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Dear New Yorkers,

When landlords struggling with empty office space lobbied for lucrative city leases, they often turned to the same target: Jesse Hamilton, the city Department of Citywide Administrative Services’ (DCAS) deputy commissioner for real estate services.

Hamilton has longstanding ties to Mayor Eric Adams. After Adams won his campaign for Brooklyn borough president in 2013, Hamilton was Adams' hand-picked successor to fill his Crown Heights seat in the state Senate. Hamilton lost a 2018 re-election bid; in 2022, Adams gave him the DCAS job, handing him oversight of a vast portfolio of city-owned buildings and leases with private landlords.

In that role, Hamilton had enormous influence over which tenant-starved landlords received multi-million dollar bailouts from DCAS, which can relocate whole city agencies to struggling buildings.

Then, in a startling fashion on Sept. 27, Hamilton surfaced as a subject of the latest known law enforcement investigation among several swirling around the Adams administration.

On that day, he was among a group of vacationers returning from Japan at John F. Kennedy International Airport met by law enforcement — along with Ingrid Lewis-Martin, Adams’ chief advisor.

As they exited the gate after their 14-hour flight, representatives of the Manhattan District Attorney and the Manhattan U.S. Attorney confronted the group. The DA's representative took Hamilton's phone, and Lewis-Martin’s.

Read more here about Hamilton, the others who traveled with him to Japan, and how he influences multi-million dollar city leases.

Weather ☀️

We’re on a slightly warmer streak. It’s mild and sunny today, with highs in the upper 60s.

MTA 🚇

There’s lots of planned work on multiple subway lines this weekend, including the G train. Find the latest delays and planned changes here.

Alternate side parking 🚙

It’s in effect today, Oct. 11.

By the way 🏙

There are two big parades in the city this weekend to enjoy (or avoid): the Hispanic Day Parade on Sunday and the Columbus Day Parade on Monday, both in Manhattan.

Our Other Top Stories

A judge’s order says the city’s yellow cabs need to be wheelchair accessible. But cabbies say the cost to convert their vehicles is too high. The city is trying to figure out how to meet a March 2025 deadline to have half of the fleet wheelchair accessible. At a hearing yesterday, cabbie railed against the requirement, saying it could put some of them out of business. One of several Adams staffers and aides caught up in swirling federal probes, city community liaison Ahsan Chughtai was fired last summer and had his home raided by the FBI and NYC DOI. Our partners at Documented report that shortly after Chughtai was appointed, he told a group of businessmen it was his job to open the “portals in politics.” Unlicensed vendors have long sold their wares in front of the massive and long-vacant Kingsbridge Armory in The Bronx. Recently, vendors say, law enforcement officials have been pushing them away — hollowing out what had previously been a bustling streetscape.

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Programming Note

Heads up, Scoop will be taking a break next Monday for Indigenous Peoples’ Day. We’ll be back in your inbox with more news on Tuesday, Oct. 15.

Things To Do

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

Friday, Oct. 11: The final day of a voter education exhibition that educates viewers about the voting process and civic engagement. Free from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Idlewild Park in Queens. Saturday, Oct. 12: The opening of Becoming Bohemia: Greenwich Village 1912-1923, an exhibition about the country’s “first large-scale countercultural enclave.” Free through Feb. 1, 2025, at the New York Public Library’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Building in Manhattan. Saturday, Oct. 12: Visit a pumpkin patch at the Queens Botanical Garden. Kids age 4 and up can take home a pumpkin. Free with admission from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

THE KICKER: An actual bright spot behind Gracie Mansion last night: the aurora borealis, which was visible over the city due to a major geomagnetic storm.

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

Love,

THE CITY

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