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Sometimes change happens fast — last month, just making inquiries into why a city warming center had become a de facto homeless shelter had officials leaping to action before we could even publish — but often, change can be slow. That’s why THE CITY stays on the beat, month after month, year after year. Supporting us with a monthly gift ensures our reporters never let up on making the change that matters to you.
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After THE CITY was the first to expose a pending deal to move the city’s Department for the Aging to a Wall Street building owned by a billionaire donor to Mayor Eric Adams, and later reported that Adams protege Jesse Hamilton steered the deal to that property, First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer announced a “pause” on the lease signing pending a review.
The City Council committees on aging, consumer and worker protection, and housing will hold a joint oversight hearing Nov. 19 on deed theft, and on two bills that aim to protect homeowners from predatory real estate speculation. The Council’s action was prompted by an investigative series from THE CITY that featured family members who found themselves dispossessed from their own homes after investors forced a sale. The investors had purchased shares of homes for pennies on the dollar from far-flung heirs who had inherited the property. One bill, introduced by Councilmember Crystal Hudson (D-Brooklyn), would require purchasers to disclose the market value of similar properties when making an offer. The other, introduced by Councilmember Kevin Riley (D-The Bronx), would require the city to provide asset protection counseling for homeowners and their heirs.
The City Council’s governmental operations committee, chaired by Councilmember Lincoln Restler (D-Brooklyn), will hold a hearing Oct. 29 examining leases of private real estate by the city Department of Citywide Administrative Services.
Following reporting by THE CITY on city agencies breaking language access laws, the Mayor’s adopted budget for 2025 restored $3.8 million to a community based-program that will provide in-person interpretation services to city agencies.
Sometimes change happens fast — last month, just making inquiries into why a city warming center had become a de facto homeless shelter had officials leaping to action before we could even publish — but often, change can be slow. That’s why THE CITY stays on the beat, month after month, year after year. Supporting us with a monthly gift ensures our reporters never let up on making the change that matters to you.
On June 7, state Supreme Court Justice Lyle E. Frank ordered the NYPD to release thousands of pages of internal officer misconduct records, following a lawsuit filed by THE CITY, represented by Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and Davis Wright Tremaine.
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s 2024 State of the State policy agenda includes a pledge to direct the state Department of Labor to develop gudiance for how employers can help protect workers from extreme heat on the job. Hochul’s agenda cites a statistical finding developed by THE CITY: “When the temperature hits 85 degrees, workers in the City are 7% more likely to be injured on the job. At 95 degrees, this percentage goes up to 8%.”
A report by the city Department of Investigation exposing government officials’ manipulation of homeless shelter application statistics highlighted THE CITY’s coverage as an example of how the press relies on the data in order to inform the public. Investigators relied on THE CITY as a factual source for their account of the political pressures on Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration to make it appear that the share of families approved to live in shelters remained low.
After THE CITY exclusively reported that New York State’s Office of Cannabis Management has ceased holding trials of operators cited for unlicensed pot product sales despite a proliferation of illegal storefronts, the Daily News followed with an editorial, headlined “Not fine with no fines,” demanding that the state legislature increase fines and fund stepped-up enforcement. “The consequences for flouting the law now seem to be close to zero,” lamented the News, citing THE CITY’s coverage.
