| | | | |  | | By Danielle Muoio Dunn and Zachary Schermele | | | |  Asylum seekers board a bus en route to a shelter at Port Authority Bus Terminal on May 18 in New York City. | Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images | New York City Mayor Eric Adams asked a judge to suspend a decades-long requirement to provide shelter to anyone who needs it — the second time he's sought to weaken the mandate as the city struggles to help over 44,000 migrants, with more arriving every day. “It is in the best interest of everyone, including those seeking to come to the United States, to be upfront that New York City cannot single-handedly provide care to everyone crossing our border,” Adams said in a statement late Tuesday. “Being dishonest about this will only result in our system collapsing, and we need our government partners to know the truth and do their share.” The city asked Deputy Chief Administrative Judge Deborah Kaplan to modify the 1981 court decree so it can deny shelter when it “lacks the resources and capacity to establish and maintain sufficient shelter sites, staffing, and security to provide safe and appropriate shelter.” Earlier this month, Adams also issued an executive order suspending requirements to secure shelter beds for families and children by a certain time, and to put families in private rooms instead of group settings. The latest court move comes as Adams doubles down on his criticism of how the Biden administration is handling the border crisis. He recently appeared with Gov. Kathy Hochul to push for expedited work permits and slammed the federal government for not providing more funding. Biden’s reelection campaign has since dropped Adams as a national surrogate. The Legal Aid Society and Coalition for the Homeless vowed to “vigorously oppose” the motion. “The Administration’s request to suspend the long-established State constitutional right that protects our clients from the elements is not who we are as a city,” the organizations said in a joint statement. “New Yorkers do not want to see anyone, including asylum seekers, relegated to the streets.” IT’S WEDNESDAY. WHERE’S KATHY? In New York City, highlighting investments in the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. WHERE’S ERIC? In New York City, delivering remarks at several events.
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Gillen speaks in her new ad. | Gillen for NY | THE SANTOS FACTOR — Long Island Republicans have been openly preparing for political fallout from scandal-plagued Rep. George Santos’ — and now the attacks are rolling in. Laura Gillen, a Democrat hoping to flip Long Island’s 4th District, released an ad Wednesday morning attacking Rep. Anthony D’Esposito as a right wing Republican in an area that had been reliably blue for decades. D’Esposito narrowly beat Gillen last year as part of a red wave that allowed the GOP to pick up several House seats in New York suburbs. “Anthony D’Esposito? He’s made his political career by following orders from party bosses in Nassau and now in Washington,” Gillen said in the ad, which shows D’Esposito in three photographs with Santos. “Voting in lockstep with Kevin McCarthy and ultra-MAGA allies. We need an independent leader in Congress who puts constituents first as I always have.” The ad puts the spotlight on D’Esposito, who was the first House Republican to call for Santos' resignation, but recently helped party leaders stall an effort by Democrats to force a vote on expelling the embattled congressman. — Danielle Muoio Dunn FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: The New York City Council plans to pass a measure this week in support of “Sammy’s Law,” putting pressure on state lawmakers to approve legislation that would allow the city to set its own speed limits. City lawmakers will advance a so-called “home rule” message in support of a state bill that would allow New York City to set a 20 mile-per-hour speed limit. It has the support of Speaker Adrienne Adams, who plans to move it at Thursday’s stated meeting, a source close to the Speaker’s office told POLITICO. Council Member Jennifer Gutiérrez, the primary sponsor of the resolution in the Council, said this was a necessary step to ensure the bill’s passage on the state level. Last year, city lawmakers didn’t pass it and the legislation was left on the state’s cutting room floor. Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state Senate have signaled their support for Sammy’s Law, putting the onus on the Assembly to act. — Danielle Muoio Dunn
| | | | A message from the Seneca Nation: Safe, affordable housing for all is a priority issue in New York. Using gaming revenues, the Seneca Nation has improved housing stock and programs on its territories. More than 300 Nation-funded mortgages have given Seneca individuals and families the opportunity to live among family, friends, and community. A fair and equitable gaming Compact is critical to continue meeting the Nation’s growing housing needs. Let New York’s leaders know that you #StandWithSeneca. Visit StandWithSeneca.com today. | | | ANOTHER SCOOP: Non-police response teams are still handling only a fraction of the city’s 911 calls about a mental health crisis, according to new data shared first with POLITICO. Between July and December, the city’s B-HEARD pilot program handled just under 16 percent of the mental health crises called into 911 in the areas where it operates, according to the data. It is the same share of calls B-HEARD handled in the 2022 fiscal year, which ended June 30. It is unclear whether teams are responding more quickly to those calls. The Mayor’s Office for Community Mental Health, which runs B-HEARD, reported an average response time of 15 minutes and 30 seconds over the course of the 2022 fiscal year — but eliminated that metric from its most recent public dataset. Laquisha Grant, the office's senior director of crisis response, called the metric “a bit of a distraction” in an interview with POLITICO, but said response time is on par with the city’s broader EMS system. City Hall did not immediately return a request for the updated datapoint. The data, released Wednesday morning, has been long sought after by members of the City Council and criminal justice and mental health advocates, who have called for more insight into B-HEARD’s performance before it is further expanded. The pilot program added 10 new precincts earlier this year, and Adams called for a citywide expansion in his three-pronged mental health agenda released in March. — Maya Kaufman
| | What City Hall's reading | |
“Mayor Adams Opposes Bills That Could Make It Easier to Leave Shelters,” by The New York Times’ Mihir Zaveri: “It’s not clear how many people the measures would affect. But in a statement on Tuesday, Mr. Adams pushed back against the bills, which target a city voucher program known as City Fighting Homelessness and Eviction Prevention Supplement. He said the changes would add ‘billions onto the backs of New York taxpayers’ and remove the city’s ability to ‘target our limited resources to those most in need.’”
—“‘This may go on for years’: NYC could see even more cuts, top budget director warns,” by WNYC’s Giulia Heyward
| | | | GET READY FOR GLOBAL TECH DAY: Join POLITICO Live as we launch our first Global Tech Day alongside London Tech Week on Thursday, June 15. Register now for continuing updates and to be a part of this momentous and program-packed day! From the blockchain, to AI, and autonomous vehicles, technology is changing how power is exercised around the world, so who will write the rules? REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | WHAT ALBANY'S READING | |
“Vet who shared bogus story stripped of ‘women of distinction’ honor,” by Times Union’s Joshua Solomon: “The woman who spread a false story about migrants displacing homeless veterans from a Hudson Valley hotel was stripped of her award as one the state Senate’s ‘women of distinction’ just a week after it was conferred.”
—“Erie County to house as-yet-unknown number of migrants, but it’s not clear where,” by Buffalo News’ Chris Bragg — Warren and Albany counties declared states of emergency due to an influx of asylum seekers. — The Hochul administration has identified dorms on three SUNY campuses to house migrants, Spectrum News reports. #UpstateAmerica: Think ice fishing conditions were bad last year? You’d be right.
| | | | A message from the Seneca Nation:   | | | | | TRUMP'S NEW YORK | |
“Trump makes video appearance in New York criminal case, trial date tentatively set for late March,” Associated Press’ Michael R. Sisak: “Donald Trump threw up his hands in frustration Tuesday as a judge scheduled his criminal trial for March 25, putting the former president and current candidate in a Manhattan courtroom in the heat of next year’s presidential primary season. Trump, appearing by video conference at a pretrial hearing in the hush-money case, glowered at the camera as Judge Juan Manuel Merchan advised him to cancel all other obligations for the duration of the trial, which could last several weeks.”
| | WHAT WALL STREET'S READING | | | 
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy speaks at the Vision ’24 National Conservative Forum on March 18, 2023, in Charleston, South Carolina. | Win McNamee/Getty Images | How Vivek Ramaswamy helped make Martin Shkreli the ‘pharma bro’, by POLITICO's Daniel Lippman: Ramaswamy’s hedge fund firm invested with the since-infamous Shkreli. Later, he would say Shkreli was "pathologically incapable of telling the truth." Reached by phone, Shkreli demanded money from POLITICO and its parent company Axel Springer to cooperate. "I will tell you everything I know. And in exchange, I suppose your company would do something for me," he said, later adding "The really juicy stuff I know is something that I could potentially sell to the National Enquirer or to monetize that myself." When told that POLITICO does not pay for interviews, he said: "I’m just struggling [to understand] what’s in it for me. … I’m gonna need a sweeter deal than that. I have this new software. If you plug that, maybe we got a deal then." Shkreli then offered money to write a positive story about him, saying, "If I bless your Cash App like five bands [$5,000], will you say some nice shit about me?"
| | AROUND NEW YORK | |
— An Amherst medical company will pay the state $550,000 in penalties for failing to protect patient data.
— Lawmakers unveiled rules to increase rail safety after a train carrying hazardous materials derailed in Ohio earlier this year. — The Long Island Rail Road’s new train fleet has been delayed — again. — A Manhattan school that was only open to Black students has received landmark status.
| | | | A message from the Seneca Nation: Safe, affordable housing for all is a priority issue in New York. For generations of Senecas, the dream of owning their own home was kept beyond their reach because banks would not grant traditional mortgages on the Seneca Nation’s sovereign territory. This left most Seneca families virtually no path to buying houses on the lands they call home. The Seneca Nation helped remove this barrier and made the dream of home ownership a reality. Using gaming revenues, the Seneca Nation created a Nation-funded mortgage program. Since 2005, more than 300 mortgages have given Seneca individuals and families the opportunity to live among family, friends, and community. Along with the mortgage program, the Nation has improved housing stock and programs on its territories. A fair and equitable gaming Compact is critical to continue meeting the Nation’s growing housing needs. Let New York’s leaders know that you #StandWithSeneca. Visit StandWithSeneca.com today. | | | | | SOCIAL DATA BY DANIEL LIPPMAN | | HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Kasie Hunt ... Bob Franken … Bloomberg’s Alisa Parenti … Sophie Mussafer … Ben Milakofsky … Madeleine Anderson … (was Tuesday): Robert A. M. Stern ... Jerry H. Goldfeder ... Daniel B. Gropper ... Casey Greenfield MAKING MOVES — Evan Chernack is now campaign adviser at New Politics. He previously was campaign manager for Robert Zimmerman’s New York congressional bid. … Kate Kizer is now a senior analyst for government and infrastructure at EY. She most recently was senior nonresident fellow at the Center for International Policy. | | | Real Estate | | |
“‘Absurd’ rules torpedo effort to make NYC’s basement apartments safe and legal,” WNYC’s David Brand: “Parking rules, ceiling heights and soaring costs are torpedoing efforts to make basement apartments safer for low-income and immigrant New Yorkers, despite the city’s attempts to bring existing units up to code, a new analysis shows. Owners of just five buildings in East New York have stuck with the city’s 2019 basement legalization pilot program, with renovations underway at just one building, according to an analysis by the Citizens Housing and Planning Council released on Tuesday.”
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