Mayor Adams is starting a pro-over-development caliphate to supersede City Council powers and community interests

 

 MTOPP

Mayor Eric Adams Blasting

His Way Into Your Community!

Mayor Eric Adams directed a commission to create a blueprint that would allow development projects to happen faster and cost less to developers.  The NYC Economic Development and Housing committee, working with Citizens Budget Commission (CBC), a nonprofit organization organized a report to address Adams’ agenda.  They made recommendations for changes in both the law and City and State administrative  policies regarding applications for development requiring rezonings. Their main justification is an economic model of supply and demand, the more supply (increase heights of buildings) the lower and more affordable the rents will be.

Of course they are ignoring all of the evidence which shows the opposite.  That increase development has in fact caused rents to increase and homelessness to sky rocket, as a recent study just revealed.  

13 Points of Change to the Rezoning Process of New York City and New York State

1. No more court cases brought against developers or the City, instead the rezoning project will be reviewed by the City Planning Commission.
2. The elimination of the New York State's Environmental Review process for all development projects.
3. In the alternative, the Environmental Review Process,  does not have to be completed until the end of the Uniform Land Use Review Process "ULURP".
4. In addition, New York State will reduce the number of environmental impact categories.
5. The Community Board’s and Borough Presidents review of a rezoning application during the ULURP process, will be eliminated. 
6. In the alternative, only the Borough President should review rezoning projects.
7. The Community and Borough President review of a rezoning application should take place before an application is certified and starts the ULURP process.  
8. The City Council Deference (the power to say no to a rezoning project in their district) should be eliminated.
9. In the alternative, when the City Council disapproves a project, immediately an alternative group of decision makers would convene with the power to overturn the City Council’s vote. The group would consist of the Mayor, Public Advocate, Borough President and Council Speaker.
10. Additionally, the City Council would need to have a Super Majority, not just a majority to overrule the City Planning Commission’s recommendation on a project.
11. All development projects that are not near or in sensitive wetland and greenfield sites (not brownfields) should be “as of right”. 
12. Instead of focusing on environmental concerns and their impact upon a community’s land, air and water, the focus should be on negative consequences vs. benefits.
13. Streamline the Environmental Process by not interacting with other government agencies that specialize in a particular environmental impact concern.  Instead, have one agency  – i.e. the City Planning Commission – conduct  all of the environmental impact analyses.

The Real Estate's Dream
 

Overall, these proposed changes reflect the real estate’s industry’s determination to escape any and all requirements for environmental reviews, with 99% of their projects being considered “as of right”.  This terms means developers can build what they want, where they want with no one having a say or being able to stop them.

  All of these proposals would require New York State to make changes to its legislation, for NYC to make revisions to the New York City Charter, as well as an unknown number of administrative changes in both the State's and the City's regulations.

  The importance of this Commission’s report and the creation of the

*“BLAST” commission to engage in some of these changes lies not only in its revelation regarding the intent to drastically reduce the power of the community to protect itself against developers, but what it reveals about Mayor Eric Adams’ plans for the next four (to eight!) years of his administration.

*We don't remember exactly what "BLAST" stands for but it hit us how arrogant and powerful the Mayor and the Developers believe that they are in even naming a commission BLAST.   They are sending a clear message of their intention to BLAST there way into any community, any neighborhood and harming any environment that they see fit.

Note: Please take this commission's report seriously.  There are already "opinion” pages popping up everywhere stating the ULURP process is broken, that what we need is more development projects and that the New York City Council's powers need to be reduced.  Even Brooklyn Borough President Reynoso is proposing a "borough wide" rezoning, based upon his failed rezoning process in his council district when he was its councilperson.  He is claiming that the 99% success rate of developers’ ULURP applications and 100% success rate for City sponsored district wide rezonings are not working for developers and/or the City!

Six Things You Can You Do!

1. Please forward this email by clicking on the link above and spread the word.

2. Testify at the CB9's hearing on these proposed changes.

Community Board 9 Hearing on City Citizens Budget Commission Proposal for Rezoning
Date:

Wednesday, September 28 at 7 pm sharp!
 Please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84858396883
Dial In: 1(646) 558-8656  
Webinar ID: 848 5839 6883; No Password
This hearing will only last for half an hour so please come on time!

3. Read a more detailed description of the changes along with their rationale and MTOPP's position by clicking on this link.

4. Read the upcoming emails coming within the next couple of days and pass those along to others.

5. Write your own opinion pages in local media outlets etc...

6. Ask your Community Board to conduct its own hearing on the proposals.

Riders Alliance hold public assembly for their transit plan and claim it's a private event as they try to kick out a commuter activist

What happened to public space for people???

Freedom News Network has an even better angle of the bullying by Fascist Riders Alliance

Here's Fascist Riders Alliance again trying to oppress this genuine riders advocate from filming a car they were using to get to their public assembly private events. Funny with all their talk about transit equity and demands to people to give up their cars, they cruise around from town to town contributing to car culture and traffic congestion

That woman, who appears to be RA's executive director Betsy Plum's muscle and chaffeur, seems to be confused because license plates and the cars they are affixed to is actually public information.

Mayor Adams normalizes censorship

 

Reclaim The Net 

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has used this month’s Buffalo shooting to call for more social media censorship.

Speaking live on PIX11’s Morning Show, Adams was asked by the host Hazel Sanchez what could be done about regulating social media.

“Governor Hochul, she was on PIX11, demanding social media platforms be held accountable. Now, you’ve been calling for that since the suspected Brooklyn subway shooter, Frank James, allegedly posted racist rants online,” Sanchez said. “But social media’s been around and unregulated for a long time. So what kind of change can you see happening?”

Mayor Adams responded, saying that it was time for social media platforms to start using “artificial intelligence to identify words, identify phrases, to immediately remove and censor some of this information.”

Mayor Adams likened the censorship techniques to the removal of President Trump’s Twitter account; “We did it to Donald Trump on Twitter. He was dangerous to the country. So why aren’t we doing it to the everyday people who are using it and is dangerous to our neighborhoods and communities?”

Likening his censorship demands to his similar demands for social media platforms to censor some forms of rap on social media, Adams stated, “The type of violence that’s being promoted on social media is beyond anything I’ve ever witnessed before.

“Particularly in some of the drill music that actually taunts and threaten people. There’s a direct correlation. That’s the type of social media monitoring we believe the social media companies should do.”

(Former Mayor de Blasio's) Mayor Adams' and NYC Health Commissioner Chokshi's vaccine mandate hits the 11th hour for non-vaxxed municipal workers

  

NY Daily News

Mayor Adams to city workers: Get vaccinated or get lost.

The Adams administration has alerted nearly 4,000 unvaccinated municipal employees — including cops and firefighters — that they will lose their jobs if they do not get their coronavirus shots by the end of next week.

Adams’ shot across the bow came in letters issued to the affected workers this week informing them that they have until Feb. 11 to get inoculated.

Speaking at City Hall on Monday, Adams said the ultimatum is about safety and argued that city employees have had long enough to comply with the municipal workforce vaccine mandate, which took effect Nov. 1.

“Safety is not only to stop the bullet, a knife or some other item. Safety is COVID. COVID is taking lives,” the mayor said. “There must be rules, and we must follow them. The rule is to get vaccinated if you are a city employee.”

The roughly 4,000 workers at risk of getting the boot fall into two categories, according to data provided by City Hall.

Ihr Kampf with mandate analogy

 

 QNS

Newly elected northeast Queens Councilwoman Vickie Paladino walked back an explosive comment made during an interview on NY1 about her refusal to disclose her COVID-19 vaccination status to City Council officials last week.

“I don’t need to show my papers. This is not Nazi Germany,” Paladino said during that interview.

On Tuesday, Paladino said she made the “ill-considered and inappropriate comparison” during an hours-long interview, and asked that it be struck from the record, but took “complete ownership of that mistake.”

“While my intent was to illustrate that requiring residents to show medical papers to earn a living or do everyday activities is an authoritarian practice that does not align with this country’s principles, it is never OK to compare anything to the evil of Nazi Germany,” Paladino said in a statement. “I apologize to those who were genuinely offended by my comment.”

She added that she would meet with local Jewish officials and her friends in the Jewish community in the coming days to discuss the matter.

The controversy arose nearly a week after Paladino was refused entry to the City Council’s first stated meeting of the new year.

The 67-year-old Republican refused to disclose her COVID-19 vaccination status and was told by officials she would be barred from the chamber floor on Wednesday, Jan. 5. There has been no resolution to the standoff, and Paladino continues to oppose any effort to require people to disclose their vaccination status as a condition of employment or for any other reason.

“The idea that we are now essentially blackmailing people by threatening their jobs and their livelihoods is what is eroding public trust in vaccines,” said Robert Hornak, a Paladino spokesman. “People should be allowed to make their own decision on their healthcare. And nobody should be forced to disclose their personal medical information to anyone. Everyone has a right to privacy and that includes medical privacy. We will continue to stand up for that right as long as people are trying to use heavy-handed tactics to force their will on others.”

Meet the new mandates, same as the old mandates

Chaos Erupts when Eric Adams comes out of his office. Protesters against mandates confront and yell at him because of the mandates #BreakingNews #NYC #MANDATE pic.twitter.com/46slZjie8y

— Leeroy Johnson (@LeeroyPress) November 3, 2021

 

 Eyewitness News

 Mayor-elect Eric Adams held COVID news conference unveiling his plans to combat COVID in New York City as he prepares to take office this weekend.

He was joined by current Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi and incoming Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan.

Adams said the plan is to, "Keep our city open. That's the goal. We can't shut down our city again."

As for existing mandates regarding vaccines and masks, they will stay in place with a few changes and adjustments.

The private-sector employee vaccine mandate will stay in place with a focus on compliance, not punishment. A dedicated unit will work with small businesses, stakeholders, and the mayor's corporate engagement committee to help implement the mandate, foregoing fines if employers engage with the city to help get their workers vaccinated.

The city will study the need for an "up to date" mandate program to require booster shots for all New Yorkers currently covered by the vaccine mandates and engage with unions, the business community, and other shareholders. The data shows that booster shots are extremely effective against Delta and earlier COVID strains, but the city says it does not yet have definitive data on omicron.

The city will set a deadline of this spring for a decision on whether or not there should be a vaccine mandate in schools for the fall of 2022. The decision will be based on expected COVID risk in city schools and vaccination rates among students.

All other current mandates stay in place, including for masks.

"We are going to get through this," Adams said. "New York will lead the way for this entire country to follow."

As for New York City Schools, they will fully reopen on January 3, and they will implement the Stay Safe, Stay Open plan.

It includes doubling surveillance testing and adjusting the Situation Room and quarantine protocols. Sending home millions of rapid at-home tests for students and educators.
They will also strengthen mitigation measures including higher quality masks and better ventilation.

 Incoming-Mayor Adams says they will surge resources to the Health + Hospitals system to ensure enough capacity to address new hospitalizations from omicron. Ambulatory care will be shifted to virtual when possible to shore up nurse staffing levels and other measures.

He also plans to improve safety in congregate settings like jails, shelters, and nursing homes at high risk by supporting rapid isolation and quarantine. They will also provide ready access to vaccination and testing.

As far as COVID testing efforts for the city, the Adams administration plans to increase testing with more sites and mass-access to rapid tests.

The city says it will provide clear testing protocols for specific settings, including in the private sector.

The city will also surge resources to the Health Department, including more than 250 staff, to keep the public health infrastructure strong and at adequate capacity.

Vaccinated and masked NYPD bounce a child out of Applebee's

NYPD kicks out a child for not having a vaccine passport.

pic.twitter.com/2bkeK0sRnv

— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) December 28, 2021

Governor Kathy will deny unemployment insurance to non-vaccinated health workers

 

 Reclaim The Net

New York State employees who will get fired for not being able to show a vaccine passport will not access unemployment insurance, announced Gov. Kathy Hochul on Saturday, only two days before the deadline for all state workers to have to show a passport.

However, a judge temporarily halted the vaccine mandate for New York City workers on Friday.

New York state health workers in nursing homes and hospitals and teachers in New York City, were given up to Monday to show proof of at least one dose of the vaccine. While announcing contingencies to address a potential shortage of health workers, the governor said that those who could not show a passport and who lose their jobs will not be eligible for unemployment insurance.

Only those with a doctor-approved vaccine exemption will be unaffected from the new order.

On Thursday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said that “thousands and thousands of vaccinated, experienced substitute teachers” were available to replace the unvaccinated teachers who will not report to work on Monday.

Union leaders urged the mayor to extend the deadline and criticized the substitute teachers plan, calling it “irresponsible.”

“CSEA is supportive of efforts to keep our state workplaces safer, but these changes must respect the legal bargaining rights of workers,” said CSEA spokesman Mark Kotzin.

Restaurants week of reckoning

Black Lives Matter calls The Blaz's vaccine mandate racist

"72% of black people in this city, from ages 18 to 44 are unvaccinated" says @newyorkvonni
At Cancel Carmines protest ,
"what is going to stop them (NYPD) from rounding up black folks"
Chivona Newsome is a co-founder of BLM Greater NY chapter. https://t.co/Me18Vgf34d pic.twitter.com/omRMDJnBN4

— Scootercaster (@ScooterCasterNY) September 24, 2021

 

Fox News

A leader of the Greater New York chapter of Black Lives Matter says Democratic New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is targeting Black people with his mandate requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination to enter certain businesses in the city, and warned that continuation of the dictate could spark an "uprising" similar to last year's George Floyd protests.

The threat comes from chapter co-founder Chivona Newsome, who unleashed on city leaders during a demonstration earlier this week outside a restaurant that allegedly denied service to a group of Black would-be patrons.

"Seventy-two percent of Black people in this city from ages 18 to 44 are unvaccinated," Newsome shouted into a megaphone. 

 "So what is going to stop the Gestapo, I mean the NYPD, from rounding up Black people, from snatching them off the train, snatching Black people off the bus?" she added.

"We’re putting this city on notice. Your mandate will not be another racist social distance practice," Newsome went on to say. "Black people are not going to stand by, or you will see another uprising. And that is not a threat. That is a promise. Because it is our job to defend liberty, and that is what we are here to do."

The mandate, announced by de Blasio in early August, requires that both workers and customers of certain categories of businesses like restaurants, gyms, and movie theaters provide proof that they have been vaccinated against the coronavirus in order to enter.

But since the rule went into effect, there have been reports of disputes at several establishments, which have also been burdened with manning the front lines of its enforcement.   

 Besides the other outlandish claims this duo is making, the NYPD is not tasked with enforcing the fascist and discriminatory vaccine mandate. Yet.

Was this today????

 

AMNY

The city will deploy inspectors to enforce the vaccine mandate for restaurants, bars, gyms, and other indoor venues starting Monday, Sept. 13.

Municipal workers will check on the businesses to make sure they require workers and patrons aged 12 or older to have at least their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the new regime last month, when the policy known as Key to NYC first went into effect on Aug. 17, giving businesses almost four weeks to prepare for the requirements.

“This is going to reach hundreds of thousands of people and convince them it’s time,” de Blasio said at the time. “We know this is going to work because New Yorkers love our arts, our culture, entertainment, restaurants — they’re part of who we are.”

The mandate covers eateries, indoor fitness, and entertainment venues like movie theaters, museums, and concert halls, and de Blasio hopes the measures will boost inoculations among younger New Yorkers, who still lag well behind older residents for vaccination rates.

“I am absolutely certain this is going to motivate a lot of people to get vaccinated, particularly young people,” he said in August. “We know one of the biggest areas of concern is reaching younger New Yorkers.”

Hizzoner said New Yorkers can show proof with the paper card, the Excelsior Pass, or the NYC COVID SAFE app.

NYPD won’t be part of the enforcement, which will instead have civilian inspectors from 13 city agencies, such as FDNY, Department of Health, Buildings, Sanitation, and Transportation.

 

Mexican restaurant says no to Bill de Blasio

 

It took less than 2 days...

 

 

NY Post

A group of restaurants and businesses have filed suit against Mayor Bill de Blasio in opposition to a mandate requiring proof of vaccination at city eateries, gyms, movie theaters and other establishments, new court papers show.

The businesses argue that the mandate violates their constitutional rights and unfairly targets certain establishments but not others like churches, grocery stores, schools, offices and medical facilities, the lawsuit filed Tuesday in Staten Island Supreme Court alleges.

The suit says that the mandate is “arbitrary and capricious” for a slew of reasons including that the highly contagious COVID-19 Delta variant can spread among both vaccinated and unvaccinated people, the court documents claim.

The mandate also doesn’t accommodate certain exceptions for getting vaccinated such as those who’ve already gotten the virus; those who are allergic to ingredients in the vaccine; those who have pre-existing conditions that make getting the vaccine risky; and those whose religious beliefs stop them from getting it, the filing argues.

“The decision to get the vaccine should ultimately lie with the individual and his doctor, who knows that persons’ complete medical history, rather than a politician,” the court papers claim.

Further, emergency orders have been in effect for almost two years and instead of easing off, “the mayor implemented even more arbitrary executive orders, trampling more recklessly on constitutional rights,” the suit charges.

The mandate also threatens people’s livelihoods, making it “impossible for anyone who chooses not to be vaccinated for whatever reason, to work in the designated industries,” the court papers claim.

Adapt or die small businesses

  

Crains New York

 

Restaurants, bars and indoor venues may face up to $5,000 fines if they don't require patrons to show proof of vaccination, under an executive order by Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday.

All indoor venues will have to check that everyone age 12 and up who enters their premises shows proof of vaccination, under de Blasio’s edict. That proof must match the information on their official identification document, which they must also show.
 
Enforcement will begin Sept. 13. After that, violations will incur penalties of at least $1,000, which will rise to at least $2,000 for a second violation and at least $5,000 for a third. The city will send out inspectors from various agencies to check compliance. 

Between now and the enforcement date, the city has said it will send out 570 canvassers to all businesses in the city to help them understand the plan. Venues must all put up a sign communicating the vaccination requirement.
 
The executive order defines a wide range of indoor venues that must check for vaccine passes, including movie theaters, casinos, indoor portions of botanical gardens, adult entertainment spaces, commercial event and party venues, museums, aquariums and zoos, sports arenas and indoor stadiums, convention centers and exhibition halls, bowling alleys, arcades, indoor play areas and billiards halls, as well as any indoor part of a restaurant, and all indoor gym and fitness settings, including pools, dance studios and hotel gyms.

Some venues were surprised to see themselves included on this list, which the mayor had not previously detailed beyond mentioning "indoor entertainment venues."

"I am extraordinarily hesitant to instruct my staff to do this," said Eli Klein, owner of the Eli Klein Gallery in the far West Village, noting that he would not have known the mandate applied to his business if he had not tuned into the mayor's announcement this morning.

 

 

Rep. Malliotakis files lawsuit against Bill de Blasio's vaccine mandate and Youtube censors her announcement

 

Reclaim The Net

YouTube took down a video of Rep. Nicole Malliotakis unconditionally without warning or explanation.

The video consists of her news conference in which she announced her lawsuit against the Democrat mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio, for implementing a vaccination passport system in the city.

YouTube reinstated the video shortly after being contacted by Reclaim The Net.

Following De Blasio’s order for a COVID-19 Vaccine Passport mandate, Malliotakis has joined the fight against the affront to civil liberties.

The mayor wants to make it illegal for anyone without a vaccine passport to work at or patronize gyms, entertainment venues, and indoor restaurants.

Rep. Malliotakis issued a statement concerning the lawsuit challenging New York City’s vaccination regulations.

“The Mayor’s vaccine mandate is an overreach of government,” said the Representative for Brooklyn/Staten Island . “The government should not be imposing such a mandate on its people and small business owners.”

“We have received calls from countless individuals that we represent – both vaccinated and unvaccinated – who are concerned about sharing personal health information with individuals they don’t know, or fearing they will be left out of society because their doctors recommended they do not get vaccinated due to other medical issues.”

“It is beyond ridiculous that the government is mandating these already struggling small business owners to be the city’s vaccine police.”

Autumn is coming

Paris just implented vaccine passports.

This is what they look like in action. pic.twitter.com/NWVjGX7GF2

— The First (@TheFirstonTV) August 9, 2021

 

 Bloomberg

 Jennifer Vitagliano has been in perpetual pivot mode for over a year now. Since the start of the pandemic, the owner of the Michelin-starred Musket Room in Manhattan’s SoHo has hatched a delivery menu and a brunch menu to lure new customers and borrowed a 1962 van from a friend to sell doughnuts and cocktails in front of her eight-year-old restaurant, which is known for its inventive spin on new American dishes. Of all the flexes she’s made, playing bouncer has been the most exhausting.

In early June, after several Covid-19 cases hit the industry, Vitagliano and her business partners decided that Musket Room customers who wanted to dine indoors needed to be vaccinated. When a group of five guests arrived for dinner one evening, two covertly passed a phone between them, trying to prove that they were vaccinated by using the same Excelsior Pass, an electronic vaccination record created by New York state. Vitagliano, doubling as the vaccine card checker, caught the pair and stopped them from entering.

“It’s the largest cultural clash we’ve ever faced,” says Vitagliano of trying to enforce Covid-19 protections. “We didn’t get into business to be bouncers, but here we are.”

Vitagliano’s experience is a preview of what the thousands of New York City dining, fitness, and entertainment establishments will experience in mid-September, when Mayor Bill de Blasio’s new policy requiring vaccinations to enter these indoor venues kicks in. “If you want to participate in our society fully, you’ve got to get vaccinated,” de Blasio said at a press conference on August 3. “It’s time.”

Vaccination rates have stalled in recent weeks, even amid an uptick in cases and hospitalizations. Nationwide, 57.9% of the population has received at least one dose of the vaccine. New York City is just above the national average, with 59.5% vaccinated. The new mandate, which will begin on Sept. 13, requires that all employees and patrons in these establishments have at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine.

Under the system, patrons will have to show a vaccine card, the new NYC Covid Safe app (where users can upload their identification, vaccine card, and recent Covid-19 test results), or the state’s Excelsior Pass app. But forging fake cards, considered a felony, or using the legitimate cards of others will inevitably be an issue. The NYC Covid Safe app doesn’t actually check the validity of the vaccination card or cross reference it with outside databases, such as state records. There are also public concerns around handing more personal information over to the government.

Assessing vaccination status is the latest headache restaurant owners face. The industry was already dealing with the stresses of getting indoor dining back up and running, along with a labor shortage. The number of workers is down an estimated 1.3 million, 10% below what it was before the pandemic, according to the National Restaurant Association.

Meanwhile, restaurateurs find themselves in the crosshairs of a culture war. Salil Mehta, chef and owner of the Singaporean restaurant Laut, says the mayor’s announcement “freaks him out.” Although he’s pro-vaccine, he says this dynamic will be especially hard on Asian restaurants, where racism is already a problem. Mehta says that when he spoke with his local police precinct about the new mandate, officers told him they won’t be monitoring restaurants but he has a right to kick out customers who won’t leave. “Then you’re in close contact with someone who isn’t vaccinated, and it shouldn’t be our job,” says Mehta, who can’t afford to hire security. “I don’t want to be the guy policing these things.

Others are preparing their staff to disarm potentially heated situations. At Dhamaka, a new Indian restaurant on the Lower East Side, front-of-house lead Tina Dolker is anticipating cancelations when the rule goes into effect, along with contentious interactions. “We are going to have special training on how to say ‘no,’” she says. Danny Meyer, the chief executive officer of Union Square Hospitality Group LLC, says staff at his restaurants will receive guidance on how to deal with aggressive guests. “We have been working on de-escalation techniques for months,” Meyer says.

Now I'm sure you all noticed in that video above that the cops are checking people's vac passes outside. And whatever plan Shake Shack Shithead and NYC EDC figurehead Meyer has for de-escaltions, inevitably the NYPD will be summoned if it gets rowdy. Then the NYPD will inevitably wind up enforcing the mandate because of whatever latest iteration it is to keep customers, workers and business owners safe. And we will have to refund the police all over again...

This is going to be bedlam. You have been warned.

It's time to tell Big Bird to F off