{"id":697,"date":"2025-03-14T14:14:11","date_gmt":"2025-03-14T18:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/?p=697"},"modified":"2025-03-26T14:32:52","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T18:32:52","slug":"this-weeks-biggest-winners-losers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/2025\/03\/14\/this-weeks-biggest-winners-losers\/","title":{"rendered":"This week\u2019s biggest Winners & Losers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Who\u2019s up and who\u2019s down this week?<\/em><\/p>\n

City & State<\/a> \u2013 By City & State Staff | March 14, 2025<\/p>\n

\u201cA\u201d is for apple. Federal immigration czar Tom Homan came to Albany and ate an apple<\/a> amid protests from Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani<\/a> and others. We\u2019re sure New York City Council Member Gale Brewer, a friend of New York farmers<\/a>, is hoping Homan prefers New York apples. Send comfort little apples<\/a> to Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, a Big Apple native<\/a> feuding with a satanic church who wants \u201ctherapeutic blasphemy\u201d<\/a> for lawmakers.  And R.I.P Cortland Standard<\/a>, thanks for 157 years of news in the apple muse<\/a>.<\/p>\n

WINNERS:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thomas Spota – <\/strong>Talk about a Flashback Friday. It\u2019s been a hot minute since we have given thought to\u00a0disgraced former Suffolk County District Attorney<\/a>\u00a0Thomas Spota \u2013 and even longer since he\u2019s graced the winner\u2019s section of this weekly feature. Yet here we are, with federal investigators\u00a0dropping a probe<\/a>\u00a0into the office\u2019s use of asset forfeiture funds that started with Spota\u2019s administration. Sure, he still went to prison for three years for trying to cover up a police beating, but at least he\u2019s now in the free and clear.<\/p>\n

Shahana Hanif – <\/strong>Come on, come all. New Yorkers\u2019 access to the city\u2019s popular municipal photo ID program is about to get a whole lot smoother due to legislation recently passed by the City Council. This measure, sponsored by Council Member Shahana Hanif, will restart same-day walk-in appointments for individuals seeking the ID card, which is available to all New Yorkers regardless of immigration status.<\/p>\n

Steve Cohen –<\/strong> Mets owner Steve Cohen got one step closer to getting his long sought-after casino next to Citi Field. Zoning changes needed for the Metropolitan Park project were approved by the City Council in a 41-2 vote this week.. Who knew\u00a0spending millions<\/a>\u00a0on lobbying city officials would do the trick? It\u2019s not a done deal, though. He still needs the state Gaming Commission to award him one of three downstate casino licenses, and he needs state Sen. Jessica Ramos to introduce \u2013 and get passed \u2013 legislation to alienate the land in question, which is legally considered parkland.<\/p>\n

LOSERS:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Katrina Armstrong – <\/strong>The interim Columbia University president has had to deal with Trump pulling $400 million in federal grants to the university for its alleged \u201ccontinued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.\u201d The cuts, which will affect the university\u2019s \u201cresearch and other critical functions,<\/a>\u201d are happening not even a year into Armstrong\u2019s term as president. And on top of that, one of the school\u2019s recent graduates living in Columbia housing was just\u00a0arrested and detained by ICE<\/a>\u00a0despite being a green card holder.<\/p>\n

Janno Lieber – <\/strong>Janno Lieber, head of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, needs a cool $35 billion to fund the agency\u2019s capital plan \u2013 but the state Legislature\u2019s one-house budget proposals\u00a0did not include any specific ideas<\/a>\u00a0for how to fund the MTA capital plan. Lieber\u2019s had an emotional rollercoaster of a year \u2013 having worked to get congestion pricing in place, only for the governor to yank it out from under him, only for her to reinstate it, only for the president to say he wouldn\u2019t allow the tolls after all. The poor guy is just trying to keep the transit system that 5 million people use every day running.<\/p>\n

Chris Summers –<\/strong> The striking corrections may have bit off more than they could chew, or maybe they just hate the idea of a state job. Under an executive order from Gov. Kathy Hochul, the more than 2,000 prison guards who didn\u2019t return to work after a deal was brokered with the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision can never hold a government job in New York again. And the final deal that resolved that strike was only reached by everyone going over the head of Chris Summers, the president of the New York State Corrections Officer and Police Benevolent Association.<\/p>\n

[Read More]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Who\u2019s up and who\u2019s down this week?<\/em><\/p>\n

City & State<\/a> \u2013 By City & State Staff | March 14, 2025<\/p>\n

\u201cA\u201d is for apple. Federal immigration czar Tom Homan came to Albany and ate an apple<\/a> amid protests from Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani<\/a> and others. We\u2019re sure New York City Council Member Gale Brewer, a <\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

READ MORE<\/a><\/small><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":323,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[13],"class_list":["post-697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-immigration"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/323"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/shahana-hanif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}