WORLD WORLDWIDE USA New York NY New York City NYC the city THE CITY News Journal Update - New inquiry into Adams staffer, congestion pricing panelist resigns, teachers and unions grapple with Israel-Gaza activism

 

Dear New Yorkers,

The city’s Department of Investigation has opened an inquiry into Mayor Eric Adams’ Director of Asian Affairs, Winnie Greco. The move follows reporting by THE CITY on allegations that Greco tried to benefit improperly from her government position.

Greco began as Adams’ volunteer “ambassador” to the Chinese community and an unpaid campaign fundraiser while he served as Brooklyn Borough President. When Adams became mayor, she was hired as a senior advisor with a city salary of $100,000. And she grew so close to Adams that his top aides now refer to her as family.

DOI spokesperson Diane Struzzi said the inquiry into Greco is based on a referral from the mayor’s office. Neither Struzzi nor a City Hall spokesperson would identify the specific conduct under review.

Last month, THE CITY reported on allegations by a 33-year-old former tech worker and volunteer for Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign. He said Greco asked him to work unpaid for two months on renovations to her Bronx home as a prerequisite to securing him a job in the mayor’s administration. He told THE CITY that their relationship soured after he began refusing those requests, and he was terminated from his government job.

THE CITY also reported on Greco’s fundraising, which allegedly included requesting $10,000 donations for nonprofit she founded in exchange for tickets to a Gracie Mansion event, and raising hundreds of thousands — mostly from the Chinese American community — for Adams’ 2021 campaign.

The former tech worker said he hasn’t been contacted by DOI but told THE CITY that learning of the agency’s review “makes me feel heard.”

Read more here

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Weather scoop by New York Metro Weather Friday's Weather Rating: 3/10. Don't be fooled by the decent start this morning — clouds and showers will move in by this afternoon. Periods of heavy rain are possible through the early evening hours. Warmer, with highs in the 50s, but the vibes are very damp out there today!

Our Other Top Stories

As details finally emerged this week on congestion pricing plans for Manhattan, a member of the panel that shaped the proposal resigned in protest. Labor leader John Samuelsen yanked his name off the report, due to what he considered a lack of positive incentives and additional service. He and another panel member had previously argued that New York needed to follow the lead of London and Stockholm by boosting transit service before the start of the tolling plan. “There is a whole demographic of blue-collar, outerborough New York City that does not view public transit as an option,” Samuelsen said. New York City’s public school teachers and their unions are wrestling with what they can or should say about the Israel-Hamas war — especially after a catalyzing incident at Hillcrest High School in Queens, in which a group of students charged at a teacher who had been seen holding a sign in support of Israel on social media. On Nov. 8, ahead of a planned city-wide walkout by high school students to demand a ceasefire, teachers received a memo that many interpreted as barring them from exercising their right to free speech even outside the classroom. And, teachers who spoke with THE CITY say they are not getting guidance on how to handle productive discussions with students — many of whom are personally impacted by the conflict or by anti-Palestinian, Islamophobic and antisemitic rhetoric.

Reporter’s Notebook

Courts Deliver Relief for App-based Food Couriers

A Manhattan judge on Thursday dismissed an appeal from Uber, DoorDash and Grubhub challenging the city’s planned $17.96 minimum hourly pay rate for app-based food delivery workers.

The pay standards were supposed to go into effect on July 12, until the companies filed an eleventh-hour challenge; the legal delays have cost workers an estimated $15 million per week in lost wages since, according to advocates. While the exact timing is unclear, most workers should begin earning the minimum rate effective their next pay cycle.

“Multi-billion dollar companies cannot profit off the backs of immigrant workers while paying them pennies in New York City and get away with it,” said Ligia Guallpa, executive director of the Workers Justice Project, which organized Los Deliveristas Unidos. “The court’s ruling is another reminder that workers will always win.”

— Claudia Irizarry Aponte

Things To Do

Here’s what’s going on around the city this week.

Friday, Dec. 1: Montefiore Park's Annual Holiday Tree Lighting, a celebration and seasonal festival in the park. Free from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Montefiore Square in West Harlem. Saturday, Dec. 2: The next Access Morning event at the Museum of the Moving Image offers workshops and opens exhibitions to children on the autism spectrum and their families before public hours. (Measures are taken to reduce overstimulation in the galleries, and complimentary breakfast and coffee are provided.) Free from 11 a.m. to noon on the first Saturday of every month through May 2024, at MoMI in Queens. Sunday, Dec. 3: The opening reception of “28 Remarkable Women … and One Scoundrel,” an exhibit featuring mixed-media portraits of women who lived or worked in the Lower East Side at the turn of the 20th Century. Pay-as-you-wish from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Museum at Eldridge Street in Manhattan.

THE KICKER: A former tutor’s off-Broadway play, “School Pictures,” is inspired by NYC’s famously stressful — and inequitable — standardized high school admissions test.

Thanks, as always, for reading. Make it a great Friday.

Love,

THE CITY

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