Good Morning, New York! Zohran Mamdani announced plans for city-run grocery stores, e-bikes may require licenses, and Brad Lander misses out on matching funds. This is your Tammany Times AM Briefing for Thursday, December 12th, 2024.

WHERE’S ERIC: In New York City to meet with Trump’s incoming “Border Czar” Tom Homan, then delivering remarks at the CPC annual appreciation reception.

WHERE’S KATHY: In New York City and Erie County, plus a media appearance on Morning Joe.

TIPS? Email me: [email protected]

Front Pages

Hall Monitors

— Democratic Socialist candidate for NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani is rolling out a plan to build municipal owned grocery stores in every borough in order to address rising food costs and food deserts. Critics have pointed out that state intervention into the grocery business, which already operates with a limited margin, is likely to create market inefficiencies and not meaningfully lower prices. (NY Times)

— A controversial new City Council bill will require e-bikes and others to have a license plate and be registered. Intro 606 already has 29 cosponsors, which would be enough to pass the bill if brought to a vote. However it has been losing support, with progressive CM’s Chi Ossé and Yusef Salaam both pulling support yesterday afternoon. (Gothamist, X/OsseChi)

— Congestion pricing could still be stopped in the courts, after more lawsuits were filed by the State of New Jersey, Staten Island’s borough president Vito J. Fossella, and the United Federation of Teachers. Detractors may only need to stall the start until after Donald Trump takes office, as he has indicated a willingness to take action to block it. (NY Times)

Capitol Gains

— Gov. Kathy Hochul has declared a state of emergency for Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Franklin, Genesee, Hamilton, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Oswego, St. Lawrence, Wyoming and Contiguous Counties over severe weather. This allows the state to deploy more resources to address the lake effect snow event that began last night. (NY.gov)

— A new report from New York State Focus says that vacant positions and brain drain caused by low pay has made the State Assembly less effective. The powerful Office of Program and Counsel has fallen from 90 to 65 employees, and their pay adjusted for inflation has actually fallen over the last five years to $71,000. A number of solutions have been proposed, but none have been accepted yet. (NYS Focus)

— Protestors advocating for more funding for migrants rallied outside of Gov. Hochul’s office yesterday, criticizing the closure of two Albany hotel shelters. The protestors argued that migrants should not be forced to leave their jobs in order to return to NYC shelters. However these nonprofits and advocacy groups are “out of touch” with reality, at least according to Assemblyman Matt Slater, who said that NYers are done with funding the migrant crisis. (NY Post)

Trail Mix

— Brad Lander’s mayoral campaign has missed out on millions in matching funds after missing a deadline. Lander’s fundraising so far has only been beaten by Adams, raising almost $1 million since he started his campaign. He will now have to wait until Jan 15th to receive the funding, which could be as much as $3.5 million. (Politico)

— Kathy Hochul and MTA Chairman Janno Lieber hit at Mike Lawler during a press conference, saying he “came to threaten me about congestion pricing,” as they pushed back on opposition to increased funding for the MTA and announced new money going into capital expansions for the MTA. (Lohud)

— Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine has officially announced his campaign for City Comptroller. He is promising to push affordability as his main campaign issue, and has already received support from a number of key backers including Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso. (NY Post)