Alyssa Katz

Sidewalk Arrests Seize New Yorkers in ICE’s Latest Surge Activists and legal advocates are tracking seemingly random detentions of immigrants on the streets in what they say is a campaign of ethnic profiling.

Until a few weeks ago, most immigration arrests in NYC were happening at appointments in the Manhattan federal building or immigration offices. That's over: we're now in the randomly-grabbed-while-out-getting-coffee stage of lawless enforcement. From @gwynnefitz.bsky.social

Latest newsletter from a leading NYC housing market commentator begins: "Despite 'wealth flight' headlines about the next NYC Mayor Mamdani, current data show no evidence of a high-end exodus, and NYC’s luxury segment remains active."

Mamdani Team to Terminate 179 Adams City Hall Staffers Mayor’s Office shakeup in store “as is standard practice for a mayoral transition.”

Getting right to work.

Old Newsstand With a New Beat: Police Set Up Shop at West Fourth NYPD officers are now stationed at the former kiosk on the northbound platform on the A, C, E lines.

As if they stepped out of a tabloid headline: cops take over a former subway station newsstand at West Fourth Street. @jmartineznyc.bsky.social on the NYPD's latest underground outpost.

The level of discipline among Mamdani transition sources on not talking to reporters is notable for both its firmness and consistency. These are unpaid advisory roles and include many academics, labor leaders, policy experts and advocates. Exactly the people journalists rely on!

One notable consequence of Zohran Mamdani appointing some 400 people to his mayoral transition committee is that those individuals have been directed not to speak to media and it is making it challenging for journalists to find informed expert commentators, not even for inside info, just on policy.

Union Members Take On Congressional Incumbents in Manhattan and The Bronx The UAW is known locally for its left-leaning politics and justice-oriented members in academia and legal services. Now two of its rank-and-file members, Dalourny Nemorin and Darializa Avila Chevalier...

The left-flank challengers to @ritchietorres.bsky.social and @repespaillat.bsky.social, Dalourny Nemorin and Darializa Avila-Chevalier, both rose up through legal services worker organizing and a local of the union driving it, @uaw.org.

Governor Cuomo is back.

Everyone is on message these days.

Trump Sings Mamdani’s Praises After White House Chat Both the mayor-elect and the president said they found common ground on a range of issues, including making New York City more affordable.

Gotta see it to believe it.

The ‘Godmother’ of Weed vs. Her Uncle, the DEA Agent Cannabis officials courted a rising pot star to join New York’s legal market. Then a stunning police raid upended everything and shattered her family.

While state officials were courting a talented cannabis grower to join the legal market, her uncle was a former top DEA official who threatened her for growing plants at home. Then police and firefighters swarmed her house in a raid that would shatter her family.

www.thecity.nyc/2025/11/20/g...

The ‘Godmother’ of Weed vs. Her Uncle, the DEA Agent Cannabis officials courted a rising pot star to join New York’s legal market. Then a stunning police raid upended everything and shattered her family.

This Brooklyn woman got caught in New York's extremely messy legal cannabis industry launch and saw her family wrecked because of it. A wild read from @rosalindadams.bsky.social.

Inside City Hall night for me on @spectrumnewsny1.bsky.social gabbing with @errollouis.bsky.social and Gerson Borrero about Mamdani, Schumer, congressional challengers and the MIA mayor. This hour and again at 11. Tune in!

Affordable Housing Developers Sue to Lift Adams Elizabeth Street Garden Blockade The mayor’s maneuver to make the Nolita lot parkland — preventing Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani from proceeding with the long-planned development project — was “a lawless act,” Haven Green’s builders all...

Can the Adams administration simply designate a property a park? Hell no, say affordable housing developers who are now suing the Adams administration over Elizabeth Street Garden.

Jessica Tisch to Remain NYPD Police Commissioner Under Mamdani Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announced Wednesday that he will appoint Jessica Tisch as his police commissioner, continuing her tenure that began under Mayor Eric Adams. They have differing views on some...

Spoiler: NYPD not getting defunded.

Eric Adams Aide Sentenced in Campaign Fundraising Scheme — With the Mayor’s Absence Noted Mohamed Bahi was given three years’ probation by the same judge forced to drop the mayor’s case, who had withering words as Adams heads for Uzbekistan.

"There's a notable absence here of the person at the apex of the pyramid" said the judge in the Eric Adams corruption case, in sentencing an underling who funneled illegal funds to the mayor's election campaign.

Brooklyn DA Backs Reduced Sentence for Notorious Child Molester The office of Kings County District Attorney Eric Gonzalez argues the original 103-year sentence for Nechemya Weberman was excessive. His victim objects.

This case was the test of whether a past Brooklyn DA would pursue child sexual abuse in Orthodox Jewish communities. Years later, a new DA is advocating for a reduced sentence. Story from @reuvenblau.bsky.social.

Adams Vetoes Anti Rent-Hike Law, Widening Council Battle Over Vouchers Members vow override vote on bill that would ensure City FHEPS households pay no more than 30% of rent, as mayor pushes higher charges for some and continues a court battle over expanded eligibility.

The City Council and Mayor Adams are in escalating battle over laws mandating billions in additional city spending on rent subsidies.

What will Mamdani do? I don't believe he has weighed in yet.

NYPD Commissioner to Decide on Review Board Jurisdiction in Case of Cop Involved in Fatal Shooting As Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani aims to expand the power of the Civilian Complaint Review Board, Commissioner Jessica Tisch has to determine whether to support a judge’s ruling in a fatal shooting case.

An NYPD judge recommended dismissing the disciplinary case of an officer who killed a man in 2016, b/c the prosecuting agency lacks jurisdiction over off duty acts. But the cop’s attorneys got him indemnified in a civil suit by arguing the shooting was police conduct

www.thecity.nyc/2025/11/10/n...

State Permits Trump-Backed Natural Gas Pipeline in New York Waters The Williams pipeline would span 17 miles near the Rockaways and Staten Island. The state had rejected the project three times previously.

New York is not immune from Trump White House pressure. The state just OKed an underwater natural gas pipeline in exchange for lifting a blockade on an offshore wind project, coincidentally on the day that Elise Stefanik announced her run for governor against Kathy Hochul. Over to you, New Jersey.

The WFMU Record Fair, which takes place once a year, is a truly spectacular event.

Post-Election, Pols Hit Puerto Rico for 5-Day SOMOS Feast City Hall staffers — many on the taxpayer tab — also traveled to San Juan.

What's an Eric Adams administration official to do with just a little more than a month left on the clock? Take a taxpayer-funded trip to Puerto Rico where potential future employers abound. By @katiehonan.bsky.social

Cuomo Backers Burned $65 Per Vote, Including $13.3 Million From Bloomberg A blizzard of outside spending on ads, including a spot that linked Zohran Mamdani to 9/11, failed to move voters and may have even backfired.

Updated records show Mike Bloomberg gave more than $13 million to efforts to boost Cuomo and attack Mamdani, including the group that tried to link Mamdani to 9/11.

Ugh lemme try again...

I’m of the opinion that these problems can be solved, but there’s no point in pretending they aren’t real problems

Mamdani’s Next Battle: Attacking Inequality While Balancing Budgets The mayor-elect, who won on promises of free buses and free child care, arrives at a time of growing economic need and approaching multi-billion-dollar government deficits.

Mamdani says he'll pay for free buses and free child care with new taxes on rich people and corporations. Meanwhile billions of dollars in budget deficits loom for New York, with federal spending cuts making the picture much worse and threatening social programs we already have. Ugly details here.

15 Minutes With the Next Mayor of New York City On the W train, we asked the questions we couldn’t get to in the debate.

This is fun. Interview, à la Subway Takes, by the one and only @katiehonan.bsky.social.

Mamdani Created a Left-Liberal Coalition on Israel/Palestine The surprising story of the New York mayoral campaign is not liberal Zionist opposition to Mamdani’s campaign, but their support.

It was predictable that many liberal Zionists would oppose anti-Zionism’s “political normalization” in the NYC mayoral race. The more surprising story of the campaign is not liberal Zionist opposition to Mamdani, but their support, @peterbeinart.bsky.social writes.
jewishcurrents.org/mamdani-crea...

The model of downwardly mobile members of the PMC energizing/leading a detached, discontented mass to the left is fully in operation here. And it's nothing to apologize for.

Striking how Brooklyn accounts for both the top 5 Mamdani (blue) and top 5 Cuomo (purple) districts