Why New York sucks in 2022

Subway will be full time and capacity restrictions will be removed (but some quasi-restrictions will remain) in New York in a few weeks.

Gothamist 

 Last week, Mayor Bill de Blasio said he wanted New York City to fully reopen by July 1st for what he dubbed the "Summer of New York." But today, Governor Andrew Cuomo trumped him by announcing that most capacity restrictions for businesses, restaurants and cultural venues would be lifted by May 19th.

Cuomo said that this announcement, which was being made in parallel with the governors across the tri-state area, will affect retail stores, gyms and fitness centers, amusement parks, hair salons and barber shops, offices, Broadway theaters, museums, restaurants and bars. He added that individual venues and businesses could make their own decisions about whether they are ready to reopen in May—most Broadway shows, for instance, won't be able to resume productions immediately, but the option is there.

For all these businesses, the CDC's six foot social distancing guidance is still in effect, but if a gathering or venue can prove that all individuals present are fully vaccinated or have had a recent negative COVID test, then the six foot rule doesn't need to apply. The exception to this is if restaurants put up physical barriers between tables, in which case they don't need to worry about the six foot rule.

"So it's six feet, but if you say, I'm only going to allow press in the room who are fully vaccinated, I'm only going to allow people in the restaurant who are fully vaccinated or just took a negative test, then you can go above the six feet," Cuomo explained. He noted that if the CDC changes their recommendation, New York will reassess the six foot rule as well.

Cuomo went on to note that because of this rule, individual businesses could better incentivize people to get vaccinated — venue operators, he suggested, could allow more seats for vaccinated people, who would not be subjected to the six-foot rule, while those who are unvaccinated would still need to socially distance.

Cuomo previously announced that indoor dining would be expanded to 75% capacity in New York City, bringing the city in line with the rest of the state, starting May 7th. Per today's announcement, it will expand to 100% capacity as of May 19th. The midnight curfew will be lifted for outdoor dining beginning May 17th and for indoor dining beginning May 31st.

The indoor catered gathering limit will increase to 250 people, or 500 with negative COVID testing or proof of vaccination, as of May 19th. Residential gathering limits will increase to 50 people as of that date as well.

According to the state, venues that host live arts and entertainment can exceed social gathering limits of 500 people outdoors and 250 indoors "if all attendees over the age of four present either proof of full vaccination status or recent negative COVID-19 test result and the required social distancing can be accommodated."

Outdoor large stadiums and arenas—such as Citi Field and Yankee Stadium—will increase to 33% capacity as of May 19th, but Cuomo said they are looking to expand that.

Cuomo also announced that in conjunction with the reopening of New York, 24-hour subway service will resume as of May 17th for the first time since the early days of the pandemic.

"We think there's a moment of opportunity here, and we're going to build a totally different New York. We're going to reimagine it, we're going to renew it, it's going to be a New York that never existed before," Cuomo said about the post-pandemic revival. "We're going to fix a lot of the things that we should have fixed all along, and it can be a moment for a New York renaissance."

Minus one in the House

 

NY Post

Missed it by that much.

New York will lose one seat in the House of Representatives next year based on population data released by the US Census Bureau on Monday — and was just 89 residents short of keeping all of its seats.

The Empire State’s delegation will shrink from 27 to 26 as a result of the 2020 census, officials said. 

“The state of New York has experienced negative net domestic migration, meaning there were more people moving out of the state of New York over the last decade than moving into the state,” said Karen Battle, chief of the population division for the Census Bureau.

How voters’ districts will change won’t be known until August at the earliest, when more detailed census data is expected.

New York is one of seven states poised to lose a seat in the House. The others are California, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Five states will gain one seat — Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina and Oregon — while Texas will gain two.

The once-a-decade national head count determines how the 435 seats in the House are divided among the 50 states based on the population changes recorded.

Representative Ocasio-Cortez calls for statewide rent strike

The Real Deal

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — progressives’ rock star from New York — threw her support behind rent strikers Monday.

In a virtual town hall hosted by New York tenant coalition Housing Justice for All, Ocasio-Cortez called for Gov. Andrew Cuomo to cancel rent and mortgage payments at the state level and expressed support for those who do not pay rent because of the coronavirus.

“When it comes to these rent strikes, to echo what each and every one of you have said, people aren’t striking because they don’t feel like paying rent, they’re striking because they can’t,” said Ocasio Cortez. “It doesn’t matter how many threatening messages a landlord sends … you can’t coerce people to do something they cannot do.”

Her message differed in one way from that of rent-strike organizers, who want even tenants who can afford the rent to withhold it — to pressure legislators to act.

Ocasio-Cortez was joined at Monday’s event by tenant organizers and advocates who called for radical measures to provide relief for renters, small landlords and the homeless. Speakers included a tenant leading rent strikes in Elmhurst, Queens, a neighborhood in Ocasio-Cortez’ Queens-Bronx district that was hit hard by Covid-19; a public housing resident striking on the Lower East Side; and an advocate who called for empty hotel rooms to be used for the homeless.

In New York, Ocasio-Cortez said that she has repeatedly asked Cuomo to cancel rent and mortgage payments in private conversations. Now she has publicly demanded he do so, noting that she has already “picked up the phone.”

“As we know here in New York, we have to fight with Democrats to make sure things get accomplished,” said Ocasio-Cortez. “Here in the state of New York, we have a Democratic governor, a Democratic state legislature and a Democratic City Council, and we are still struggling to cancel rent.”

She should have prefaced her target generalizations with the word neoliberal.

10,000

NY Daily News

It’s an Easter tragedy.

Gov. Cuomo grimly reported Monday that the coronavirus killed another 671 New Yorkers over the high holiday, bringing the state’s total death toll above 10,000 even as the pandemic scourge appeared to run out of steam on some fronts.

In his daily briefing from Albany, Cuomo said New York’s death count crossing the five-digit threshold on Easter Sunday hit him hard on a personal level.

“I’m Catholic. Easter Sunday is the high holiday ... To have this happen over this weekend is really, really especially tragic,” Cuomo said. "They are all in our thoughts and prayers.”

Still, Cuomo had a glimmer of good news.

Even though 10,056 New Yorkers have now died from the virus, Cuomo said the daily death count has been “basically flat” for nearly a week.

Though the flattening is occurring at “a horrific level,” the governor said the number of daily hospitalizations is also remaining stagnant around 2,000.

“I think you can say the worst is over, because the worst here is people are dying," he said. "We have controlled the spread.”

About 19,000 people remain hospitalized statewide, according to officials.

As of the latest count, New York has 195,031 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

New York City continues to bear the brunt of the virus, accounting for more than half of all deaths in the state.

Cuomo suggested his next order of business will be to carefully devise a plan for New York to get back on its feet.

The governor said such efforts would likely include expanding definitions for “essential” jobs, which would allow more New Yorkers to return to work.

Cuomo said he would coordinate any such announcements with the governors of New Jersey and Connecticut, adding he learned from Hurricane Sandy in 2012 that “geographically coordinated” action plans are necessary during crises.

 “This is a time for smart, competent, effective government,” Cuomo said.

This is the time he says. The social media and corporate news lionized "president" says this. Is. The. Time. Not in February or March when the outbreak was spreading. Now. Without a hint of irony. 

As opposed to the permanent government that prioritizes and benefits the donor class that he allowed to continue and which he's been running for the past decade.

What a fucking imbecile. 

New York City is in a state of emergency from coronavirus pandemic

NY Daily News

Mayor de Blasio declared a state of emergency, and Gov. Cuomo banned public events of more than 500 people Thursday as the dogged and potentially-deadly coronavirus picked up steam, nearly doubling the number of infected New Yorkers in just a single day.

No bright lights. No Bible studies. No big or jam-packed crowds. That was the effect of the governor’s gathering ban, which goes into effect 5 p.m. Friday, and applies to large houses of worship, arenas and concert halls including Madison Square Garden, Barclays Center and the Apollo Theater in Harlem.

All Broadway theaters went dark Thursday evening.

Venues that draw crowds of less than 500 people — including bars and restaurants — can only be filled to 50% capacity under the ban, Cuomo said.

"We’re going to take very dramatic actions,” Cuomo said.

Exempted are hospitals, schools nursing homes and mass transit, he said.

The new restrictions and the state of emergency were put in place amid a rapid rise in confirmed COVID-19 cases in the city. De Blasio said there were 95 confirmed cases across the five boroughs including an alarming 42 cases in just one day. Of the sobering total, 29 people were in mandatory quarantine, de Blasio said. The mayor predicted the city could have 1,000 cases by next week and said the crisis could last six months or longer.

Under a state of emergency, the mayor can order public spaces to be closed and cleared, restrict vehicle access, initiate curfews and modify labor contracts.

De Blasio said the restrictions will be hard on city businesses.

“We don’t do any of this lightly. This is difficult stuff," de Blasio said. “It’s really going to be kind of a hole in our lives. It’s painful. It’s not something we would ever want to do, but we have to do.”

“There’s one small piece of good news,” the mayor said. “We had the first case of somebody coming out of mandatory quarantine and able to go back to their lives.”

De Blasio said he wants to keep the schools open.

“We are going to fight tooth and nail to protect our school system for many, many reasons,” de Blasio said. “It where our children are very safe, and our parents have no alternatives. We’re going to do our damndest to keep the schools open.”

The city has also suspended evictions anywhere in city housing unless criminal activity is involved.

The state, meanwhile, will impose restrictions on nursing homes across the state, including banning all visitors, and will mandate that all staff wear masks and be monitored for symptoms.

The elderly are particularly susceptible to the coronavirus.

Cuomo said nursing home facilities can make exceptions for those visiting a family member who is critically ill or facing death, though they, too, must wear protective gear.

I might sound persnickety but when Cuomo declared a state of emergency for New York State, isn't de Blasio's announcement redundant?

Movie and TV production tax credits brings diminished results for local jobs

Times Union

  Billions of dollars to subsidize film and television projects in New York hasn't had a statistically significant impact on employment in the entertainment industry, according to a new study.

University of Southern California associate professor Michael Thom conducted a peer-reviewed analysis of a handful of state's that offer the bulk of motion picture incentives in the country and found that — when controlled for economic factors such as the growth in the labor market — there is "not much" of a link between job creation and the lucrative credit offered in New York, which was created in 2004.

The study represents a continuation of scholarly analyses questioning whether the refundable tax credit, which was recently extended by state lawmakers and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, is a prudent investment.

Thom determined that employment in the entertainment industry, which increased in New York by more than 60 percent from 2004 to 2017, based on federal jobs numbers, was largely the product of trends in the overall economy and national growth in the industry. He also found a low correlation between the credit and wages paid in the below-the-line jobs that benefit from the credit.

“It’s not the incentives, its simply the normal ebb and flow of the labor market," Thom said.

This conclusion is vociferously disputed by organized labor groups working in film and television, who point to their own studies and anecdotal evidence that the credits have led to a flourishing sector with wide ripple effects.