WORLD WORLDWIDE USA New York NY New York City NYC thecity THE CITY News Journal Update - THE CITY SCOOP: Mayor Adams Personally Asked Former NYPD Commissioner Sewell Not to Discipline Top Cop

 

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If you know anyone who might like this newsletter, send it to them. If this was sent to you by someone else, subscribe here — it's free!  Dear New Yorkers, Mayor Eric Adams personally asked former NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell not to discipline the department’s top police chief, THE CITY has learned. The city’s Civilian Complaint Review Board had recommended that Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey, the NYPD’s highest-ranking uniformed officer, be disciplined for abusing his authority 18 months earlier. (THE CITY had reported the incident in a video investigation in March.) It was Sewell’s job to decide whether or not to heed the CCRB’s recommendation that Maddrey be docked 10 vacation days.  But the mayor reached out and, in a conversation, put pressure on her not to impose any discipline, according to a confidant of Sewell’s familiar with her thinking during her last weeks on the job. Despite the intense campaign, Sewell — the department’s first woman and second Black commissioner — decided that Maddrey should be docked the 10 days.  By making that decision, the confidant said, Sewell realized that the end of her tenure at the top of the department was in sight.  “She knew that if she bucked the mayor that hard on something that was that important to him that her days were numbered,” the source told THE CITY. Today is slated to be Sewell’s last day on the job. Read more here. Some other items of note: Just before a looming end-of-month deadline, Mayor Eric Adams and the City Council shook hands on a deal for next year’s budget. Among other things, the $107 billion budget spares proposed library cuts and adds billions for affordable housing but leaves some programs for incarcerated people on the cutting-room floor.  A week after an exploding e-bike battery caused a fire that killed four people in Chinatown, fire inspectors discovered another disaster in the making just blocks away, THE CITY has learned. Now, the FDNY is cracking down on refurbished e-bike batteries by issuing violations at shops for the first time. (Reminder: THE CITY has put together a guide — with printable fliers in both Spanish and English — for how to safely store, maintain and use e-bikes and batteries.) Starting today, Queens residents will be required to dispose of their yard waste separate from regular household garbage — with the rest of the city soon to follow. And food scraps can be thrown in with the new trash category, too. Here’s everything you need to know about the new rules. A former star prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, Diana Florence, found herself on the receiving end of a rough grilling as she took the stand under subpoena in the trial of two construction executives facing criminal charges over a near-fatal accident at an East Harlem construction site. It was a dramatic role reversal for Florence, who left the DA’s office in 2020 amid a storm over her failure to turn over crucial evidence to the defense in a bribery case. She formerly served as the head of the office’s construction task force.  Sexagenarians, septuagenarians and octogenarians at the Throggs Neck Houses are doubling down in their call for NYCHA to repair and reopen their senior center after they could not use it as a polling site during Tuesday’s primary election. The older adult center has been closed for eleven months due to structural repairs and mold abatement. Scheduling note: Scoop will be paused over the holiday weekend, back on Wednesday. For the latest local numbers on COVID-19 hospitalizations, positivity rates and more, check our coronavirus tracker. Weather scoop by New York Metro Weather Friday's Weather Rating: 6/10. A generally nice weather day will be hampered by wildfire smoke creating hazy conditions and reducing our air quality once again. High temperatures reach the mid 80s with a light southerly breeze. The vibes are not ideal out there! THE KICKER: Tomorrow, July 1, is Big Umbrella Day at Lincoln Center. It’s a free, day-long festival featuring “relaxed spaces with multi-sensory experiences, performances, installations, and workshops” that are designed for neurodivergent people and their families to enjoy. Thanks, as always, for reading. Make it a great Friday.   Love, THE CITY P.S. If you liked something about today's newsletter, or didn't, let us know at zshah@thecity.nyc

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