracey Tully writes that this makes banks reluctant to lend money or open accounts for cannabis businesses. Landlords, worried that a cannabis store could jeopardize their federally backed mortgages, are similarly reluctant to sign leases.Bessie White’s niece, Theresa Howard, said the owner of a storefront they considered renting in Plainfield, N.J., increased the price to $7,200 a month — from $3,500 a month — after learning what business they had in mind. They are considering buying property instead, with help from a consultant who runs a private equity fund and has offered $500,000 in start-up money.“We’re trying to have Plan B and C, and, if we need it, D,” Howard said.What we’re readingBlack unemployment rates in New York City are stuck above 15 percent, The City reports.Gothamist says the future of outdoor dining is “roadway cafes.”METROPOLITAN diaryHistory lessonDear Diary:My husband, son and I were on a Q train from Brooklyn to Manhattan. The car was fairly crowded, and we had to stand near one of the poles.A young girl who was sitting next to her father leaned over to him. She might have been about 8.“This train is really old,” I heard her whisper into his ear.A young man of perhaps 22 with hair dyed bright yellow was standing nearby.“I’m sorry to interrupt,” he said, “I couldn’t help overhear. But did you know they started making this train when my grandfather was a boy?”Other passengers started to smile.“And now they put them into the ocean when they’re done with them,” the young man added.“Yeah,” someone else said. “They grow reefs in them!”People started to nod in agreement.“Your hair is golden!” an older woman shouted to the young man.He laughed.“My friends and I had a little bit too much fun last night and this is what happened,” he said. “My mom’s going to kill me.”“Well, I think you look spunky,” the older woman said.— Suzanne PettypieceIllustrated by Agnes Lee. Send submissions here and read more Metropolitan Diary here.Glad we could get together here. See you tomorrow. — J.B.P.S. Here’s today’s Mini Crossword and Spelling Bee. You can find all our puzzles here.Melissa Guerrero, Sadiba Hasan, Emma G. Fitzsimmons, Olivia Parker and Ed Shanahan contributed to New York Today. You can reach the team at nytoday@nytimes.com.Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. More

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      Working Families Party Endorses Jumaane Williams for Governor

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      Mr. Williams, New York City’s left-leaning public advocate, is waging a primary challenge against Gov. Kathy Hochul, a moderate from Buffalo.New York’s left-wing Democrats have cautiously eyed Kathy Hochul for months, watching and waiting to see how the state’s new governor — a moderate from Buffalo — dealt with fraught policy disputes over the economy, housing and the coronavirus pandemic.On Tuesday, one of New York’s progressive pillars, the Working Families Party, finally rendered a verdict: It endorsed Jumaane D. Williams, New York City’s public advocate, in his long-shot primary challenge against Ms. Hochul.The decision was not unexpected. Mr. Williams has been a longtime ally of the Working Families Party, which is backed by an influential coalition of activists and labor unions. In recent years, it has helped push Democrats to the left and topple moderate incumbents in Washington, D.C.; New York City; and Albany, N.Y.But the endorsement offered early insight into how the left plans to approach Ms. Hochul, who has been far more open to collaborating than her predecessor, former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo — particularly at a moment when there are signs that party leaders may be retreating to more moderate positions in the face of rising gun violence and a flagging economic recovery.Instead of endorsing Ms. Hochul and trying to lobby from the inside or denouncing her in a scorched-earth campaign, party activists appear to be betting that an empowered challenger on her left flank will help prevent the governor from drifting further to the center on issues like climate, affordable housing and taxes as New York emerges from a devastating pandemic.“This is a serious crossroads moment in New York,” said Sochie Nnaemeka, the director of the New York Working Families Party, praising Mr. Williams as “the best choice to ensure that New York can actually be a place that working people could make ends meet.”The endorsement of Mr. Williams offered early insight into how the left plans to approach Gov. Kathy Hochul amid signs that party leaders may be retreating to more moderate positions.Dave Sanders for The New York TimesMs. Nnaemeka said she was concerned that without a robust voice from the left, Democratic leaders were being swayed by other candidates — centrists in their own party like Representative Tom Suozzi and Republicans like Representative Lee Zeldin — who have sought to stir up public outrage over Ms. Hochul’s handling of the virus, the economy and public safety.It is unclear how far the fresh push from progressives can get Mr. Williams, 45, a well-respected activist and former city councilman who first became public advocate in 2019. He came within a few points of defeating Ms. Hochul in 2018, when both ran for lieutenant governor, and the Working Families Party backed Cynthia Nixon over Mr. Cuomo.But much has changed in the intervening years. Since Mr. Cuomo resigned in scandal in August, Ms. Hochul has become the dominant player in New York state politics. She has amassed $21 million in campaign cash and won the endorsements of key labor groups that were once a part of the Working Families Party, as well as left-leaning lawmakers.At the same time, progressives have struggled in a series of high-profile races, losing the mayoralties of New York City and Buffalo to avowed centrists.In the race for governor, they have been relatively slow to coalesce in opposition to Ms. Hochul, who has inspired good will by resetting relationships with left-leaning lawmakers and advocacy groups. She officially competed for the Working Families Party nomination, four years after Mr. Cuomo declared open warfare against the party.Progressives had also been banking on Letitia James, the state’s left-leaning attorney general, to be their standard-bearer. Instead, Ms. James abruptly cut her campaign short in December, just six weeks after entering the race.The most recent public opinion poll released by Siena College in mid-January showed Ms. Hochul leading Mr. Williams 46 percent to 11 percent among Democrats, with just 6 percent backing Mr. Suozzi. More

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      A State Budget With an Unexpected Twist: No Red Ink

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      Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a $216.3 billion spending plan as officials projected balanced state budgets through 2027.Good morning. We’ll look at Gov. Kathy Hochul’s state budget, which came with an unexpected twist. We’ll also look at who is not running for governor, and who is riding the subways.Mary Altaffer/Associated PressThe surprise about Gov. Kathy Hochul’s $216.3 billion budget proposal was what was not in it: a mention of big shortfalls, long a standard phrase in municipal budgets.My colleagues Grace Ashford and Luis Ferré-Sadurní write that Hochul is riding a windfall of federal funding and a jump in tax revenues, both of which fueled projections of balanced state budgets for the next five years.Her plans for spending the money are far-reaching. She called for significant one-time infusions of cash, including $2 billion in pandemic recovery initiatives and $2.2 billion in property tax relief for homeowners. She also laid out plans for increased spending on education, health care and infrastructure, including $32.8 billion for highways, bridges and other transit projects over five years.Hochul committed to placing 15 percent of the state’s operating expenses into reserves — a record number, but less than the 17 percent recommended by many independent budget analysts.[Surprise in $216 Billion Budget Plan: New York Is Awash in Money]Robert Mujica, the governor’s budget director, said no tax increases were contemplated. He said that some $7 billion in surpluses would finance one-time costs, not recurring expenses that could become unsustainable in the long run.When everything was added up, Hochul’s budget proposal totaled $4.3 billion more than the spending plan that was approved last year. She will have to negotiate with the State Legislature by April 1, when the state’s 2023 fiscal year begins. That is almost three months before the state’s Democratic primary, so the budget could help Hochul as she runs for a full term. She has already raised nearly $21.6 million, her campaign said on Tuesday, a record for a statewide race in New York.Some fiscal experts immediately criticized Hochul for not doing more to address the state’s population losses, which have led to concerns that the state’s tax base will shrink. “It’s a missed opportunity to provide a clear signal that New York is serious about making its tax rates more competitive relative to states that people are migrating toward,” said Peter Warren, the research director at the Empire Center, a conservative-leaning think tank.The budget also cleared the way for an additional three casinos in New York State, probably downstate. That would accelerate the current casino plan by a year and bring in significant revenue sooner.Still, much of the revenue not promised by the federal government is projected to come from high-income earners. That again raises the question of whether they will remain in New York and what the future of remote work will be. Closely tied to those questions is another: How rapidly will Manhattan rebound?New York’s population fell by more than 300,000 in the past year, according to census records — the most of any state — and New York City’s 9.4 percent unemployment rate is more than double the national average. Reversing the population drain and bringing down unemployment could prove critical to the future of the city and the state — and its governor.WeatherExpect a mostly cloudy day with temperatures in the mid-40s and gusty winds, so it will feel chillier. An approaching cold front will push temps into the mid-30s and usher in rain overnight.alternate-side parkingIn effect until Jan. 31. (Lunar New Year’s Eve).De Blasio says he will not run for governor after allHolly Pickett for The New York TimesAfter months of teasing, polling and preparing — as my colleague Nicholas Fandos put it on Twitter — former Mayor Bill de Blasio said he would not take the widely expected next step, which would have been to run for governor of New York.So what is next? “I am going to devote every fiber of my being to fighting inequality in the state of New York,” he said, adding that he would have more to say about his future in the coming days.De Blasio made the announcement in a 90-second video posted on Twitter. The video was shot on the street outside his house in Brooklyn. “Nine years ago, this is where we announced my campaign for mayor of New York City,” he said, before mentioning some of his successes in City Hall, including establishing universal pre-K, building affordable apartments and “making the city greener and cleaner for the future.”He leavened that by mentioning what he called “my fair share of mistakes.”“I was not good with groundhogs at all,” he said. (He dropped Charles G. Hogg, the female groundhog known as Chuck, at a 2014 Groundhog Day celebration — unless Chuck wriggled out of de Blasio’s arms. Chuck died a week later.)De Blasio also said: “Probably shouldn’t have gone to the gym.” (He was driven to the Prospect Park Y.M.C.A. in Brooklyn from Gracie Mansion in Manhattan regularly, even as the coronavirus pandemic closed in.)De Blasio’s video was released shortly after a Siena College poll showed him running far behind Hochul. He had a 12 percent share of Democratic voters. Hochul’s share was almost four times as large, at 46 percent. Jumaane Williams, the New York City public advocate, had 11 percent and Representative Thomas Suozzi 6 percent. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.In the race for campaign contributions, Hochul is also leading the field. She raised a record-breaking $21.6 million. She submitted filings showing that she took in roughly $140,000 a day, on average, from her swearing-in last August until last week.The latest New York newsThe New York State attorney general accused Donald J. Trump’s family business of engaging in a pattern of fraud.Michelle Gotthelf, the editor in chief of The New York Post’s website until she was dismissed last week, said in a discrimination lawsuit that she had endured “several years of sex-based harassment” during more than 20 years at The Post.Mayor Eric Adams noted that the numbers of coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in New York City, while still extremely high, have started to drop.Another sign of the economic divide: Who’s riding the subwayThe pandemic brought on “a virtual abandonment” of the subway system in 2020. Now the city’s uneven recovery is reflected in the uneven way riders have returned, a sign that the deep economic divide exposed by the pandemic is continuing. Stations in lower-income areas in Brooklyn, Queens and Upper Manhattan, where residents are less likely to be able to work from home and typically depend more on public transit, have rebounded faster than stations in office-heavy sections of Manhattan.A Guide to the New York Governor’s RaceCard 1 of 5A crowded field. More

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      Bill de Blasio Says He Won’t Run for Governor After All

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      Mr. de Blasio, the former New York City mayor, had signaled for months that he planned to run for governor, but he faced long odds in a crowded Democratic primary.Bill de Blasio, the former mayor of New York City, said on Tuesday that he would not run for governor of New York, as he had been widely expected to do.Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat who served two terms in office, had signaled for months that he was planning a campaign, saying repeatedly that he did not feel ready to leave public service.He made the announcement in a video posted on Twitter, highlighting the accomplishments of his mayoral tenure before announcing that he would not be joining the governor’s race.“No, I am not going to be running for governor in New York State,” Mr. de Blasio said, standing on the street outside his Brooklyn residence. “But I am going to devote every fiber of my being to fight inequality in the state of New York.”Mr. de Blasio then hinted that he would have more to say about his future in the coming days.He declined to enter a crowded Democratic primary field, with the incumbent, Gov. Kathy Hochul, facing challenges from Jumaane D. Williams, the city’s public advocate, and Representative Tom Suozzi of Long Island.A Siena College poll released earlier on Tuesday showed Ms. Hochul with a significant lead over her competitors and potential competitors, including Mr. de Blasio. She earned the support of 46 percent of Democrats polled, while Mr. de Blasio had 12 percent, Mr. Williams had 11 percent and Mr. Suozzi had 6 percent. Across party lines, 45 percent of voters polled said they viewed Ms. Hochul favorably. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. Ms. Hochul has also outpaced her competitors in fund-raising, having raised a record-breaking $21.6 million so far.For months, Mr. de Blasio had signaled that he would run. He appeared on MSNBC frequently and promoted a statewide education plan. He was also sounding out trusted former aides about joining a campaign, and he made overtures to labor leaders.Mr. de Blasio had said that he was not deterred by polls that showed him badly trailing his rivals.“I have a long, rich history of being an underdog,” he said.New York City mayors have had a difficult time attaining higher office. The last one to do so was John T. Hoffman, who was elected governor in 1868. Many mayors have run for president, including John V. Lindsay in 1972 and, more recently, Michael R. Bloomberg and Mr. de Blasio himself.Mr. de Blasio had planned to focus on his popular universal prekindergarten policy, his handling of the pandemic and his focus on aggressive vaccine mandates. He also used his final weeks in office to argue that he had reduced inequality, which he set out to do when he was elected in 2013 on a message that he would address the imbalance that had led to a “tale of two cities.”In his video on Tuesday, Mr. de Blasio also acknowledged some of his less popular moments as mayor, including accidentally killing a groundhog and driving out of his way to visit his preferred gym in Park Slope.“Now I made my fair share of mistakes,” Mr. de Blasio said. “I was not good with groundhogs at all. I probably shouldn’t have gone to the gym. But you know what, we changed things in this town.” More

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      What This Portrait of Mayor Adams's Mother Means to New Yorkers

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      Dorothy Mae Adams-Streeter posed for a portrait at her 75th birthday party. Her image, floating in a brandy snifter, has a powerful resonance.On New Year’s Day, when Eric Adams was sworn in as the 110th mayor of New York City, in his right hand he raised high above his head a framed portrait of his mother, Dorothy Mae Adams-Streeter, pictured in a brandy snifter. His left hand rested over her Bible, where she kept notes, letters and old pictures.“I was raising my right hand, lifting her up, as she lifted me up,” Mr. Adams said in an interview. “Who would think that eventually, because of what she instilled in her son, that he would be in Times Square, being sworn in as the mayor and holding up her photo?”The brandy snifter portrait is as American as hip-hop, acid-washed jeans and plastic-covered sofas. A photo in that style could conjure the same feelings that oversize shoulder pads or a Jheri curl would: cringe. In 2001, the motif was spoofed by “Saturday Night Live” in a skit that featured Alec Baldwin and Jimmy Fallon, called “Put It in a Brandy Snifter.”But in the 1980s and 1990s, the brandy snifter photo was an innovative, attainable luxury, and it became ubiquitous in some communities. Its cultural significance is closely tied to the ambitions of the American working class.Mr. Adams’s tribute to his mother also honored the countless other people who see that image and immediately recognize and identify with it, as I did. In 1995, my siblings and I had our own brandy snifter portraits taken at our local CTown supermarket on 135th Street and Broadway.I wore my peach Easter dress from earlier that year. My mother tied my hair in a ponytail and curled my bangs to the side. My siblings wore polo shirts. The day before, I had applied a glow-in-the-dark, temporary tattoo I got in a box of Rude Dudes bubble gum to my cheek. My face has never been scrubbed harder than Mom scrubbed it clean that day.We had to be spotless. The front of our CTown turned into a photo studio only once a year, from what I remember.The makeshift studio where a photographer from Sears took our portraits was in an entryway where the shopping carts were usually stored, my mother told me recently. The backdrop was light blue, and the area smelled like bread. When we got the photos back some time later, our small cherubic faces were trapped in brandy snifters and adhered onto a plaque made from a composite that resembled wood. Mom still keeps the plaque on her dresser.The writer, Sandra E. Garcia, was a little girl when a brandy snifter portrait of her was taken at a supermarket in Harlem.Photo illustration by Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet for The New York TimesWhile now it might seem crass to place the portrait of a child in an image of a brandy snifter, for my mother it was an opportunity to provide us with something that she never had: a photo shoot.I have never seen photos of my parents as children. During their youth, cameras and photos were not in reach for the poor in the Dominican Republic, where they were raised. It was important for my mother to capture us professionally in this way. The portraits were her aspirations for her children to have more than she did, manifested in a photo.It is the same ambition, that of Black and immigrant working-class communities, the heart of the Democratic base and New York City, that won Mr. Adams the mayoral election last year. The photo illustrates what he told voters during his victory speech: “I am you. After years of praying and hoping and struggling and working, we are headed to City Hall.”The choice to hold that photo while he was sworn in was more than a salute to his mother; it was a knowing nod to the communities that have been sometimes shut out by city government but continue to toil for progress.“I wanted everyone to look at that photo and think about their parents and see that we all want the same thing,” Mr. Adams said.Earlier this week, Mr. Adams was criticized for calling low-wage workers “low- skill workers.” The mayor later said that his critics had distorted his message. On Twitter, he reminded those who were offended by his comments that he was once a low-wage worker.“I was a cook. I was a dishwasher. If nobody came to my restaurant when I was in college, I wouldn’t have been able to survive,” he wrote.Mayor Adams carried his mother’s portrait as he voted on Election Day in November.Todd Heisler/The New York TimesIt is that part of his identity that is connected to these simple, antiquated portraits. Brandy snifter photos were a special occasion, something to get dressed up for.At a celebration of her 75th birthday in 2013, Dorothy Mae Adams-Streeter, then a retired housekeeper, arrived, dressed to the nines in a bone-colored blazer with a black trim and a silver tiara atop her head.Inside the Sugar Hill Restaurant & Supper Club on Nostrand Avenue in Brooklyn, they served smothered chicken, ribs, cornbread, collard greens with smoked turkey and macaroni and cheese. The O’Jays played from speakers, according to Aaron Freeman, who now runs the restaurant that his father, Eddie Freeman, opened in 1942.“She welcomed everybody with open arms,” Aaron Freeman said. “As you can see, she’s just the rock of the family.”In her portrait, her smile, captured that evening, is one of delight.“I remember the day like yesterday,” Mr. Adams said. “She cleaned houses and did all sorts of work just to make sure she could provide for her children. To be able to take a day and do for her was a great moment.”Incoming N.Y.C. Mayor Eric Adams’s New AdministrationCard 1 of 7Schools Chancellor: David Banks. More

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      Conflict Quickly Emerges Between Top Prosecutor and Police Commissioner

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      A memo by New York City’s new police leader sharply questioned Manhattan’s new district attorney over his strategy for prosecuting crime.New York City’s new police commissioner has expressed severe dissatisfaction with the policies of the new Manhattan district attorney, sending an email to all officers late on Friday that suggests a potential rupture between City Hall and the prosecutor over their approaches to public safety.The email from Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said she was deeply troubled by policies outlined by Alvin Bragg, the district attorney, in a 10-page memo that Mr. Bragg sent to his staff on Monday. The memo instructed prosecutors to avoid seeking jail or prison time for all but the most serious crimes, and to cease charging a number of lower-level crimes.Commissioner Sewell, who, like Mr. Bragg, was just a week into her job, said in her email to about 36,000 members of the department that she had studied the policies and come away “very concerned about the implications to your safety as police officers, the safety of the public and justice for the victims.”The email, which was first reported by WNBC-TV, suggests a looming conflict not just between them, but also between the new district attorney and the commissioner’s boss, Mayor Eric Adams.The collision course between the mayor and the district attorney was sketched out during the Democratic primary in the spring of 2021. Mr. Adams made a crackdown on crime one of the main themes of his campaign; Mr. Bragg, following in the path carved by a handful of prosecutors in cities around the country, pledged to help reshape the legal system, to avoid disproportionate punishment for first-time offenders or those struggling with mental health issues or poverty.In a statement on Saturday, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office said: “We share Commissioner Sewell’s call for frank and productive discussions to reach common ground on our shared mission to deliver safety and justice for all and look forward to the opportunity to clear up some misunderstandings.”“For our office, safety is paramount,” the statement said. It added that contrary to the way that Commissioner Sewell and others had interpreted parts of the memo, the office intended to charge anyone who used guns to rob stores or who assaulted police officers with felonies. “All must be held accountable for their actions,” it said.To some degree, the emerging tensions between the commissioner and Mr. Bragg reflect a broader political argument between centrist Democrats across the nation looking to soothe voters worried about crime and a movement of progressive prosecutors that has pushed for more lenient policies to make the justice system more fair and less biased.Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell has expressed serious concerns about Mr. Bragg’s policies.Hiram Durán for The New York TimesSome of those tensions are likely to play out in Albany this year in a debate over whether to scale back changes in a state bail law that went into effect two years ago, and that provoked strong reactions almost immediately.There is always an ingrained tension between the police and prosecutors that often centers on what charges to bring and, at times, whether there is sufficient evidence to make an arrest. For the police, in some measure, the job ends with handcuffs, while prosecutors are left with proving a case beyond a reasonable doubt or finding some other resolution. But such arguments do not often became public at all, let alone so early in a new administration.Mr. Adams has been complimentary about Mr. Bragg when asked about him in recent interviews, calling him a “great prosecutor” and declining to criticize the memo. Asked about the commissioner’s email, the mayor’s office responded with a statement from Stefan Ringel, a senior adviser: “The mayor has deep respect for the district attorney and looks forward to working with him and the police commissioner to make sure the streets are safe, and to discussing any concerns directly.”A police spokesman said the email “speaks for itself.”Mr. Bragg and Mr. Adams, both Democrats, have significant histories in law enforcement, and both have pledged some measure of reform. Mr. Bragg, a former federal prosecutor, stood out in a competitive primary vowing to balance safety with justice. Mr. Adams, a former police captain, has spoken out against police brutality and, while serving, pushed for changes within the department.Mr. Bragg is the first Black person to lead the district attorney’s office, Mr. Adams is the second Black mayor in the city’s history, and Commissioner Sewell is the first woman and third Black person to lead the Police Department.In his memo, Mr. Bragg instructed his prosecutors that unless they were required by law to do otherwise, they should ask judges for jail or prison time only for those who had committed serious offenses, including murder, sexual assault and major economic crimes. Others, he has said, would be directed to programs better equipped to deal with the issues that had led them to commit the crimes.The new district attorney also instructed his prosecutors not to charge a number of misdemeanors. Many of the crimes on his list already were not being prosecuted by his predecessor, Cyrus R. Vance Jr. But Mr. Bragg directed his staff to avoid charging several misdemeanors which previously had been charged, including resisting arrest.“These policy changes not only will, in and of themselves, make us safer; they also will free up prosecutorial resources to focus on violent crime,” Mr. Bragg said in his memo.The directive on resisting arrest was among those that Commissioner Sewell expressed most concern about. She said that it would send a message to police officers and others that there was “an unwillingness to protect those who are carrying out their duties.”“I strongly believe that this policy injects debate into decisions that would otherwise be uncontroversial, will invite violence against police officers and will have deleterious effects on our relationship with the communities we protect,” she wrote.Incoming N.Y.C. Mayor Eric Adams’s New AdministrationCard 1 of 7Schools Chancellor: David Banks. More

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      Adrienne Adams, 1st Black NYC Council Speaker, Says City Is at a Crossroads

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      Ms. Adams, who became speaker on Wednesday, will lead the most diverse City Council ever as New York tries to recover from the pandemic. She already faces battles with the mayor.Adrienne Adams had to overcome several obstacles on her way to being voted in on Wednesday as the first Black woman to serve as speaker of the New York City Council, the second-most-powerful position in city government.She had a competitive race to retain her City Council seat representing southeast Queens, including a primary challenge from her predecessor, and entered the contest for speaker relatively late. Mayor Eric Adams did what he had said he would not do and tried, unsuccessfully, to tip the scales in favor of one of Ms. Adams’s rivals.Ms. Adams, 61, a moderate Democrat, prevailed and will now lead the City Council, as New York grapples once again with being a center of the coronavirus pandemic while facing a difficult financial future.The new City Council, which is more diverse than ever and has its first-ever female majority, also looks to be more ideologically divided than in recent memory. And in spite of public efforts to show they are on the same page, Ms. Adams already faces potential battles with the mayor on everything from the use of solitary confinement in the city’s jails to new legislation that would grant more than 800,000 legal residents who are not citizens the right to vote in municipal elections.Ms. Adams, who lost her father to Covid, said her priority would be seeing the city through the pandemic and working to strengthen families that have been damaged in its wake.“We meet here today as the most diverse Council in history, led by the first African-American speaker,” Ms. Adams said in a speech Wednesday after her colleagues voted nearly unanimously to make her speaker. “While this is a moment to celebrate this milestone, we must realize that we are here because New York is at the crossroads of multiple crises — each one competing for our full attention.”Ms. Adams, the first Black person to serve as speaker, will lead a historically diverse City Council.Dave Sanders for The New York TimesIn an interview, Ms. Adams noted that the pandemic had further exposed existing inequalities on issues ranging from medical care to child care, housing and access to high speed internet. “All roads lead through this pandemic,” she said. “When I think of my priorities, I think of rebuilding a city.”Ms. Adams’s predecessor as speaker, Corey Johnson, said it would not be easy.“We’re in this painful and uncertain time with Omicron and not knowing what this will do to our economy,” Mr. Johnson said in an interview. “This new Council has more members who are very far left and more who are far right. To get things done will be a challenge.”He added: “But it’s not an impossible challenge because Adrienne has the skill set, track record and temperament.”Yvette Buckner, a political strategist who is vice chair of 21 in ’21, a group that helped elect a record number of women to the City Council, said Ms. Adams would “be able to understand the needs of the city from a different lens,” partly because of her experience as a mother of four and a grandmother of 10.Even as the country goes through “a long overdue reckoning of racial justice,” New Yorkers need to feel safe from discriminatory policing, “safe from the virus and safe from violence,” Ms. Adams said in her speech.Mr. Adams will be her counterpart in that effort. Though he suffered a significant political loss when Ms. Adams amassed enough support to become speaker, they both say they have a good relationship.Ms. Adams and Mr. Adams were classmates at Bayside High School in Queens in the late 1970s. Mr. Adams, discouraged by an undetected learning disability, has spoken often about not being a model student. Ms. Adams, on the other hand, was a cheerleader who founded a gospel chorus at the high school, which was mostly white at the time.“I actually went to class. We knew of each other but we did not hang out in the same crowd,” Ms. Adams said of her time at high school with the mayor. “But we are so proud of each other.”After graduating from Spelman College, Ms. Adams worked as a corporate trainer for communications companies. She served as chairwoman of Community Board 12 in Queens before running for office in 2017 after her predecessor was convicted of fraud and removed from office. (His conviction was later reversed.)As a councilwoman, she passed legislation to limit the sale of tax liens and established a task force to make sure the liens were implemented fairly, and she helped allocate $10 million in the budget to create a Black studies curriculum for public schools.Many in the city’s political class were surprised when Mr. Adams and his team tried to install Francisco Moya, a councilman from Queens, as speaker, particularly because Mr. Adams and Ms. Adams were largely seen as being politically in sync.Ms. Adams faces potential battles with Mayor Eric Adams on the use of solitary confinement in the city’s jails and legislation that would grant noncitizen legal residents the right to vote in municipal elections. Anna Watts for The New York TimesMs. Adams, who was a co-chair of the Council’s Black, Latino and Asian Caucus, opposed deeply cutting the Police Department budget as part of the defund the police movement. Mr. Adams is a former police captain who has criticized efforts to cut the police budget and who won the Democratic primary on a message of improving public safety.“How am I going to dislike someone that shares my same last name?” Mr. Adams said at a news conference on Tuesday. “I love Adrienne.”The mayor credited Ms. Adams, who endorsed him in the Democratic primary, with playing a “pivotal role” in helping him win.Ms. Adams also strongly agrees with Mr. Adams that the city, and its schools, should not shut down because of the highly contagious Omicron variant.But there are already two potential points of conflict. Mr. Adams has raised concerns about a bill passed during the previous City Council session that would give legal residents the right to vote in municipal elections, saying he believes that the 30-day residency requirement is too short. He has not ruled out vetoing the legislation.Incoming N.Y.C. Mayor Eric Adams’s New AdministrationCard 1 of 7Schools Chancellor: David Banks. More