With assist from Shawn Ness
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RAMOS ROARS: In a single announcement, state Sen. Jessica Ramos delivered a blow at the moment to one in every of America’s wealthiest males as he feverishly tries to increase his New York Metropolis footprint.
However Steve Cohen, billionaire proprietor of the Mets, shouldn’t be completed but.
The sprawling platoon that makes up Cohen’s workforce confirmed no intention of giving up after the progressive state lawmaker declared her opposition to his plans to construct a on line casino at Citi Area. Anybody taking note of Ramos’ statements in latest months would have surmised she was headed on this route and ready for it.
“While we respect Senator Ramos’s point of view, the state never intended any one person to have the ability to single-handedly stop or approve a gaming project,” Karl Rickett, a spokesperson for Cohen’s Metropolitan Park undertaking, stated in an announcement.
“As Metropolitan Park enjoys overwhelming support from elected officials, unions, and the local community we are confident that we have the best project in the best location,” Rickett added. “We have over a year and multiple pathways to secure the required approvals. Our team remains committed to bringing Metropolitan Park to life.”
Rickett additionally identified that gaming is “the only viable economic engine to make the 23,000 jobs, $8 billion investment and substantial community benefits possible” — a reference to Ramos’ determination to introduce a invoice that will unencumber the land in query for a conference heart and resort, however not a on line casino.
Cohen wants the state Legislature to alienate the land in query — a parking zone designated as a park in Ramos’ district. With out her help, the bid turns into tougher, however not inconceivable.
His workforce might lean into help from native companies and different Queens politicians, and hope all of it turns into so overwhelming that the senator adjustments her thoughts — a chance Ramos successfully shot down at the moment.
“No one elected official should be the sole arbiter of this $8 billion investment, so I strongly urge Governor Hochul and the State Senate to explore other avenues to bring the Metropolitan Park proposal to life and ensure that Queens continues to get the money we deserve,” Queens Borough President Donovan Richards posted on X at the moment.
Certainly the Mets proprietor might attempt to persuade one in every of Ramos’ colleagues within the Senate to go round her and sponsor a invoice to unencumber the land. However that transfer — which has little precedent in a state legislature with native member deference on land use issues — would imply going to struggle with Ramos.
A state Senate supply who declined to be named for worry of retribution stated Majority Chief Andrea Stewart-Cousins could be unlikely to maneuver on a invoice that will ignore Ramos’ opposition and unencumber parkland in her district.
Bronx Sen. Nathalia Fernandez’s district consists of Bally’s Golf Hyperlinks at Ferry Level, the location of one other on line casino bid which additionally requires a parkland invoice. She has been floated as a potential workaround for Cohen’s workforce, had been she to introduce a invoice that frees up parkland within the Bronx and the location subsequent to Citi Area directly.
However Fernandez nixed that concept at the moment.
“Given her respect to her colleagues in the Legislature, if the senator so chooses to introduce any parkland alienation bill, that bill will not include any area outside of her district,” Justin Sanchez, Fernandez’s chief of workers, advised Playbook. “Today’s news does not change that.”
Since New York state introduced it might award three on line casino licenses within the New York Metropolis space, Cohen has seized each alternative he might to win one, hiring a military of lobbyists, sending a whole bunch of mailers and profitable over a posse of native politicians. He has spent lavishly within the course of.
However standing in his means from the beginning has been the progressive senator, who’s often floated as a main challenger to Mayor Eric Adams in 2025. After months of hinting, Ramos lastly got here out publicly towards the undertaking at the moment.
“I think it’s a sad state of affairs when casinos are the premiere economic development idea in our state,” she advised reporters at the moment from the Capitol’s second ground. “The business model for casinos, by definition, is to extract wealth from people. … This is not something that would be beneficial.” — Jason Beeferman
HOCHUL PUSHES FOR SOCIAL MEDIA BILL: Cooperate with the state in drafting laws to guard kids beneath the age of 18, or take care of it — that’s the message Gov. Kathy Hochul is sending to social media magnates.
The push to curtail the usage of social media by minors — some of the high-profile fights left this session in Albany — is pitting tech corporations towards the Democratic governor. And with few legislative disputes left to settle, Hochul is placing a whole lot of firepower into this one.
“We are not anti-business, we are anti-harm to our children,” Hochul advised reporters Tuesday. “They should see that and work with us on this legislation instead of saying no. So I think we’re making some progress; some of the responsible companies are already taking steps on their own and I commend them.”
The measure is geared toward defending the psychological well being of youngsters who view content material that the proponents — together with the state academics’ union — argue might be addictive and in any other case troubling for them. It has confronted backlash from well-heeled social media giants throughout the nation, together with Meta.
However Hochul stays optimistic.
She stated a part of the laws being drafted would come with a extra stringent course of for proving that customers are older than 18, although she didn’t make clear what these controls would appear to be.
“Companies already have to do this for online gaming and tobacco sales,” she stated. “You already have to do this, for them to say you can’t do that, I’m not buying it.”
Julie Samuels, president & CEO of Tech:NYC, stated the group is in “productive discussions with lawmakers and community groups about these bills.”
“But this is an extremely complicated task, and we have to be careful to avoid the fate of every other state that has passed similar bills: yearslong delays in getting support to kids, as rushed legislation remains tied up in courts,” Samuels added. — Katelyn Cordero
KENNEDY, STEIN CLAIM BALLOT ACCESS: Inexperienced Celebration presidential candidate Jill Stein stopped by the Capitol this afternoon to assert she’d quickly be dropping off sufficient petitions on the state Board of Elections to safe an area on New York’s poll.
“We know from the Democratic primary held a little over a month ago in this state that the bottom has dropped out from the Democratic Party,” Stein stated.
The Greens misplaced their computerized poll standing in 2020, due to new guidelines harming minor events. They now must submit 45,000 signatures for a poll line,
Stein declined to say what number of they had been really submitting. “We don’t actually know,” she stated. She claimed “the system is so oppressive” that it makes it inconceivable to rely signatures.
One other candidate who submitted New York petitions at the moment: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who gathered greater than 135,000 after a set course of that has confronted some accusations of deceptive signatories. That’s extra “than any presidential candidate has ever submitted in the state,” Kennedy asserted in a tweet.
That additionally seems to be a excessive for any candidate. The file was beforehand claimed by Kennedy’s then-brother-in-law Andrew Cuomo, who gathered 100,000 for his upstart 2002 gubernatorial bid. — Invoice Mahoney
CHARTER WARS — New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams is holding tight management over his newly introduced constitution revision fee. At a press convention at the moment, his administration stated it doesn’t plan to rent any outdoors workers to help with the endeavor, which entails cracking open town’s governing doc and suggesting adjustments that can be put to voters on the November poll.
The mayor’s break with customized — most mayors have created a number of constitution revision commissions — makes the operation extra conscious of Metropolis Corridor’s wishes at a time when the creation of the fee is already extensively seen as an advert hoc response to the Metropolis Council’s push for extra recommendation and consent over Adams’ appointments.
“You really have to have staff if you are at all serious about it,” John Kaehny, head of presidency reform group Reinvent Albany, stated in an interview. “[The mayor’s commission] lacks any sort of seriousness, and the mayor is really giving ammunition to critics who say it is a fatuous political exercise.”
However chatting with reporters, Adams stated that previous mayors have spent an excessive amount of cash on constitution revisions. “I believe in lean, and quick, and getting stuff done,” he stated. “We spend too much money on window dressing. We can do a better job.” — Joe Anuta
— Former state Sen. Todd Kaminsky is using a authorized loophole to foyer towards environmentalists. (Bloomberg)
— The solar will completely set between buildings over the subsequent two days in Manhattan. (Every day Information)
— An appellate courtroom dominated that the state violated the due course of rights of opioid corporations, which might imply New York must refund tens of millions of {dollars}. (Occasions Union)
