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☆ For Mayor Adams, Any Day Has the Makings of Flag Day
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-05 | by ( Dana Rubinstein | More About Dana Rubinstein | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

On any given weekday, there is a statistically significant chance that Eric Adams, the mayor of America’s largest city, will be conducting official New York City business next to the upturned tail of the famed “Charging Bull” sculpture, engaging in what appears to be one of his favorite activities: Raising flags. He does it with such frequency that it borders on obsession: Since taking office in January 2022, Mr. Adams has raised flags for at least 31 countries representing 16 percent of the United Nations’ member states. He has honored some places twice: Haiti, Ireland, Ukraine and the Philippines. He has also raised the flags for one U.S. territory, two transnational organizations and one holiday, Juneteenth. If he keeps his current pace, Mr. Adams is on track to raise flags for roughly 80 percent of the world’s countries by the end of 2029, should he win a second term in 2025 and serve it to completion.

Persons: Eric Adams, Adams Organizations: New, United Nations Locations: America’s, New York City, Haiti, Ireland, Ukraine, Philippines

New York City’s complex campaign finance law sits at the heart of the events sketched out in the court papers. The defendants are accused of trying to mask large donations by funneling them through straw donors. On Friday, Evan Thies, a spokesman for the 2021 Adams campaign, thanked prosecutors for “their hard work on behalf of taxpayers.”“The campaign always held itself to the highest standards and we would never tolerate these actions,” Mr. Thies said. The second took place after Mr. Adams had won his primary, effectively ensuring his election as mayor of the heavily Democratic city. For each fund-raiser, according to prosecutors, the defendants recruited straw donors and then reimbursed them.

Persons: Montgomery, Riza, Evan Thies, Adams, ”, ” Mr, Thies, “ Organizations: Mr, Campaign Finance Board, Democratic Locations: York, , New York City

☆ Orthodox Men Dominate Mayor Adams’s New Jewish Advisory Council
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( Dana Rubinstein | More About Dana Rubinstein | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Mr. Schumer declined to comment. The dispute comes just a week after Mr. Adams got into a verbal altercation with a Jewish housing activist whose family fled the Holocaust, and whom Mr. Adams compared to a plantation owner. Many of the Jewish leaders now criticizing him are of a progressive bent, and Mr. Adams is not popular with progressives. A City Hall spokeswoman noted that within Orthodox ranks, there is a great deal of diversity — there are both modern Orthodox, and Jews associated with the Lubavitch movement, for example. “This esteemed council comprises a diverse assembly of Jewish men and women hailing from various religious and cultural backgrounds, including Chabad, Conservative, Hasidic, nondenominational, Modern Orthodox, Reform, Sephardic, and Yeshiva Orthodox affiliations,” said the spokeswoman for the mayor.

Persons: Beth Elohim, Chuck Schumer, Nadler, Ruth Messinger, David Saperstein, Schumer, Adams, ” Organizations: Jewish World Service, Manhattan, Hall, Lubavitch, Conservative, Yeshiva Orthodox Locations: Brooklyn, Manhattan, New York

Edward Caban, the New York Police Department’s first deputy commissioner and an ally of Mayor Eric Adams, will become the interim head of the agency, the mayor said Friday. “There’s a natural process in place that the first deputy commissioner falls in line until we make a permanent announcement on who the commissioner is going to be,” Mr. Adams said during a radio appearance on 1010 WINS. “And we are going to find a suitable replacement.”The announcement coincided with the last day in office of Keechant L. Sewell, the department’s first Black and first female commissioner, who abruptly announced her resignation two weeks ago, after finding that her powers had been circumscribed by the mayor and his allies. Her departure is one of a wave of high-level officials exiting the still-young administration. The mayor has also lost or is losing his chief housing officer, Jessica Katz, in the midst of a housing crisis; his social services commissioner, Gary Jenkins, in the midst of a record-setting homelessness crisis; his chief counsel, his communications director, his chief efficiency officer, his buildings commissioner and his chief of staff.

Persons: Edward Caban, New York Police Department’s, Eric Adams, “, Mr, Adams, Sewell, Jessica Katz, Gary Jenkins Organizations: New York Police

☆ Democrats to Use $20 Million Equal Rights Push to Aid 2024 N.Y. House Bids
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Dana Rubinstein | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

New York Democrats’ substandard performance in the midterm elections last year helped their party lose control of the House of Representatives, threatened its national agenda, and angered national Democrats. In an effort to avoid repeating the same mistake, New York Democrats on Thursday will announce support for a statewide effort to pass a women’s rights amendment that they hope will also supercharge turnout in 2024, when President Biden and House members will be up for re-election. Their strategy: Get Democrats to the polls by focusing attention on a 2024 statewide referendum, the New York Equal Rights Amendment, that will explicitly bar New York from using its power and resources to penalize those who have abortions. Kathy Hochul and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, among others, plans to raise at least $20 million to spend on television ads, direct mail and organizing in support of the initiative. The effort is designed to complement the House Democrats’ main super PAC’s $45 million bid to win six New York swing districts next year, including four that just flipped Republican.

Persons: Biden, Kathy Hochul, Hakeem Jeffries Organizations: New York Democrats, New, Gov, Democrats ’ Locations: York

☆ Mogul’s Manhattan Casino Pitch: A Location People Won’t Hate
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Dana Rubinstein | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Mr. Silverstein, 92, has never owned or invested in a casino. For that reason, his team argues, the location is less likely than others to raise residents’ hackles. For casino expertise, he has teamed up with Watche Manoukian, a businessman based in London who owns Parx Casino in Bensalem, Pa., that state’s highest grossing venue. In an interview on Thursday, Mr. Silverstein suggested his bid was largely selfless: New York State, he said, needs tax revenue to support the transit system on which New York City’s economy depends. Casinos can provide it, and as a major landlord, he is invested in the city’s future.

Persons: hustling, Larry Silverstein, Silverstein, Watche Manoukian Organizations: World Trade, Times, Parx, New, New York State Locations: New York City, London, Bensalem, Pa, New York, York

Video transcript Back bars 0:00 / 1:04 - 0:00 transcript Coast Guard Searching for Lost Submersible Near Site of Titanic The U.S. Coast Guard launched a search and rescue mission after a submersible disappeared during a dive to the site of the Titanic. We are doing everything that we can do to make sure that we can locate and rescue those on board. So after receiving the call, we launched, well, reached out to the vessel Polar Prince and began a surface search looking for the submersible. We’ve subsequently coordinated with the Canadian Coast Guard and Canadian Armed Forces to deploy additional assets to the scene. The U.S. Coast Guard launched a search and rescue mission after a submersible disappeared during a dive to the site of the Titanic.

Persons: John Mauger, We’ve, Steven Senne, Admiral Mauger, “, ”, we’re Organizations: U.S . Coast Guard, . Coast Guard, Canadian Coast Guard, Canadian Armed Forces, Associated, Coast Guard, OceanGate Expeditions, United, New York National Guard, Fox Locations: Cape Cod, Boston, U.S, United States, Canada

A team of scientists working to map the Titanic in 2010 as part of a project to create a high-definition 3D image of the ship. For decades after the Titanic sank, searchers scanned the dark waters of the North Atlantic for the ship’s final resting place. Since the wreck was found, in 1985, it has drawn hundreds of filmmakers, salvagers, explorers and tourists, using robots and submersibles. Mr. Cameron, who has repeatedly visited the wreck, was among those calling for care around the site. By the time it began offering tours to paying customers, researchers said that the Titanic had little scientific value compared to other sites.

Persons: James Cameron, Cameron’s, Cameron Organizations: Titanic, Atlantic, Expeditions

Persons: James Cameron, Cameron’s, Cameron Organizations: Titanic, Atlantic, Expeditions

Mr. Adams on Tuesday angrily rebuffed the notion that he was facing a staff exodus, and accused the media that covers him of existing in a narrative-generating “bubble.” He noted that he oversaw more than 300,000 employees, and the high-level departures represent just a fraction of the city work force. “And we’re saying, is everybody running for the door?” he said. “No, everybody is running to do their job.”Reached by phone on Tuesday afternoon, Ms. Sewell declined to comment on her exit. “This is an unprecedented moment in New York’s history and we should acknowledge that everyone who works in public service is under tremendous pressure to manage myriad crises,” Mr. Young said. “People will leave, but one thing remains the same: our commitment to handling the crises we inherited, turning this city around, and improving the lives of all New Yorkers.”

Persons: Adams, “, ”, Sewell, Banks, ” Max Young, Mr, Young

☆ A Pier Deal Is Full of Developer Perks, but Is It Good for the City?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-11 | by ( Matthew Haag | Dana Rubinstein | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“From an economic development standpoint, it’s a giveaway,” said Jeffrey LeFrancois, the chair of Manhattan Community Board 4, which covers a stretch of the West Side that includes the pier. “Given that Vornado has already had the ability to do this the past 13 years and done nothing, it’s outrageous that they are taking this pier from taxpayers for pennies on the dollar.”Mr. LeFrancois said the terms were particularly friendly because Vornado, which primarily operates office buildings in New York City, has been eager to find new revenue sources as companies jettison physical offices. The relationship is mutually beneficial: Developers get to build on city land, and the mayor gets to point to new projects as evidence that he is leading New York out of the pandemic. In Queens, the mayor has touted a plan to redevelop a swath of the borough that will include the new soccer stadium and what officials have described as the largest construction of entirely affordable housing since the Mitchell-Lama developments of the 1970s. Like other stadiums in the city, the new one will not pay property taxes, although the team that will play there, the New York City Football Club, will pay some rent.

Persons: ”, Jeffrey LeFrancois, Vornado, Mr, LeFrancois, ” Mr, Adams, Mitchell Organizations: Manhattan Community, New York City Football Club Locations: New York City, New York, Queens

☆ New York City Residents Will Soon Have to Compost Their Food Scraps
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Dana Rubinstein | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It is unclear if Mr. Adams will sign the bill, but it appears to have enough support to override a mayoral veto. “We have a supermajority on all of the bills,” said Sandy Nurse, the councilwoman who chairs the Sanitation Committee and is one of three lead sponsors of the legislative package. “Whether or not the administration wants these bills to happen is irrelevant. The success of the Council’s mandate will depend on the Sanitation Department’s effective delivery of the program. That mandate does not apply to food scraps.

Persons: Adams, “, ”, Sandy Nurse, Jessica Tisch Organizations: Sanitation Locations: Queens

As New York City’s 14 miles of public beaches open for Memorial Day weekend, the city is confronting its worst lifeguard shortage on record — something officials say is partly the result of a bitter fight between the city and the little-known but extraordinarily powerful unions that represent lifeguards. Millions of New Yorkers are facing the prospect of partial beach closures and limited access to pools when they open next month. Parks Department officials say they currently have fewer than 500 lifeguards ready to work, roughly a third of the number they say is needed to fully staff beaches and pools. The lifeguard shortage, which also stems from perennial issues like low salaries, a difficult qualifying test and a pandemic-induced slowdown of the lifeguard pipeline, follows months of off-season maneuvering between city officials and an obscure pair of lifeguard locals. It is an intractable and bizarre union beef that stands out even in a city rife with them and one that has left the city — locked in collective bargaining negotiations with union officials to reach a new contract — blaming the unions for leaving key swimming spots understaffed.

On multiple occasions, White House officials told the mayor’s staff that they hoped to continue talking about the issues privately and emphasized the need to move forward as a partnership. Mr. Biden introduced legislation that would overhaul the immigration system, increasing funding for border security and providing citizenship to 11 million undocumented immigrants. While New York City has long prided itself on being a haven for migrants, more than 67,000 have traveled there in the past year. The Adams administration even asked an owner of the mostly vacant Flatiron Building if there was room there. Homeland Security officials in the Biden administration also privately expressed concerns last year about how cities would handle the influx of migrants from Texas and Florida.

☆ Michigan man says posting a meme about pooping on company time led to him filing for bankruptcy after he was sued by his employer
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Jordan Hart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

When a Michigan man posted a meme about work to Facebook in 2019, a lengthy legal battled ensued. In the ruling, the court said Hidalgo would have to pay $150,000 to Roman Stone Works. The viral post about the firing led to online harassment of Roman Stone Works from supporters of Hidalgo. The Roman Stone Works Facebook page still receives comments related to the situation, including one as recently as two weeks ago. Roman Stone Works did not immediately respond to Insider's request to comment.

“It is a crisis situation,” Ms. Hochul acknowledged on Tuesday. “There’ll be literally thousands more individuals coming across the border and ultimately find their way up to the State of New York.”Counties near the city are now bracing for overflow, some more willingly than others. The executive of the Democratic stronghold of Westchester County, just to New York City’s north, is open to welcoming some undocumented migrants from the city’s overflowing shelter system. “We are not a sanctuary county,” Mr. Blakeman said. Deputies with the Rockland County Sheriff’s Department sat a few yards away in cream-colored cruisers, ready to block the entrance of any approaching bus.

☆ Racetracks, Parks, Offices: A Frantic Search for Migrant Housing
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Dana Rubinstein | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

By Friday, a Trump-era immigration policy called Title 42 is set to expire. The end of the policy is expected to spur cross-border migration, eventually affecting New York City. New York City is the only major U.S. city with a “right-to-shelter law.” As of Wednesday evening, 61,000 migrants have come to the city in the past year, according to City Hall officials. Over 37,500 of them are now in city care at more than 120 emergency shelters and eight larger-scale centers. Those spaces should be at least 10,000 square feet in size, contain “no known health hazards” and have running water.

☆ Mayor Adams Says He Was Given a Divine Message: ‘Talk About God’
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Dana Rubinstein | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When Mayor Eric Adams began to talk frequently about God a few months back — how God elevated him to lead New York City, how Mr. Adams implemented policy with a “godlike” approach, how the separation of church and state was misguided — his timing was no accident. He was, he says, responding to the same divine voice he heard decades ago, the one that he says prophesied that he would become mayor on Jan. 1, 2022. “The same voice I heard 32 years ago spoke to me a few months ago and said, ‘Talk about God, Eric,’” Mr. Adams said on Thursday at the Christian Cultural Center, a Brooklyn megachurch that has become a favored political pulpit for many. “‘Talk about God.’”Mr. Adams made his comments on the National Day of Prayer, a day of observance created by President Harry S. Truman, a Democrat, in 1952. But few New York City mayors have chosen to formally commemorate the day or to speak so fervently about religion — especially not in the way Mr. Adams has.

☆ As New York Boosts Tax Breaks for Movies, Some Critics Pan the Program
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Dana Rubinstein | Nicholas Fandos | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Four years ago, Amazon pulled the plug on its plans to build a headquarters in New York City, amid left-wing outrage over a $3 billion public subsidy package. But New York has hardly cut the company off: Amazon’s film and TV arm has received more than $108 million in state tax credits since then, and the left has raised nary a peep. Kathy Hochul is pushing to expand the program by nearly 70 percent, using the proposed state budget to shower as much as $7.7 billion in tax credits on the industry over the next 11 years. As it now stands, the subsidy is the most generous of any offered by the state, according to an analysis by Reinvent Albany, a watchdog group. The proposed expansion to $700 million a year from $420 million has drawn stern rebukes from a range of critics who argue the decades-old program has consistently been a bad deal for taxpayers.

☆ Governors Island to Be Site of $700 Million Climate Campus
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Emma G. Fitzsimmons | Dana Rubinstein | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the two decades since the federal government turned over control of Governors Island to New York City, city officials have sought an innovative way to use the 172-acre patch of land with stunning views of Lower Manhattan. On Monday, Mayor Eric Adams plans to announce a $700 million campus dedicated to finding solutions to address the climate crisis. The city chose a consortium led by Stony Brook University to transform one of the island’s last big chunks of developable land into a 400,000-square-foot hub called the “New York Climate Exchange.” The campus, which will focus on researching climate solutions and training for green jobs, is expected to open in 2028. The climate hub will serve as a “living laboratory” that features resilient design, with renderings showing shiny sloped buildings covered in vegetation that are intended to evoke the hills of Governors Island. It will include two newly constructed classroom and research buildings on three acres of land that are currently undeveloped and will also make use of some historic buildings on the island.

☆ How Broadway Theater Owners Are Trying to Block a Times Square Casino
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Dana Rubinstein | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Some New Yorkers may love Times Square; some definitely hate it. That also goes for a casino that may be headed there. Caesars Entertainment and SL Green Realty Corporation, New York City’s largest commercial landlord, say that Times Square — with its neon lights and jostling tourists — is tailor-made for their Jay-Z-backed bid for a parlor of one-armed bandits and roulette wheels. But Max Klimavicius, the owner of the century-old Sardi’s restaurant, would like a word. “A casino in Times Square has the potential to jeopardize the character of the theater district and ultimately the fate of its restaurants,” Mr. Klimavicius said.

☆ Why Silicon Valley Bank failed
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( Matt Turner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Silicon Valley Bank made a bold call on where to invest cash. SVB deposits soarSVB's position as the go-to bank in tech made it a huge beneficiary of the Silicon Valley boom through the last few years. Rubinstein notes:"Driven by the boom in venture capital funding, many of Silicon Valley Bank's customers became flush with cash over 2020 and 2021. Here's Rubinstein again:"The problem at Silicon Valley Bank is compounded by its relatively concentrated customer base. And Silicon Valley Bank doesn't have that many of them.

☆ Job cuts, a sole CEO, and AI bets: How Bridgewater is shaking itself up after the Ray Dalio era
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Rebecca Ungarino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

The firm's CEO, Nir Bar Dea, said in a memo that it would lay off employees and restructure. Bar Dea had been a rising star at Bridgewater, which has transitioned leadership in recent years. Former co-CEO Mark Bertolini is also stepping out of the role and returning to Bridgewater's board as an independent director, leaving Bar Dea as sole CEO. "Over time, we expect this platform to produce the next round of growth in the business," Bar Dea wrote. 'Finding a home'As far as high finance executives go, Bar Dea has an unexpected background.

☆ Seeking a Studio in Downtown Brooklyn for Less Than $400,000: She Was Surprised by the Options
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Debra Kamin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The first time Jenn Leyva moved to New York, it was to start college at Columbia University. She took Zoom calls in a corner of the communal living room and made sure to always wash her dishes. Email: thehunt@nytimes.com]She was pleasantly surprised by the options she found online: a handful of studios for less than $400,000, just south of the Brooklyn Bridge, in the corner of the borough where leafy Brooklyn Heights meets Dumbo and Downtown Brooklyn. “Studios were cheap, because everyone was still working from home and wanted a one-bedroom with a separate sleeping space and work space,” Ms. Leyva said. “But my work space is in Manhattan.”She teamed up with Leora Blumberg Rubinstein, a realtor with Douglas Elliman, who approved of her strategy.

☆ The largest hedge fund in the world just named a 37-year-old woman as a co-CIO. Meet the top 11 execs leading Bridgewater into its new era.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Alyson Velati | Michelle Abrego | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Karen Karniol-Tambour will join co-CIOs Greg Jensen and Bob Prince to oversee the hedge fund's investment strategy. Despite a breakout year for many multi-strategy and macro hedge funds, Bridgewater lagged behind its peers. Nir Bar Dea, co-CEOBar Dea. Bridgewater AssociatesAs cochief investment officer, Jensen oversees Bridgewater's investment strategies and research efforts as well as its investment talent. Since joining Bridgewater in 1986, he has been a partner in building the hedge fund's investment process and products.

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