City & State NY_12122016

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TALKING THE

BEAT

HOW TO HEAL THE RIFT BETWEEN COMMUNITIES AND POLICE

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City & State New York

December 12, 2016

EDITOR’S NOTE / Contents

MICHAEL GARETH JOHNSON Editorial director

Tension between police forces and certain communities have been a hallmark of history. The scale of the problem varies and the faces of the disenfranchised change. At this moment, the rift exists mostly between poor communities of color and police whom many believe use overly aggressive tactics. It’s important to understand the scale of the problem. It is big and needs to be addressed, but by no means is it insurmountable. There are thousands of good police officers working to solve this problem, and just as many community activists are committed to creating safe environments. This is why we wanted to focus on the issue of community policing in this magazine, looking at what works, with a specific hope that shining a spotlight on successful practices will lead to thoughtful policy solutions instead of divisive rhetoric.

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BOCHINCHE & BUZZ The latest gossip from Gerson Borrero

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COMMUNITY POLICING

New York police departments aim to heal the rift between communities and cops.

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AGENCY FOCUS: PORT AUTHORITY

An in-depth look at the history of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and what it will take to re-establish the authority’s independence after Bridgegate.

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SLANT

Eddie Borges says Andrea StewartCousins needs to step up her game if the Senate Democrats want to retake the majority.

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CityAndStateNY.com

December 12, 2016

LAST WEEK’S ROUNDUP

BACK&FORTH A Q&A with incoming president of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce

ANDREW HOAN

C&S: HOW DO YOUR PLANS FOR THE CHAMBER ALIGN AND HOW ARE THEY DIFFERENT FROM YOUR PREDECESSOR, CARLO SCISSURA? AH: We’ve started a process, a strategic plan, that we had never had in place before. We have, now, benchmark goals that are clear, that our entire community agreed upon and that we are going to deliver. Clearly growing membership, retaining members, and advocating for businesses should be something we do every day without question. The difference now is that we’ve committed to building a home for ourselves. A true economic hub to serve the borough for small business, big businesses for the tourism industry, for the manufacturing industry. And then conference space, meeting rooms, co-working facilities, incubator space, educational facilities. The things that a city of 2.6 million-plus should expect to have. C&S: IS WEIGHING IN ON POLICY ISSUES THAT ARE OUTSIDE WHAT THE NORMAL ISSUES THE CHAMBER DISCUSSES – WHETHER IT’S AFFORDABLE HOUSING, WHETHER IT’S HEALTH CARE – IS THAT GOING TO CONTINUE TO BE PART OF THE SCOPE OF WHAT YOU WANT TO DO WITH THE CHAMBER? AH: Brooklyn is the biggest small town in America. There really is no reason to separate out politics and the economy. Instead of being on a confrontational basis, we should be on the ground floor working with our elected officials and informing them of policy before they inform us. And that’s the way we’ve had a relationship thus far, and that will continue.

AIRBNB SETTLES LAWSUIT AGAINST NEW YORK CITY Airbnb didn’t have the best year in New York. After Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill that calls for fines of as much as $7,5000 for illegally listing properties on sites like Airbnb, the company sued the city. This week it agreed to drop the lawsuit as long as the city enforces the new law only against hosts and does not fine Airbnb. BATTLE FOR CONTROL OF THE STATE SENATE CONTINUES Jeff Klein may be sick of talking about who will control the state Senate in January, but mainline Democrats aren’t giving up. Leaders of the state Senate’s mainstream Democratic conference met with Cuomo and tried to enlist him as an ally in their push to unify the chamber’s 32 Democratic members into a majority voting bloc. DE BLASIO WILL DISCLOSE EMAILS FROM “AGENTS OF THE CITY” This week Mayor Bill de Blasio surprised observers by announcing that starting immediately the city would no longer challenge the disclosure of new emails between his administration and unpaid outsider advisers who are designated as city agents – a practice he’s been criticized for in the past. It looks like you can teach an old dog new tricks!

THIS WEEK’S EVENTS

DEC. 15 12 p.m. - City & State Reports holds its “Responsible 100” event, honoring 100 New York business and nonprofit leaders who embody corporate social responsibility. Hebrew Union College, 1 W. Fourth St., Manhattan.

DEC. 16 8:15 a.m. - New York Law School’s CityLaw Breakfast Series features New York City Social Services Commissioner Steven Banks to discuss current and political issues in the wake of the growing conversation over New York City’s homelessness crisis. New York Law School, 185 W. Broadway, Events Center, second floor, Manhattan.

Upcoming events: Planning an event in the next few weeks that our readers should know about? Submit details to editor@cityandstateny.com. We’ll pick the most interesting or important ones and feature them in print each week.

THE

Kicker

“IF PEOPLE DON’T LIKE IT, THEY CAN GO BACK TO WATCHING ‘DANCING WITH THE STARS.’ I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO TELL YOU.” – New York City Councilman Eric Ulrich on his upcoming reality television show about his anticipated run for New York City mayor, via The New York Times Get the kicker every morning in CITY & STATE’S FIRST READ email. Sign up at cityandstateny.com.


City & State New York

December 12, 2016

DID YOU MISS IT?

Uncertainty over the future of labor laws, safeguards to protect public agencies and authorities from construction cost overruns and ways to ensure local workers are hired for public projects dominated the conversation at City & State’s On Labor & Public Projects event at Hebrew Union College in Manhattan.

WEEKLY PODCAST WITH FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR FOR MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG

BILL CUNNINGHAM

State Sen. Phil Boyle and City Councilman I. Daneek Miller discussed ways government can make sure local workers have more opportunities for jobs on public projects.

Bill Cunningham was one of the chief architects of Michael Bloomberg’s successful 2001 and 2005 campaigns for mayor of New York City. Cunningham, now a prominent communications consultant, joined the Slant Podcast to share his thoughts on whether Mayor Bill de Blasio can be beaten.

CUNY Distinguished Lecturer of Labor Studies Edward Ott spent more than 40 years fighting for better labor conditions in New York City.

ANDREW KIST

(Left to right) HAKS Chairman & CEO Husam Ahmad, New York City Department of Design and Construction Associate Commissioner Christine Flaherty, Pat Foye, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and New York City Housing Authority Director of Public/Private Partnerships Rasmia Kirmani-Frye. Turn to page 25 to read Foye’s take on the importance of crafting public-private partnerships, like the deals struck to rebuild the Goethals Bridge or to upgrade LaGuardia Airport.

(Left to right) New York City Consumer Affairs Commissioner Lorelei Salas, state Department of Labor General Counsel Pico Ben-Amotz and U.S. Department of Labor Eastern Regional Representative Robert Asaro-Angelo discuss the potential changes to labor laws in 2017, with a particular focus on the impact of the presidential election. Have photos from an event you’d like to see here? Send them to features@cityandstateny.com.

“Can he be beaten? Yes, by a Democrat. But it requires a Democrat to run against him. One of the side effects of term limitations is that if you know you can be re-elected to your current job and wait until it’s an open seat for mayor, that’s a strong attraction. Very few people give up a sure bet.” “The pre-K program is a tremendous accomplishment for the mayor, no question about it, but it’s now three years ago – that accomplishment might be in the last century as far as the voters are concerned. And the people who make use of that program may or may not be prime voters in a Democratic primary, so as much as they may like the program, that may not be a good organizing vehicle.”

Listen, subscribe and review this week’s podcast by searching for “New York Slant” on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud or your favorite podcast app.

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CityAndStateNY.com

December 12, 2016

NO OBAMA PERDÓN FOR OSCAR

OSCAR LÓPEZ RIVERA

All esperanza of getting President Barack Obama to free Oscar López Rivera are at the point of being extinguished as POTUS 44 refuses to respond to letters from prominent puertorriqueños and others. A protest is scheduled for Jan. 6, just weeks before time will run out for a presidential pardon for the Puerto Rican nationalist who has been imprisoned since 1981. At the protest in D.C., there will be 35 known figures who plan to get arrested in an act of civil disobedience. The number represents each of the years that the longest-held political prisoner in the United States has been captive in a federal penitentiary. B&B was told that people close to Oscar may be ready to throw in the towel in their effort. “That’s not true,” one informed bochinchera reacted. “We’re not giving up.” Yeah, pero it seems Obama has given up on freeing Oscar.

CUNY IN CUOMO’S IMAGE Bochinche is wagging the lenguas of a few politicos in the state Legislature who are upset at Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s takeover of the CUNY board of trustees. “He’s got nine of the 17 appointments,” said one critic, a product of the City University of New York. “And his sole mission is control,” said a pissed-off pol. Another, a Cuomo loyalist, expressed his frustration to B&B, saying: “He’s got his budget director on the board. How can he get away with that?” When I pointed out that he's a Latino, the response was: “I don't give a fuck what he calls himself. He's a Cuomo hack.” Not sure where this is going to go. However, Board Chairman Billy Thompson, Fernando Ferrer, Mayra Linares-Garcia, Ken Sunshine and of course Robert F. Mujica (the state’s budget dude) received a litany of criticism for being “sock puppets” for Cuomo.

ROBERT F. MUJICA ANDREW CUOMO


City & State New York

December 12, 2016

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PUBLISHER WANNABE MAYOR? We first wrote about a few months back in B&B about a newsside person running for mayor, without naming her. That political neophyte is Elinor Tatum. The bochinche is that Tatum – who is editor-in-chief of the Harlem-based New York Amsterdam News – was initially approached by a person she respects about challenging Mayor Bill de Blasio in the upcoming 2017 electoral cycle. She's spoken to others since then, and we're told that after months of pondering, she may be ready to make it formal by mid- to late-January.

ELINOR TATUM

SAL AIN’T WAITING B&B was told by a top bochinchero booster for Sal Albanese that he's fully committed in 2017. The former City Council hombre is said to be filing papers as early as lunes (Monday). The buzz is that the veteran, who ran unsuccessfully for the 2013 Democratic nomination, isn't reinventing the campaign rueda. Sal’s going to focus on promoting ideas that are working in other places that he thinks should be implemented in the city. In bocca al lupo!

SAL ALBANESE

TRABAJOS FROM TRUMPITO

TRUMP

The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda recently held a national four-hour marathon conference call to talk about appointments under Trump. Don’t laugh. The 40-member national group of Latino leaders who head organizations had all their job asks in the Hillary canasta. Now, they’re putting their cabezas together to figure out the best way to get the PEOTUS to consider them for some of the top jobs they thought they were getting from HRC. They're expected to issue a press release soon making their concerns publicly known to Trump. In the meantime, muchachos, I think he's got a wall to build and will need a lot of obreros.


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CityAndStateNY.com

December 12, 2016

TALKING THE

BEAT

Cities are ditching data-driven policing to try to heal the rift between communities and cops Story by JUSTIN SONDEL

Photography by HEATHER AINSWORTH


City & State New York

December 12, 2016

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LBANY POLICE OFFICER Justin Wallace approaches a middle-aged African-American woman who smiles warmly at him on a chilly fall night. They exchanged greetings before Donya Edmounds reminded him they have a neighborhood watch association meeting coming up. “Do you think it’s crazy that I feel safe riding my bike around here at night?” Wallace said. “I’m not scared at all.” “No,” Edmounds replies, playfully hitting his arm at a teasing remark. The neighborhood watch member said she sees Wallace – a community police officer on the department’s neighborhood engagement unit – around her Arbor Hill neighborhood all the time. While kids standing on the corner most times will scatter when an officer comes by, they usually don’t go anywhere when he rolls up on his bike. “He’ll pull up and be like ‘Oh, what’s up guys? How’s it going?’” Edmounds said. “He’s not busting their balls. He’s showing them respect.” Even if there is someone potentially doing something illegal, a conversation might go further in protecting the community than a minor drug charge. The next time serious violence is imminent or one particular person has become a neighborhood menace, instead of running away, the people who know what’s going on might instead talk to Wallace. Just being visible helps to build trust, he said. “Mostly I ride my bike up and down here. I’ll stop and engage in groups,” Wallace said. “A lot of people don’t want to be engaged at all, they just want to see me ride by. They just want to see me.” THE ALBANY POLICE Department’s push to change its philosophy is often praised by experts and considered the most progressive in the state, but they are one in a sea of agencies moving to address concerns over community and police relations. Departments across the country have been engaged in a kind of collective self-reflection in recent years as high profile incidents have drawn the nation’s attention to police departments and how they interact with the people they most often encounter. The deaths of unarmed people at the hands of police – incidents with men of color, who are disproportionately arrested, jailed and serve longer sentences than their white counterparts have drawn the lion’s share of scrutiny – have raised a multitude of questions about the efficacy of the data-

driven, zero-tolerance policing tactics that have dominated departmental philosophy across the country over recent decades. In New York that conversation has gained substantial momentum in recent years and now stands to draw the attention of the state Legislature. As an observer of community policing issues in the state for about two decades, the one thing Terry O’Neill sees as the biggest obstacle to progress is the lack of communication, not just between police and citizens, but between groups from across New York who are all dealing with similar issues. That’s why the Albany attorney and director of the Constantine Institute is pushing members of the Legislature to consider a bill that would allocate funding for the creation of a kind of repository and

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to address these issues, this year is the first time he’ll be offering a concrete and thorough blueprint for how, exactly, they might go about doing that. “We’ve not yet got state government to take the idea of community policing seriously,” O’Neill said. “You’re still following this whole trend toward datadriven policing, and that’s all they want to hear.” He is now in the process of circulating his draft bill to advocacy groups around the state in an effort to build a movement around the legislation and get feedback before finalizing a version to take to lawmakers. But this year, he said, legislators should expect a vigorous push from himself and others around the state. While he has a few lawmakers in mind he wants to wait for input from partners before deciding which

“I SERIOUSLY BELIEVE THAT IF WE CAN KEEP THE POLITICS OUT OF IT, WE CAN GET SOMEWHERE.”

– Beverly Padgett, chairwoman of the Albany Community Policing Advisory Committee think tank for best practices in community policing. His proposal would see the Government Law Center at Albany Law School serve as the administrator of the community policing center, which would solicit input from activists, law enforcement executives and academics, and would distill that information into white papers and other tools to help departments make the shift. The Legislature would also allocate funding to the state Division of Criminal Justice Services for the purpose of providing technical assistance to agencies and small grants to establish community oversight groups. And he may find a good deal of support, as activists across the state have pushed for greater reforms, while incidents of strife have continued: The tackling of a woman caught on video in Rochester, the beating of a handcuffed man in Buffalo, the arrest of a man videotaping another man being arrested in Syracuse, the death of Dontay Ivy in Albany, and several deadly incidents in New York City, including Eric Garner, whose videotaped fatal encounter drew national attention. While O’Neill has appeared before the Legislature for the last decade running to urge lawmakers to allocate money

lawmakers to bring the bill to seeking sponsorship and introduction. He thinks he’ll be able to get the bill considered quickly, as early as this session. “I think this is going to happen,” O’Neill said. COMMUNITY POLICING IS loosely defined as the dedication of resources by a department to try to engage citizens and build familiarity in a spirit of cooperation that makes both groups safer. But, the implementation of that idea comes in as many shapes and sizes as there are police departments attempting to make the shift toward that philosophy. Many departments, especially those in areas with higher concentrations of poverty and people of color, have adopted some kind of community policing strategy to show that they are making an effort to connect with those neighborhoods where they focus most of their resources. In Buffalo, there are two community police officers – CPOs in cop jargon – in each of the city’s five districts, a program revived by Mayor Byron Brown in 2010. They spend most of their shifts contacting people in the neighborhood, attending community meetings and taking in information that might be helpful to


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CityAndStateNY.com

December 12, 2016

ALBANY POLICE OFFICER JUSTIN WALLACE SPEAKS TO A NEIGHBORHOOD RESIDENT.

their patrol officer colleagues. There is a scholarship program aimed diversifying the force that provides tuition and book money for the academy. Last year in Rochester, Mayor Lovely Warren restructured the department into five smaller sections, instead of two massive precincts, the idea being that cops more familiar with a smaller area can better engage with the residents in those neighborhoods, a move that is being met with mixed results. While the city has no dedicated CPOs, all officers receive community police training and are expected to spend time interacting with citizens outside of calls for service. Syracuse has had a community policing division for about 20 years, and, like many other departments, they hold events meant to forge relationships in the neighborhoods they patrol. Politicians in the Salt City are as quick as anyone to throw the phrase community policing out there when asked by a reporter about tensions between law enforcement and residents. Even in New York City, the place that made data-driven policing and zero tolerance tactics famous, the philosophy seems to be shifting. William Bratton, the architect of the NYPD’s data-driven scheme and a constant promoter of the mindset for two decades, publicly acknowledged that police need to change some of their methods in interactions with citizens before he retired from his commissioner post this fall. A pilot program for neighborhood policing – another term that represents the same idea – began last year and has been expanded to about half of the department’s precincts.

His successor, NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill, has vowed to continue to expand the program and institute a neighborhood policing philosophy in the nation’s largest force. “Members of every community should feel that they are understood by their police and know they are treated fairly,” the NYPD boss said at an Association for a Better New York event shortly after coming into office. “We need all New Yorkers to view their police through a lens of trust.” While the shift in policy, or at least language, is seen as a positive by many observers, and is still at the beginning of what could be a complete change in law enforcement philosophy, critics say that many of the things police leadership and politicians have done in recent years are baby steps that do little to address the problem. Terry O’Neill called Buffalo’s dedication of resources a “sham.” Out of a force of more than 750 officers, to put just two officers in each district, with one supervisor who oversees the whole program, can’t change the culture of the department as a whole, which will be necessary if the problem is to be honestly addressed, he said. And other departments in larger cities across the state, excepting Albany, have done little to change their philosophy, he added. “I’m afraid that a lot of places, in New York and elsewhere, the way that police executives interpret this concept of community policing is to create a special unit

and assign a few people to go to community board meetings and have picnics,” Terry O’Neill said. Seth Stoughton, an attorney and former police officer who serves on the faculty of the University of South Carolina’s law school, describes this as “PR community relations” policing. “We still ascribe to the same principles and the same approach,” Stoughton said. “We just dress it up in the language of community policing.” Those tactics are designed to create the optic of a department dedicated to repairing relations with the community while doing little to change the overall philosophy of the department, he said. “You can dot the I’s and cross the T’s and make everything look all shiny and spiffy,” Stoughton said. “But, if you’re just doing it as a community relations campaign, as opposed to actually adopting the principles of community policing into the core practices and culture of the police agency, then you’re not going to actually change the practices that need to be changed.”

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UST A FEW DAYS after taking his position as the Chief of the Albany Police Department Brendan Cox had a crisis on his hands. Albany officers had tased Dontay Ivy, an African American Arbor Hill resident who suffered from schizophrenia. He was well known to residents and would sometimes do peculiar things, which went largely ignored. But in April 2015, the officers who approached Ivy did not know him. He continuously pulled his sleeves down over his hands and refused to let the officers touch him when they decided they wanted to search him. They tackled him and administered electric shocks through a taser at least three times. Ivy died before reaching the hospital. The situation had the potential to explode, but Cox had built bridges that helped him keep things under control as he worked to figure out what had gone wrong. For the previous six years he had been part of a departmental leadership that had aggressively moved to completely change the philosophy of the force. He reached out to the network of people in the neighborhood that had been built up during the process and his community liaisons worked diligently to dispel rumors and to disseminate information as it became available to him. There were protests, but things remained largely peaceful. The officers were ultimately cleared of any criminality in the incident, but police


City & State New York

December 12, 2016

Albany Police Department use of force incidents The APD, which instituted sweeping reforms to shift to a community policing philosophy in 2009, saw a sharp drop in the number of use of force incidents over the last two years. 2009-2015 400

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also held extensive sessions where they explained their decision in great detail, let people vent and took input that led to changes in departmental policy. Without the people on the ground making sure that rumors and presumptions did not take over the narrative, the potential for further violence would have been far greater, Cox said. “If you try to build that bridge in the middle of a crisis, there’s no way to do it,” he said. “You have to have those relationships.” And building those relationships, as well as increasing training, creating opportunities for interactions with citizens and consistently working to change the philosophy and policy of the department from the top down is exactly what’s been going on since 2009 when Cox’s predecessor, former Chief Steven Krokoff, stepped in and committed to sweeping changes. Unlike many other departments across the state, the Albany Police Department got serious about dedicating resources to better build those crucial connections, with 50 of the city’s 350 sworn officers, about 14 percent of the entire force, on the neighborhood engagement unit. In Buffalo only 1.4 percent of the officers are dedicated to community engagement. In Rochester no police are dedicated to that single purpose, though all officers receive training and are expected to spend part of their day away from the radio doing that work. Syracuse’s long-standing unit has 20 officers, about 5 percent of the force. In New York City just 1.3 percent of the force is assigned to the neighborhood policing program, though that number is expected to grow as the

program moves into more precincts. One way that Albany has moved toward a true shift in philosophy is that they broke away from the regional academy training used by most departments, where many agencies train together, and established their own academy. The idea, Cox said, is to have the flexibility to introduce the mantra behind community policing to cadets immediately. Part of their training involves going to coffee with a cop events or block club meetings. The first time Cox interacted with the community in an official police capacity, he was responding to a call for a fistfight in the street. He wants that initial experience to be different for his cadets, he said. “I want them to have those positive introductions long before they have that first negative one,” Cox said. Beverly Padgett, who is African American, has been on the front lines of these tensions in Albany for three decades. A longtime Arbor Hill resident and twotime chair of the Albany Community Policing Advisory Committee – a board on which she still sits – she has seen the shift from the beginning. The distrust between police and Albany residents had been building for decades, and was to a point that both she and Cox described the police as an “occupying force” in some neighborhoods. That perception had them up against long odds, she said. “We had wounded communities, but that’s on both sides,” Padgett said. The board, known as ACPAC, is a perfect example of why things have improved. The advisory council’s input is taken seriously and the people on the board, Padgett said, are for the most part heavily involved with their communities at an organic level, not political acolytes, and take their work to heart. “I seriously believe that if we can keep the politics out of it, we can get somewhere,” Padgett said. With that shift in philosophy, respect has been earned on both sides, Cox said. “If people believe that we’re acting in a fair and balanced manner, and that we’re applying the law in that same manner, that we’re being fair and just, then more people are going to follow the law,” Cox said. And indeed, the numbers show progress, particularly in the last few years. Use of force incidents dropped from 397 in 2010 to 243 in 2015. The number of citizen complaints against officers has fallen from 151 in 2010 to 67 last year. Padgett, who has walked into a community fundraiser for the victims of a

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housefire to see Cox elbow deep in dishes, said it all boils down to signals of respect. “The culture of the police department has changed, too,” Padgett said. “They talk to us.” And that, Padgett said, gives her some hope. The grandmother of 17’s efforts over the years have been carried out with all her children, and her children’s children, in mind. Perhaps soon her family – particularly the men – will be able to go about their business without being afraid something might happen if they have a chance interaction with police. “I want my son and my grandson to be able to come to my house whenever they feel like it.”

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RATTON HAS WORKED for decades to promote his brand of law enforcement leadership, flying around the world to talk about his system and the decline of crime in New York City. Gaining a certain celebrity in the process the longtime police chief, who served under mayors Rudy Giuliani and Bill de Blasio, was a driving force in the proliferation of his method to nearly every local police agency across the country. He appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1996 behind the headline, ”Finally we’re winning the war against crime. Here’s why.” And now, after retiring in September, he will continue to consult on law enforcement issues in his role with the global advisory

Citizen complaints, 2009-2015

With Albany instituting a community policing program in 2009, Rochester restructuring its department to improve relations with the community in 2015 and Syracuse with a community policing unit that has been in place for 20 years, all three departments have seen the number of citizen complaints filed against officers trending down over the last two years.

Rochester

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Albany

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Syracuse

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2009

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firm Teneo Holdings. The key to the method Bratton popularized: use statistics to track where crimes are being committed and send targeted pushes to tamp down on specific categories of crime in those areas. At the same time, at the urging of Giuliani, his officers were out writing a barrage of tickets for loitering and other minor crimes, part of their “broken windows” philosophy, a no-tolerance method of policing that relies on the notion that the allowance of minor crimes leads citizens to feel emboldened to commit more serious offenses. Terry O’Neill, who has attended National Association of Chiefs of Police conferences since the early 1990’s, recalled the 1995 gathering, where Bratton and Giuliani sent an NYPD representative to present a “high powered dog and pony show,” extolling the efficacy of data-driven policing. Conference attendees ate it up. They had to schedule a second presentation, he said. “It was like catnip to them,” O’Neill said. Government executives and police officials salivated at the chance to distill crime into neatly packaged numbers for the public to consume. The politicians could use

December 12, 2016

them to sell their public safety platforms and that can be good for the incumbent or the challenger, depending on where things stand. And so, no matter who won an election, the pressure would begin. City executives are left breathing down the neck of their police commissioner, who leans on his deputy, who lets the chiefs know just how important it is that the numbers come back lower than before. Indeed, statistics show that crime has fallen drastically across the country over the last 20 years. In New York City in particular “lowest crime in decades” type headlines have splashed across the front pages of city papers with regularity over the last year. But many critics wonder whether data manipulation and coincidence have as much to do with the trend as police tactics. John Eterno, a professor of criminal justice at Molloy College and former NYPD officer for two decades, said that the pressure rolling downhill often causes officers to downgrade or even fail to report crimes. And some officers feel satisfied to get their quotas through low-level ticket writing and

take it easy for the rest of the day. He had NYPD colleagues who would run around in the morning citing people for loitering or playing chess in the park, and then would be next to impossible to find, he said. “Everything becomes a numbers game,” Eterno said. “Officers are put under tremendous pressure to make sure that the numbers look good.” In turn, the politicians aren’t concerned about the veracity of the statistics, so long as they’re improving. There is even a term for this practice, garbage in garbage out, sometimes expressed in more crass terms. “You may be looking at the numbers, but the numbers aren’t revealing what’s actually happening out on the streets, because you’re playing with them to try to make sure that your area of responsibility looks good,” Eterno said. With police chiefs and politicians constantly under public pressure to do better, especially given the short term outlook so often inspired by election cycles, there is little incentive to consider the long view in placing that pressure on officers and their lieutenants, Eterno said. “I think politics can be part of the

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problem, where a mayor or a county executive is unwilling to let those numbers go up at all,” he said. “I think that it truly takes a brave politician to work with the community and the police department to make sure those numbers are accurate.” And while all experts agree that data is a vital part of policing, being overly reliant on numbers can bring more harm than good. Stoughton said that not only is a lot of the data faulty because of those pressures, but major indicators, like community satisfaction with the performance of the department, are not often considered. “You can focus on data, but if you focus on the wrong kind of data, your system is going to be skewed,” Stoughton said. Very few police departments measure satisfaction with the police in real time, getting the data months later, if at all, when the situation from neighborhood to neighborhood may have already changed. And when they do, the numbers usually are not flattering, especially in relation to how they treat communities of color. A recent survey conducted by advocacy groups in Buffalo found that 57 percent of respondents did not believe that the police

treat people of color with respect. “If a community is afraid of or has an antagonistic relationship with the police department, there is going to be a lower sense of security, even if there’s a relatively low amount of crime,” Stoughton said. That many departments don’t track or highlight those statistics can send a message to the community that the department isn’t concerned with their satisfaction, Terry O’Neill said. “(Crime) may be going down, but we see that there are an awful lot of people whose dissatisfaction is skyrocketing upward,” he said.

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TOUGHTON HAS BEEN watching the relationship between police and citizens for years. While many incidents in the past have drawn attention to the often fraught relationship – the Rodney King beating, the NYPD shooting of an unarmed Amadou Diallo – there has never been such a sustained conversation and unyielding scrutiny, Stoughton said, a development he attributes to the proliferation of cameras and the connectivity created by social media.

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“This is the first time I can identify, now, we’ve seen more than two years of attention to policing,” he said. While many departments have at least adopted modest measures to address citizen concerns in recent years, it remains to be seen where this conversation will go, given President-elect Donald Trump’s “law and order” tough talk on the campaign trail. Police departments operate with relative autonomy, but federal authorities provide funding, can drive the direction of the public conversation and lend support to local authorities. U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder have been aggressive in their investigation of police shootings under President Barack Obama, but it is unlikely that U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, Trump’s pick to head the Department of Justice, will continue down the same path given Trump’s campaign promises and Sessions’s own record as Alabama’s attorney general and U.S. Senator. Still, the shift that has begun in Albany and other departments will not be easily reversed. “I am cautiously optimistic that we

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December 12, 2016

are seeing broad recognition among communities and police leaders and police officers that the status quo is not serving the interest of a modern democracy,” Stoughton said.

B

ACK IN ALBANY, officer Wallace is chatting up a laundromat owner, whose corner in Arbor Hill is sometimes crowded with young men, some of whom are up to no good. Lindbert Johnson, an older AfricanAmerican man who has long lived in the community, said that he can tell Wallace is from the city. Some officers are not comfortable being outside of a squad car in the neighborhood, as they’ll stand silently, halfway down the block while he and Wallace have their regular conversations. “He will stand and talk to you and relate to you. Real talk,” Johnson said. “Which, some of these officers from up in the mountains, if he’s patrolling with one of the officers from up in the mountains and he’s standing here talking to me, the other officer will stand way over there. They don’t want to talk.” For Wallace, knowing the neighborhoods

is vital to doing the job, and harassing people who are just going about their business on their own block does little to advance the mission of the police department: making the community safer. So when he sees someone he could justify putting up against a wall because he smells some weed, or he can see the beer can they are handling, lightly concealed beneath brown paper, so long as he doesn’t feel that there is any real danger, he’d rather attempt to start a conversation than lock somebody up, he said. “A lot of times I might walk by a corner, I might smell weed, but I’m not stopping,” Wallace said. “Because everyone’s doing what they’re supposed to be doing. No one’s causing a big problem. No one from the community is telling me to come here and stop this, so there’s just different levels to it and different areas that you have to be aware of and respect. Pick your own battles.” Walking down the street Wallace comes upon a group of men. They ask where his bike is and start discussing the different kinds they’ve owned, ones they wish they’d owned. One man isn’t attempting to hide his open container. Drinking is a common occurrence at this spot.

But, Wallace never even mentions it during the conversation. After leaving, he says he has never heard of anything worse than a drunken disturbance happening there. He doesn’t hassle them, and when he rides by on his bike, they wave. “I treat everyone out here the way I’d want to be treated on my own block,” Wallace said. “And if I’m coming to arrest you – I’m coming to arrest you. They know they’ve done something so bad that they know I’m coming to punish them.” But the question remains: will the major shift in philosophy that has been seen in Albany be replicated around the state? Terry O’Neill will continue to push his proposed legislation while advocates from Buffalo to Brooklyn will continue to push for reforms. Still, those people should not expect change to come quickly, even if the state’s political leadership does get on board, Padgett said. “It’s hard work, she said. “You can’t do it overnight.”

City & State Albany reporter Ashley Hupfl contributed to this report.

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December 12, 2016

AGENCY FOCUS: THE PORT AUTHORITY OF NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY

CONTENTS

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BEYOND BRIDGEGATE

CAN ANYONE PULL PARTISAN POLITICS OUT OF THE PORT AUTHORITY?

26

25

PATRICK FOYE A Q&A WITH THE AUTHORITY’S COMMISSIONER

THE COMMISSIONERS MEET THE MEN WHO RUN THE PORT AUTHORITY

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THE DEEP DIVE

AN ANALYSIS BY THE CITIZENS BUDGET COMMISSION


December 12, 2016

City & State New York

MISHELLA

With a $7.4 billion budget that includes $3.1 billion in operating expenses, $2.9 billion in capital investments and $1.4 billion in debt, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is one of the biggest government organizations in the region. It employees more than 7,100 people, operates six airports, four bridges, two tunnels, three bus terminals, the PATH train, a marine terminal and a bunch of real estate. Millions of people rely on the services the Port Authority provides, which is why the recent corruption scandal surrounding the nearly 100-yearold entity is so alarming. After decades of turmoil, many are optimistic that the agency will turn a corner and implement reforms. But others suggest entrenched political interests may make the path to positive change difficult. In the next few pages, we explore these topics, and look at the current structure of this iconic and fascinating public authority.

THE WORLD TRADE CENTER TRANSPORTATION HUB COST THE PORT AUTHORITY $4 BILLION TO CONSTRUCT AND SERVES 250,000 DAILY PATH COMMUTERS.

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December 12, 2016

Beyond Bridgegate

How to pull the partisan politics out of the Port Authority FOR DECADES AFTER its creation in 1921, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey was a unique sanctuary where big capital and smart engineering crosspollinated in the public interest, much like at today’s Silicon Valley tech giants. Worldclass projects were produced that radically improved the daily lives of ordinary people. Its successful and nearly simultaneous completion of no fewer than four bridges in the late 1920s and early 1930s (the Goethals Bridge, the Outerbridge Crossing, the Bayonne Bridge and the George Washington Bridge), all ahead of schedule and well under budget, established the agency’s reputation for avoiding the pitfalls of petty partisan politics. The Port Authority was a shining example to a nation in need of

a can-do spirit, an agency whose utility was demonstrated with every trip over one of its bridges or through one of its tunnels. “The bridge is evidence of what can be accomplished when true efficiency is applied to civic projects,” wrote then-Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt in a special New York Times supplement celebrating the opening of the GWB in 1931. “It presents a gratifying contrast to the story of delays, procrastination and endless disappointment which have been often the fate of great public enterprises in the past.’” That quote, which author and historian Jameson W. Doig included in his seminal history of the bi-state agency, “Empire on the Hudson,” illustrates how the Port Authority caught the imagination of Roosevelt, who as president would use it as a template for creating

L e th

By ROBERT HENNELLY

independent entities like the Tennessee Valley Authority. Since then, thousands of similar entities have been established across the country and around the world. As the noted historian Kenneth T. Jackson wrote in the foreword to Doig’s book, the volume recounts “a time when Americans had confidence that government could confront great problems with imagination and decisiveness and that bureaucracies could be at once honest, effective, and competent.” FAST FORWARD ALMOST a hundred years later to the recently completed criminal proceedings in the “Bridgegate” federal corruption trial in Newark.


City & State New York

December 12, 2016

“The Port Authority was like

eL

z O f o and

For several weeks a jury heard hours of testimony describing how the highest levels of this now-multibillion-dollar agency were corrupted and used as a tool for the narrow political interests of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Christie was never charged with a crime, but two of his high-level appointees to the Port Authority – David Wildstein and Bill Baroni – his former deputy chief of staff, Bridget Kelly, and one of his top political confidantes, David Samson, the former

To accomplish their scheme, the Bridgegate conspirators also had to enlist members of the Port Authority police brass, who in some instances told subordinates not to say anything, even as the traffic problem worsened. In the cover-up phase of the criminal conspiracy, the head of the Port Authority Police union claimed he had originated the so-called traffic study, which prosecutors proved in court was part of an elaborate cover-up of the lane closures. The police union had endorsed Christie’s re-election. But during the trial it was made clear that the Port Authority itself, through false press releases and obfuscation of inquiries by the news media, also facilitated the cover-up.

and the Bridgegate trial pulled the

black curtains

back and we saw the little guy pulling the levers and working the machine.”

NANCY KENNEDY

– DOUG MUZZIO, Baruch College political science professor

chairman of the Port Authority, were all successfully prosecuted for using the bistate agency to either enrich themselves or illegally punish political opponents of the New Jersey governor. The guilty verdicts, and in Wildstein’s case a guilty plea, brought a measure of accountability, but prosecutors conceded well before trial that the Bridgegate ground crew had ample assistance from unnamed and unindicted co-conspirators, most likely people still on the public payroll who had knowledge of the criminal conspiracy but failed to act. Efforts by the news media to force the release of those names were rejected by the courts.

Under defense counsel cross-examination the agency’s executive director, Pat Foye, admitted he signed off on a false press release stating that “the Port Authority has conducted a week of study” and the bistate agency would “review those results and determine the best traffic patterns at the GWB.” While Foye is credited with ending the four-day traffic coronary in September 2013, his signing off on the “fake news” of a traffic study has to be seen through the prism of Christie’s heated re-election campaign. So what changed in the almost centurylong arc of the Port Authority that it went

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from transcending partisan politics to being a tool of it, to the point that it was involved in criminality that preyed on the very public it was supposed to serve? Despite the millions spent to pursue the case the criminal prosecution myopically zeroed in on a handful of culpable defendants, with the jury not charged to address the guilt or innocence of the agency itself and its police force. It’s not like the Port Authority lacked the ability to internally probe for wrongdoing. In the spring of 2013, the agency’s inspector general made headlines for an internal probe that forced out treasurer Anne Marie Mulligan, a 35-year veteran who oversaw bond issuance and insurance, and two of her subordinates after it was discovered that the trio had been improperly taking meals and theater tickets on local and international trips. Even before the crisis of leadership boiled over into Bridgegate, the agency’s early ability to complete projects ahead of schedule and below cost estimates had become a distant memory. After 9/11, which took a toll on the Port Authority staff, the agency found itself sinking deeper and deeper into debt as it failed to control billions of dollars in cost overruns to complete the World Trade Center complex, an enterprise it had tried to extricate itself from by leasing the complex to developer Larry Silverstein before the catastrophic attack. In a 2012 letter to Christie and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a special panel of the Port Authority’s commissioners reported that in just 10 years the agency’s debt had spiked from $9 billion to almost $21 billion, warning that “this significant increase in the agency’s debt load will remain a burden for years to come.” And the commissioners’ review from Navigant Consulting found that the burying of the Port Authority in long-term debt coincided with the agency boosting gross compensation for its own workforce by 19 percent in just five years. As a result, today the average Port Authority employee makes more than $143,000 in salary and benefits annually. In the short term the Port Authority made cuts and tried to bail itself out with toll hikes and fare increases on its trans-Hudson PATH subway line. But the public messaging on the rationale for the toll and fare hike had been all over the place, further undermining public trust in the beleaguered agency. In August 2011 the Port Authority put out a press release with the headline, “Faced With Constrained Capacity Due to Historic Economic Recession, Coupled With Billions


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in WTC and Post 9-11 Security Costs and Unprecedented Need For Infrastructure Overhaul, Port Authority Proposes Toll and Fare Increase.” AAA sued the Port Authority to stop what it said was the inappropriate use of toll revenue to backstop the mounting debt at the World Trade Center site. At the time Port Authority Chairman David Samson, a former New Jersey attorney general who would later be convicted for shaking down United Airlines, told reporters no such link between the deepening WTC debt and the toll hike existed. “There was never a statement made that linked the toll increase to paying for the World Trade Center redevelopment,” said Samson. “What was said … was trying to define and describe the current status at the Port Authority at that time and what was causing the financial issues facing the Port Authority, not that drove the toll increase, but rather a general picture of the financial position of the Port Authority.” HISTORIAN JAMESON DOIG said that in 2014 Christie made the right call in naming former New Jersey Attorney General John Degnan as chairman of the Port Authority’s Board of Commissioners. Since taking office, Degnan has spearheaded an effort to depoliticize the bi-state agency and restore its earlier reputation for efficiency and professionalism. He told Crain’s earlier this year about the agency’s plan to create and fill the new post of chief executive officer with a salary range of between $400,000 and $450,000, well above the $290,000 received by Foye, the executive director. But even an effort at a reset has to contend with the shadows of the recent past. “A lot of people who have successful careers are wary of coming into an agency like the Port because they have questions about the potential interference of politics,” Degnan told Crain’s. New Jersey State Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, a longtime critic of the Port Authority and one of the driving forces behind the Bridgegate legislative probe, sees Degnan as a critical change agent. “John Degnan has done more for reform at the Port Authority both on the issue of ethics and the issue of transparency,” Weinberg told City & State. “He has authorized a committee of commissioners to review the (Bridgegate) trial testimony and what it has pointed up in terms of the Port Authority’s involvement as well as the Port Authority police. We will await that result.” Doug Muzzio, a professor at the Marxe

December 12, 2016

“There is no quesiton that the

Port Authority was created in order to

political pressure insulate

of the kind of short-term goals that the governors and local officials want to use the agency for.” – JAMESON DOIG, historian

School of Public and International Affairs at Baruch College, believes that postBridgegate there is a unique opportunity to reset the entire agency. “The Port Authority was like the Land of Oz, and the Bridgegate trial pulled the black curtains back and we saw the little guy pulling the levers and working the machine.” Muzzio said that while the trial itself only held a handful of people accountable, the proceedings revealed it took others actors who were not indicted. “The corruption is much wider, and you have to start there and clean out the entire stable,” said Muzzio. “It has grown into a Byzantine octopus and its worldview is significantly corrupted in a systemic sense by its focus on real estate that creates the operating assumption that is what it should be all about.” Muzzio said the social ecology of the Board of Commissioners is a handicap going forward. “And all you have to do is look at the composition of the Board of Commissioners to see that is a core of the problem. What you have is all white guys in real estate, the law or money management. This has created a very insular worldview. Where’s the representation of the New York or New Jersey commuter? You just need more voices.” Doig agrees the lack of diversity is an

issue that needs addressing. “The Port Authority has rarely had women nor minority group members,” said Doig, “The one woman and minority group member that was on the board when I met with the entire commission to complain about their patronage appointees was entirely silent in that meeting, suggesting it also has a small minority of commissioners out of 12 doesn’t get you the kind of articulate and persuasiveness use of diversity you would like to have. There is a problem there.” Peter Woolley, founder of Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind polling institute, said the rising cost of commuting via the Port Authority’s facilities has become like a regressive tax that hits those least able to afford it. “As long as it is led by commissioners whose orientation is that of real estate developers you are not likely to have, say, the perspective of an environmentalist in the decision-making much less the experience of the non-union hourly worker that cleans out the airplanes or the kid who has to take multiple busses to get to their minimum wage retail job at Livingston Mall and spends the first week of every month’s pay on his bus pass,” Woolley said. The Port Authority said it is starting to address these concerns. In a statement


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December 12, 2016

Authority was created in order to insulate political pressure of the kind of short-term goals that the governors and local officials want to use the agency for,” Doig said. He noted that “for many years, many decades after” the agency’s creation in 1921, the appointment of a Port commissioner was seen as the extension of a solemn “public trust.”

MARCIO JOSE BASTOS SILVA

to City & State, the agency said that “in recent years it has refocused on its core transportation mission and sought a series of reforms to enhance the transparency, operations and efficiency of the bistate agency, with the primary goal of improving the movement of people and goods throughout the region while also helping to increase the metropolitan area’s economic growth.” Doig said ultimately the responsibility for the current status of the Port Authority has to rest with the two men that have veto power over its actions: Christie and Cuomo. “What it says is that the quality of leadership by the governors, particularly by Christie, is very weak,” said Doig, who claimed the New Jersey governor had used the agency as a hiring hall for his partisans and operatives. “Christie had more than 60 he put it in his first two years in power.” Both governors, Doig contends, “see the Port Authority as their own piggy bank. It has lots of money. They control it in the sense that they have the veto power of its projects. They can force either a small or

THE WORLD TRADE CENTER SITE RECONSTRUCTION IN 2008, A PROJECT PLAGUED BY COST OVERRUNS.

large number of patronage appointees” on the Port Authority, “which remains definitely vulnerable to that kind of misbehavior and unethical actions” that can on occasion cross over into Bridgegatetype “criminal actions.” Emails to both governors’ press offices seeking comment received no response. “There is no question that the Port

“They appointed people that largely, almost entirely in fact, thought about the region not just narrow state interests and well beyond what an individual governor might think was helpful for their re-election,” said Doig. “So, in that sense the agency was set up with a degree of independence.” The governors were granted veto power

23

over Port Authority actions in 1927, and were regularly consulted and advised about the agency’s agenda. “Much of it was focused on making sure that the commissioners had looked carefully at the alternatives and thought about the political costs as well as the economic and social costs and benefits and therefore went forward in a way that was responsible, not necessarily in a way that the governor was able to take credit or was re-elected.” While some governors had taken a more invasive role behind the scenes before Bridgegate, Doig said a major misstep that had long-term consequences for the agency was New York Gov. George Pataki’s appointment of George Marlin, an investment banker and Conservative Party leader. “He got rid of the Port Authority Library, for example, that had lots of important stuff in there that was used by the planners, and he demolished the planning staff,” said Doig. “No other executive director undermined the agency in the way he did. It took Chris Christie to match Marlin and maybe exceed him” in terms of negative impacts on the Port Authority. But for Nick Casale, an ex-NYPD detective and former deputy director of security and counterterrorism for the MTA, it’s the very structure of the Port Authority that’s the problem. He favors disbanding it. “The creation of these sprawling independent authorities becomes a red flag for corruption and fiefdoms unto themselves unaccountable really to no one,” Casale said. “Look at what happened in Bridgegate. You had a police force, the Port Authority Police Department that could be used like a lap dog by bureaucrats within the agency looking to do the bidding of a vindictive governor.”


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City & State New York

December 12, 2016

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AGENCY FOCUS: PORT AUTHORITY

THE ULTIMATE AUTHORITY A Q&A with Executive Director

PATRICK FOYE C&S: President-elect Donald Trump’s administration has talked a lot about using public-private partnerships to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure. What advice would you give to the administration about the benefits and difficulties of such partnerships? Pat Foye: In the last three years, the Port Authority has closed on two public-private partnerships – a $1.5 billion deal for the new Goethals Bridge, and the first lanes on that bridge will open in the first quarter of 2017, and in June we closed on the largest public-private partnership in the history of the country with LaGuardia’s Central Terminal Building. If you have driven by LaGuardia recently, you see the demolition and destruction being reaped on the airport, and it’s actually highly satisfying seeing it happen. I don’t have any advice to give the Trump administration, or President Barack Obama’s administration for that matter, but I’ll make the following observations. One is that I think infrastructure is a bipartisan issue. It has been for a long time in this country. I think that the support of public-private partnerships is present and apparent in the current Obama administration, and they’ve been very supportive from a parochial Port Authority point of view both of Goethals and LaGuardia. President-elect Trump’s campaign website talks about public-private partnerships, about reform of the regulatory process and speeding the process up, and those are things the Port Authority is completely supportive of. I would expect that in the president-elect’s administration there will be a greater emphasis on public-private partnerships. The two projects we’re working on, a couple of notes I’ll make. We enjoyed the full-throated support of Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Gov. Chris Christie for both projects, one obviously in New York and

Goethals spans both states, so support from the governors was incredibly important. Two, public-private partnerships don’t fit every situation. At the Port Authority, we’re building two new bridges, in effect. We’re building a new Goethals bridge, doing that as a public-private partnership with about a $500 million TIFIA loan from the U.S. Department of Transportation. We’re also raising the roadway of the Bayonne Bridge, and we did that as a traditional Port Authority project, we didn’t do it as a P3 (public-private partnership). There’s a saying at the racetrack, “horses for courses,” so we thought the right execution on Goethals was to do a P3. We didn’t think that was the right execution on the Bayonne Bridge. C&S: In the current administration, you see a lot of support for the Gateway Tunnel. Do you think you will see that same support from the Trump administration? PF: My expectation is that the new president is a New Yorker. He’s a builder. It’s one of the things he spoke about during the campaign, and one of the things he spoke about the morning after the election, a minute or two into the speech he spoke about infrastructure. Now he didn’t speak about Gateway, but that wasn’t the time to go state-by-state in terms of projects. I think we’re blessed to have U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer as the minority leader, and I would expect that the federal and U.S. DOT support for Gateway will continue. It’s also a project that’s not only important to New York and New Jersey, but it’s also a project of national significance. You’ve got well

over $1 trillion of GDP, to use that outmoded term in this region, and cutting off the access for a couple hundred thousand people a day, commuting back and forth, New York to New Jersey, New Jersey to New York, but also coming up on the shuttle from Washington, it’d be cataclysmic. C&S: Between the conclusion of the Bridgegate trial and some sniping between the governors and members of the Port Authority board, what do you think needs to be done to reinstill trust in the Port Authority to complete these important projects on time and on budget? PF: It’s a good question. The Bridgegate circumstances and the trial was a traumatic event for the Port Authority and has done significant damage to the Port Authority name and brand equity and to morale at the agency. This has gone on for three years, and it’s going to take a long time to repair that. Having said that, the board, beginning in 2014 under Scott Rechler’s leadership and continued under John Degnan’s leadership, has instituted a number of reforms, starting with board recusal reform. The other thing I think that is important to say, is that the Port Authority has got to continue to get stuff done, and I think that’s the message of Goethals, it’s the message of Bayonne, it’s the message of LaGuardia, and I think we’re doing it smartly. Gov. Cuomo has talked about getting government out of the construction business, and I think we were early to that and have internalized that message. What we’re doing on Goethals and on LaGuardia is to shift that construction risk is to private investors and builders.


HAMILTON (“TONY”) E. JAMES Hamilton (“Tony”) E. James was nominated to the board of commissioners by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and joined the board on June 25, 2015. James is the president, chief operating officer of Blackstone, and a member of the board of directors of Blackstone Group Management LLC. He is also a member of

MICHAEL D. FASCITELLI

Michael D. Fascitelli was nominated to the Board of Commissioners by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and joined the board on July 16, 2015. Fascitelli is the founder of MDF Capital LLC, previously serving as president and chief executive officer of Vornado Realty Trust as well as president of Alexander’s Inc. Fascitelli continues to serve as a trustee of

Meet the men who keep the Port Authority moving

THE COMMISSIONERS

AGENCY FOCUS: PORT AUTHORITY

George R. Laufenberg was nominated to the Board of Commissioners by Gov. Chris Christie and joined the board on July 18, 2014. Laufenberg is administrative manager of the New Jersey Carpenters Funds. The five funds total in excess of $2 billion in assets and provide apprenticeship and training,

GEORGE R. LAUFENBERG

Committee Assignments: Operations (Chair), Capital Planning, Execution and Asset Management (Vice-Chair)

John J. Degnan was nominated to the Board of Commissioners by Gov. Chris Christie and joined the board on July 14, 2014. He was elected chairman of the board on July 23, 2014. Degnan retired as vice chairman and chief operating officer on Dec. 31, 2010, from The Chubb Corporation. Degnan served on the boards of the American Institute for Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters; the School of Risk Management, Insurance and Actuarial Science, St. John’s University and the Barnabas Health System and continues to serve as a trustee for St. Benedict’s Preparatory School and St. Vincent College. He also served as a member of the Governor’s Advisory Committee on Judicial appointments and the President’s Federal Advisory Council on Insurance.

CHAIRMAN

JOHN J. DEGNAN

Kenneth Lipper was nominated to the Board of Commissioners by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and joined the board on June 21, 2013. Since 1987, Lipper has been the chairman of Lipper & Co LLC, an investment management and investment banking firm in Manhattan. From 2004 to 2010, Lipper was the executive vice president at global real estate firm,

KENNETH LIPPER

Committee Assignments: Finance (Chair), Audit

Richard H. Bagger was nominated to the Board of Commissioners by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and joined on July 9, 2012. Bagger is executive vice president of corporate affairs and market access for Celgene Corporation, a multinational biopharmaceutical company focusing on the discovery, development and commercialization of treatments for cancer and severe, immune-inflammatory conditions. Bagger most recently served for two years as chief of staff for Gov. Christie, responsible for managing implementation of the governor’s policy agenda and priorities. Previously, Rich was employed by Pfizer Inc. for more than 16 years in the company’s U.S. Pharmaceuticals, Corporate Affairs and Worldwide Pharmaceuticals Divisions.

RICHARD H. BAGGER


Committee Assignments: Security (Chair), Governance and Ethics (Vice-Chair), Finance

Committee Assignments: Finance, Capital Planning, Execution and Asset Management, Security

Committee Assignments: Audit, Finance (Vice Chair)

William “Pat” Schuber was nominated to the Board of Commissioners by Gov. Chris Christie and joined the board on July 1, 2011. Schuber served as the county executive of Bergen County for 12 years, nine years as a member of the New Jersey state Assembly and mayor of the borough of Bogota for four years. He is currently an associate professor at the School of Administrative Science, Petrocelli College, Fairleigh Dickinson University. He is a faculty member in the Master of Administrative Science, Master of Science in Homeland Security, Master of Sports Administration and Bachelor of Arts in Individualized Studies. He has written several scholarly articles and co-authored books on topics of history, leadership and homeland security. Schuber served as a captain in the U.S. Army Reserve.

Raymond Pocino was nominated to the Board of Commissioners by New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey and joined the board on June 26, 2002. For more than 50 years, Pocino has been a member of the Laborers’ International Union of North America. He was appointed regional manager of LIUNA’s Eastern Region Office in April 1995 and later won election as a LIUNA vice president in September 1996. He is also president emeritus of Construction & General Laborers Local 172 in Trenton. Pocino is serving his fifth term as a commissioner of the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, one term as chairman. Pocino also serves as vice president of the New Jersey State AFL-CIO, vice chair of Choose New Jersey, and serves as a trustee of both the NJ Alliance for Action and New Jersey SEED.

Jeffrey H. Lynford was appointed to the Board of Commissioners in June 2011 by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and reappointed in 2013. Lynford, currently serves as president and CEO of Educational Housing Services Inc., the leading nonprofit New York City organization that provides safe and affordable housing for college students and interns since 1987. He was the co-founder of the Wellsford group of public and private real estate companies. Over an 18-year period he served as the chairman of three exchange-listed corporations: Wellsford Residential Property Trust, Wellsford Real Properties Inc., and Reis Inc. Previously, he held senior investment banking positions on Wall Street. Lynford has served as a trustee/director on the boards of SEC, reporting corporations and mutual funds as well as nonprofit organizations.

WILLIAM “PAT” SCHUBER

Committee Assignments: Operations

health, pension, annuity and vacation benefits to more than 15,000 union members and their families and 7,000 retirees. In addition to his duties with the carpenters union, he is chairman of the New Jersey Alliance for Action, a 700-member labor, business and governmental coalition which seeks to resolve infrastructure issues affecting the quality of life in New Jersey. Laufenberg also currently serves on the Board of Directors of the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute, the Institute for Nursing, the Board of Trustees of the Independent College Fund and as vice-chairman of the Empire State Carpenters Funds Board of Trustees.

RAYMOND M. POCINO

Committee Assignments: Finance, Governance and Ethics

Blackstone’s Management and Executive Committees and sits on the firm’s investment committees. Prior to joining Blackstone, James was chairman of global investment banking and private equity at Credit Suisse First Boston and a member of the Executive Board. Prior to the acquisition of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette by Credit Suisse First Boston in 2000, James was the chairman of DLJ’s Banking Group, responsible for all the firm’s investment banking and merchant banking activities.

JEFFREY H. LYNFORD

Committee Assignments: Capital Planning, Execution and Asset Management, Security

Vornado Realty Trust. Prior to joining Vornado, he was a partner at Goldman, Sachs & Co. Currently, he is a trustee of Starwood Waypoint Residential Trust, as well as a board member at Child Mind Institute, Real Estate Board of New York, Rockefeller University and Urban Land Institute.

Committee Assignments: Audit (Chair), Operations, Capital Planning, Execution and Asset Management

David S. Steiner was nominated to the Board of Commissioners by Gov. Jim McGreevey and joined the board on Jan. 22, 2003. Steiner is currently the chairman of Steiner Equities Group LLC, a real estate development firm specializing in industrial office parks and commercial facilities in New Jersey and 14 other states and based in Roseland, New Jersey. Steiner recently built Steiner Studios, an unprecedented 280,000-square-foot, $118 million state-ofthe-art film and television production facility, at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Previously, he served as vice president of the Washington Institute for Far East Policy.

DAVID S. STEINER

Committee Assignments: Governance and Ethics (Chair), Finance, Operations

Cushman & Wakefield. From 1982 to 1985, he served as New York City deputy mayor under Mayor Ed Koch. Previously, he was a general partner and managing director at Salomon Brothers and a General Partner at Lehman Brothers. Lipper serves on the board of directors of Case New Holland (CNH) Global NV. He is chairman of the Board of Lippmann Enterprises LLC, a cosmetics company, and on the Advisory Board of Group FMG, a software company.


28

CityAndStateNY.com

December 12, 2016

AGENCY FOCUS: PORT AUTHORITY

THE DEEP DIVE An analysis from the Citizens Budget Commission

By JAMISON DAGUE ESTABLISHED IN 1921 the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (Port Authority) supports the region’s passenger and freight transportation systems through interstate bridges and tunnels, a rail transit system (PATH), bus terminals, airports, and seaports. In addition, the agency is a large commercial landlord, owning the World Trade Center. The Port Authority has no power to tax; instead, the agency raises funds from user fees and rentals, capital contributions from the federal government and other sources, and borrowing for capital projects. The Port Authority’s 2017 budget projects $5.2 billion in expenses and $583 million in net income, which the agency intends to invest in its facilities as pay-as-you-go capital. The overall budget conceals an important fact: bridges, tunnels, and airports generate revenues that subsidize t h e activities that lose money, namely PATH, the bus terminals, seaports, and for now, the World Trade Center. 2017 Budget and Financial Plan THE PORT AU T H O R I T Y ’ S most recent five-year financial plan, proposed in November and starting with the fiscal year in January 2017, projects $5.8 billion in revenue in 2017. The largest single line-item, almost 30 percent of total revenue, is $1.7 billion from tolls charged at the Authority’s bridges and tunnels. Approximately $2.6 billion collectively comes from the airports in the form of rents, fees, and parking charges. Rents collected at the World Trade Center ($240 million)

and the Authority’s seaports ($222 million) each account for less than 5 percent of revenues. PATH fares account for $188 million, approximately 3 percent of total revenue. Non-operating income includes aid in construction—primarily from capital grants made by the federal government and payments by Port Authority tenants to support construction and development of leased spaces—totaling $307 million. It also includes airport facility charges ($258 million) based on passenger traffic, which may only be used for federally-approved airport improvements. Expenses are expected to total $5.2 billion in 2017 and are comprised of operating expenses, depreciation, and interest on long-term debt. Operating expenses are projected to surpass $3.1 billion; half, or nearly $1.6 billion, will support aviation operations. An additional $460 million is to be spent operating tunnels, bridges, and terminals (15 percent). PATH

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey revenues, 2017 budgeted (dollars in millions)

Tolls

Aviation fees, rents, and parking

1,678

3,102

Others

1,201 Construction aid and PFCs

392

PATH Fares

188

World Trade Center rents Port commerce rents

222

240


City & State New York

December 12, 2016

and the World Trade Center, $350 million and $324 million respectively, each account for approximately 10 percent of operating expenses, while $172 million supports seaports (5 percent). Depreciation, which reflects the steady and ongoing use of facilities and equipment, is budgeted to exceed $1.2 billion. Interest expense on long-term debt is $859 million. The Port Authority projects a net income of $583 million in 2017, and its annual net income is projected to reach $900 million by 2021, growing 11.5 percent annually on average. This projection assumes no fare or toll increases. Operating expenses are projected to grow 1.8 percent annually on average, more slowly than between 2012 to 2016, when they grew 3.3 percent annually as the Port Authority completed construction of World Trade Center-related projects.

Expenses, 2017 budgeted Depreciation

Interest expense, net

1,235

859

Aviation

1,668

Other operating expenenses WTC

21

Tunnels, bridges and terminals

516

333

Port commerce

181

398

PATH

(dollars in millions)

Projected Port Authority net income, 2017 World Trade Center

(dollars in millions)

PATH

Subtotal

-1,009

Development and other

Port commerce

Aviation

+646 Tunnels, bridges, and terminals

+945

Source: Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Proposed 2017 Budget(November 2016), Appendix 2: Consolidated Statements of Revenues, Expenses and Changes in Net Position, p. 89

million dollars

+ Subtotal

+1,592 million dollars

=+583 Total

million dollars

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Winners and losers THE OVERALL NET income masks important internal cross-subsidies at the Port Authority. The agency relies on two of its business lines—Aviation and Tunnels, Bridges, and Terminals—to mitigate losses at other operations. A few facilities have outsized effects on Authority revenues and expenses. Just six facilities—the three Hudson River crossings (George Washington Bridge, Lincoln Tunnel, and Holland Tunnel) and the three major airports (John F. Kennedy International, Newark Liberty International, and LaGuardia)—account for three-fourths of all Port Authority revenue. These facilities pay their own operating expenses and generate additional revenue to subsidize the operations of the rest of the agency. The biggest “loser” is the World Trade Center, for which a net loss of more than $600 million is projected in 2017. PATH is expected to lose $275 million despite more than $175 million in capital contributions, grants, and other non-operating revenues. The seaports are projected to lose a modest $38 million. The Citizens Budget Commission (CBC) has recommended changes at PATH and the Port Commerce business lines to reduce deficits. Unlike most other U.S. transit systems PATH relies solely on passenger fares and a cross-subsidy from motorists using the Authority’s bridges and tunnels. CBC recommends a more equitable financing model that includes tax subsidies, such as sales or property taxes, covering PATH’s service area. In the Port Commerce business line, CBC recommends the Authority consider closing and repurposing underutilized and unneeded seaports in Brooklyn to concentrate maritime activities at more productive ports on the other side of the Hudson River. Consistent with CBC’s strategies, the panel on Port Authority reform (a subcommittee of Port Authority Commissioners appointed by the two Governors in 2014) advocated the repurposing, redeveloping, or selling of underperforming facilities outside the scope of the bi-state agency’s mission. (The Port Authority has begun divesting of nonessential assets, but more divestitures may be in store.) Reducing losses deliberately and promptly is vital if the Port Authority is to continue to fulfill its mission to keep the region moving and provide the capital investment needed to maintain and expand its transportation infrastructure.


30

NYSlant.com

December 12, 2016

I

Perspectives & analysis from the people who know New York best/ Edited by Nick Powell

STATE SENATE DEMOCRATS NEED NEW LEADERSHIP

f New York state Senate Democrats want to start getting serious about taking back control of the chamber, it is imperative that Andrea Stewart-Cousins step down as leader of the conference before the Legislature convenes in January. Stewart-Cousins herself provided the reason why in a statement released last week following her re-election – a clueless missive that proves how blithely unaware she is that that “leader” isn’t a passive noun – it’s an active verb. “With Donald Trump’s election, the need for a strong Senate Democratic Conference which works to protect New Yorkers’ rights and values has never been more vi-

By EDDIE BORGES

tal,” Stewart-Cousins said. “That is why we need all Democrats in the state Senate to work together.” I grew up in the state Legislature, where I started working when I was 16. While he was teaching me to fish, I asked a widely respected former deputy minority leader why he wasn’t running for the top spot after a former leader resigned. He told me, “What’s the point of being minority leader?” It’s a question that Stewart-Cousins should be asking herself. During two terms as conference leader, Stewart-Cousins, who represents Yonkers, has failed to unite her conference, nor has she worked to

A KATZ

IF SHE WAS SERIOUS ABOUT HAVING A DEMOCRATIC MAJORITY IN THE STATE SENATE, STEWART-COUSINS COULD HAVE WALKED FROM HER HOME OVER TO KLEIN’S WITH BAGELS THE MORNING AFTER THE ELECTION. elect enough new Democrats to the Senate – a huge reason why the Democrats have failed to retake the majority in a state where the party has a 2-to-1 registration advantage. A third term likely won’t be the charm for Stewart-Cousins, and if the latest news reports about her lack of engagement are true, the woman does not have the ability to broker an agreement to put her conference back in power. A spokesperson for Bronx Democratic state Sen. Jeff Klein, who leads the Independent Democratic Conference which has been caucusing with Republicans since 2012 and just picked up two new


A KATZ

December 12, 2016

members in recently elected Marisol Alcantara and Brooklyn state Sen. Jesse Hamilton, said last week that he hasn’t heard from Stewart-Cousins for a month. That’s mind-boggling, especially when you consider that Stewart-Cousins’ district in Yonkers shares a boundary with Klein’s district in the Bronx and lower Westchester. If she was serious about having a Democratic majority in the state Senate, Stewart-Cousins could have walked from her home over to Klein’s with bagels the morning after the election. Over coffee, they could have commiserated over Hillary Clinton’s loss and what it meant for New Yorkers. With her foot in the door, Stewart-Cousins could have opened negotiations with Klein on what a Senate majority would look like. And if she really had, she could have kept negotiations going in one of those 24-hour meeting places we have scattered around New York City where political deals are historically worked out: diners. Instead, there has been 30 days, and counting, of silence from Stewart-Cousins, which means that she didn’t even have the social grace to call Klein and wish him a happy Thanksgiving.

City & State New York

I’m curious what adviser suggested to Stewart-Cousins that giving Klein the cold shoulder was going to win him over? Or did she just lose his cellphone number? I doubt that Senate Republican Majority Leader John Flanagan of Long Island lets a single day go by without checking in with Klein to make sure that the man critical to his controlling the Senate majority needs anything. I’m sure Klein is on Flanagan’s speed dial. That’s called politics. And if Stewart-Cousins can’t manage that with her next-door neighbor, I can’t imagine she’s been trying much harder swaying Democrat Simcha Felder of Brooklyn, who votes with the Republicans, back to her side. Stewart-Cousins could take a lesson from Gov. Andrew Cuomo. He lived on the telephone even before mobile phones were ubiquitous. Cuomo calls to joke and tease, or just to check in, but he is always building bridges. Stewart-Cousins did meet with the governor last week. She said it was a “good” meeting – yet nothing came of it. That does not build a lot of confidence in someone who aspires to be one of the three people in the room negotiating the state budget.

31

The problem is not just Stewart-Cousins. Her re-election as leader means that talented members of the Democratic conference have all but given up taking the majority – content with a status quo that has delivered on very little of their policy agenda beyond what Cuomo deems important. Unfortunately, if Flanagan is re-elected majority leader when the Senate convenes in January there is nothing in the rules that would allow for another vote even if the Democrats finally get their act together. Klein has proven to be a deft politician. He convinced his Republican partners to vote for raising the minimum wage and gun-control legislation. I’m sure that as Senate majority leader he would give Stewart-Cousins some kind of appointment to help her save face if she were willing to step down, so that New York could prepare for the storm that is coming.

Eddie Borges is a visiting fellow at Metropolitan College of New York.


32

CityAndStateNY.com / PUBLIC and LEGAL NOTICES

PUBLIC & LEGAL NOTICES DECEMBER 12, 2016

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212-268-0442, ext. 2039 Notice of Formation of 215 MOORE STREET MEZZANINE LENDER LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/10/16. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207, regd. agent upon whom and at which process may be served. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Notice of Qualification of SREF PIV IV, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/29/16. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 10/26/16. Princ. office of LLC: Savanna Asset Management, LLC, 430 Park Ave., 12th Fl., NY, NY 10022. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543, regd. agent upon whom and at which process may be served. DE addr. of LLC: c/o CSC, 2711 Centerville Rd., Ste. 400, Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity. NOTICE OF FORMATION of Moke America, LLC. Arts of Org filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) 12/7/16. Office loc: NY County. SSNY designated agent upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy of process against LLC to principal business address: 209 East 62nd Street, NY, NY 10065. Puprose: Any lawful act.

Notice of Qualification of ARTMATR, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/08/16. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Colorado (CO) on 09/21/16. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the CO addr. of the LLC: 410 17th Ste. 2200, Denver, CO 80202. Cert. of Form. filed with CO Secy. of State, 1700 Broadway, Ste. 200, Denver, CO 80209. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Notice of Formation of Lerin Consulting LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with NY Dept. of State on 9/22/16. Office location: NY County. Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o CT Corporation System, 111 8th Ave., NY, NY 10011, regd. agent upon whom process may be served. Purpose: all lawful purposes. Notice of Formation of Plate & Glass, LLC filed with the SSNY on August 23, 2016. Office: New York County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to the LLC, 82 Irving Place, 1B, New York, NY 10003. Purpose: any lawful act or activity. Notice of formation of Minyworldwide LLC Arts of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/08/16. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to :The LLC, 200 Riverside Blvd ste 26E, New York, NY 10069. Purpose: any lawful activity.

December 12, 2016 Notice of Formation of Frontline Digital LLC Art. of Org. filed with SSNY on September 15, 2016. Office: New York County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to the LLC, 7 East 14th Street, #812, New York, NY 10003. Purpose: Any lawful purpose. Notice of Qualification of SREF IV REIT, L.P. Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/29/16. Office location: NY County. LP formed in Delaware (DE) on 10/26/16. Princ. office of LP: Savanna Asset Management, LLC, 430 Park Ave., 12th Fl., NY, NY 10022. SSNY designated as agent of LP upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. Name and addr. of each general partner are available from SSNY. DE addr. of LP: c/o CSC, 2711 Centerville Rd., Ste. 400, Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of LP filed with DE Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Notice of Formation of LUCKY US PROPERTY PARTNERS, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/22/16. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 250 West St., Unit #10J, NY, NY 10013. SSNY designated as agent of llc upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Eric J. Kramer at the princ. office of the LLC. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Notice of Formation of Alan H Goldberg, CPA, PLLC filed with the NY Secretary of State of New York on June 28, 2016. Office Location: New York County. SSNY designated agent upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy of process against PLLC to principal business address: 14 Penn Plaza, Ste. 1315, New York, NY 10122. Purpose: To practice accounting or any lawful activity. Fish in the Hand Productions, LLC filed with SSNY 9/13/16. Office loc: NY Co. SSNY designated agent upon whom process may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: US Corp Agents, 7014 13th Ave #202, Brooklyn, NY 11228. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A LICENSE, SERIAL #1298552 FOR LIQUOR, WINE & BEER HAS B E E N APPLIED FOR BY THE UNDERSIGNED TO SELL LIQUOR, WINE & BEER AT RETAIL UNDER THE ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE CONTROL LAW AT 1685 1ST AVE NEW YORK, NY 10128. NEW YORK COUNTY, FOR ON PREMISE CONSUMPTION. UESMEX LLC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A LICENSE , SERIAL #1298452 FOR LIQUOR, WINE & BEER HAS BEEN APPLIED FOR BY THE UNDERSIGNED TO SELL LIQUOR, WINE & BEER AT RETAIL UNDER THE ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE CONTROL LAW AT 553 MANHATTAN AVE NEW YORK, NY 10027. NEW YORK COUNTY, FOR ON-PREMISE CONSUMPTION. GRAFTED HOSPITALITY GROUP LLC Notice of formation of SHOWREELS LLC Art. of Org. filed with the SSNY on October 7, 2016. Office: New York County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of process to the LLC 1412 Broadway FL 21, New York NY 10018. Purpose: Any lawful purpose. Notice of Qual. of 548W22 Funding LLC, Auth. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 9/9/16. Off. loc: NY Co. LLC org. in DE 8/26/16. SSNY desig. as agent of LLC upon whom proc. against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of proc. to NRAI, 111 Eighth Ave., NY, NY 10011, the Reg. Agt. upon whom proc. may be served. DE off. addr.: 160 Greentree Dr., Ste. 101, Dover, DE 19904. Cert. of Form. on file: SSDE, Townsend Bldg., Dover, DE 19901. Purp: any lawful activities. Notice of Formation of 515 Wilson Avenue LLC, Art. of Org. filed with Sec’y of State (SSNY) on 10/11/16. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to NRAI, 111 Eighth Ave., NY, NY 10011, the Reg. Agt. upon whom proc. may be served. Purpose: any lawful activities.

CITYANDSTATENY.COM

Notice of Qualification of Allegany Wind Energy, LLC. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 10/31/16. Office location: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 11101 W. 120th Ave., Ste. 400, Broomfield, CO 80021. LLC formed in DE on 10/28/16. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o CT Corporation System, 111 8th Ave., NY, NY 10011, regd. agent upon whom process may be served. DE addr. of LLC: 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: all lawful purposes. Notice of Qualification of CRAFTSTONE CAPITAL, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/11/16. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 11/30/15. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: Harvard Business Services, Inc., 16192 Coastal Hwy., Lewes, DE 19958. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Secy. of State, John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Notice of Qualification of A&E QUEENS PORTFOLIO III MGMT, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/31/16. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 09/13/16. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC, Attn: Maggie McCormick, 1065 Ave. of the Americas, NY, NY 10018. DE addr. of LLC: Corporation Service Co., 2711 Centerville Rd., Ste. 400, Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with State of DE, Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity. NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A LICENSE , SERIAL #1298688 FOR WINE & BEER HAS BEEN APPLIED FOR BY THE UNDERSIGNED TO SELL WINE & BEER AT RETAIL UNDER THE ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE CONTROL LAW AT 205 BLEEKER ST NEW YORK, NY 10012. NEW YORK COUNTY, FOR ONPREMISE CONSUMPTION. LPQ 205 BLEECKER, INC

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A LICENSE, SERIAL #1298843, FOR WINE & BEER HAS BEEN APPLIED FOR BY THE UNDERSIGNED TO SELL WINE & BEER AT RETAIL UNDER THE ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE CONTROL LAW AT 176 2ND AVE NEW YORK, NY 10003. NEW YORK COUNTY, FOR ON PREMISE CONSUMPTION. LA MERIDIANA I LTD. 223A MALCOM X BLVD LLC. Art. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 04/09/15. Office: New York County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to the LLC, c/o Alon Karasenty, 312 East 30th Street, PH2, New York, NY 10016. Purpose: Any lawful purpose. NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION of FGMK, LLC. Authority filed with Secy. Of State of NY (SSNY) on 4/7/2016. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in IL on 11/17/1994. SSNY designated agent upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy of process against LLC to principal business address: 2801 Lakeside Drive, Third Floor, Bannockburn, IL 60015. Certificate of LLC filed with Secy. Of State of IL located at: 213 State Capitol, Springfield, IL 62756. Purpose: any lawful act. Notice of Qualification of AssuredPartners OF PENNSYLVANIA, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/26/16. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Pennsylvania (PA) on 09/27/16. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. PA addr. of LLC: 1301 Grandview Ave., Ste. 400, Pittsburgh, PA 15211. Cert. of Form. filed with Pedro A. Cortes, Secy. of the Commonwealth, 401 N. Street, Rm. 206, Harrisburg, PA 17120. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Notice of Formation of Galilean Technologies LLC. Arts of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 7/26/2016. Office Location: NY County. SSNY designated agent upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy of process against the LLC to principal business address: 511 47th Ave, Ste 8H, LIC, NY 11101 Purpose: any lawful act.


PUBLIC and LEGAL NOTICES / CityAndStateNY.com

December 12, 2016 Notice of Qualification of SPT Ivey 61 Emerald MOB LLC. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 11/14/16. Office location: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 591 W. Putnam Ave., Greenwich, CT 06830. LLC formed in DE on 10/24/16. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: CT Corporation System, 111 8th Ave., NY, NY 10011, regd. agent upon whom process may be served. DE addr. of LLC: 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: all lawful purposes. Notice of Qualification of ATLAS ASSET ADVISORS LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/19/16. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 10/10/16. Princ. office of LLC: 1251 Ave. of the Americas, Ste. 4600, NY, NY 10020. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: 2711 Centerville Rd., Ste. 400, Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St. - Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Notice of Qualification of OMNICHANNEL SOLUTIONS, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/14/16. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 10/06/16. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Moses & Singer, Attn: David Lee Kovacs, 405 Lexington Ave., 12th Fl., NY, NY 10174. DE addr. of LLC: c/o Corporation Service Co., 2711 Centerville Rd., Ste. 400, Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St. Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Notice of Formation of Airplane Mode LLC. Art. of Org. filed with the Secy. Of State of NY (SSNY) on October 5, 2016. Office: NY County. SSNY designated agent upon whom process may be served against LLC to: 200 E. 69th St. 26A NY, NY 10021. Purpose: Any lawful act.

ALSI PROPERTIES LLC. Art. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 05/06/14. Office: New York County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to the LLC, c/o Shimon Itah, 184 5th Ave, Fl 3, New York, NY 10010. Purpose: Any lawful purpose. Notice of Qualification of SPT Ivey 95 Crystal Run MOB LLC. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 11/15/16. Office location: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 591 W. Putnam Ave., Greenwich, CT 06830. LLC formed in DE on 10/24/16. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: CT Corporation System, 111 8th Ave., NY, NY 10011, regd. agent upon whom process may be served. DE addr. of LLC: 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: all lawful purposes. Notice of formation of JAE Tech, LLC. Art. of Org. filed w/ Secy. of State of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/4/16. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent for service of process. SSNY shall mail process to 155 E. 49th St. #6B, NY, NY 10016. Purpose: Any lawful activity. NOTICE OF FORMATION of Constance Artistry Care, LLC. Arts of org filed with Secy. of state of NY (SSNY) on 9/15/2016. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated agent upon whom process may be served against LLC to principal business address: 42 Wadsworth Terrace, # 3C, NY, NY 10040. Purpose: any lawful act. Notice of Qualification of IOWN LLC. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 10/28/16. NYS fictitious name: IOWN1 LLC. Office location: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 51 Madison Ave., 31st Fl., NY, NY 10010. LLC formed in DE on 1/26/16. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: CT Corporation System, 111 8th Ave., NY, NY 10011, regd. agent upon whom process may be served. DE addr. of LLC: 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: all lawful purposes.

REDWOOD ROAD FUNDING LLC. Art. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 03/22/16. Office: New York County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to the LLC, c/o Hirshmark Capital LLC, 15 West 26th Street, Suite 901, New York, NY 10010, which is also the registered agent address. Purpose: Any lawful purpose. Notice of Qualification of 22-12 JACKSON OWNER LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/20/16. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 05/19/16. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Adam America Real Estate, 850 Third Ave., 47th Fl., NY, NY 10022. DE addr. of LLC: 2711 Centerville Rd., Ste. 400, Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Jeffrey W. Bullock, Secy. of State, John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Notice of Qualification of Law Offices of Morton & Associates LLLP. Auth. filed w/ SSNY on 7/5/16. Office: NY Cnty. LLLP formed in FL on 5/12/16. SSNY designated as agent of LLLP upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to princ. bus. addr. of LLLP: 246 W. Broadway, NY, NY 10013. Name/addr. of genl. ptrs. available from SSNY. Cert. of LLLP filed w/ SSFL, R.A. Gray Bldg., 500 S. Borough St., Tallahassee, FL 32399. Purpose: any lawful activity. Notice of Formation of PIONEER EATS, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/31/16. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Scott Schindler, 203 E. 4th St., Apt. 9, NY, NY 10009. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Notice of Formation of NEW YORK CWB, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/31/16. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC, 515 Madison Ave., Ste. 1118/35, NY, NY 10022. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A LICENSE, SERIAL #1297812, FOR WINE & BEER HAS BEEN APPLIED FOR BY THE UNDERSIGNED TO SELL WINE & BEER AT RETAIL UNDER THE ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE CONTROL LAW AT 200 E 39TH ST NEW YORK, NY 10016. NEW YORK COUNTY, FOR ONPREMISE CONSUMPTION.

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A LICENSE, SERIAL #1298523 FOR LIQUOR, WINE & BEER HAS BEEN APPLIED FOR BY THE UNDERSIGNED TO SELL LIQUOR, WINE & BEER AT RETAIL UNDER THE ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE CONTROL LAW AT 100 WEST HOUSTON ST NEW YORK, NY 10012. NEW YORK COUNTY, FOR ON PREMISE CONSUMPTION.

EAST 39 REST INC.

NEW JANE LLC

Notice of Formation of Mizuho America Leasing LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with NY Dept. of State on 12/1/16. Office location: NY County. Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to the principal business address: MHCB America Holdings, Inc., 1251 Ave. of the Americas, NY, NY 10020, Attn: Toshiaki Yasunaga. Purpose: all lawful purposes.

Notice of Qual. of 548W22 Mezz Funding LLC, Auth. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 9/9/16. Off. loc: NY Co. LLC org. in DE 8/26/16. SSNY desig. as agent of LLC upon whom proc. against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of proc. to NRAI, 111 Eighth Ave., NY, NY 10011, the Reg. Agt. upon whom proc. may be served. DE off. addr.: 160 Greentree Dr., Ste. 101, Dover, DE 19904. Cert. of Form. on file: SSDE, Townsend Bldg., Dover, DE 19901. Purp: any lawful activities.

Notice of Qualification of GTW Partners L.L.C. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 7/5/07. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in DE on 5/31/07. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o National Registered Agents, Inc. (NRAI), 875 Ave. of the Americas, Ste. 501, NY, NY 10001. DE address of LLC: NRAI, 160 Greentree Dr., Ste. 101, Dover, DE 19904. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: all lawful purposes. NOTICE OF FORMATION OF Aimsley Management Group LLC. Articles of Organization filed with the Secretary of State of NY (SSNY) on 9/12/2016. Office location: NEW YORK County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against it may be served. The Post Office address to which the SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC served upon him/ her is: Aimee Berger. The principal business address of the LLC is: 225 E 34th St. Apt 8J NY NY 10016 Purpose: any lawful act or activity. ElleMad129st, LLC. Art. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 09/08/16. Office: New York County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to the LLC, 1930 Broadway, Apartment 22F, New York, NY 10023. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

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SALUSBURY AND CO., LLC Art. Of Org. Filed Sec. of State of NY 11/23/2016. Off. Loc.:New York Co. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY to mail copy of process to The LLC., 215 West 88th St., #11E,New York, NY 10024. Purpose:Any lawful act or activity. Notice of Qualification of LONGSIGHT STRATEGIC ADVISORS LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/15/16. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 10/25/16. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: CSC, 2711 Centerville Rd., Ste. 400, Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Notice of Formation of FIFTH AVENUE ENDOCRINOLOGY OFFICES, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/14/16. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 1080 Fifth Ave., Ste. 1A, NY, NY 10128. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the addr. of its princ. office. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

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Notice of Formation of Just A Kiss Pictures, LLC filed with NY Secy. of State (SSNY) 9/15/16. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated agent for process service. SSNY shall mail process to US Corp. Agents, Inc. 7014 13th Ave. Ste. 202 Brooklyn, NY 11228. Purpose: Any lawful activity. VERTEBRAL ANCHOR SYSTEMS, LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 10/14/2016. Office loc: NY County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, Attn: Michael Vitale, M.D., 34 North Brook Lane, Irvington, NY 10533. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose. Notice of Formation of JR Harvest, LLC. Articles of Org. filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) 11/30/16. Office loc: NY County. SSNY designated agent upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy of process against LLC to principal business address: 350 W 42nd St, #44A, NY, NY 10036. Purpose: any lawful act. WirelessCo, L.P. dba Sprint (SPRINT) proposes to complete a facility upgrade atop a 108’ building/rooftop (108’ overall) at the Jones Beach Marine Theater, at 1000 Ocean Parkway, in Wantagh (Town of Hempstead), Nassau County, NY (Project 34145). In accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 and the 2005 Nationwide Programmatic Agreement, SPRINT is hereby notifying the public of the proposed undertaking and soliciting comments on Historic Properties which may be affected by the proposed undertaking. If you would like to provide specific information regarding potential effects that the proposed undertaking might have to properties that are listed on or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places and located within 1,000-foot radius of the site, please submit the comments (with project number) to: RAMAKER, Contractor for SPRINT, 855 Community Dr, Sauk City, WI 53583 or via e-mail to history@ramaker.com within 30 days of this notice.

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CityAndStateNY.com

December 12, 2016

CITY & STATE NEW YORK MANAGEMENT & PUBLISHING Chairman Steve Farbman, President/CEO Tom Allon tallon@cityandstateny.com, Vice President of Strategy Jasmin Freeman, Comptroller David Pirozzi dpirozzi@cityandstateny.com, Business & Sales Coordinator Patrea Patterson, Junior Sales Associate Cydney McQuillan-Grace cydney@cityandstateny.com

Who was up and who was down last week

LOSERS GRACE RAUH AND YOAV GONEN The mayor announced this week that he would start to release emails with his so-called “agents of the city” after fighting with the press for months over his refusal to release correspondence with the select group of non-government aides. While the lawsuit is still going, these two enterprising reporters from NY1 and the Post, respectively, can take some satisfaction in the impact that their good work had on improving disclosure out of City Hall.

OUR PICK

OUR PICK

WINNERS

We’re just 13 days ’til Christmas, 20 days ’til the new year, and 39 days until Time magazine Person of the Year Donald Trump takes the oath of office and becomes the 45th president of the United States. But we don’t have to wait to find out this week’s winners and losers … so read on.

VINNIE GENTILE We at City & State try to make these write-ups fun and breezy. It’s hard to do that with this one. The New York city councilman was sued this week by a former aide who charged the pol mocked him for his Asperger’s syndrome. On top of that, the former aide said he would find decapitated teddy bears on his desk, some gutted, impaled and covered with red coloring, left by other aides. Not much funny about that. THE REST OF THE WORST

NICOLE MALLIOTAKIS AND RON CASTORINA

ANTHONY J. ANNUCCI

story breaks about widespread racial bias against black prison guards

PETER WARD

BILL DE BLASIO

TENO WEST

MARK POLONCARZ

ERIC ULRICH

ANDREA STEWART-COUSINS AND CHARLIE KING

Hotel Trades Council guiding the city’s new industrial jobs plan contracts from Ed Mangano earned his firm $5 million over the years reality TV gig OK’ed by the city

SLANT Slant Editor Nick Powell npowell@cityandstateny.com, Editor-at-Large Gerson Borrero gborrero@cityandstateny. com, Slant Columnists Nicole Gelinas, Bruce Fisher, Richard Brodsky, Karen Hinton PRODUCTION - creativedepartment@cityandstateny.com Creative Director Guillaume Federighi, Senior Graphic Designer Alex Law, Graphic Designer Kewen Chen, Junior Graphic Designer Aaron Aniton, Digital Content Coordinator Michael Filippi, Multimedia Director Bryan Terry

THE BEST OF THE REST

got destruction of IDNYC records halted

EDITORIAL - editor@cityandstateny.com Editorial Director Michael Johnson mjohnson@ cityandstateny.com, Senior Editor Jon Lentz jlentz@ cityandstateny.com, Managing Editor Ryan Somers, Albany Reporter Ashley Hupfl ahupfl@cityandstateny.com, Buffalo Reporter Justin Sondel jsondel@cityandstateny. com, City Hall Reporter Sarina Trangle strangle@ cityandstateny.com, Web/Engagement Editor Jeremy Unger, Editorial Assistant Jeff Coltin, Copy Editor Eric Holmberg

“owns” homelessness problem; gypped on NYPD Trump guard duties; more rolled back plan to promote Uber

feud makes both look like losers

WINNERS & LOSERS is published every Friday morning in City & State’s First Read email. Sign up for the email, cast your vote and see who won at cityandstateny.com.

ADVERTISING Vice President of Advertising Jim Katocin jkatocin@ cityandstateny.com, Account/Business Development Executive Scott Augustine saugustine@cityandstateny.com, Event Sponsorship Strategist Danielle Koza dkoza@ cityandstateny.com, Account Executive Danielle Mowery dmowery@cityandstateny.com EVENTS - events@cityandstateny.com Events Manager Lissa Blake, Senior Events Coordinator Alexis Arsenault, Events and Marketing Coordinator Jenny Wu

Vol. 5 Issue 47 December 12, 2016

TALKING THE

BEAT

HOW TO HEAL THE RIFT BETWEEN COMMUNITIES AND POLICE

BEYOND BRIDGEGATE Agency Focus on the Port Authority CIT YANDSTATENY.COM

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CIT YANDSTATENY.COM @CIT 12, YANDSTATENY December 2016

Cover direction by Guillaume Federighi Photograph by Heather Ainsworth CITY & STATE NEW YORK (ISSN 2474-4107) is published weekly, 48 times a year except for the four weeks containing New Year’s Day, July 4th, Thanksgiving and Christmas by City & State NY, LLC, 61 Broadway, Suite 1315, New York, NY 10006-2763. Application to Mail at Periodicals Prices is pending at New York, NY and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to City & State New York, 61 Broadway, Suite 1315, New York, NY 10006-2763. General: (212) 268-0442, info@cityandstateny.com Copyright ©2016, City & State NY, LLC


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