McKee's Media - May 17, 2021

 

ARTICLES OF INTEREST TO TENANT ADVOCATES: RENT RELIEF PROGRAM Suzanne Cavanaugh: NYS rent relief website goes live -- but without an application (The Real Deal) Eddie Small: NYS rejected four out of five applicants for second round of rent relief (Crain's) Adam Mahoney: FEMA has funding to house the homeless, but local governments are not applying (Grist) SHORT-TERM RENTALS Shant Shahrigian: Council Member Ben Kallos introduces bill to require Short-Term Rental hosts to register with NYC (Daily News) Katie Honan: New City Council bill would make it harder for illegal Short-Term Rentals (Wall Street Journal) Dennis Schaal: Airbnb posts $1.2 billion first-quarter loss (Skift) The Real Deal: Demand for short-term rentals surges past pre-pandemic levels Steven Nigro: NYC fines landlord for illegal short-term rental by tenant (CityLand) ZONING Kathryn Brenzel: Judge lifts temporary restraining order on Crown Heights towers that cast shadows on Brooklyn Botanical Garden (The Real Deal) VOTING RIGHTS Brigid Bergin: In November NYS voters will vote on two constitutional amendments to expand voting rights (Gothamist/WNYC) Buffalo News editorial: 2014 NYS redistricting amendment might not prevent the return of the "earmuff" district Christine Chung: Weeks from pivotal primary election, NYC Board of Election still does not have software to tally ranked-choice votes (The City) ASKING RENTS DROP ON VACANT APTS WNBC-TV: Asking rents on vacant NYC apartments drop 21 percent even as new leases hit record highs (VIDEO) Erin Hudson: Coop/condo conversions in NYC drop by 80 percent following enactment of 2019 rent law (The Real Deal)  Nick Reisman: NYS Comptroller Nick Reisman reports that sales tax revenue increased sharply in April (NY State of Politics) DEBT COLLECTS CAN'T ACCESS FED STIMULUS FUNDS Nick Reisman: Cuomo signs bill barring debt collectors from accessing federal stimulus funds (NY State of Politics) BAD LANDLORDS AND ACTIVE TENANTS John Annese: Manslaughter charge for Brooklyn landlord who spared himself heat bill with space heaters -- one of which caused deadly blaze (Daily News) Irina Ivanova: Feds target evictions by some of America's biggest landlords (CBS News) (VIDEO) NYC PRIMARY RACES David Cruz: How candidates for NYC mayor will make housing more affordable (Gothamist) The City: A majority of donors to Andrew Yang's mayoral campaign don't live in New York City Michael Rothfeld: How NYC mayoral candidate Eric Adams mixed money and political ambition (New York Times) Erin Durkin: How top NYC mayoral candidate Eric Adams was caught up in a classic Albany scandal (Politico) Shant Shahrigian: Dianne Morales picks up more endorsements in NYC Mayor race (Daily News) Rebecca Lewis: What Shaun Donovan knows about housing (City & State) City & State: "Post-Traumatic Stringer Disorder": Former staffers describe NYC mayoral candidate's demanding ways as boss Shant Shahrigian: Stringer campaign organizer quits in wake of sexual harassment allegations (Daily News) The City: NYC mayoral candidate Dianne Morales water-meter bribe probe preceded 2004 departure from big city schools job Daily News editorial board endorses Kathryn Garcia for NYC mayor Ross Barkan: Kathryn Garcia makes her move (Political Currents) Katie Glueck: Candidates for NYC mayor clash in first of three official debates (New York Times) New York 1: Recording of first debate among candidates for NYC mayor (VIDEO) Samar Khurshid: Five key takeaways from first NYC mayoral debate (Gothamist) New York Times: Five takeaways from first NYC mayoral debate Samantha Maldonado: First mayoral debate takeaways: Yang & Adams take heat (VIDEO) Julia Marsh: New poll shows Adams leading Yang in NYC mayoral race (New York Post) Samar Khurshid: Eric Adams looks to labor unions for big boost in NYC mayoral race (Gotham Gazette) Emily Ngo: U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries endorses Maya Wiley for NYC mayor (New York 1 News) Harry Siegel: Where the NYC mayoral race is five weeks out (Daily News OpEd) Ross Barkan: Yang & Adams benefit from rejection of defund the police (City & State) Carl Campanile: Teachers union endorses Corey Johnson for NYC Comptroller (New York Post) Shant Shahrigian: Lindsey Boylan enjoying campaign for Manhattan Borough President after bombshell allegations against Cuomo (Daily News) Kriston Capps: Can NYC's next Mayor fix the broken property tax system? (CityLab/Bloomberg News) Matt Dunbar: Next NYC Mayor should expand home ownership opportunities for low-income New Yorkers (Gotham Gazette OpEd) Ross Barkan: Andrew Cuomo is responsible for the loss of one New York State seat in Congress (Village Voice) Daniel Parra: Bronx City Council race for open seat attracts big bucks and dueling endorsements (City Limits) Samar Khurshid: Queens City Council Member Adrienne Adams seeks re-election against former rep Ruben Wills whose conviction on corruption charges was overturned (Gotham Gazette) Sydney Kashiwagi: Will Charles and Inez Barron swap seats again? (City & State) ETHICS Chris Bragg: Judge questions Ex-IDC Senator Jeff Klein's lawsuit to bar JCOPE from investigating sexual harassment against him (Albany Times Union) Billy Richling: State Senator Kevin Parker floods his constituents with taxpayer-funded mail before June 22 primary in which he's running for NYC Comptroller (Bklyner) Rebecca Lewis: Contradicting the law he signed, Gov. Andrew Cuomo declares that making someone "feel uncomfortable" is not sexual harassment (City & State) Luis Ferré-Sadurní: Cuomo accusers are subpoenaed as state inquiry enters a critical phase (New York Times) Karen Hinton: The Andrew Cuomo I have known: A long pattern of harassing staffers, especially women (Daily News guest essay) Joshua Johnson: Assembly Member Ron Kim calls on Cuomo to do the right thing and resign (MSNBC-TV)  (VIDEO) Chris Churchill: Donald and Andrew, two peas in a pod: Cuomo's reaction to Tish James investigation into sexual harassment allegations echoes Trump (Albany Times Union) By Michael McKee of Tenants PAC (c) TenantsPAC 2021