A new Belmont Park

And they’re off — with a $455 million loan.

The state budget this week included the controversial request from the New York Racing Association to secure the loan from the state to rebuild the venerable Belmont Park racetrack on Long Island.

Anti-horse racing activists lobbied against the measure, and good-government groups balked at the outlay from the state, but Gov. Kathy Hochul and lawmakers, particularly those who represent the track that borders Queens, said it was important to invest in the track and make it a state and national attraction.

“The transformation of Belmont Park will secure the future of thoroughbred racing in New York State, create thousands of good jobs and drive tourism to Long Island and the region for decades to come,” NYRA president David O’Rourke said in a statement.

The rehab of Belmont, the third and final leg of the Triple Crown which kicks off Saturday with the Kentucky Derby, will ultimately lead to the closure of the NYRA-owned Aqueduct Racetrack just 12 miles away in Queens.

When the project is finished in three or four years, NYRA racing would shift solely to Belmont and then Saratoga in the summer. Among the changes at Belmont, which opened its season Thursday, will include a new synthetic track and an overhauled clubhouse.

Belmont was last renovated in 1968, and when it is done, Aqueduct would revert back to the management of the state — which would look to redevelop the property that has long been eyed for development because it is near JFK airport.

The budget includes language to ensure that people employed at Aqueduct would be given the opportunity to get jobs at Belmont.

The budget also requires the state Gaming Commission to create an Aqueduct Redevelopment Community Advisory Board consisting of state and local appointees to review and recommend any plans to redevelop the track, which is surrounded by residential neighborhoods.

From the Capitol

GOVERNORS REVIEW BUDGET: Well, if you ever wondered what it would be like to listen to former Govs. David Paterson and Andrew Cuomo talk state politics for an hour, you now have your chance.

Once foes — when in 2010 Cuomo boxed Paterson out of running for a full term — the two former governors have since reconciled and talked on Cuomo’s nascent podcast about the state budget.

Neither one offered rave reviews. In fact, they both generally panned it, saying Gov. Kathy Hochul should use the power of her office to get more of what she wants from lawmakers. Then again, Paterson was at the helm in 2010 when the budget deal wasn’t finished until August — but his team did modernize the idea of putting policy into extenders to force a deal.

“Governor Hochul, for some reason, has not exercised those powers” of her office, Paterson said. “I don’t think she doesn’t want to. I don’t think she recognizes that she could change the dynamic that exists between her and the Legislature.”

As for Cuomo, he said, “I don’t think anyone won anything.” He thought Hochul missed a chance to overhaul policing — rather than tweaks to bail laws — and should have pressed for more affordable housing instead of dropping her sweeping housing proposal in a bid to avoid further budget delays.

“There was so much good work to do, and nothing of any significance happens,” Cuomo, who resigned in 2021 over sexual harassment allegations, said of the state budget. — Joseph Spector

From City Hall

FROM GOD’S LIPS TO YOUR EARS: Mayor Eric Adams explained why he has been talking about god and prayer more frequently during a city Office of Faith-Based and Community Partnerships event Thursday. In short, the order came from on high.

“I remember the day like it was yesterday. God said: Jan. 1, 2022, you’re going to be the mayor,” Adams said to a congregation gathered at a prominent Brooklyn church, recalling the timestamped revelation he received when he was just 30 years old. In February, the mayor garnered headlines when he dismissed the idea of separating church and state — later saying he was only emphasizing that he carries out his official duties with faith in mind. On Thursday, he explained the genesis behind those comments. “The same voice I heard 32 years ago spoke to me a few months ago and said: talk about god, Eric.” — Joe Anuta

CHOKING DEATH DIVIDES POLS: The killing of Jordan Neely, who was put in a chokehold Monday by another straphanger and later died from his injuries, has opened up a wide gulf in New York politics.

On one side is Adams. On the other, a growing roster of elected officials. And in the middle is Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Neely, who is Black, was reportedly acting erratically on an F train Monday afternoon when a 24-year-old passenger, who is white, put him in a chokehold. The 30 year old later died from his injuries, and on Wednesday the medical examiner ruled his death a homicide. Adams has urged observers to give Bragg time to finish his investigation and wait until more is known about the incident before passing judgment.

Politicians from Congress down to the City Council, however, have expressed outrage over Neely’s death and the lack of action from the judicial system.

“Jordan Neely didn’t deserve to die. He didn’t deserve to be choked to death in plain sight for the crime of being unhoused and in need of care,” Maurice Mitchell, director of the Working Families Party, said in a statement. “Yet both the Mayor and Governor have refused to call this what it is: a modern-day public lynching.” — Joe Anuta

On The Beats

HOCHUL ON SULLIVAN: Hochul faced a new round of questions Thursday over whether she knew about a reported history of sexual harassment from a top adviser, and the Democratic governor again claimed no knowledge of his troubled past.

Hochul told reporters she was still learning about the allegations against Adam Sullivan, who was a trusted yet largely private adviser to her during her previous runs for office, including her gubernatorial race last year.

The New York Times reported Wednesday that Sullivan’s treatment of women and staff extended not only to his tenure last year with Hochul, but to a previous job at the Hub Project, a Democratic advocacy group. He was later fired from that position.

But all the allegations were news to Hochul, she said.

“I did not know any of this,” Hochul told reporters after an event in Manhattan. “That’s why it’s so troubling to me to know that this was going on, because our relationships were more one on one. I didn’t see him in this environment, but from what I know now, I want to find out more.”

Read more here: Hochul on troubled ex-adviser: ‘I did not know any of this’

HEALTH CARE: Members of the New York State Nurses Association are picketing outside New York-Presbyterian’s Brooklyn Methodist Hospital to protest executives’ proposals to cut staffing in several units and loosen restrictions on where nurses can be temporarily reassigned.

“They want to have the bare minimum staffing,” said Al Crispino, a nurse in the infection control department and chair of NYSNA’s bargaining committee at the hospital. “It’s not acceptable.”

The union’s contract with the hospital expired April 30. — Maya Kaufman

CLIMATE PLAN PROGRESS: The state took its first steps toward implementing measures recommended by a sweeping plan to slash emissions substantially in the coming decades — but fell short on some key items. The budget passed earlier this week includes a landmark law to ban fossil fuel combustion in most new buildings by 2029 with some exceptions. It invests $200 million to weatherize and decarbonize the homes of 20,000 low-income New York residents.

And it includes legislative buy-in for a sweeping cap-and-trade program similar to California’s program to place an economywide limit on emissions and auction off allowances to pollute, raising potentially billions in revenue to invest in clean energy programs. Lawmakers put down a marker that they’d help decide how to spend the money raised and set up a pathway to get payments to New York households to defray higher fuel costs from the plan.

“I think it’s a decent start,” said Assemblymember Deborah Glick (D-Manhattan), who chairs the Environmental Conservation Committee. “Everybody always wants everything done all at once. It’s just not the way the world works. Obviously, we have other bills that are moving through the Legislature that are components of addressing the climate crisis.” — Marie J. French

Around New York

— Via Times Union: Saratoga BLM shuts down meeting after Montagnino infers they toppled statue.

— Are you interested in sailing? Oneida Lake is offering free lessons every week all summer. (Upstate New York)

— Here’s the highlights about the ban on fossil-fuel hookups in New York. (WNYC)

— Erie County approved the $1.54 billion project to build a Buffalo Bills stadium. (Buffalo News)