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Declining school enrollment: it's not all doom and gloom
Widespread school enrollment declines undoubtedly come with challenges, but that’s not the whole story.
Remember when Rikers needed a Receiver? What will Mamdani do?
First-week actions included two relating to Rikers, but neither weighed in on the broader issue of the need for a true Receiver to enforce the Rikers Consent Decree, not the current prospect of a weak tea “Remediation Manager,” the measure that the judge presiding over the case intends to pursue.
Peter Moskos on "Back From the Brink" and today's issues of public safety
The profound changes in policing in New York City starting in the mid-1990's that Moskos wrote about in his book, and the dramatic drop in crime that ensued, along with Moskos's views of current public-safety issues in the city.
The ludicrous "it's not part of the platform" dodge
"Non-platform" issues come to the Mayor's attention every single day. "What will the candidate do once in office about X, Y, or Z?" is not an unreasonable inquiry. We tried to get answers to 13 questions; the Mamdani campaign didn't respond.
How much meat is on the bones of Mamdani's K-12 platform?
As it appears on his website, it's 171 words in all, most of which don't have to do with what goes on in the classroom. And it's strikingly devoid of planks addressing deep-rooted problems. How will Mamdani fill in the blanks?
The City Council part of the mayoral equation
On Primary Day, you want to know "who is winning?" Leading up to the general election, "What will the candidate be able to accomplish or block" needs to be among the questions posed. That means taking the Council into account.
Mayoral debate on education: Fine question, largely depressing answers
What was striking last night was how many candidates didn't have the substance to fill even 30 seconds, or revealed in that time an under-appreciation of the problems that are going on. I remain convinced that candidates still treat a host of school-related issues as taboo.
Hochul's "Pro-Housing Community" program so far falling flat
A large percentage of municipalities in Westchester and Nassau Counties — two of the beating hearts of exclusionary zoning in the New York City metropolitan area — are saying in effect, “No, thank you, we like our exclusion just the way we have it.” The lack of progress is especially apparent in municipalities with the lowest percentages of non-Hispanic Black residents.
Central paradoxes of the NYC mayoral primary
There's a lot that doesn't add up, at least if voters want to be able to make informed choices. Many substantive issues remain unexplored or underexplored, and the rhetoric often doesn't match what the winning candidate would be able to do as mayor.
“If it can be successfully done 20, 30, 35 years down the road, then I don't see a reason why it couldn't be done and set up from the onset.”
Market-rate condos as an affordable housing tool?
Legislation recently enacted by New York State as part of its budget process directly offers the prospect of preserving several thousand affordable housing units at risk for losing their tenant protections, and indirectly raises the question of why an obvious set of tools aren’t being used to change the day-to-day reality of luxury condominium buildings being developed with zero percent affordable units included.
Federal employment adjusted for population tells a different story
Even before any Trump or GOP Congress cuts this year, overall executive branch civilian employment as adjusted for population is materially down from its peak.
Do they know it's truly an emergency?
Most of the candidates running for mayor of New York City have explicitly described the Trump administration as creating an emergency for the city, including in their assessments the prospect of reduced federal funding. But it is unclear how much they appreciate fully the impact of what is likely coming. They do, however, appear to be united in not admitting that emergencies require sacrifice.
A few questions I'd love the NYC mayoral candidates to answer
Well, 50 actually (not including subparts). With a bunch of "why?" and "why nots?" Taboo breakers, too. Don't worry, though: I've thrown in some easy ones!
Even the easy stuff isn't so easy
How hard should it be to get broad agreement on “unless and until you get the rules changed, follow them”? Not very. But achieving that consensus sometimes seems an impossible dream in New York City, a place where you’re generally not doing your rule-breaking in splendid isolation but rather in ways that have real impacts on others.
Cuomo to the 1 percent: here's a tax cut for Christmas
[From 2011] If you have an adjusted gross income of $1.8 million, for example, and file a joint tax return, New York's Andrew Cuomo has engineered annual tax savings for you of $27,280 in future years.
A win is a win is a win, right? Yes and no.
New poll shows that things are not a lock for Zohran Mamdani, but that he is clearly in the best position. But, if he does win, how big or small that victory is will be quite consequential.
Three housing pilots Mamdani should jump on (and be judged by)
Let's put together a wider range of tools and prove that they can work.
Did Paul Clement play it straight?
Assigned by the presiding judge in the Mayor Adams case to grapple with issues raised by alleged improper conduct by DOJ in seeking dismissal, former Solicitor General appears to falsely pretend that "all roads" lead to a dismissal with prejudice (and not denial of leave to dismiss). We annotate the brief and ask you to consider: did Clement fairly make his case?
Dissecting Mayor Mamdani’s veto message on legislation relating to protests at educational institutions
Both parts that ring true and parts that ring false raise issues of concern. At the same time, any claims on the Council side that the legislation would materially change police procedure are without basis. Did Speaker Menin have a more subtle, supplemental motive in pushing the legislation?
Will HPD resist the zombie calls to narrow the housing lottery door based on “preferences”?
Several proposed changes to the rules of New York City's housing lottery could make the system work more smoothly and efficiently for everyone, but a fetish to uncover what applicants "really" want is a fairness-defeating dead end.
Powerful Comparative Unemployment Viz
These tools provide ways to look far more deeply into unemployment data -- current data and data over time. You have the ability to compare and contrast up to four demographic composites, each with a race/ethnicity, gender, age, and educational attainment element.
Visualize disparities in unemployment
These tools provide ways to look far more deeply into unemployment data -- current data and data over time. You have the ability to compare and contrast up to four demographic composites, each with a race/ethnicity, gender, age, and educational attainment element. Updated with latest (May) data on June 15th.
