Mayor Adams Administration Bully Culture

[David Goldsmith]

NYC Planning Commission's Leah Goodridge Sparks Twitter Outcry

New York City Planning Commissioner Leah Goodridge trolled a critic on Twitter on Christmas, threatening him with a defamation lawsuit.

therealdeal.com

NYC planning commissioner turns Christmas Twitter troll​

In affordable housing debate, Leah Goodridge threatens planner with lawsuit​

In the wee hours of Christmas morning, New York City Planning Commissioner Leah Goodridge was distributing not presents but bad tidings on Twitter.
At 12 a.m. on Dec. 25, the attorney and public official clapped back at a user who had knocked her housing policy ideas.
“Engaging in defamation might seem cute on Twitter,” Goodridge wrote. “It’s not cute in the courtroom though.”

Her threat to sue sparked an outcry from attorneys and housing policy wonks alike. They labeled it frivolous, questioned Goodridge’s understanding of defamation and deemed her response an abuse of power.
The trail of tweets preceding the threat reflects the deeply polarized debate about development and gentrification in cities.

Goodridge, a tenants’ rights attorney and appointee of Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, had spent the days before the holiday debating the impact of YIMBYism, notably whether housing development advocated by the “Yes in my backyard” movement displaces urban communities of color.

A Dec. 21 Tweet by a self-described Marxist and policy analyst sparked those musings.
An account named Spirangelos Ferrer had knocked the movement as bad for the masses, drawing a rebuttal from a Bostonian YIMBY with the username Sam.

Sam argued that YIMBYism was a response to oppressive zoning that has restricted construction, concentrating demand on a limited supply of housing and driving up rents and homelessness.
“It’s really not that complicated,” he concluded.
Soon after, another Marxist with the handle Matrixgoth blamed pro-development politics for displacing communities of color.

“Run far away from YIMBYism it’s toxic,” the user wrote.
That’s where Goodridge stepped in, using Matrixgoth’s tweet as a launchpad for a discussion of gentrification.
Referencing the decades-long migration of wealthier, white Americans from the suburbs back to cities, Goodridge asked who was behind the “reclaiming of cities” and “from whom” they were taking that land.

She wrote that YIMBYs ignore that new development is geared for “white residents returning from the suburbs,” which she characterized as “white supremacy at its finest.”

On Christmas Eve, a city planner from Boston with the username Sandy Johnston called attention to “a supposedly leftist planning commissioner” asking “what it would be like if we could establish a hukou system.”

A supposedly leftist planning commissioner “just asking questions” about what it would be like if we could establish a hukou system is really grounds for rebooting the entire system.
— @sandypsj@mastodon.social (Sandy Johnston ) (@sandypsj) December 25, 2022

Hukou is a Chinese class system widely criticized as segregationist. In it, citizens are permanently classified as urban or rural. City dwellers can access social benefits including housing that are off limits to country residents, who are restricted from moving to more affluent city centers.
Johnston’s point seemed to be that Goodridge, to protect poorer urban communities, would limit suburbanites’ right to move to cities.

Rather than address Johnston’s claim — such as by noting that Hukou disadvantages poor and include ethnic minorities in rural China, whereas America’s suburbanites tend to be white and well off — Goodridge dug herself into a hole, threatening the defamation suit.
The replies were not supportive.
Some, including other attorneys, ridiculed Goodridge’s defamation claim and questioned whether she was fit to practice law.

Because Goodridge is a public official, she would have to show that Johnston intended actual malice and presented information he knew to be false. Johnston did not respond to a request for comment.
Others questioned her integrity as a public official.

Some even demanded her removal from the planning commission.

One commenter noted the optics of a city official spending Christmas arguing with constituents on Twitter.

 

[David Goldsmith]

Mayor Adams tells progressives who bash the rich to ‘leave’ NYC

Mayor Adams had a message for New York City’s tax-the-rich-promoting progressives Wednesday: Get outta town! “It blows my mind when I hear, ‘So what if they leave?’ No, you …

www.nydailynews.com

Mayor Adams tells progressives who bash the rich to ‘leave’ NYC
By Chris Sommerfeldt
New York Daily News
Dec 14, 2022 at 2:28 pm

Mayor Adams had a message for New York City’s tax-the-rich-promoting progressives Wednesday: Get outta town!
“It blows my mind when I hear, ‘So what if they leave?’ No, you leave!” Adams said of people on the political left questioning why the city needs ultra-wealthy residents. “I want my high-income earners right here.”
Adams was speaking at a breakfast event on Wall Street hosted by the Association for a Better New York, and drew applause from the crowd of corporate and civic leaders for his lefty-bashing remarks.

Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams are pictured at a breakfast event on Wall Street hosted by the Association for a Better New York on Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022, in Manhattan. (Don Pollard/Office of the Governor)
Elaborating on his broadside, the mayor made the case that deep-pocketed New Yorkers play a critical role in the city’s economy due to their high tax rates.
“Fifty-one percent of our taxes are paid by 2% of New Yorkers,” he said.
He continued: “I want the person who drives the limousine to be paid a good wage and the person sitting in the back of the limousine to continue to use their discretionary funds to go to our restaurants, to our hotels.”

The mayor’s comments drew withering pushback from progressive Democrats on Twitter.
“Can’t wait for voters to clap back and tell Hizzoner to leave,” Joshua Sauberman, a onetime Democratic congressional on Long Island, tweeted.

Mayor Eric Adams speaks at a breakfast event on Wall Street hosted by the Association for a Better New York on Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022, in Manhattan. (Don Pollard/Office of the Governor)
Adams, a moderate Democrat who has feuded with the progressives of his party at an increasing rate in recent months, didn’t just single out left-wing adherents in his Wall Street speech.
He also took aim at the New York City press corps, claiming they always “look at the worst part of our day and highlight that over and over again.”
“We have to tell our news publications: Enough, enough, enough,” he said before claiming he does not see the same type of press treatment when he visits “other countries and other cities.”
The mayor would not elaborate when asked by reporters after his remarks which countries he believe have a better media culture. He returned last week from an overseas trip that included a visit to Qatar, a nation with infamously repressive press freedom laws.

 

[David Goldsmith]

This was a whopper:
Mayor Adams claiming he worked 365 days straight while practically in tears saying he finally took just 2 days off to mourn his dead mother.

“It’s interesting that after 365 days, without a day off, sun up to sun down [of working]...I was amazed to see how you responded,” Adams began his admonishment.

‘I’m not going to apologize’: Mayor Eric Adams berates reporters for questioning his whereabouts as storm ravaged parts of Queens

”Nowhere in the city charter does it state I have to tell the New York City press where my whereabouts are, and I’m not going to do that," said the mayor.

www.silive.com

‘I’m not going to apologize’: Mayor Eric Adams berates reporters for questioning his whereabouts as storm ravaged parts of Queens​

Mayor Eric Adams is pictured in Times Square in October. On Friday, officials in his administration said the mayor took two days off starting Thursday, but they would not say where he was. (Luiz C. Ribeiro/New York Daily News/TNS) TNS
. — Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday strongly rebuked reporters questioning his whereabouts at the end of last week while a storm ravaged parts of Queens, announcing he “deserved” time away.
The mayor was absent from public eye as tidal flooding caused by a massive winter storm overtook Far Rockaway and other parts of New York City, severely damaging homes, businesses and other structures.

“I don’t,” said Adams. “So if I take time out to get my mental capacity together, so I could take the city through crisis, I deserved those two days. And my fellow New Yorkers believe I deserve those two days.”
The mayor received a brief round of applause for his response.
After taking a second question from a different reporter regarding his absence last week, Adams said that he felt he was entitled to be able to “walk out of a building without a reporter hiding behind a flower pot, without someone following me. I deserve a moment to really deescalate.”
He referred to his job as mayor as the second-most difficult job in politics in America, and said he “was not going to apologize” for taking a break — and for not announcing where he was.
”Nowhere in the city charter does it state I have to tell the New York City press where my whereabouts are, and I’m not going to do that.”
When the original reporter who set Adams off attempted to clarify his question, pointing to the Mayor of Philadelphia Jim Kenney announcing last year — ahead of time — he was to undergo a surgery, and planned to be absent from office, Adams rebuked that statement.

“In my absence, the first deputy mayor is responsible for the city, that was in place. You saw my first deputy mayor [Sheena Wright] hold a press conference, giving a complete diagnosis of what was happening in the city. ... to hold me to what another man is doing is not how I’m going to run this city.”
“There are going to be days in the future that I’m going to leave without letting you know beforehand,” concluded Adams. “But we will have the right people in place ... I’m not going to always tell this press where I am, to have you sit outside the location and saying my every move.
“I learned enough of that.”

 

[David Goldsmith]

NYC councilmember says Mayor Adams tried to stop police transparency bill by trading budget cuts

Adams’ efforts came as he slashes funding for city services, including schools, libraries and parks, due to what his administration has called a fiscal crisis.

gothamist.com

NYC councilmember says Mayor Adams tried to stop police transparency bill by trading budget cuts​

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https://gothamist.com/staff/elizabeth-kim
Mayor Eric Adams told at least one member of the City Council he would restore cuts to their favorite programs if they agreed to vote against a police transparency bill the mayor and NYPD officials vigorously opposed, according to four people familiar with conversations in the Council.
Adams’ attempts to horse-trade using the budget, which he has unique leverage over as mayor, come while the city is battling a fiscal crisis. But his efforts had limited impact on the outcome: The Council overwhelmingly passed the legislation Wednesday in a 35-9 vote — a veto-proof majority.
The bill, authored by Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and introduced with a majority of councilmembers as cosponsors, requires police officers to report all their investigative interactions with civilians, including low-level encounters not previously required to be tracked.
One councilmember said, before the vote, Adams and other administration officials floated restoring cuts in an area important to the lawmaker in exchange for a no vote on the legislation. The councilmember spoke to Gothamist on the condition their name and details of the mayor’s offer not be disclosed because it was a private conversation.
Another Council source who also spoke on the condition of anonymity out of respect for private conversations with lawmakers said several councilmembers told the source they were approached by Adams, who offered them funding for their pet initiatives or inquired about what kind of funding they wanted.
In a statement Friday, Adams’ office denied the administration made any such offers to councilmembers.

“What you shared is inaccurate,” said mayoral spokesperson Charles Lutvak. “The mayor did not offer to a councilmember to restore any budget cuts in exchange for a vote on Intro 586-A.”
News of Adams personally reaching out to councilmembers was first reported Wednesday in the New York Daily News, which cited Manhattan Councilmember Erik Bottcher as among those the mayor contacted. Bottcher initially sponsored the “How Many Stops” Act, but surprised his colleagues when he withdrew his support of the legislation Monday.
On Friday, Bottcher’s chief of staff Carl Wilson denied to Gothamist that there was any quid pro quo involved in the councilmember’s decision to vote against the legislation but confirmed Bottcher spoke with Adams the day before the vote.
The mayor and Council have been locked in a bitter battle over recent budget cuts. In November, Adams ordered broad cuts to city services, including schools, libraries and police, and has repeatedly said more cuts are in store because of financial pressures the city faces from the migrant crisis, expiring federal pandemic aid and slowing tax revenue growth.
Councilmembers responded by holding an 11-hour hearing this month where some grilled budget officials over whether the cuts were necessary, pointing to recent revenue projections that were less dire than initially forecast. But as mayor, Adams retains significant control over spending reductions throughout the fiscal year and will propose the city’s next budget in the coming months.
Administration officials estimate the city faces a $7 billion budget deficit, but a recent report by the Independent Budget Office, the city’s fiscal watchdog, found a much smaller gap of $1.8 billion next year.

Adams faces heavy criticism over the cuts from lawmakers and residents alike, with a Quinnipiac poll earlier this month finding the spending reductions were a factor in his abysmal approval ratings — the lowest of any NYC mayor in the history of the poll.
The mayor has blamed the cuts on the federal government’s alleged failure to provide sufficient funding and policy responses to the migrant crisis.
“I have to go into the agencies and find the money because the law tells me, Eric, every two years you have to balance the budget,” Adams said Thursday during a town hall with older residents in Brooklyn. “So when you look at these cuts that everybody's running around saying, ‘Well, don't cut here, don't cut here.’”
Adams staunchly opposed the NYPD transparency legislation, saying it would burden officers with additional paperwork and undermine public safety. Supporters of the changes said they would curb biased policing and improve oversight.
Adams has 30 days from the Council’s vote to decide whether to veto the bill. Should he issue a veto, the Council can override it with a two-thirds majority.
The “How Many Stops” Act had broad support from criminal justice advocates, who said the new rules would check racially biased policing by requiring police to report demographic information about people they stop, including their perceived race and ethnicity. The NYPD has long faced accusations of racial bias but has said it’s taken steps in recent years to police communities more equitably.

Many LGBTQ advocates backed the legislation, pointing to an ugly history of police violence against members of their community. Bottcher, who dropped his support from the measures, is a member of the Council’s LGBTQ Caucus and represents Chelsea and Greenwich Village, home of the Stonewall Uprising that launched the LGBTQ rights movement in the U.S.
While Wednesday’s bill passed by a comfortable margin, Bottcher’s no vote puzzled many other councilmembers and political observers.
Asked about his conversations with Adams and whether the mayor offered him any incentive to change his mind, Bottcher sent Gothamist a statement saying he had “serious concerns” about the bill and had asked the Council to consider a pilot program first.
“My decision was informed by conversations with my NYCHA tenant leaders who strongly oppose this bill, District Attorneys Alvin Bragg and Darcel Clarke, and many other New Yorkers who think it’s a big gamble at a time when public safety is at the forefront of people’s minds,” the statement read.
“Any suggestion that horse trading was involved is categorically false,” it added. “I certainly would have benefited more by voting for the bill, especially as committee assignments are being decided at the Council, but I was elected to do what I think is right — not what benefits me politically.”
Allen Roskoff, a local gay rights activist, said he was disappointed by the councilmember’s vote.

“It is a gay issue, especially for LGBTQ people of color,” Roskoff told Gothamist. “I wish he had voted differently.”

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