NYC NOW - Evening Roundup: New York’s Most Powerful Democrat Has Yet to Endorse Mamdani, Planned Tower Could Block Fort Greene Park, and Mayor Adams Hires Bronx Election Lawyer

Episode Date: September 8, 2025

Gov. Kathy Hochul still hasn’t made an endorsement in November's mayoral election, keeping with several other high ranking New York City Democrats. Plus, New York City is giving out 350,000 free Chromebooks with built-in internet access to public school students. Meanwhile, Fort Greene Park Conservancy is raising concerns about how a proposed 72-story tower on nearby Flatbush Avenue could affect the park. And finally, New York City Mayor Eric Adams has hired a Bronx elections lawyer to look over petition signatures supporting his run for reelection as an independent.

New York's most powerful Democrat has yet to endorse Mundani for mayor. A planned tower could block Brooklyn's Fort Green Park. And Mayor Adams hires an election lawyer to look over petition signatures. From WMYC, this is NYC now. I'm Jene Pierre. Governor Kathy Hokel still hasn't made an endorsement in November's mayoral election, keeping with several other high-ranking New York City Democrats. They've all so far declined to public.

publicly support Democratic nominee Zeramam Dani. Hokel says it's up to the voters to decide the election, but she says much of any mayor's agenda will have to be approved in Albany. It's hard to acknowledge when you're the mayor of New York, but the state of New York has enormous power over decisions in the city, and particularly the financial side of it.

So stay tuned, we'll see what happens. Mamdani has promised free buses and universal childcare. He wants to pay for it by raising taxes on wealthy New Yorkers, which would have to be approved Hockel and the state legislature. Several other prominent Democrats, like Senator Chuck Schumer and Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, have also so far declined to endorse Mumdani. New York City is handing out free tech to help close the digital divide.

The city will distribute 350,000 free Chromebooks with built-in Internet access to public school students. Schools Chancellor Melissa Auvles-Ramos says the rollout is all about equity. So this really, when we talk about equity, this really, that we were putting devices in the hands of the young people who need it the most. Distribution will prioritize students in temporary housing, high-poverty schools, and places where existing devices are more than five years old. The city says all eligible students will get their devices by the end of the school year, and they'll keep the Chromebooks until graduation.

Fort Green Park in Brooklyn is one of the city's most popular places for people who own dogs. Now, the Park's Conservation Group is raising the alarm about a a new tower planned for Flatbush Avenue. WMYC's Liam Quigley has more. Every year since the pandemic, it seems like more and more people are bringing their dogs to Fort Green Park. The space is already extremely popular, and the Fort Green Park Conservancy says around a quarter of a million people come here each year. But now the same group is saying that a tower proposed for nearby Flatbush Avenue could cause real problems for the park. The group says there will be hundreds more dogs visiting the area, and that New York City's

shadows will cause longer closures while the grass grows back in the off-season. The tower's developer says that it will bring badly needed affordable housing to the area. The local community board says that is the number one issue for residents in the neighborhood. The plan for the 72-story tower is still under review. New York City Mayor Eric Adams has hired a Bronx elections lawyer to look over petition signatures supporting his run for re-election as an independent. More on that after the break. Now, an unusual update from the New York City mayor's race.

Last month, a WMYC and Gothamist report examined the signatures Mayor Eric Adams filed to get on the ballot as he runs for re-election as an independent. More than 50 people said they either didn't sign those petitions or were misled into signing them. At least three of the signatures were from people who are dead. In response, Adams promised his campaign would hire an independent attorney to conduct a review of those signatures. WMYC's Bridget Bergen joins us with the latest on who they hired and why this all matters.

So Bridget, who did the Adams campaign pick to do this work? So, Jenae, they hired an attorney named Stanley Schline. He's 77 years old. He's got close ties to the Bronx Democratic machine. He's a registered lobbyist with some. some really heavyweight clients, Major League Baseball, the Yankees, valleys, which is trying to build a casino in the Bronx. You know, he's really been kicking around New York City politics for decades. Just a couple of years ago, he was on New York Magazine's list of the most powerful New Yorkers you've never heard of.

They called him the Dark Prince of Bronx politics. Oh, wow. Yeah. And that's because he's just one of a handful of experts in these really Byzantine ballot access laws that govern New York elections and who gets to be on and stay on the ballot. But really, the Adams campaign's decision to hire him is interesting for another reason. Okay. What's that? Well, you know, his attorney, Vito Pitta, said they picked Schlein because of his, quote, extensive experience in ballot access issues. And that experience includes being sued for fraud related to petitions he was overseeing for the

Bronx Democrats. That lawsuit accused him of being, quote, the lynchpin in a scheme to control the Bronx Democratic Committee, which is the local Democratic organization in the Bronx. And, you know, they control who gets the party's support when running for offices. It's really hard to be a Democrat and a Democratic incumbent in the Bronx. And once you have that Democratic line, it's very rare that those candidates lose. So if you control the county committee in the nominating process, you effectively control who is elected from the Bronx. Oh, wow, Bridget. So are there any similarities between the allegations in that 2016 lawsuit and what found in your reporting? Yeah, and that's what really made things interesting for us. In that lawsuit,

they also allege the use of forged signatures on petitions. They talk about the names of people who were dead or had moved out of the Bronx that still appear in the voter rolls, but that become part of the scheme. They were used as names of candidates for county committee. I talked to Michael Blake, a former assembly member from the Bronx. Recently, you might remember, a mayoral candidate in the Democratic primary. He has tangled with Schlein many times before. including being physically barred from the Bronx Democratic County Committee headquarters when he hired a different attorney to handle his petitions. He was not impressed with the Adams campaign's decision to hire Schlein,

given his reputation as someone who really flexes his knowledge on the law to control ballot access. It's the absolute epitome of why people hate politics because they feel like things are happening in back rooms. the actual backroom happened against us to that degree. It's hard to build trust when you're not letting people in the room. Now, Jene, we have to note this lawsuit was dismissed, but that was in part because the attorney suing Schlein basically just stopped responding to the court. Schlein has denied wrongdoing.

He called the lawsuit an attempt to smear his reputation. I confirmed with him he was doing this independent review for the Adams campaign, but when I followed up with questions about this lawsuit, he stopped responding to me. Wow. Okay. So, Bridget, this is all happening as there are serious questions about Mayor Adams' future in the mayor race. We see his poll numbers are in the tank, to be blunt. And reports were swirling just last week that he might drop his reelection bid for a job with the Trump administration.

So why should we care about all of this? Well, First, Jena, he's still in the first. race because whatever is happening in those other backrooms, no job offer or deal has been announced publicly. And second, you know, this tells us something deeper about how politics works in New York City. This type of signature fraud is not the kind of stuff that tends to get much attention unless a candidate ultimately gets removed from the ballot. And really, the window has closed for that. But it still tells us about this corner of our democracy where consultants and lawyers, the board of elections and sometimes judges are making

decisions about who can stay on the ballot and run for office. And that has real implications for our local democracy, whose voices are being heard. And when major policy decisions, who's at that table? So Schline is supposed to submit a report to the campaign about these petitions. When is that supposed to happen? Well, neither the Adams campaign nor Schline could give me any sense of the timeline. And of course, to your point, Jena, that assumes he stays in the race. And that still seems to be a bit of an unsettled question. All right. That's WNYC's Bridget Bergen. Thanks a lot, Bridget. Thanks, Janay. And thank you for listening to NYC now from WMYC. I'm Jene Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.