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Dear New Yorkers,

Taxpayers are footing the bill for the city lawyers defending Mayor Eric Adams in a sexual assault lawsuit.

On Monday, the city’s Law Department revealed that it will provide attorneys to defend Adams, giving him taxpayer-salaried counsel. Sylvia Hinds-Radix — the city government's top lawyer — said that she was obligated to do so because the alleged incident took place while Adams was an employee of the NYPD transit bureau.

But in fact, it was a choice: The law gives the city latitude to determine which employees it chooses to represent in court. In some cases, the city has declined to provide representation to employees — often city cops.

Filed this week in Manhattan Supreme Court by a former civilian employee of the NYPD, Lorna Beach-Mathura, the civil suit alleges that Adams sexually assaulted Beach-Mathura in 1993 when she sought his advice — and that he retaliated against her afterward.

On Tuesday Adams denied the allegations, stating, "It did not happen. I don't recall meeting this person and that is not who I am as a person." He then referred all questions about his legal representation to Hinds-Radix, a former judge he appointed as Corporation Counsel.

Read more about the lawsuit and Adams’ taxpayer-funded representation here.

Weather scoop by New York Metro Weather Wednesday's Weather Rating: 4/10. The vibes are trending in the wrong direction. Partly sunny skies early, with highs in the lower 50s. Clouds increase this afternoon and we are expecting a few scattered showers as well. Nothing major, but the vibes are unsettled today!

Our Other Top Stories

Today, the nonprofit legal organization Mobilization for Justice and the union representing 110 lawyers, paralegals and staffers who began a strike last month will renew bargaining talks. Those workers provide free legal help to vulnerable New Yorkers; they say they went on strike because the proposed wage increases in the nonprofit’s latest contract proposal would not keep up with inflation, or adequately address the organization’s staffing and attrition problems. New York City’s notorious property tax system, which places a higher burden on rental properties and advantages affluent white areas at the expense of lower-income neighborhoods of color, appears to be heading toward a major overhaul. The state’s highest court voted 4-3 on Tuesday to reinstate a lawsuit that sought to have the convoluted system declared illegal. The court did not decide the issue in its ruling, instead returning the case to the state’s lowest court — but the 60-page decision gives instructions to the lower court to rule in a way that is likely to uphold the suit’s complaints.

Reporter’s Notebook

Rent Still ‘Stable’

The City Council on Tuesday declared an ongoing housing emergency, the 19th in a row. The official edict allows rent stabilization to continue until April 1, 2027.

The vote comes on the heels of a key housing survey that showed just 1.4% of rental apartments in the boroughs were vacant in 2023. The number in the New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey, released last month, represented the lowest vacancy level since 1968. In New York, a housing emergency is defined as a vacancy rate of less than 5%.

“The shortage of available homes in our city has contributed to an affordability crisis affecting all New Yorkers,” said Council Speaker Adrienne Adams in a statement.

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear two cases challenging rent stabilization in New York City, after declining to take up another similar case in October. One of the plaintiffs, the Community Housing Improvement Program (CHIP), which represents owners of rent-regulated buildings, called the housing emergency declaration “an admission of failure” on the part of elected officials to build enough housing for New Yorkers.

— Samantha Maldonado

Things To Do

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

Wednesday, March 20: The Awe of the Arctic: A Visual History, an exhibition of narrative accounts, prints, photographs and ephemera from the New York Public Library’s collection documenting Arctic depictions from the 16th century to the present. Free through July 13 at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building in Manhattan. Wednesday, March 20: Urban Farming 101, a virtual workshop by The Battery Conservancy to help New Yorkers plan the crops and growing schedule that best suits their garden. Free from 6 to 7:30 p.m. online. Wednesday, March 20: Spring First Discoveries, an event for children up to age 4 with various activity stations at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Free with admission on Wednesdays and Fridays from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

THE KICKER: A bright green bird with a yellow head was found on the Upper West Side, reports West Side Rag. The bird’s rescuers are searching for its rightful owner.

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

Love,

THE CITY

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