Johnson Withdraws Bid for Mayor
Yesterday, Council Speaker Corey Johnson (D-Chelsea, Hell’s Kitchen) announced that he is officially withdrawing his bid for mayor.
Johnson cited, among other things, his struggles with depression and the recent crises the City has been struggling to overcome.
“Just as I was open about the fact that I was considering a run for mayor, I now want to be open about the fact that I have made the difficult decision not to run,” said Johnson. “This challenging time has led me to rethink how I can best be of service to this city, and I have come to the conclusion that this path is not right for me. I thank everyone who supported my campaign for this most important job. I know that there are plenty of good candidates in the race, and I wish them well.”
Chin, Rivera to Host Census Caravan
Today, Councilmembers Margaret Chin (D-Battery Park City, Chinatown) and Carlina Rivera (D-East Village, Gramercy Park) will be running a Census bike caravan through the Lower East Side and Chinatown.
Together with a bevy of volunteer cyclists and pedestrians, the councilmembers will travel throughout the neighborhoods passing out Census forms and boosting the neighborhoods’ response rates. Chin and Rivera are hosting the event in collaboration with the Asian American Federation (AAF), Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC), Asian Americans for Equality (AAFE) and Chinese Progressive Association (CPA).
The event will take place today from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. To sign up, click here.
De Blasio Announces NYC Recovery Agenda
Yesterday, Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) announced his agenda for the City’s social, medical and economic recovery.
The Mayor will be enacting a series of policy reforms, focusing on the following four goals:
- Continuing to track, trace and suppress COVID-19, while allowing our businesses to stay open and thrive;
- Making the City a hub for public health research, innovation and practice;
- Bringing high-quality jobs back to the City;
- and assisting underprivileged neighborhoods to make the City as equitable as it can possibly be.
Among the newly announced proposals were a competition to develop a rapid COVID test and the creation of a Pandemic Response Lab.
“New York City is about to enter a transformational era,” said de Blasio. “We know that our recovery begins and ends with healthcare, and we will again be a beacon to the rest of the world, rise to the challenge of setting forth a recovery that everyone can look to, and set forth a recovery plan that will work for everyone.”
Stringer, Ramos Call for Year-Round Open Streets Program
Yesterday, City Comptroller Scott Stringer (D) and State Senator Jessica Ramos (D-Queens) called on New York to expand and lengthen the Open Streets program.
In particular, Stringer and Ramos want to start allowing the City’s small businesses and retailers to sell their wares outside. To make their case, they cited the success of the Open Streets program with helping New York’s restaurants; to date, it has saved 90,000 jobs and allowed 10,000 restaurants to open.
“The Open Streets program helped revive our City after the darkest days of the pandemic, and this is exactly the kind of creativity and smart urban planning we need now to jumpstart our economic recovery,” said Stringer. “Why end an initiative that generates critical income for restaurants, keeps workers employed and allows New Yorkers to spend time safely outdoors?
“Instead, we should extend the Open Streets Program year-round, provide guidance around heat lamps and other ways to adapt for cooler weather, and expand the program so that more small businesses and retail establishments can participate. We need to do everything we can to get our businesses back on their feet, get New Yorkers back to work and encourage everyone to eat and shop locally, especially as we head into the holiday season. Expanding the Open Streets program is a no-brainer and I urge the City to double down on its success.”
