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MONDAY, JUNE 16, 2025

Today's SCOOP is brought to you by our members.

Dear New Yorkers,

In her first televised campaign ad, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, from a church pulpit in Bushwick, proclaims her no-drama management style — which she calls a rarity in a city rife with scammers and scandals.

“In New York City, we know drama. But as City Council speaker, I rise above it,” she says.

Adams paints herself as a low-key and reluctant politician, emphasizing in the recent mayoral debates that she’s already doing much of the work she would as mayor — just down the hall. At Thursday night’s final debate, she stood as the only female candidate and declared she was “the adult on the stage with experience — not scandal.”

Her central theme — that she’s not someone driven by political ambition, but rather someone who’s been left with no other choice than public service — has played out in different ways during her time leading the City Council.

Read more here for what Adams’ City Council colleagues have to say about her tenure as Speaker.

Weather ☔

Highs in the mid-60s, with a chance of rain in the morning.

MTA 🚇

There’s no 7 train between Queensboro Plaza, Queens and 34 Street-Hudson Yards in Manhattan overnight all week. Find all the MTA’s planned changes and the latest delays here.

Alternate side parking 🚙

It’s in effect today, June 16.

By the way…

Pride month is half over! Celebrate with marches, parades and parties all over the city.

Our Other Top Stories

When mayoral contenders are vying to outdo each other on housing plans, candidates for comptroller are trading barbs over who supports development more, and city council races are being funded based on candidates’ land-use proposals, it can only mean one thing: the abundance agenda is on the ballot in New York City.  The HALT Solitary Act restricts how long prisoners can be placed in solitary confinement, and was passed in 2021 by a supermajority. But after state correction officers went on strike earlier this year, advocates and prison experts say that the Department of Corrections is using the strike as a loophole to sidestep the law. Just hours after a political assassination of a Democratic lawmaker in Minnesota, thousands of soggy protesters peacefully marched down Fifth Avenue on Saturday afternoon as part of a national demonstration against President Trump. Siding with the City Council, a State Supreme Court judge has indefinitely barred Mayor Eric Adams from allowing ICE to reopen an office on Rikers Island — in a scathing decision published Friday afternoon. We’ve got a virtual event coming up this Wednesday for our members — if you’ve ever donated to THE CITY, keep an eye on your inbox for the Zoom invite! If you want to attend but aren’t a member yet, there’s still time! Donate here.

Reporter’s Notebook

Teachers Union Sits out Mayoral Primary

The United Federation of Teachers, which represents more than 100,000 teachers, paraprofessionals and nurses, announced on the eve of early voting Friday that it will not endorse in the primary for mayoral

There is “no clear consensus” among the union’s members, UFT president Michael Mulgrew said in a statement. “It is one of the most polarizing races we have seen from a union perspective,” he said. In a follow-up interview, he said the members were split between Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani — but that a ranked or multi-candidate endorsement was out of the question.

“We’ve never ranked, we think you’re watering down your own endorsement when you rank,” he said.

The UFT has been wrapped up in its own election in recent months. Mulgrew won a sixth term as union president on May 31 after a spirited contest from two challengers. He nabbed 54% of the vote, his lowest margin of victory ever.

— Claudia Irizarry Aponte

Things To Do

Here are some free and low-cost things to do around the city this week.

Monday, June 16: Bueller? Anyone? Join author and journalist Bruce Handy for a discussion of his new book on the history of teen movies. Rizzoli Bookstore in Manhattan, 6 p.m. Monday, June 16: Attend a summer recital by the Metropolitan Opera. Rumsey Playfield in Central Park, 8 p.m. Tuesday, June 17: See an outdoor performance of beloved Shakespearean romcom Much Ado About Nothing by The Public Theater’s mobile unit. Sunset Park, Brooklyn. 6:30 p.m.

THE KICKER: The city’s first-ever pigeon impersonation contest crowned a winner this weekend.

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

Love,

THE CITY

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