With Albany’s grand spring ritual again running fashionably late, New York lawmakers are wrangling over a more-than-$260-billion budget—larger than most nations’—and weighing everything from pensions and child care to the fate of climate policy. Opa…
As New York wrangles over its state budget, we note that the tried-and-tested J-51 tax incentive for housing repairs risks being overlooked in the din about flashy new projects and climate tweaks. Given half the city’s rentals pre-date 1960 and expenses outpace rents nearly threefold, skipping vital upgrades means letting buildings—and perhaps old policy wisdom—crumble together, which is one way to trim the skyline.
Shovels will finally bite Brooklyn soil this autumn as the $1 billion Northeast Supply Enhancement pipeline begins, connecting Pennsylvania gas to over 2 million tri-state homes—this after years of New York vetoes and shifting federal winds. Backers tout jobs, lower bills and a timely charge for AI’s hunger; green groups brace for heartburn, but apparently, at least someone’s energy isn’t running out.
Former Bronx Assemblyman Michael Blake is again challenging Rep. Ritchie Torres, as federal funding cuts and persistent neglect threaten to deepen woes for New York City's 500,000 NYCHA residents. Despite Torres’s past successes at prying loose some funds, chronic underinvestment means tenants still endure broken lifts, peeling paint, and long repair waits—a campaign season reminder that, sadly, hope does not fix a leaky roof.
In New York, 34,000 building workers represented by 32BJ SEIU have voted to authorize a strike when their contract expires Tuesday, potentially leaving 1.5 million residents of some 3,500 buildings to fetch their own parcels and polish their own brass. With Mayor Zohran Mamdani lending rhetorical muscle to the union cause, owners and staff might soon recall the lost art of self-service—at Manhattan prices.
Natural Allies for a Clean Energy Future, a national gas-industry group decked out with former politicians like Ruben Diaz Jr. and Robert Duffy, is pressing Governor Hochul’s administration for a timeout on New York’s ambitious climate law. Budget talks now groan under the weight of energy grid targets, with gas backers arguing for “common sense”—which, in politics as in physics, rarely travels in straight lines.
After 32BJ’s 34,000 doormen, porters, and maintenance workers from New York City’s co-ops and condos authorized a strike if contract talks collapse Monday, building owners’ group Realty Advisory Board found itself under pressure to defend rising costs without raising rates. Union leaders, citing rent, groceries, and health coverage, are demanding more; for now, residents may want contingency plans—and perhaps a hands-on lesson in garbage day etiquette.
Forty-five days into the U.S.-Iran standoff, energy market jitters have eased just enough for gasoline prices to slip below their recent $4-a-gallon highs—though not close to their pre-conflict comfort zone, as the Energy Information Administration expects prices above $3 well into 2027. The price of crude remains at the mercy of Middle Eastern tensions, ensuring drivers may keep clutching their wallets—rather than their steering wheels—for a while yet.
Doormen across New York City—some 30,000 under the 32BJ SEIU union—are poised to vote on a strike after pay talks with building owners have stalled, threatening the first such walkout since 1991. Negotiators have until Monday to avoid a scenario in which tenants, deprived of expert parcel-wranglers, might be forced to fend for themselves in the urban jungle.
