WORLD WORLDWIDE USA New York NY New York City NYC the city THE CITY News Journal Update - THE CITY SCOOP: Every NYC Mayoral Administration in the Last 45 Years Has Been Investigated

 

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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, As THE CITY has been reporting for weeks, Mayor Eric Adams’ campaign and administration face a trio of prosecutions and probes: the indictments of six fundraisers who allegedly participated in a straw donor scheme, the indictment of former aide Eric Ulrich for bribery, and now the federal investigation into Turkish donations to his campaign.  But a closer look at New York City history over the last 45 years, however, indicates that every mayoral administration from Ed Koch onward has at one point or another become the target of a sprawling corruption investigation. That includes David Dinkins, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Bloomberg, Bill de Blasio and now Adams. Historically, these investigations often raised serious questions about the mayor’s ability to run an ethical shop while ending with charges only against lower-level city workers. “Almost every administration has been investigated for something,” said George Arzt, who served as Koch’s press secretary. “It comes with the territory.” Read more here. Weather scoop by New York Metro Weather Tuesday's Weather Rating: 6/10. Chilly start, but a decent afternoon with high temperatures again reaching near 50° F. A northwest breeze keeps us in check and it gets frosty out there tonight, but overall the vibes are pretty good! Some other items of note: Hope House, a center for people with serious mental illnesses who have been charged with felony crimes, will break ground later this week in The Bronx. The $13 million, first-of-its-kind residential alternative to prison or jail will house eight men and eight women after its anticipated completion in 2025. The project is sponsored by a nonprofit, The Greenburger Center for Social and Criminal Justice, that’s nurtured the Hope House idea for years despite obstacles. “I want them to be able to leave Hope House and never come back to the criminal justice system again,” said executive director Cheryl Roberts. If the subway seems less reliable than usual to you these days, it’s not just your imagination. An analysis by THE CITY of transit agency numbers reveals that the Mean Distance Between Failure, a key metric for tracking subway car reliability, has been declining since 2021 with cars now breaking down every 126,416 miles — meaning reliability has dipped to its lowest level in four years. Interestingly, though subway cars are newer on average on the lettered lines (A/C/E, etc.), those lines are faring worse than the numbered ones (4/5/6, etc.) Why did Eric Adams leave a memorial service in the Rockaways early this weekend, and what did the mayor who tries to only answer “off-topic” questions once a week say on his way out, about the FBI raiding the home of his chief fundraiser and then seizing his phones? Listen here as all that and much more gets discussed on the latest episode of the FAQ NYC podcast.    As an influx of migrants continues to arrive in New York, reports Documented, scams and fraudulent messages preying on people in the process of adjusting their immigration status have proliferated. Some scammers pretend to be federal agencies, and offer help with a Green Card for a fee or invoke threats of deportation. Here is Documented’s guide to protecting yourself against fake immigration agency scams.  Participation in parent-teacher conferences was down 40% last year compared with the most recent school year before the pandemic hit, reports Chalkbeat. The introduction of remote conferencing may be to blame — and many parents don’t know there’s an option to request an in-person conference if they prefer. Things To Do Here’s what’s going on around the city this week. Tuesday, Nov. 14: Sneaker Revamp, an event for kids interested in refurbishing, self-designing, and recycling shoes and clothing. Free from 4-5 p.m. at the Poe Park Visitor Center in The Bronx.  Thursday, Nov. 16: Kelp Cultivation in NYC, a half-day conference about ecological restoration in New York Harbor. Tickets from $23.18 (sliding scale available), 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Pratt Institute Research Yard in Brooklyn. Saturday, Nov. 18: Queens Botanical Garden birding event with NYC Audubon. Tickets $8-10, which includes garden admission, from 9:30-10:30 a.m. THE KICKER: A City Council committee will meet today about a proposed resolution for an annual Ol’ Dirty Bastard Day in NYC on November 15 — the birthday of Wu-Tang Clan founding member Russell Tyrone Jones, who died in 2004 just two days before what would have been his 36th birthday. Thanks, as always, for reading. Make it a great Tuesday. Love, THE CITY P.S. Love THE CITY? Our nonprofit newsroom runs on support from readers like you. Donate here.

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