“This is not a problem which is unique to Cy Vance.”
Vance Donation Dustup Reflects Loose Rules on DA Contributions
“The Manhattan D.A.’s fundraising has come under close scrutiny in the past two weeks, after news reports showed he’d accepted donations from the law firms and attorneys representing Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump, Jr., in a fraud investigation that Vance ultimately decided to drop. And he took in donations from attorneys representing Harvey Weinstein, the disgraced Hollywood mogul whom Vance’s office declined to prosecute back in 2015 after a young woman alleged Weinstein had sexually assaulted her. Beneath the recent headlines, the donations highlight a fundraising peculiarity enjoyed by state prosecutors: New York’s 62 District Attorneys, unlike some other state officials with prosecutorial power, are not prohibited from receiving money from people they’re actively investigating.
New Transit Trouble: The MetroCard Machines
“For the second time in a week, city commuters were left frustrated by MetroCard vending machines. Due to a glitch that lasted about ten hours Saturday, the machines would not accept debit or credit card purchases, affecting anyone who wanted to take the bus, subway, or PATH system. The system-wide issue was resolved just after 10 p.m., but not before it forced commuters to dig deep into their wallets.”
Opposition Emerges to Amazon Welcome Mat
“A cadre of progressive community organizations says it will fire off a letter to Mayor de Blasio on Monday and hold a rally to show the group’s disappointment that the city is ‘rolling out the red carpet for Amazon.’ The coalition cites the company’s treatment of workers and job sites as reasons the city and state should not offer it tax breaks.”
Nobel Prize Winning Idea Becomes Part of NYC’s Anti-Gun Strategy
“The city hopes to curb shootings in the five boroughs by harnessing a newly Nobel Prize-winning tool: ‘Nudges.’ Officials tapped ideas42, a Financial District-based firm, to launch a high-visibility’ campaign aiming to discourage would-be shooters from carrying guns. The firm tries to develop projects for governments that improve human behavior using ideas pioneered by Richard Thaler, who won the Nobel Prize in economics on Oct. 9.”
Audit Reveals Helter Skelter Homeless Shelter Payments
“Under pressure to shelter close to 58,000 homeless people on a daily basis, New York City has been paying widely varying rates to shelter providers and, until recently, had no set procedure for determining how much to pay, according to a new audit. The state comptroller’s office could not determine whether the city is paying reasonable rates for nearly 750 shelters that have cost the city more than $1.1 billion annually, according to the audit, which looked at a sampling of contracts over a four-year period.”
