America’s largest bank is expanding its data center in Orangeburg, NY, near the New Jersey border.
In exchange for $77 million in tax breaks from the state and county, the bank promises to create exactly one permanent job.
My story in @nysfocus.com: nysfocus.com/2026/04/20/d...
Gov. Hochul's administration has encouraged Mayor Mamdani to reduce spending on CityFHEPS vouchers, Carter cases and the school class-size mandate as part of discussions about sending more state aid to NYC, sources say:
nysfocus.com/2026/04/16/h...
citing its costs, several states opted out of the policy since it was put in Trump's OBBA last year.
New York seemed likely to do the same—then the
@nypost.com and Bruce Blakeman slammed Hochul for the omission. She announced days later that she'd propose it.
nysfocus.com/2026/03/30/h...
experts across the ideological spectrum—including typical Mamdani allies @nyfiscalpolicy.bsky.social —have called "no tax on tips" unfair and potentially harmful to workers by undermining efforts to raise wages.
Indeed, business groups like the NYC Hospitality Alliance support it.
New: New York's state budget is poised to exempt taxes on tips up to $25K, a Trump-backed policy widely criticized by economists.
It'll cost New York City $239 million. But Mayor Mamdani supports it, even though it would cancel out some of his cost-saving efforts:
nysfocus.com/2026/03/30/h...
the memo also lists all the cost shifts and cuts that the mayor's office wants to reverse — a likely part of any ultimate deal with Gov. Kathy Hochul — and puts a price tag on them: $2.3 billion
nysfocus.com/2026/03/06/m...
Mamdani's office circulated this list of revenue proposals in recent days after some lawmakers complained they still weren't sure exactly what he was asking for.
Besides income + corporate tax hikes, it includes a property tax surcharge on homes over $5M and a bigger mansion tax
Mamdani's team believes the new plan is more politically viable, per people who've been briefed on it. It would raise the NYC Business Corporation Tax, rather than the statewide corporate tax, as he'd campaigned on.
nysfocus.com/2026/03/06/m...
new: Mayor Mamdani is asking Albany for a smaller corporate tax hike than he'd campaigned on: a 1.8-point increase on NYC businesses to raise $1.75B, down from $5B in his campaign proposal.
He's also voicing support for a range of new taxes on pricey real estate:
nysfocus.com/2026/03/06/m...
Adams' plan would've lowered property taxes for 275K homeowners and raised them on another 168K, by shifting assessed values toward market value. But it did nothing to fix the high tax bills on apartment buildings — a disparity that Mamdani has pledged to address.
nysfocus.com/2026/03/02/m...
New: Eric Adams quietly pitched state lawmakers on a plan to fix NYC's broken property tax system. We've published it for the first time.
But no lawmaker was even willing to sponsor the bill—a warning sign for Mayor Mamdani as he prepares his own plan:
nysfocus.com/2026/03/02/m...
📰🔍👀Today's my first day at @nysfocus.bsky.social, where I'll be covering the people and policies shaping New York, the Mamdani agenda in Albany, and hopefully lots of other big, weird, complicated stories.
Get in touch: nick[at]nysfocus.com.
State people, please get in touch (and NYC people, please stay in touch!) and add me to your lists: nick[at]nysfocus.com.
💥Professional news💥: after 3 great years, Friday is my last day at Crain's New York.
Next week I'm joining @nysfocus.bsky.social as a politics reporter, covering the people and policies shaping New York, as well as the Mamdani agenda in Albany. Can't wait to tackle some big, thorny stories.
New: Mayor Mamdani is starting to shake up NYC's approach to economic development:
• Enlisting Lina Khan to interview potential heads of the Economic Development Corp.
• Putting EDC under a new deputy mayor
• Talking with EDC about city-owned grocery stores:
www.crainsnewyork.com/politics-pol...
The City Council has a new website & leaflets blasting the mayor's housing ballot questions as giveaways to developers.
Some ethics experts say they comes dangerously close to electioneering. A council member called them a "waste of taxpayer dollars"
Story:
www.crainsnewyork.com/politics-pol...
here's the ad, which is technically issue-neutral since the group behind it—the Coalition for New York's Future—is nonprofit.
@opennewyork.org and the Charter Commission itself are expected to mount their own efforts. Labor unions are considering a vote-no campaign.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeZg...
NYC's pro-housing ballot measures are getting a boost from the city's biggest businesses.
The Partnership for NYC, through an affiliate, is spending $750K on a campaign about the Charter questions, including TV ads already airing. More campaigns will follow:
www.crainsnewyork.com/politics-pol...
the Manhattan Plaza Capital Trust will be set up as a charity and governed by a three-person board — but with no explicit limits on how the money can be spent
www.crainsnewyork.com/politics-pol...
the efforts by SL Green, Caesars Palace and Roc Nation to woo Manhattan Plaza tenants have included multiple visits by Alicia Keys, a Roc Nation artist who grew up in the complex.
New: the developers of the Times Square casino bid are trying to win over the influential affordable housing complex Manhattan Plaza with an unusual $22.5M gift, plus a cut of annual profits.
Tenants aren't sure what to make of it.
www.crainsnewyork.com/politics-pol...
skinny "sliver" buildings legalized by City of Yes are starting to take shape, beginning with a recently sold UES townhouse that could become a 15-story tower, CJ Hughes reports:
www.crainsnewyork.com/real-estate/...
NYC's office-to-apartment conversions are booming, w/ 44 known projects slated to produce 17K homes, per a new @nyccomptroller.bsky.social report
But the design of the 467m tax break means the city may spend billions on conversions that would've happened anyway
www.crainsnewyork.com/politics-pol...
the Big, Beautiful Bill includes long-sought changes to affordable housing funding that could boost NY developers and create some 73K extra housing units statewide over 10 years.
BUT... that silver lining could evaporate if Trump's huge HUD cuts are passed:
www.crainsnewyork.com/politics-pol...
So why spend all the money for Mealy and other council incumbents? They’re likely to win but might be nervous, so it’s an easy way to curry favor.
“The best is where I’m not even taking a gamble, but it kind of feels like I am,” said a PAC strategist.
ebx.sh/5Y76KI
The beneficiaries of PAC money are an odd bunch: archrivals Airbnb and the hotel union HTC are backing the same Queens candidate. And no council candidate is getting more money than Darlene Mealy, who’s been accused of rarely showing up to her job.
www.crainsnewyork.com/politics-pol...
Below the radar of the mayoral race, corporate giants & others have spent a record $11M on City Council primaries. Among them: a little noticed PAC whose #1 funder is Bill Ackman.
I spoke to super PAC strategists about why that money is flowing to some unexpected candidates.
t.co/mYq8sf5h8h
candidates are barred from coordinating with PACs; experts say there's no reason to think Brannan will break rules by speaking at hearing.
Still, he faces competing pressure to oppose the casino rezoning (by neighborhood groups) or support it (by the HTC union)
www.crainsnewyork.com/politics-pol...
New: the Coney Island casino bid has put @justinbrannan.bsky.social in an unusual political pickle.
At a council hearing next week, Brannan may question the same casino developers spending $30K on an outside super PAC to support his comptroller campaign:
www.crainsnewyork.com/politics-pol...
new: the Adams administration has filed its response to the lawsuit seeking to overturn City of Yes. City lawyers say doing so would "cause havoc" in the housing market with many projects already underway, and also say the complaint is riddled with errors:
www.crainsnewyork.com/politics-pol...