Budget-selling season

Presented by NY Renews, a project of Tides Advocacy

Hochul’s on a tour promoting new initiatives the state is starting, but she hit her hometown paper with one thing she’s not doing.

“We are done with bail — under the circumstances that are before me today,” she said in a meeting with Buffalo News editors and reporters.

The changes Hochul pushed through the budget process have left many on both sides of the issue unhappy even though they allow the governor and the state Democratic Party to claim progress on the issue of crime.

Her comments still leave room for the criminal justice fight to move toward ancillary changes, But Hochul said she doesn’t plan on diving back into bail because “we accomplished what we needed to do.”

Hochul also on Monday acknowledged that criticisms that she didn’t build support for her housing plan before proposing are … accurate. She was only reelected in November, she said, then spoke on the issue at a housing conference in December and had a plan prepared by January.

“So the fact that people are saying, ‘Well, if you’d only taken the time to build support’ — I didn’t have time,” Hochul said. “But I also didn’t want to miss the window to really start the conversation and say, ‘We’re talking about housing now.’”

Hochul has some bigger budget wins to celebrate — she was in Buffalo talking about the state’s $1 billion mental health plan — but a handful are followed by calls for legal challenges. The bail laws, for example, are being carefully watched by advocates who worry judges will use their specific authority to set bail in excess to what the laws intend.

“Litigation will certainly flow from this,” Center for Community Alternatives’ Katie Schaffer told the Times Union.

Hochul’s measure to end natural gas hookups in newly constructed buildings and homes by 2027 could see legal challenges akin to a similar measure in California, but the governor said she is unfazed.

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WHERE’S KATHY? Speaking to the New York State Police Officers Memorial Remembrance Ceremony and touring a STEAM Lab in Elmont.

WHERE’S ERIC? Making an education-related announcement with schools Chancellor David Banks; speaking at the National Urban League’s Safe and Just Communities Summit; speaking at the grand opening of a new office for Propel; speaking at a benefit for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine; and delivering an award to former First Deputy Mayor Lorraine Grillo at the Girl Scouts of Greater New York Gala.

WHAT CITY HALL IS READING

“Racetracks, Parks, Offices: A Frantic Search for Migrant Housing,” by The New York Times’ Dana Rubinstein: “Facing an expected deluge of migrants in the coming weeks, an overburdened shelter system and an impossibly tight housing market, New York City officials are beginning to prove the adage that desperation breeds creativity.”

“‘Eric Adams Please Give Us a Call’: Mayor Hasn’t Reached Out After Jordan Neely Killing, Family Says,” by THE CITY’s Gwynne Hogan: “The family of Jordan Neely, the 30-year-old man who was killed in a crowded subway car last week after a former U.S. marine, Daniel Penny, put him in a fatal chokehold, spoke out Monday in a statement and urged Mayor Eric Adams to reach out to them.”

BODEGA RESEARCH: “Why bacon, egg and cheese prices have doubled and more convos in Bronx bodegas,” by WNYC’s Nsikan Akpan, Elizabeth Alcántara, Jena Barchas-Lichtenstein, Shaun Field and Josefa Velásquez

NYU Langone, Brown launch NIH-funded study of overdose prevention centers, by POLITICO’s Maya Kaufman: A first-of-its-kind, federally-funded study will evaluate the impact of overdose prevention centers in New York City and Providence, R.I, over the next four years. It is the first time the federal government has funded a study on the centers, where people can test and use controlled substances under the supervision of staff trained to respond to overdoses, the researchers said.

Extended day 3K, pre-K programs see low enrollment despite demand: Analysis, by POLITICO’s Madina Touré: Former de Blasio administration officials say that despite demand from working parents for full day early childhood education seats, the Adams administration isn’t doing enough to educate parents about the free or subsidized programs.

WHAT ALBANY'S READING

BIG BUDGET SPENDING, Cont.:

“Half a Billion in the Bank — and Next to No One in the Stands,” by New York Focus’ Sam Mellins: “Governor Kathy Hochul and other New York lawmakers are betting big that they can bring back Belmont’s faded glory. This year’s state budget allocated $455 million in public money to tear down the grandstand, build a new one in its place, and make improvements to the track and the property. Once Belmont is “modernized,” the theory goes, the crowds will return — and with them, the economic activity and tax revenue that the track once generated.”

“State’s new Wadsworth campus to cost $1 billion more than anticipated,” by Times Union’s Rachel Silberstein: “The plan for the long-awaited overhaul of the Wadsworth Center, the state’s public health lab and research facilities, will cost taxpayers $1.7 billion, adding close to a billion dollars to the previously projected $750 million price tag.”

DATA VIZ via Empire Center: “New York school districts holding budget referendums next week plan to spend an average of $31,929 per student, according to a new analysis from the Empire Center … In total, the districts are on track to have increased per-pupil spending by 45 percent over the past 10 years, one and a half times the rate of inflation during that time.”

“Opening statements begin for fatal NY limo crash trial,” by The Associated Press’ Maysoon Khan: “A limousine company operator on trial for a crash that killed 20 people in upstate New York was portrayed by a prosecutor Monday as directly responsible for the deaths, while a defense lawyer argued he was simply in the dark about mechanical problems likely to blame for the wreck.”

#UpstateAmerica: Heads up, Syracuse. A new movie filming in Central New York needs more than 1,000 extras.

TRUMP'S NEW YORK

“What If E. Jean Carroll Doesn’t Win? The rise and fall and rise of the Me Too movement,” from New York magazine’s Rebecca Traister: “She is a living embodiment not only of how much has changed but also of how that change happens: slowly, arduously, sinuously. That a former president could, in a civil context, be held legally accountable for a nearly 30-year-old alleged assault underscores how long it takes to alter laws, practices, and attitudes — and how shortsighted recent proclamations about the death of Me Too have been.”

"In the end, Trump did not testify at the trial, leaving Carroll to define him on her terms,” by The New York Times’ Kate Christobek: “For the past two weeks, Donald J. Trump’s lawyers have tried to paint E. Jean Carroll’s rape allegations as “unbelievable.” At the same time, they have left open the possibility that Mr. Trump could come to court and deny the accusations himself. On Sunday night, that door officially closed. Last week, Mr. Trump’s lawyer Joseph Tacopina told the court his client would not be testifying or attending the trial.”

AROUND NEW YORK

— State Sen. Kevin Parker and Assemblymember Ken Zebrowski want changes to how tickets for attending mixed martial arts events are taxed.

— NYC Council candidate and Harlem pastor Al Taylor is facing scrutiny for flip-flops on abortion rights. And Taylor, an assemblymember, previously counted $400 in laundry costs among campaign fees.

— The Kelly Clarkson Show is moving from Universal Lot to 30 Rock reportedly because of the expansion of New York’s Film Tax Credit.

SOCIAL DATA BY DANIEL LIPPMAN

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: The Atlantic’s Mark Leibovich … NYT’s Ezra Klein … Fox News’ Dana Perino, Garrett Tenney and Jordan Powell … NBC News’ Peter Nicholas … Nihal Krishan of FedScoop … N.Y. Mag’s Justin Miller … Chris Ullman of Ullman Communications … Eva Dou … Olya Moskalenko … Julia Robertson

Real Estate

“They Helped New York Bounce Back. Now Their Rents Are Surging.” by The New York Times’ Stefanos Chen: “Three years after the pandemic flattened the Manhattan office market and the commercial ecosystem that depended on it, small businesses in the other boroughs are facing the biggest rent increases in the city, as storefront rents in Manhattan are falling. The burden is landing mostly on store owners in predominantly Black, Latino and Asian neighborhoods, according to a new analysis of Department of Finance data.”