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WHAT WILL IT COST YOU TO DRIVE INTO NYC
WHEN WILL IT START?
WHERE HOW WHAT WILL COLLECT THE TOLLS?
HOW WILL IT BE PAID FOR?
WHAT WILL BE THE EFFECT ON CITY ECONOMY?
WHAT WILL BE THE EFFECT ON TRAFFIC?
WILL IT DRIVE PEOPLE BACK TO THE TRAINS AS MTA HOPES?
PRESENT STATUS
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WPCNR CAMPAIGN 2022. News and Comment by Professor Stephen J. Rolandi. April 14, 2022:
Lt. Governor Brian Benjamin’s decision earlier this week to resign following his indictment on Federal bribery charges, has added more uncertainty to this year’s New York elections (in the last two weeks, the new Congressional and state legislative district lines have been challenged in court; we await the outcome of litigation to see if the new lines remain in place, or are changed).
Mr. Benjamin is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
In the meantime, his name remains on the ballot as the official Lt. Governor nominee of the Democratic Party State Committee. He is being challenged in the June 28 primary by activist Ana Maria Archilla, who is running with NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams; as well as former Brooklyn Deputy Borough President and non-profit executive Diana Reyna, running with gubernatorial candidate Rep. Tom Suozzi.
In New York, Lt. Governor candidates run separately from candidates for Governor in a party primary. For the general election, however, the successful primary nominees are paired together as a ticket, similar to President and Vice President nationally.
Generally, New York election law does not permit a resigned official such as Mr. Benjamin to leave the ballot unless he changes his residency, dies, or is nominated for another elected position – none of these options appear viable (it is possible that the State Legislature might pass a law to remove his name from the ballot, but this appears unlikely as well). So, Mr. Benjamin’s name will likely remain on the June primary ballot.
Potential successors might include: State Senate Majority Leader (and current acting Lt. Governor) Andrea Stewart-Cousins; former NYC Mayoral candidates Kathryn Garcia and Ray McGuire; and possibly Ms. Reyna, who is considered a more moderate/centrist Democrat.
Governor Hochul now has to make two decisions – (1) who to select to fill out the balance of former Lt. Governor Benjamin’s term, which ends on December 31, 2022, and (2) whether or not to endorse one of the remaining Lt. Governor candidates in the Democratic Primary; or stay neutral.
My guess is that Governor Hochul will appoint a new Lt. Governor who will agree not to stand for election, and let the voters determine who will sit in the Lt. Governor’s chair next January 1, 2023. This may be the least objectionable option for her to pursue.
The State Legislature needs to change the election law to permit a new candidate to be chosen in situations like this one. Hopefully, they will.
Time will tell. This election season will not be boring, to say the least.
(Professor Rolandi served in the administrations of Governors David Paterson and Andrew Cuomo from 2008-13 as Deputy Commissioner, New York State Division of Human Rights. A political scientist, he is an Adjunct Professor of Public Administration at Pace University and John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York. His views are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of his current/former employers).
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BULLETIN: THE SUSPECT IN THE N TRAIN SHOOTINGS WOUNDING 13 AND INJURING 10 OTHERS TUESDAY WAS APPREHENDED BY NEW YORK CITY POLICE ON ST. MARKS PLACE IN MANHATTAN AFTER A CRIME STOPPER’S LINE CALLER TIPPED THE POLICE ABOUT THE SUSPECT BEING IN A MACDONALD’S IN THE EAST VILLAGE AT 6TH STREET AND 1ST AVENUE, ARRESTING HIM ON ST. MARK’S PLACE.
Police apprehended Frank R. James, after a discarded car key in the subway car where the shootings took place found by police lead them to a rental car agency that had rented a van police found at the KINGS HIGHWAY “N” LINE STATION LINKING HIM TO BEING IN THE VICINITY OF THE SHOOTING.
NYPD COMMISSIONER KEECHANT SEWELL STATED: “We used every resource at our disposal to gather and process significant evidence that directly links Mr. James to the shooting. We were able to shrink his world quickly. There was nowhere left for him to run.”
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WESTCHESTER COUNTY EXECUTIVE GEORGE LATIMER ISSUED THIS STATEMENT :
“We treat today’s attack in Brooklyn ( Editor’s Note: at the 36th Street, Sunset Station aboard an “N” Subway car by a lone gunman still at large 8:30 A.M. Tuesday morning — 10 SHOT, 13 SUSTAINED SMOKE INHALATION OR INJURIES, 5 CRITICAL, EXPECTED TO SURVIVE) with complete and urgent seriousness.
Westchester County Police are deploying additional officers to railroad stations and other transit hubs today, and are also closely monitoring the situation in New York City through our presence on several regional law enforcement task forces.
“County Police officers from the Patrol and Special Operations Divisions will join with municipal police departments in heightened visibility at local railroad stations and other public transit hubs, such as the Transportation Center in White Plains.
Sewell said the suspect was “a male black, approximately 5 feet, 5 inches tall with a heavy build. He was wearing a green construction-type vest and a hooded sweatshirt.” She also said a number of suspicious devices were found, but no other explosive devices had been found, at the time of the news conference late this morning.
The N train is named The Broadway Express. The station of the attack is at 36th Street & 4th Avenue, Sunset Park in Brooklyn and is a busy transfer hub, connects with the D and R trains. It is a busy rush hour station formerly part of the BMT line,(Brooklyn Manhattan Transit).
Police according to statements to media, said they were seeking a person of interest, Frank James, when the police found a key belonging to a van that was identified as when Mr. James had rented. The van was found 4 blocks away at the Kings Highway N Line subway station, where police therorize that is where Mr. James may have entered the subway system. prior to the shootings. Police caution that Mr. James may not be the shooter.)
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Governor Kathy Hochul’s personal pick for Lieutenant GoveRnor Brian Benjamin was arrested on alleged bribery, fraud and falsification of records this morning, according to The New York Times (first to report the story), Bloomberg on MSN, Yahoo, NBC. He was scheduled to be arraigned today.
This is the second major high profile embarrassment to the state Democratic Party in two weeks.
The first was the Democratic-controlled legislature in Albany redrawing election districts across the state that were allegedly gerrymandered to favor Democratic candidates, resulting in the loss of 4 Republican districts. A 14-person lawsuit in Steuben County resulted in Judge Patrick McAllister ruling the newly redrawn districts were unconstitutional the way they were enacted as well evidently gerrymandered. That case has temporarily been stayed by the Appellate Division, 4th Department, and awaits a ruling April 20.
The second came today with the arrest of Mr. Benjamin. The charges date back to when Benjamin was a State Senator campaigning to be New York City Comptroller.
The wildfire of media attention resulted in Westchester County canceling the Sustainable Westchester, Con Ed announcement of a energy-conservation “Ap.”
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WPCNR WHITE PLAINS LAW JOURNAL. From New York State Appellate Court, Fourth Department. April 11, 2022:
Appellate Division of the 4th Department Judge Stephen Lindley allowed the New York State Primaries to proceed under the newly drawn districts April 28, granting a motion to stay the denial of the newly drawn districts that were presented in February until April 20. Judge Lindley wrote:
“The Legislature may begin redrawing the map right now if it chooses to do so,” he said. “Or the Legislature may choose to do nothing and risk the possibility of having to live with the map drawn by Judge McAllister’s neutral experts should respondents lose before the Court of Appeals and lack sufficient time to propose a substitute map that withstands constitutional scrutiny after exhaustion of appellate remedies.”
The motion to stay was filed by Governor Kathy Hochul, State Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins, and Assembly Leader Carl Heastie, in reaction to New York Supreme Court Judge Patrick McAllister’s decision the maps were a violation of state constitution procedure and clearly gerrymandered.
The full panel of Appellate Judges of the 4th Department will meet April 20 to consider the constitutionality issue and gerrymandering issue of the controversial remaps of New York Election Districts.
Pending the Appellate Court decision, if favorable to the 14 plaintiffs who filed the initial court action complaining the districts were unfairly drawn to eliminate 4 Republican held seats, would most likely be appealed by the state to the higher Court of Appeals, or by the plaintiffs or the respondents(the state) if the Appellate Court rules against them.
The result at the present time is the June 28 primary will appear to proceed under the new district redrawing under dispute, or it might not.
“My sense is that the courts in New York, specifically the State Supreme Court in the 7th Judicial District (Steuben County) and the 4th Department (Appellate Division, Rochester) are attempting to fashion a solution to the problem caused by the Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) and the State Legislature in drawing Congressional and state legislature district lines that appear to heavily favor the Democrats in this year’s election. Such a solution hopefully can prevent these elections being run not only this year, but next year (2023) as well. Time will tell.”