Adams: Feds playing ‘a game’ with funding

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NEW YORK MINUTE: Council Speaker Adrienne Adams will deliver her State of the City address today at Brooklyn’s BAM, and her speech will focus on how the affordability crisis is impacting families, Playbook has learned.

She will call for strengthened city government amid the rising costs of housing and childcare and the curbing of early education programs.

FED UP: It’s not me, it’s you. That’s the gist of Mayor Eric Adams’ response to federal officials’ grumblings that City Hall has been bungling the paperwork necessary to access all of its allocated migrant money.

“‘Oh, you’re incompetent. Oh, you can’t manage it. You don’t know how to fill out documents,’” he mock-quoted Tuesday before alleging: “That’s a game they’re playing!”

With the days of cozying up to President Joe Biden very much in the rearview mirror, Adams has abandoned trying to charm his way into federal aid.

He has instead embraced barbs in demanding the Biden administration help New York City in its hour of need and take some responsibility for the 180,000 migrants who have come here over the past two years.

“Modify the paperwork, the requirements, the reimbursement to make it fairer and to understand the moment of this crisis,” Adams urged the feds.

Though $156 million in FEMA grants allocated thus far is indeed a tiny fraction of the $4 billion the city has spent supporting migrants, every bit of reimbursement would help.

One federal official had told Playbook that the Adams administration has established a reputation for incomplete paperwork, another said City Hall hasn’t submitted its “detailed budget” and a third said, “Other jurisdictions have been able to complete the requirements and unlock the funds.”

Some progress is being made, however, after a team from Washington recently visited to give guidance. The city has submitted its budget as documentation, a Biden administration official added this morning.

New York City has received one-third of the federal funds upfront but must submit documentation, which is due in May. The other two-thirds will be accessible when that batch of paperwork is completed, and city officials plan to finish long before the 2026 deadline.

To be sure, the application process is very onerous and some of the FEMA guidance wasn’t clear until last November.

Adams buttressed his case against the feds Tuesday by noting that a political rival has called for process reform.

“Even Brad Lander, the comptroller, states that it’s a problem. … Even Brad Lander says, this is just too many hoops,” the mayor said.

The mayor has delegated some of the advocating to his allies. Several dozen New York City clergy members traveled to Washington to meet with lawmakers, Playbook reported.

An exasperated Adams also suggested Tuesday that reporters should be part of the pressure on Biden.

“Y’all shouldn’t be allowing them to use you in this way,” he told City Hall press corps members. “Y’all should be standing up and saying, This is our city!”

As for the feds’ case that other jurisdictions have had fewer paperwork troubles, a spokesperson for Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said the city has “initiated” its request for reimbursement. And a spokesperson for Denver Mayor Mike Johnston told Playbook the city has submitted documentation for $8 million of its $9 million in Shelter and Services Program funds, with the rest to be completed this week.

Those cities, like New York City, say much, much more federal aid is needed. — Emily Ngo

IT’S WEDNESDAY. Got news? Send it our way: Jeff Coltin, Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman.

WHERE’S KATHY? In New York City and making a guest appearance on ABC’s “The View.”

WHERE’S ERIC? Attending the State of the City address, going to a PFNYC business leaders town hall, meeting with Kazakh Consul General Raushan Yesbulatova, going on PIX 11’s evening news, and delivering remarks at the HeartShare Human Service’s annual gala.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “This was politically driven. And just because I was not going to be a federal informant against the mayor of New York, the FBI said they was going to make my life a living hell.” — Lamor Whitehead, a former mentee of Adams, after being found guilty on five federal counts, via Fox News. Adams said Tuesday he “had no part” in the case, so he “can’t respond to what the thoughts are around that.”

ABOVE THE FOLD

PRISON POLICY: Tarra Simmons and Eddie Gibbs come from opposite ends of the country.

But they’ve got two things in common: They both serve in their home state legislatures, and they both have served time in prison.

Simmons, a Washington state representative, visited New York this week as part of a broader effort Gibbs is working on to address post-release policy for people in state prisons.

Simmons and Gibbs are two of only a half dozen or so people in the country who served in prison and are now sitting state lawmakers.

“There’s very few of us that have been incarcerated in the nation who have gotten elected,” Simmons told Playbook. “As far as we know, there are six of us.”

Both lawmakers are collaborating to share criminal justice-related ideas. They visited a prison in the Hudson Valley on Wednesday and spoke with incarcerated people there.

“We know what works and what people need when they come out of prison,” Simmons said.

Gibbs, a Harlem Democrat, has become a prominent voice in Albany since his 2022 election as criminal justice measures remain a charged topic. Gibbs was a proponent of a measure to seal many criminal records in the state, which Hochul signed into law last year.

Now, the governor is proposing a plan to close up to five prisons in New York, part of a decade-long trend of shuttering the facilities across the state.

But Gibbs has focused on the people inside them. He wants to provide people released from prison with $2,550 over six months — a bill he’s carrying with state Sen. Kevin Parker. He’s calling it the “Gate Way” bill.

The proposal has come under criticism. The New York Post editorial board decried the measure as a way to “make crime pay.”

But Gibbs pointed to a similar law on the books in Washington state, where Simmons serves in the House of Representatives. What works out west can work in New York, Gibbs said.

“The Gate Way bill is an important bill, and I’m hoping we can replicate what they did there without the backlash,” Gibbs said. — Nick Reisman

CITY HALL: THE LATEST

TURNING DOWN THE HEAT: Attorney General Tish James doesn’t think the firefighters who booed her and chanted “Trump” at an FDNY promotion ceremony should be disciplined — but she still thought it was wrong.

“I support an individual’s right to protest. I support the First Amendment, and I will defend all of those individuals who engage in the freedom of expression,” she told Playbook after an unrelated press conference on Tuesday, days after she was jeered at the Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn. “However, when it comes to political speech in houses of worship, that’s unacceptable.”

Like any politician, James speaks at religious services before, during and after campaigns. Asked about that contradiction, she said she has “prayed. And I haven’t engaged in disrespect.”

The FDNY investigation bureau is trying to ID the employees who yelled at the government event, “but I do not believe that these individuals should be disciplined,” James said. “This is really a teaching moment,” she said, explaining she’s been an ally to firefighters, opposing the shutting down of firehouses and supporting pension sweeteners.

“The events of last Thursday will not diminish my respect for the brave men and women of FDNY,” she said. “I will be with them now, and I will be with them tomorrow.” — Jeff Coltin

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: Antonio Reynoso — who succeeded Adams as Brooklyn borough president and has been floated as a potential mayoral challenger — will announce a partnership with him during a State of the Borough address tonight.

Reynoso plans to detail a new work authorization application help center in Borough Hall’s community room for up to 180 additional migrants per week, Playbook has learned.

It will become part of the clinics — the fifth in the city and the first in Brooklyn — that have completed 40,000 TPS, asylum and work permit applications.

“If we’re going to aid our neighbors and alleviate the strain on city services, it’s going to take all of us doing our part,” said Reynoso, who offered the space to City Hall a year ago. “And facilitating access to work authorizations is the perfect place to start. Work authorizations are the entryway to independence for our newest residents.”

The by-appointment-only clinic will be staffed only by work coordinators. The primary Asylum Application Help Center at Manhattan’s John Jay College is employed by city, state and federal officials. — Emily Ngo

ALSO FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: Public defenders, housing advocates and immigrant activists have sent a letter to Adams urging an increase of at least $3 million in funding for the city’s Human Rights Commission, which they note now has less than one-third of the staff attorneys it had in 2018.

Vulnerable New Yorkers, including those who use housing vouchers and who are in the country illegally, LGBTQ+ or pregnant, depend on the commission as an avenue of justice, the coalition said.

The current wait for an intake appointment can be as long as six months.

“If you’ve been the victim of discrimination, that’s long enough for you to lose your employment. And if you can’t keep your job and you’re a low-income person, housing is the next domino to fall,” Rebekah Cook-Mack, a senior staff attorney at the Legal Aid Society, told Playbook. — Emily Ngo

More from the city:

— Adams, Hochul presented a united front on public safety after a subway system security flap. (POLITICO)

— As Mount Sinai prepares to close Beth Israel hospital, it is increasingly transferring seriously ill patients suffering potentially life-threatening emergencies to other hospitals. (POLITICO)

— Most library branches across the city would have to cut back to opening just five days a week under Adams’ proposed budget, the heads of the three library systems warned. (Hell Gate)

— Two owners of a Queens construction firm were sentenced to fines and community service for their roles in a straw donor scheme to boost Adams’ 2021 campaign war chest. (Daily News)

NEW FROM PLANET ALBANY

A BUDGET, BUT WHEN: Could the state budget actually be … early? Hochul has been publicly and privately bullish about the prospect of getting a spending plan approved before April 1, the start of the state’s fiscal year.

On Tuesday, she told reporters a budget agreement a few days before the deadline is possible.

“Everything we need to have is on the table,” Hochul said after Democrats in the Senate and Assembly released their own budget proposals.

Behind closed doors, Hochul has been similarly optimistic. The governor has told lawmakers privately she thinks a budget can get done, even with a handshake agreement, before Easter Sunday on March 31, Playbook has learned.

Still, the disagreements between Hochul and the Legislature are numerous with less than a month to go. Housing remains a complex and thorny topic. Lawmakers want to reverse Hochul-proposed changes in how schools are funded. The details of a plan to combat retail theft haven’t been resolved. — Nick Reisman

A TAXING TIME: And one of the more perennial disagreements is playing out one again in Albany. Democratic lawmakers want tax increases starting on people who earn more than $5 million a year. Hochul doesn’t want to.

That push is getting some backing from the left-leaning campaign Invest in Our New York.

The coalition, which includes the Working Families Party, Make the Road New York and New York City DSA among its membership, will launch today a five-figure digital ad campaign pushing Hochul to back higher taxes on upper-income earners. Their hook: President Joe Biden wants to increase taxes on rich people, so Hochul should as well.

“Gov. Hochul claims to be the standard bearer for the Democratic party in New York, but she is hopelessly out of step with the rest of the party on the issue of taxes,” campaign manager Carolyn Martinez-Class said. “While Joe Biden is calling for the ultra-wealthy to pay their fair share, Kathy Hochul is prioritizing households making $5 million a year over her party’s middle-class base.” — Nick Reisman

AND SPEAKING OF ADS: Environmental groups Earthjustice, Spring Street Climate Fund and the Better Buildings Coalition are out with a pair of ads today with the goal of getting some traction in the budget for the NY HEAT Act.

That measure is meant to put the sweeping goals of carbon-reduction goals into the state’s utility regulations. And they want the bill, which has stalled for several years in Albany, included in the final budget agreement.

“Corporate polluters want you to believe otherwise, but ambitious climate policies can save money for working families and help with New York’s affordability crisis,” Spring Street Climate Fund President John Raskin said. “That’s true for the NY HEAT Act that’s under debate right now and it’s true for all the New Yorkers we’re highlighting in our ad campaign.”

Advocates will rally today at the Capitol in support of the proposal. — Nick Reisman

More from Albany:

— Hochul’s going into overdrive to avoid another down-ballot disaster in New York. (POLITICO)

— New York lawmakers also want to spend $90 million to bolster security at religious schools. (New York Post)

— Hochul took a dim view of a proposal to study school aid. (POLITICO Pro)

NEW YORK STATE OF MIND

— George Santos claims he’s put a campaign fundraising structure in place for his new campaign to protect donor money and ensure “transparency.” (NY1)

— Tom Suozzi was named the co-chair of the Democratic border security task force, which was one of the key issues he ran his campaign on. (State of Politics)

— A civil liberties union is suing Columbia University over its suspension of two pro-Palestinian groups protesting for a cease-fire. (POLITICO)

SOCIAL DATA

Edited by Daniel Lippman

MAKING MOVES — Meenakshi Srinivasan has joined the NYC office of Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies as senior principal. She most recently was senior land use and zoning adviser at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP and is a former chair of New York City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission and Board of Standards and Appeals.

IN MEMORIAM: David Mixner, veteran LGBTQ+ activist and presidential adviser, has died at 77. (Advocate)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon … CNN’s Katelyn Polantz … Erin Billings of Global Strategy Group … former Rep. Rick Lazio (R-N.Y.) … Ryan Tracy … MSNBC’s Yelda Altalef … Allie Banwell … Caroline Chalmers.

YOUR NEW YORK NUMBER OF THE DAY