The last New Yorker on stage — Can the subway be great again? — First diocese files bankruptcy from Child Victims Act Presented by Facebook

There was only one New Yorker in the bunch when presidential candidates took the stage at Thursday night’s Democratic debate.

No, not Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who quit the race last month, and not Mayor Bill de Blasio, whose campaign plods on but is polling too low to qualify for the stage. The unlikely New Yorker still standing is Andrew Yang, a little-known former tech executive and Manhattanite running for office for the first time who has made a thing out of not wearing a tie.

And the Schenectady native had a debate night offer for voters that might just help him shed the “little known” moniker: cold, hard cash.

Yang promised his campaign would pay out $1,000 a month for a year to 10 families selected by lottery that opens next week — a demonstration of his signature campaign issue, a universal basic income that would cut every American a monthly check for that amount. “This is how we will get our country working for us again,” he said.

Even before the debate, for which he hired a cast of actors and actresses to help him prep by cheering for every mock candidate except him, Yang was having a bit of a moment and climbed into the top six candidates in the polls.

We’ll see if he goes any higher, but he’ll be repping the city again at the next debate in October.

Some might call the offer a gimmick, others say it’s a clever way to engage voters and start trending on Twitter (he did). Regardless, a clear winner emerged during last night’s festivities: the 10 families getting an extra 12K in their pockets.

IT’S FRIDAY. Got tips, suggestions or thoughts? Let us know ... By email: [email protected] and [email protected] , or on Twitter: @erinmdurkin and @annagronewold

WHERE’S ANDREW? In Albany, with no announced public schedule.

WHERE’S BlLL? Appearing on WNYC’s "The Brian Lehrer Show" at 10 am.

A message from Facebook: Visit Facebook's Voting Information Center today Facebook is building the largest voting information effort in US history, starting with the new Voting Information Center, where you can find the latest resources about voting in the 2020 election. Our goal is to help register 4 million voters. Visit our new Voting Information Center now





WHAT CITY HALL'S READING

MANHATTAN politicians doubled down on opposing Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plans to demolish and rebuild a public housing complex in Chelsea Thursday, as the tenant association president came out in favor of City Hall’s proposal. “Based on what we do know, we cannot support the plan in its current form. The largely black and Latino community in Fulton Houses is worth more than the real estate it occupies and forcing the relocation of 72 low income families to build luxury towers is unacceptable,” six elected officials wrote in a letter to Deputy Mayor Vicki Been and New York City Housing Authority Chair Gregory Russ. Meanwhile Miguel Acevedo, president of the Fulton Houses Tenant Association, told POLITICO the city’s plan is the residents’ best shot at better living conditions. POLITICO’s Sally Goldenberg

“TWO YEARS AGO a developer's relatives poured $11,000 into Mark Gjonaj's campaign for City Council. Last year, at the newly elected councilman's behest, one of the builder's executives bankrolled an event in his district. This year Gjonaj, along with Council Speaker Corey Johnson, allocated $1.4 million toward a Bronx project of the developer . The transactions were ostensibly legal—outflanking a city law intended to curb pay-to-play politics. The city money will fund demolition and remediation of a former junkyard on Blondell Avenue, where builder Exact Capital has long aspired to construct an affordable housing complex called Blondell Commons.” Crain’s Will Bredderman

BROOKLYN BOROUGH PRESIDENT ERIC ADAMS hit back at animal rights activists outraged over his gleeful slaughter of rats, saying their sympathy for the much-hated rodents shows a blindness to the suffering of black communities. “We can never put rats over children, and I am not going to do that,” Adams said Thursday on WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer show. The rat fight started when Adams last week trotted out the sodden corpses of dozens of rats captured around Brooklyn Borough Hall — promoting a new trap that lures the creatures and then drowns them in a mix of water and alcohol. That earned the 2021 mayoral hopeful the ire of animal rights groups, who attacked him in a letter for “cheerleading for the killing of living animals” by showing off the dead rat stew. But Adams said he can’t afford to feel much pity for the furry pests when mothers in African American neighborhoods are waking up to find rats “gnawing on their babies.” POLITICO’s Erin Durkin

— Duck farmers protested a proposal backed by animal rights activists to ban New York City restaurants from serving, which they say would shutter two Hudson Valley farms that produce the French delicacy.

“NEGOTIATIONS AROUND the city’s initiative to build new jails in four boroughs have determined that all of the facilities will be smaller than currently proposed, though talks continue around the specific heights, sources close to the deal-making told the Brooklyn Eagle. The plan to close Rikers Island by replacing the isolated jail complex with four new borough-based detention towers is heading toward a City Council vote next month — and it’s on its way to passing the 26-vote threshold necessary to set the plan in motion, according to City Hall and City Council sources.” Brooklyn Eagle’s Noah Goldberg and David Brand

— FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: A South Bronx housing complex across the street from the site proposed for a new jail is launching a new ad campaign targeting Council members over the jail plan. The online ads by the Diego Beekman Mutual Housing Association, which is also part of a lawsuit against the plan, go after Bronx Council members Diana Ayala and Vanessa Gibson, and Speaker Corey Johnson.

“IT WAS ONLY TWO YEARS AGO that New York City’s subway fell into such a dire crisis that Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo took the extraordinary step of declaring a state of emergency, pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into the system and hiring one of the world’s most respected transit leaders. The subway has rebounded from its nadir, when significant disruptions regularly upended the city, and riders lost faith in the system. The on-time rate for trains has jumped to 80 percent this summer, up from 65 percent in 2017. Subway cars are breaking down less frequently and the number of major delays are down. But as the subway continues to dig itself out of a deep hole, its leaders are left facing an even bigger challenge — transforming the system into a modern subway worthy of a global capital.” New York Times’ Emma G. Fitzsimmons

— Subway on time performance has reached an 84 percent weekday average, its highest point since 2013.

— The MTA says it will hire 500 new transit police officers, after Governor Andrew Cuomo complained about ‘quality of life’ issues.





WHAT ALBANY'S READING

AN ATTORNEY for victims of clerical sexual abuse says an upstate diocese’s decision to declare bankruptcy in response to a stampede of abuse claims is a blow to survivors, but will not allow the diocese to evade responsibility. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester on Thursday became the first diocese in New York to file for bankruptcy protection after the state passed the Child Victims Act earlier this year. Since a one-year look-back window created by the legislation took effect last month, the diocese has been named as a defendant in 59 legal claims through Wednesday. “Without question it’s an emotional roller coaster [for victims],” said Michael Pfau, a lawyer for Washington state-based firm Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala, which represents hundreds of abuse survivors across New York and dozens of Catholic clergy victims in Rochester. “It will be met with anger, disgust and really, just a sense of reinforcement for abuse survivors, their lack of trust in the institution.” POLITICO’s Anna Gronewold

— THE DIOCESE RESPONDS: In a video and letter to parishioners , Bishop Salvatore Matano called the move a "difficult and painful" decision but the best way to help victims: “Had the Diocese not filed under Chapter 11, it would face multiple civil actions, a slow, unpredictable and costly process that would require years of court involvement and those claimants who filed suits first would receive all available funds to pay victims. As a result, later claimants would receive nothing. Most importantly, such lengthy proceedings delay justice for the victims and only prolong their pain and suffering.”

— “The Buffalo Diocese was still considering seeking bankruptcy protection Thursday after the neighboring Rochester Diocese took that route to deal with a landslide of lawsuits over its handling of clergy sexual abuse of children. While the Buffalo Diocese already faces three times as many lawsuits as the Rochester Diocese, it has fewer net assets than its neighbor to the east, according to financial statements of both dioceses.” Buffalo News’ Jay Tokasz.

— Defense lawyers for the Northeast Province of the Jesuit Brothersone Catholic religious order are pressing to expose the identities of some Child Victims Act plaintiffs who wish to remain anonymous.

“IN THE WAKE of protests at Tuesday's meeting of the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics, the panel escalated its probe of alleged rape victim Kat Sullivan for potential lobbying violations. Since the meeting, JCOPE staff told two vendors who aided Sullivan's 2018 effort to pass the Child Victims Act that they could face subpoenas...Justin Jaye, who owns Fly Signs Aerial Advertisings, said he received a call Wednesday morning from a woman who worked at JCOPE; he could not recall her name. In 2018, Jaye's firm created a banner promoting the CVA that was towed behind a plane rented by Sullivan that flew over the state Capitol. The JCOPE official threatened to subpoena Jaye's business records. ‘I just told them that I don't put up with that crap,’ Jaye said.” Times Union’s Chris Bragg

“WHEN CHUCK ECKERT exited the Thruway’s I-190 on Grand Island to check out the Western New York Welcome Center on a Friday afternoon this summer, he was taken aback at how empty it was. ‘It’s Aug. 9 and 3 o’clock in the afternoon on one of the busiest days of tourism season. Thousands of cars are driving by and I’m looking around and I see less than 20 people at the center,’ Eckert said. ‘It’s a wonderful building in the wrong location. It’s a waste of money.’ The $25 million center opened a year ago to much fanfare with public officials saying how it would play an important role in bolstering tourism but criticisms persist over the center's location and whether it is succeeding in its mission. None of the more than two dozen visitors interviewed on Aug. 9 by The Buffalo News said they had intentions of extending their stays in Western New York to take in regional sites promoted at the center.” Buffalo News’ Lou Michel

#UpstateAmerica: Emotional support pig Pork Chop has moved out of state.

... 2020 VISION ...

“BILL DE BLASIO RUNS American's biggest city, oversees a budget bigger than Ireland’s, and commands a police force larger than the army George Washington needed to win America’s independence at Yorktown. But right now, all the mayor of New York City needs is something much more humble — and, so far, elusive: a measly bump in the polls, from 1 to 2 percent. ‘Look, I've been at 1 percent, like, 10 times,’ he said while waiting backstage for his turn to be number 15 of 19 presidential candidates to address a gathering of New Hampshire Democrats last weekend. ‘This is what’s so tantalizing and aggravating about this. Just go up one more percent and you're in.’ De Blasio is one of eight candidates in the Democrats’ bloated 2020 presidential field who have been more or less left for dead because they failed to qualify for Thursday’s debate after falling short of the 2 percent polling threshold.” NBC News’ Alex Seitz-Wald and Lauren Egan

FROM THE DELEGATION

“U.S. REP. CHRISTOPHER COLLINS, R-New York, said Thursday that he had not decided if he would run for reelection to Congress next year, as a February trial date in his insider-trading case seemed uncertain. ‘I will tell you, if I do [run] I am confident that I will win,’ he said following his latest appearance in Manhattan federal court. ‘That’s a decision for a later date.’ The four-term Republican congressman from Western New York on Thursday pleaded not guilty to a new indictment alleging securities and wire fraud related to Innate Immunotherapeutics, an Australian biotech company where he served on the board of directors.” New York Law Journal’s Tom McParland

AROUND NEW YORK

— All of New York's anti-smoking campaigns will now include information on e-cigarettes and liquid nicotine.

— Democratic leaders have failed to act on local nominations for the state’s siting board for large-scale energy projects.

— A law expanding the time to perform a background check for a firearm purchase in New York is now in effect.

— A Bronx assistant principal failed to investigate a tip that student Abel Cedeno was carrying a knife years before he fatally stabbed a classmate, investigators found. She faces termination.

— Three horses died in the first two days of racing at the Belmont Park race track.

— The City Council passed a bill to extend the city’s anti-discrimination law to protect freelancers, independent contractors and interns.

— Attorney General Tish James sent cease and desist letters to companies selling legally dubious rape kits for victims to use at home.

— A Staten Island drug store owner was charged with running a sprawling oxycodone distribution ring.

— A Staten Island nurse who sued her former employer for refusing to give her a private space to pump breast milk has reached a $255,000 settlement.

— An alcohol megastore called Total Wine & More is seeking to open in College Point, Queens, and stirring up opposition from local businesses.

— Police arrested a man accused of bashing a Crown Heights rabbi in the face with a stone.

— Jeffrey Epstein’s cellmate wrote a letter to the Daily News saying he “never touched the man.”





SOCIAL DATA BY DANIEL LIPPMAN

By Daniel Lippman

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Bloomberg’s Laura Davison (hat tip: Katy Summerlin) ... Casey Dolan, MSNBC senior producer … James Ferrari … Jennifer Pflieger … Sanette Tanaka Sloan … Ashley Calame of Squarespace comms and a Time/Fortune alum (h/t Amanda Cowie)

MEDIAWATCH — Jay Shaylor is joining CBS as executive producer of ‘CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell.’ He previously was executive producer of CNN’s ‘The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.’”

MAKING MOVES — The NYPD’s top spokesman Philip Walzak is stepping down for a new political consulting gig.

REAL ESTATE

“A GROUP OF WEST VILLAGE tenants are suing the notorious landlord Steve Croman for allegedly illegally charging market-rate rents at a building that was required to remain rent-stabilized under a special New York City tax benefit program. At least five residents at 560-566 Hudson Street, a 32-unit building, say they were not provided with rent-stabilized leases in a lawsuit filed Thursday morning. Under J-51, residential property owners rehabbing or renovating their buildings can apply for tax breaks. But they must keep their units rent-stabilized while receiving the tax benefits.” Gothamist’s Elizabeth Kim

“PICTURE AN EMPTY APARTMENT — there are thousands in Manhattan’s new towers — and fill it with the city’s chattiest real estate developers. How do you quiet the room? Ask about their sales. Among the more than 16,200 condo units across 682 new buildings completed in New York City since 2013, one in four remain unsold, or roughly 4,100 apartments — most of them in luxury buildings, according to a new analysis by the listing website StreetEasy.” New York Times’ Stefanos Chen

A message from Facebook: How Facebook is preparing for the US 2020 election — Launched new Voting Information Center

— More than tripled our safety and security teams to 35,000 people

— Implemented 5-step political ad verification

— Providing greater political ad transparency Learn about these efforts and more





THE HOME TEAMS, BY HOWARD MEGDAL

Mets 11, Diamondbacks 1: The Mets hit six home runs in a home game for the first time on Thursday, including two from Juan Lagares, all to stay within two games of the Cubs and Brewers in the wild card race.

Yankees 10, Tigers 4; Yankees 6, Tigers 4: A sweep was overshadowed by injuries to Gary Sanchez and Edwin Encarnacion.

The day ahead: The Mets welcome the Dodgers to town. The Yankees head to Toronto.

Follow us on Twitter Erin Durkin @erinmdurkin



Anna Gronewold @annagronewold