Mayor Mamdani and Speaker Menin appeared on the same stage and on the same page, today.

After disagreeing on ways to narrow the city budget earlier this month, the two joined forces to announce that the city's final budget would be pushed back from Friday to May 12, and to propose a new tax on wealthy New Yorkers, a reduction of the PTET.

Pass through entity tax (PTET) credits allow members of eligible partnerships or corporations to get a tax credit if the partnership paid it previously on their state returns. By lowering the PTET credit from 100% to 75%, the city could generate an additional $1 billion dollars, said the mayor.

"New York City must get the resources it needs to succeed, and we are aligned on that point," said Julie Menin, New York City council speaker.

The announcement comes after the mayor and speaker disagreed on how to close the gap of around $5 billion dollars the city faced as its budget deadline approached. The mayor proposed raising property taxes and dipping into rainy day emergency funds, while the speaker refused those ideas in exchange for smaller savings spread through different departments of the city.

While the state budget is being ironed-out in Albany, the city leaders agreed to extend their budget deadline in order to weigh the state's choices.

Lowering the PTET would be enacted at the state level, but could close the city's budget gap by another $1 billion, according to the mayor. Together with the pied-à-terre tax, a property tax on second homes approved by Governor Kathy Hochul, the gap could narrow to around $3.5 billion.

New York City generates more than 55% of the state's revenue, but only receives 42% back.

"That gap is not sustainable," said Mamdani, at the press conference.

At a joint meeting of the early childhood, workforce development and higher education committees, council members reported a 5,000 per year staffing shortage in early childcare across the city.

The debt incurred to become a childcare professional approaches $200,000, while pay remains below the average city salary at around $68,000 to $75,000, according to Julie Won, workforce committee member.

"It's not a problem. It's a crisis," said Rita C. Joseph, member of the subcommittee on early childhood.

The arguments came as the subcommittee discussed Intro 820, a bill to have the city fund inexperienced students who want to work in early childcare. The bill hopes to work towards the mayor's campaign promise to provide universal childcare, which faces a steep battle to get more teachers with better pay.

But Carolyn Cleveland, chief operating officer of Kennedy Children's Center, might have a solution, a community-based pipeline that keeps staffing high and debt low.

"KCC is living proof that the grow-your-own model works, but it needs ongoing, sustainable funding, not just one time and start-up investments," said Cleveland at the hearing.

Most incarcerated individuals on Rikers Island are eligible to vote, but very few of them do.

In 2024, 85% of incarcerated people at Rikers were eligible to vote, while fewer than 8% of that population actually voted, said Amira Wittenberg, a former intern with the Department of Correction on Rikers Island, at a city council hearing Tuesday. During the general election of 2024, 977 ballots were issued to Rikers' incarcerated individuals, but only 546 were counted, said Robert Willis of Latino Justice at the hearing.

"[The incarcerated] are more directly affected by decisions made about courts, public defense, housing, health care, policing, and pay equity than almost any other single population," said Kai Rosenthal, co-president of the League of Women Voters of the City of New York, at a city council hearing Tuesday.

This comes as the council discussed a new bill, Intro 786, at Tuesday's Committee on Criminal Justice hearing. The bill requires the Board of Elections (BOE) and the Department of Correction (DOC) to collaborate on getting incarcerated people's votes counted, fixing their ballot defects, and providing data from the past five years that shows how they handled ballots.

DOC holds voting-related calls once a month with advocates and, sometimes, BOE. But the BOE has missed the last two according to advocates who were on the calls.

Incarcerated individuals receive voting information both on computer tablets and directly from volunteers and Rikers counselors.

Valerie Greisokh, assistant commissioner of the DOC, said the DOC's counseling unit provides voting information directly to incarcerated individuals.

The Board of Elections says it is able to process whatever the Department of Correction sends it, and relies on the DOC to supply ballots to Rikers voters and return them after.

All votes from Rikers are cast as absentee ballots because there is no polling place available to the incarcerated population.

"An additional three to 5,000," said Michael Ryan, executive director of the BOE, at the hearing, "is not going to be something that upsets the process from the Board of Elections side."

Takeasha L. Newton, lead community organizer at the Legal Aid Society, has been visiting Rikers to enable its voting population since 2019, and claims the DOC hinders advocates' ability to reach more incarcerated voters.

The DOC allows access to the Rikers population only once a month most of the year, and twice in the months before midterm and general elections, totaling 14 times per year. Newton said this restricts the number of individuals they can reach, and stretches voting education out over too many months, causing the incarcerated individuals to lose interest.

On the monthly visits, a small group of about 13 advocates have the goal of reaching thousands of incarcerated voters. But the DOC limits how many advocates can board the van to Rikers.

"The van only holds a certain amount of people," said Newton. "DOC staff will also assert members of their own to join us that are not included in the number that we were given."

Other common problems voters in Rikers face include a broken or no computer tablet, absence of a guard to allow them to receive a ballot, or mismatched signatures on the ballot. Voters outside Rikers can have ballot problems like these fixed, but for incarcerated people, little can be done in time to vote.

Ultimately, the legislation aims to ensure voting rights to people that legally have them, but are denied them.

"There is a lot of names being thrown around. I called folks at Rikers 'detained individuals' and maybe 'incarcerated individuals'. Some people, unfortunately, still use the word 'inmates'. What I'd like to do is to talk about 'New Yorkers'," said Jumaane Williams, the city's Public Advocate, at the hearing.

At 17 years old, city Councilmember Ty Hankerson had his first job as a summer camp counselor. He'd lead his kids through activities around Roy Wilkins Park in southeast Queens, running on the track, playing catch, and walking through the woods that line the park.

Hankerson and most of the camp kids had grown up in the neighborhood and knew every inch of Roy Wilkins. But while trekking through the woods one summer day, they saw a sign - a trail sign. It marked a little known and still unofficial trail that stretched ahead through the woods.

"We thought we discovered gold," said Hankerson in an interview.

On Wednesday, Hankerson, Chair of the Committee on Parks and Recreation, along with other city council members, introduced four bills that they hoped to vote on before April 22, Earth Day, as part of an annual effort to introduce bills commemorating the environmental holiday.

One bill aims to officially recognize 300 miles of new or existing trails around the city, like the one at Roy Wilkins Park, with the aim of giving low to middle income New Yorkers better access to natural areas.

"It is that getaway when you may not be able to afford to go on vacation. It is that place of serenity when the world is as chaotic as it is," said Hankerson in the interview.

The Earth Day bills come as about 63,000 New Yorkers have no green spaces near them, according to testimony given by Marit Larson, acting commissioner of the Parks Department. But her agency is already making efforts to accomplish exactly what the bills propose, according to her testimony and an email from the department.

The council is legislating actions the Parks Department says it's already taking.

Trails

"NYC Parks has already made significant progress toward the goal of formalizing its trail network," said Judd Faulkner, the department's press officer, in an email.

In the last few years, the city has mapped 450 miles of trails, according to Larson, but a bill to make them officially recognized, maintained, or expanded is needed according to the city council.

The requested 300 miles of trails around the city will be done within a year,
"transforming the city's trail network from confusing and redundant to clearly marked and legible," Larson said at the hearing.

The proposed bill calls for the commissioner to "improve, formalize, or create" the trails within a longer three year period, connecting the city's natural areas by trails as much as possible, and improving "access by low and moderate income communities to natural areas." It also mandates the commissioner to publish maps of the trails on the agency's website.

NYC Parks hosted a Hiking Trail page on their website with dedicated pages for parks with trails, categorized by borough, along with brief descriptions downloadable maps like the one above, as of this report. But the trails interconnectedness and how to access them was not clear.

The other bills making up the package included a bill proposing research into cooler surfaces on playgrounds, a bill requiring a report from NYC Parks on the 10 community districts with the fewest green spaces, and another establishing a multi-agency wildlife board to address the interactions between wild animals and city dwellers.

Cool Surfaces

In response to the cool surfaces bill, Larson said the Department of Transportation's (DOT) pilot to test cool surfaces is already under way.

"We do not believe that a parallel park-specific pilot should be implemented at this time until the results of the DOT pilot can be comprehensively assessed," she said at the hearing.

Councilmember Phil Wong, who introduced the bill, said there's a difference between DOT's pilot and the proposed bill aimed at the Parks Department.

"This bill is about playgrounds under Parks’ jurisdiction. Kids are directly interacting with these surfaces, so we need testing that reflects real conditions in parks, including safety, durability, and temperature," Wong said in the email.

At the hearing Wong wondered why the department wished to wait for the DOT results.

"Does the parks department have the goal of reducing dangerous heat that children may be subjected to while spending time in parks and playgrounds?" he asked.

"Yes, very much," Larson replied.

Hankerson introduced another of the bills to find and report on the 10 community districts with the fewest green spaces in the city.

At the hearing, Larson said the agency had already assessed the parts of the city with the least green space through a Parks led community-based Uniform Land Use Review Process initiative, a former land use process replaced in February, 2026 by a faster review process.

"Through that program, we identified 19 community districts across the city," Larson said, "that indicated need for investment."

Hankerson pointed out that Queens 12, the community board that covers his council district, was among them.

"Our goal here is to make sure that there is greenery and green space that is a walking distance for residents across the district," he said in the interview.

Staten Island Deer

Another bill introduced by Wong creates a "wildlife management advisory board to develop a citywide wildlife management plan, to analyze wildlife management," reads the bill. The board would stretch across agencies.

"Right now, there isn’t a clear, coordinated approach," said Wong in an email.

But Larson found this bill redundant, too, stating programs to manage wildlife across city agencies have existed for years.

One program is the city's "non-lethal deer impact management plan" launched in 2016, said Larson.

The program manages Staten Island's deer population through a unique sterilization program, coordinated between the mayor's Office of Animal Welfare, the Park's Wildlife Unit, and White Buffalo, Inc., a non-profit wildlife management expert.

Deer once naturally populated the island borough, were subsequently driven out by human activity, then migrated back and started to cause complaints.

Dane Stevens, White Buffalo's head of operations, who has personally managed the program since it started, listed damage to landscaping and gardens, tick-borne disease, and forest damage as the most common issues that come up when deer overpopulate.

But people mostly want to avoid crashing into them.

"The one that really tips the hat for management actions, is deer vehicle accidents," he said.

The annual deer program results are posted to the department's website.

Last summer, chair Hankerson explored the woods in Forest Park, Queens, the borough's third largest park with hundreds of acres of hilly forests. Escaping into nature is one way New Yorkers can take a break from urban living.

"I went through a few of the trails there, almost got lost," he said. "But what's the fun of a trail if you don't get lost."

The city's investigators have had their hands full the last couple of years. While it was investigating multiple high-profile cases against members of former Mayor Adams' administration, the Department of Investigation (DOI) was also being gutted by City Hall.

But rooting out wrongdoing under the new mayor might not get easier.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani's new preliminary budget for DOI was $54.1 million, down from last year's preliminary budget of $54.9 million. In the last five years the DOI staff had shrunk by 108 employees, a number that could continue to shrink under the new administration, hindering its ability to oversee the city government.

The agency's funding and staff were cut year after year by Adams, seen by the agency's commissioner as a response to investigations the department conducted against his administration. But while Mamdani's team prioritizes closing a $12 billion budget gap, it appears less concerned with fully funding the oversight agency.

"I believe they are interested in turning the page on that era and moving forward policies that will help us get there, but this budget does not reflect those priorities," said Benjamin Weinberg, director of public policy at Citizens Union, a century-old advocacy group dedicated to high government standards, in an interview.

The new administration's proposed cuts come as DOI data shows that investigations are taking longer than they did a year ago, leaving a growing caseload for a shrinking department tasked with monitoring the city's agencies for corruption, bribery and fraud, including the mayor's office and NYPD.

"It's all hands on deck, all the time," said Christopher Ryan, acting commissioner of the department, at a preliminary budget hearing with the city council last week. Ryan formerly worked for the Manhattan District Attorney's office.

At a press conference this February, Mamdani introduced his pick to be Ryan's successor, Nadia Shihata, a federal prosector best known for leading the prosecution against singer R. Kelly. Shihata still needs the city council's confirmation to become commissioner.

"There will be zero tolerance for self-enrichment or corruption in my City Hall," Mamdani said at the press conference.

But with decreased staff and lower funding, investigations are taking longer. The average number of days it took for the DOI to complete an investigation jumped 29% between fiscal year 2025 and the first four months of fiscal year 2026.

In 2022, DOI investigated Eric Ulrich, a former senior advisor to Adams and a former buildings commissioner. He was accused of accepting money bribes, Mets tickets and a painting for expedited licenses and other favors. DOI investigated him in the 10 months between January and November, when it operated on a $53.5 million budget ($57.37 million in today's dollars).

This year's proposed budget of $54.1 million leaves the agency with less funding.

"Those investigations required a significant number of staff and resources, all while we faced continuous budget cuts and hiring and retention challenges," Ryan said.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg seized Ulrich's phone on November 1, 2022, then he was arrested the following September. Ulrich's background check had not been completed by the time his phone was seized because he had not submitted all of the needed paperwork to the DOI until September of his first year in office, as reported by The City. Ulrich was in office for nine months before the background check even started.

All background checks related to city employment go through DOI. New administrations bring more background checks in their first year, as new elected officials and employees come into the system. Funding and staff shortages only slow the process.

"Every first year of an administration requires you on-boarding tons of people," said Weinberg. "We might see performance impacted in those metrics, as well."

In addition to background checks and ongoing investigations, the agency could be tasked with new cases at any moment. Anything from a city employee filing a complaint against their boss, to a council mandate, to a pending lawsuit, could call for the start of an investigation.

In addition, some lawsuits mandate the DOI to set-up special teams like the Protest Response Oversight Unit, created to oversee the NYPD's response to protests, straining its already reduced budget.

"The work of that unit is already underway, and it is currently reviewing two protests selected by the plaintiffs," said Ryan at the meeting.

DOI has already started on new new high-profile cases. In July 2025, the city council directed the department to investigate what knowledge previous administrations had about environmental toxins produced by 9/11. The agency requested $4 to $5 million to hire a full team to conduct the investigation.

After the 9/11 investigation began, 68 boxes of files were found by the Department of Environmental Protection, an agency central to the clean up around the World Trade Center.

Mamdani's proposed budget aims to fill a $12 billion budget gap, that he blames on the Adams administration. The continued cuts to the DOI could be a way to close that gap, but at the cost of limiting its ability to function.

"If we do want to show the people of New York that we are turning the page," said Weinberg at the budget meeting, "how can we seriously do that if we are not turning the page on the budget policy as it relates to the main anti-corruption watchdog in our city?"

25 years ago, Andrew Carboy was catching a subway train to his office at 120 Broadway. He had a deposition at noon in Brooklyn, but decided to stop by the office on the way.

The trains weren't running because of a transformer explosion or a fire, people at the station were telling him. When Carboy climbed up the stairs to walk the rest of the way, "it looked like there was a thundercloud overhead, but it was really low," he said.

It was September 11, 2001 and the first tower had just been hit.

"My first thought was, my God, how many firefighters are in that building?" he said.

From that day forward, Carboy has represented health-related injuries from the effects of 9/11.

This January, while he was doing pro bono work for 911 Health Watch, a group advocating for the release of documents related to 9/11, he discovered the long sought-after "Harding memo". It turned up in a Texas archive, as reported by The Daily News.

The Harding memo is a document believed to have been circulated within the city government around October 2001, alerting the law department to possible lawsuits that could follow 9/11. It reveals the city's awareness of many health issues including toxic exposure, the lack of respiratory equipment for rescue workers, and the dangers of returning to the area too soon, which contradicts the narrative of safety pushed by former mayor Rudy Giuliani's administration.

A copy of the memo was found by Carboy in January through pure happenstance, but groups pushing to find out what the city knew and didn't tell the public around the time of 9/11, hope it's just one of many.

Andrew Ansbro, President of the city's Uniformed Firefighters Association, saw first-hand how 9/11 impacted the health of his friends and fellow firefighters.

Ansbro says his father was with Giuliani shortly after the buildings came down. According to Ansbro, his father, then chief of the NYPD transit division, was accompanying Giuliani at 75 Barclay St. and identified particles in the air.

"He basically told Giuliani, 'that stuff you see twinkling in the sunlight out there, that's asbestos,"' he said.

While Ansbro worked as a rescuer at the site, he was told to wear a respirator, but wasn't given one for weeks.

"And as soon as we got them, they immediately clogged up," he said.

"It never should have come to this," said Ansbro. "They should have been honest back then."

Many journalists in the city have tried to reveal what the city knew at the time of 9/11. One specific journalist's papers led to the memo.

Wayne Barrett, an investigative reporter for The Village Voice, wrote extensively on the accountability of Giuliani. He died in January 2017 and left a mountain of papers in his Brooklyn home.

"He had serious papers everywhere. I mean, the dining room table covered.
You couldn't eat there," said Council Member Gale Brewer, a close friend of the Barretts.

Fran Barrett, a coordinator for nonprofits with the governor's office, and Wayne's widow, wasn't sure what to do with his materials.

At some point, the University of Texas Briscoe Center for American History reached out to Fran for Wayne's collection, hoping to create an archive for the famed reporter.

"She told me," Brewer said, "University of Texas called her and called her and called her and called her. And finally she said, 'okay, take them'."

Wayne along with Dan Collins, a New York-based journalist known for his muckraking style, referenced the Harding memo in their book "Grand Illusion, The Untold Story of Rudy Giuliani and 9/11". Both were seasoned journalists. Barrett brought a veteran knowledge of the city's politics and a well-known commitment to accountability, and Collins lent his long experience at United Press International, CBS News, and personal history with Giuliani to the book. Collins died July 9, 2024.

But other journalists, politicians, attorneys, and activists had never seen the memo. No one was sure if reporters over the years had actually read it.

Getting the memo was easy. Carboy called the Briscoe Center for American History, they looked through Wayne's 300 boxes and found it. $20 later, Carboy had it.

But finding it took years. In the weeks following 9/11, Michelle Goldstein wrote the memo to Robert Harding. A month later, Congress passed the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, limiting New York City's total liability to $350 million, as suggested in the memo.

In 2007 Anthony DePalma, a reporter for the New York Times, referenced the memo in an article about Rudy Giuliani's tainted legacy. Then in 2024, when health issues from the aftermath were piling up, the memo came up again in a letter from Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., and Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y. The letter was the second addressed to Mayor Eric Adams, hoping that he, as a former cop and first responder, would act to release the city's 9/11 files.

Adams met with members of Congress, then replied with a letter explaining that the city's maximum liability of $350 million kept it from taking on new law suits which releasing the 9/11 files would lead to.

"New York City cannot produce documents without expensive and expansive legal review," he wrote in the letter. "We are happy to work with your offices to determine potential federal funding sources" to release the documents, he said in the letter. He left office without releasing the files.

That September 2024, Council Member Brewer announced in a press release new legislation to "reveal what city government knew about environmental toxins produced by the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center." Brewer's statement came after she realized the council could force the Department of Investigation to look into any agency, per city charter.

"This has never been done before," she said in an interview. "We didn't know."

The investigation got underway at the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the city's department in charge of the environmental safety of the city.

Before the investigation, the DEP had denied Attorney Carboy's FOIL requests for 9/11 related documents for years, claiming they didn't exist, according to documents from Case Index No. 155678/2024.

A year after the investigation started, the DEP found 32 boxes. Then they found more, totaling 68 boxes. The city's law Department referred Councilbeat.com to Corporation Counsel Steven Banks' testimony before city council when asked for comment. The DEP did not reply to a request for comment.

The discovery of the boxes changed the course of Carboy's FOIL case and allowed him to review them in search of the Harding memo and similar papers.

"Since November, we have been reviewing them, 20 to 25 boxes at a time," said Carboy. "We sit in a room, we are supervised, there are several lawyers looking at us, and we go through documents."

The boxes were full of old newspaper articles from the fall of 2001 and lots of largely inconclusive test records, according to Carboy.

"It's bazillions of pages of stuff like that," said Carboy. "We're looking for things like the Harding Memo."

But nothing like the Harding memo was found in the boxes.

Around the fall of 2025, Carboy was browsing a copy of "Grand Illusion" that Barrett's office had sent him back in 2006, sharing his work while asking Carboy if they could review some deposition transcripts.

"I'm looking through this book, and I go to the index. I mean, this is how happenstance and kind of, casual it was. And sure enough, they reference Deputy Mayor Robert Harding," he said.

Carboy flipped to the page and noticed references to the same memo DePalma had mentioned in his New York Times article.

"And I'm thinking, well, did Wayne Barrett leave an archive? He did. And where is his archive? It's at the University of Texas in Austin," he said.

"I send them a copy of Barrett's book with a footnote," Carboy said. "'I don't know if you can help me. We're pro bono counsel to this not-for-profit. It would be very helpful to us if you could look for it.'"

The Briscoe Center searched through Barretts's 300 boxes of papers that once cluttered Fran's house. Some were labeled "9/11", others "real estate development".

Carboy did not expect them to find it.

"What's their motivation for actually finding this obscure document?" he said.

Six weeks later, they contacted Carboy. It was the end of January 2026. They had found it. The total was $20.

"This restored my faith in research libraries," he said. "And that's how we got the Harding memo."

New York City's legal counsel is about to drop a big file.

City Corporate Counsel Steven Banks said in a preliminary budget meeting on Friday that the city's law department is creating a publicly accessible portal of the city's 9/11 files.

The trove of documents were brought to light in September 2025 while the city's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) faced and investigation by the City Council and an ongoing lawsuit pushing for the release of 9/11-related documents.

"The fact that the city has sat on these 9/11 files for years, the fact that thousands of people became sick and died of cancer because the city did not disclose the fact that the air was not safe to breathe," said Speaker Julie Menin, while leading into a question at the meeting.

"What is the status of the release of the 9/11 files?" Menin asked Banks.

"We have set up a team that is reviewing what documents can be posted on a portal to provide access to the public," Banks replied.

The proposed portal comes after Attorney Andrew Carboy hunted down and found the long sought-after "Harding memo" last month in deceased Village Voice investigative reporter Wayne Barrett's archives in Texas. (Read the full story behind his discovery here).

The subject line of the memo, which was addressed to Robert Harding, then deputy mayor, and believed to be from October 2001, reads "Legislative Alternatives to Limit the City's Liability relating to 9/11/01".

"According to the Law Department, there are approximately 35,000 potential plaintiffs as a result of the events of September 11 and it is estimate [sic] that 10,000 would file a claim," reads the document.

The writer, Michelle Goldstein, reminds Harding of the $308 million in torts the division handled the year before (roughly 0.81% of that year's budget), then lists potential lawsuits that could come in the aftermath of 9/11.

"Police failed to secure evacuated premises from looters."

"Health advisories caused individuals either to return to the area too soon (causing toxic exposure) or too late (causing economic hardship)."

"Rescue workers were provided with faulty equipment or no equipment (i.e. respirators)."

The memo reveals that shortly after 9/11, the city was clearly aware that respiratory health effects could follow in the aftermath. However, hardly a week later, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani announced it was safe for New Yorkers to return to lower Manhattan.

"Air quality as far as we can tell ... is not dangerous," Giuliani told a paper the next day.

The following Monday, the mayor announced that everything was basically back to normal.

"Tomorrow, both City Hall and the New York Stock Exchange - two powerful symbols of America, one of freedom, the other of free enterprise - will be open for business," he said.

By 2016, the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund, had over 10,000 claims for around $2.25 billion.

“I’m very sorry that people are sick,” Christy Todd Whitman, the head of the United States Environmental Protection Agency during 9/11 told the Guardian in 2016. “I’m very sorry that people are dying and if the EPA and I in any way contributed to that, I’m sorry. We did the very best we could at the time with the knowledge we had.”

More people filed claims. VCF and its CDC-run health provider, the World Trade Center Health Program (WTC), saw their numbers continue to grow as time went on. By 2025 VCF had over 70,000 total claims, and WTC had over 150,000 responders or survivors enrolled.

Any party who has received funds from VCF has signed a waiver to never sue anyone, including the City of New York, over what occurred on 9/11.

"I would not tell anyone, and I mean anyone, my best friend, my family member, a total stranger, to ever sue the city of New York over September 11th issues," said Carboy, the attorney who discovered the memo. "They are immune."

Both Menin and Banks revealed personal interest in releasing the 9/11 files held by the city.

"As I said at my confirmation hearing, this is also personal to me," Banks said. "My daughter, then in the fifth grade, was at school on Chambers and Greenwich Street and was one of the young children evacuated as the buildings were coming down. So I am well aware of how urgent it is that we should act, and we are moving with urgency."

New Yorkers saw a lot of snow this winter. Mounds of accumulation blocked bus stops, bike stations and internet kiosks, spaces contracted to be maintained by private vendors. Observing the trend citywide, the New York City Council approved a pilot program to clear snow, ice and dirty conditions from these areas with the help of city sanitation workers.

324 million bus riders a year wait at bus shelters throughout the city, and users go online or charge their phones at over 2,000 LinkNYC kiosks, meant to replace outdated pay phones. Bike share users cycled almost 70,000 rides per day from about 2,300 stations across the five boroughs in December alone. The council voted to be sure its contracted vendors do their part to clear snow and keep these areas clean.

The bill "creates a pilot requiring DSNY to notify DOT about any conditions we observe, so that DOT can ensure the vendors fulfill their obligations," said Joshua Goodman, deputy commissioner for public affairs of the Department of Sanitation (DSNY).

The vote comes after two blizzards pummeled the city this February and piles of snow brought everyday transportation and communication to an un-New York-like snail's pace. DSNY takes care of snowy streets while property owners take care of shoveling sidewalks. But some spots fall under a contractual gray-area with private operators that also require maintenance.

Lyft operates the city's bike stations, and JC Decaux, the outdoor advertising company, contracts with the city to maintain about 3,000 of the city's bus shelters.

"Under those contracts, the vendor is already required to remove snow and ice and maintain cleanliness," said Goodman.

Under the bill's pilot program, for the next two years, the Department of Sanitation (DSNY) will be tasked with notifying either the Department of Transportation (DOT) or the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT) of dirty conditions or accumulations of snow or ice at any bus shelter, bike share station or public communications structure, described in the bill as a "kiosk or structure on a sidewalk that provides public access to the internet and other digital services, including a public pay telephone."

The DOT or DoITT will then tell the operators in charge of that structure, like Lyft or JC Decaux, about the condition, instruct them to remedy it, then be able to "take enforcement action as prescribed in such agreement, including the issuance of penalties or assessment of liquidated damages," if the problem isn't solved.

Eight members of the Committee on Sanitation and Solid Waste Management voted for the bill. Shahana K. Hanif was absent.

The bill reinforces the council's ability to keep the city moving and properly maintained under snowy or dirty conditions.

"In essence, it formalizes the process we already use to keep these areas safe and clean," said Goodman.

Even for elected officials, it's hard to afford living in New York City, especially when salaries have not changed in the last ten years.

The New York City Council voted to form a commission to review elected officials' salaries Monday, allowing independent oversight over what elected officials get paid, and signaling that the affordability crunch has reached the highest levels of city government.

Five members of the Committee on Governmental Operations, State and Local Legislation voted for it, one against it, and one was absent.

The bill to get the mayor to convene an independent review of elected officials' pay comes when the mayor, public advocate, comptroller, borough presidents, council members and district attorneys haven't had a change to their salaries in 10 years. Mayors are already mandated by the city to form a pay review commission, but both Eric Adams and Bill DeBlasio failed to do so.

"I have every expectation that with this legislation passed, a pay commission will be announced – I don't know about within days, but will be announced imminently, and this work will begin," said Grace Rauh, executive director of Citizens Union, a group that advocates for good government in New York City.

About a third of New York City residents pay more than half their income to housing. Mayor Mamdani's platform has largely been focused on affordability. Many members of the council align with the mayor on issues of affordability, but deciding on their own financial position can be a conflict of interest.

Under the bill, the mayor will form an independent commission to review pay for the elected roles of mayor, public advocate, comptroller, borough presidents, council members and district attorneys. The review would be done again every four years after that.

The commission will be made up of hand-picked New Yorkers "recognized for their knowledge and experience in management and compensation matters," the bill reads.

In December a separate bill was floated by the council, proposing new salaries for officials without review, including the council. Citizens Union spoke out about that proposal and advocated for a new bill re-establishing the dormant pay commission.

Frank Morano, who voted against the bill, represents Staten Island's South Shore, and has previously voiced opposition to Mayor Zohran Mamdani, but also voices concerns about affordability.

"New Yorkers are already struggling with the cost of living, and the city itself is facing serious financial pressures. We’re talking about possible tax hikes and painful cuts to essential services. In that environment, I simply can’t support creating a commission whose likely outcome would be pay raises for politicians," he said in an email.

But Rauh of Citizens Union expressed that the commission removes a layer of politics from the pay elected officials might have earned but might not want to give themselves.

"The independent pay commission is in part designed to remove elected officials from kind of the the politics of all of this," she said.

"We know from talking with members of the city council that, like many New Yorkers, members of the city council also face cost of living challenges and affordability challenges," she said. "To go 10 years without a pay raise was, for many members, a real significant financial strain."