MAYOR ADAMS, DOT COMMISSIONER RODRIGUEZ, AND LYFT ANNOUNCE FREE CITI BIKE MEMBERSHIPS FOR HOSPITAL WORKERS

 

Citi commits to fund free two-month memberships for hospital employees on the front lines of the battle against COVID and the Omicron variant

 New York City Mayor Eric Adams, Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez, and Lyft today announced that Citi is committing funding to restart the Citi Bike Medical Workers Program, making free 60-day memberships available to hospital workers as they continue the fight against COVID-19 and the Omicron variant. Public and private hospital employees, including custodial workers and other support staff, will be eligible to sign up for the program through their place of employment until February 7, 2022.

“Our healthcare heroes are fighting for New Yorkers every day, and this is one way that we can say thank you,” said Mayor Eric Adams. “I know firsthand that riding a bike is good for physical and mental health, and I would encourage all the hard-working healthcare workers to take advantage if they can, keeping us rolling toward a real recovery for our city. Thank you to Citi and Lyft for providing this important opportunity.”

 

“We must work together as one city to support our frontline healthcare workers as they once again pull us through the pandemic. Today, New York City, Lyft, and Citi demonstrate just how this is done. Our City’s frontline healthcare workers get a free 60-day Citi membership to New York City’s bikeshare system. Thanks to this donation our critical care workers get no-cost access to critical mobility as they continue to tirelessly work to keep us all healthy and strong,” said Meera Joshi, Deputy Mayor for Operations.

 

As New York City and cities across the country respond to the rapidly evolving COVID-19 virus, while working to offer transportation options for essential workers, bikeshare systems continue to operate across the country. Meanwhile, the Citi Bike program has continued to set ridership records throughout the pandemic and in 2021, making it the 25^th most ridden transit network in the United States, ahead of San Antonio and just behind the New Jersey PATH Train.

 

More than 33,000 first-responder, healthcare, and transit workers joined a previous version of this program when the pandemic first began in 2020, taking over 1.25 million rides in total. The bikeshare station at 68^th Street and 1^st Avenue – located near the Hospital for Special Surgery, New York-Presbyterian, Weill Cornell Medicine, and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center – rose from the 59^th most used station in the year before the pandemic to the single most used station in the Citi Bike system in 2020. Similarly, the bikeshare station at 33^rd Street and 1^st Avenue – also located near NYU Langone, Bellevue, and the VA New York Harbor Hospital – rose from the 58^th most-used station to 10^th. Given this increased demand, Lyft and the NYC DOT coordinated to add Citi Bike stations outside of Harlem Hospital and Lincoln Hospital. 

 

“Cycling has played a critical role in keeping New York City moving during the pandemic,” said Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez. “We thank Lyft and Citi for the Citi Bike Medical Workers Program, which will provide an equitable, safe, and enjoyable way to commute for our most essential workers on the frontlines fighting to keep us healthy and safe.”

 

Critical Workforce Membership Program Details:

• Frontline medical professionals and support staff at select health/hospital systems in New York and New Jersey, who are not current bikeshare members, are eligible – including lapsed members and customers who have previously purchased a single ride or day pass or have previously participated in a free trial.
• The free 60-day membership includes the same benefits as annual memberships: unlimited 45-minute rides on classic bicycles and discounted per minute fees if you choose to ride an e-bike. Extra time fees, e-bike fees, and lost bike fees are not included.
• Eligible employers will have a specific link and offer code to provide employees.

 

“At Citi, we are extremely grateful for our hospital workers, who time and again throughout this global pandemic have relentlessly cared for New Yorkers and put themselves in harm’s way in doing so,” said Ed Skyler, Citi’s Head of Public Affairs. “Funding two-month memberships is one way for us to show our appreciation and help support our front-line healthcare heroes as cases rise once again.”

 

“Time and time again the Citi Bike system has proven to be an extremely resilient form of transit, whether it was providing critical rides during the first wave of the pandemic or breaking our daily ridership record the day after Hurricane Ida hit,” said Caroline Samponaro, Vice President of Micromobility and Transit Policy at Lyft. “Thanks to Citi, which has a history of supporting bikeshare in New York, we will be able to step up for our brave frontline healthcare workers, as they continue to take care of us during the latest wave of Covid cases caused by the omicron variant.”

 

Participating institutions include:

• Center for Urban Community Services
• Charles B. Wang Community Health Center, Inc.
• CityMD
• Columbia University Irving Medical Center
• Community Health Network
• Hospital for Special Surgery
• Interfaith Medical Center
• Memorial Sloan Kettering
• Montefiore
• Mount Sinai
• New York - Presbyterian
• Northwell Health
• NYC Health + Hospitals
• NYU Langone
• Planned Parenthood of Greater NY
• The Brooklyn Hospital Center
• Wyckoff Heights Medical Center
• Weill Cornell Medicine

Team AOC - It happened. I got COVID.

 

So it happened, 

I got COVID, probably omicron. As of today I am thankfully recovered and wrapping up quarantine, but COVID was no joke. For a while I’ve noted the term “mild” is misleading when the bar is hospitalization and death. Even “mild” cases can result in long COVID, which includes a range of conditions like cognitive impairment, postural-orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), and chronic fatigue.

This isn’t to be a downer or induce fear, just a reminder that we need to be careful — wear N95s in crowded indoor spaces like stores — and if you do get it, it’s key to care for yourself and REST. The idea of forcing people to work just five days after symptoms start is sociopathic and 100 percent informed by a culture that accepts sacrificing human lives for profit margins as a fair trade. The good news is that we have an antidote: community.

If you’ve noticed, much of the emphasis of media conversations on COVID are individualistic: wear a mask, get vaccinated to protect yourself, go back to work even with symptoms because you’re fine — and even if you’re not. And while some of these recommendations are good — like getting a vaccine and wearing masks where appropriate, the motivations for them shouldn’t just be selfish. It should also be because we actually give a damn about other people, like our disabled neighbors or our coworkers who haven’t said (and shouldn’t feel obligated to say) that they’re immunocompromised.

It’s truly bizarre to me that caring about other people is a polarizing political stance, but my dad used to say that life makes you repeat lessons until you learn them. And if there’s one lesson I think we as a country are repeating until we learn, it’s that community and collective good is our best shot through our greatest challenges — way more than discorded acts of “rugged individualism” and the bootstrap propaganda we’ve been spoon-fed since birth.

Individualism is inadequate for planetary forces like climate change or global pandemics, and even less for societal ones like healthcare, economic inequity and racism. But WE, as a collective, can confront them. In a world of MEs, let’s build team WE. 

Anyways that’s enough for today, stay healthy and blessed and let’s keep building.

Love & solidarity,

AOC

P.S. You can help ensure your health and safety, as well as that of others, by getting yourself tested frequently. You can order four free COVID rapid antigen tests per household to be delivered to your home from the USPS here (while supplies last).

Governor Hochul Announces Highlights of FY 2023 Budget

 

$31 Billion Plan Will Strengthen Teacher Workforce and Invest in Schools    

Provides Tax Relief for Small Businesses and the Middle Class  

Record Five-Year $32.8 Billion DOT Capital Plan Will Leverage Federal Funding to Support Major Infrastructure Projects Throughout the State 

$900 Million in Childcare Stabilization Grants Will Cover Operational Costs for 15,000 Childcare Providers Statewide  

$1 Billion to Fund Innovative Small Businesses and Tax Credit for COVID-Related Expenses  

Invests $1.5 Billion in SUNY and CUNY Over Next Five Years and Expands TAP Eligibility  

Includes $4 Billion for Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act and $500 Million for Offshore Wind    

Launches a New Five-Year, $25 Billion Comprehensive Housing Plan    

$224 Million to Fund Law Enforcement and Community-Based Gun Violence Initiatives  

FY 2023 Budget Book Available Here

 Governor Kathy Hochul today, with Division of the Budget Director Robert F. Mujica Jr., outlined her Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 Executive Budget. The FY 2023 Executive Budget maintains the Governor's commitment to passing a bold agenda that by rebuilds New York's healthcare and teacher workforces; provides tax relief to those who need it most; speeds up economic growth and creates good-paying middle-class jobs; strengthens the state's infrastructure and confronts climate change; secures public safety and protects communities; makes housing more affordable to ensure every New Yorker has a roof over their head; and enacts bold reforms to restore trust in State government.  

"We have the means to immediately respond to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as embrace this once-in-a-generation opportunity for the future with a historic level of funding that is both socially responsible and fiscally prudent," Governor Hochul said. "As I said in my State of the State speech: It's time for a better, fairer, and more inclusive version of the American Dream. I'm calling it the New York Dream. We will make that New York Dream real - and ensure that it can be realized by every single New Yorker."

"Governor Hochul's Executive Budget makes historic investments in critical areas while ensuring that we are equipped for future shocks," Budget Director Robert F. Mujica Jr. said, "Never again will the State find itself unprepared for the opportunities - or challenges - ahead. After years of unprecedented hardship, this Budget makes the State, from a financial perspective, as resilient as its spirit. It is the Budget that New Yorkers deserve and expect."  

A Balanced Budget 

Governor Hochul's FY 2023 budget proposal reflects New York's solid financial footing. As tax revenues rebound the budget is balanced for the entirety of the financial plan leading up to FY 2027, has no budget gaps, and holds spending growth in FY 2023 below inflation. 

Rebuilding the Health Care Workforce

To restore our depleted healthcare workforce and build the healthcare system of tomorrow, Governor Hochul will make a more-than-$10 billion, multi-year investment in healthcare, including more than $4 billion to support wages and bonuses for healthcare workers. Key components of this multi-year investment include:     

• $1.2 billion of state support for healthcare and mental hygiene worker retention bonuses, with up to $3,000 bonuses going to full-time workers who remain in their positions for one year, and pro-rated bonuses for those working fewer hours;   
• $500 million for Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLAs) to help raise wages for human services workers;   
• $2.4 billion for healthcare capital infrastructure and improved lab capacity; and   
• Other investments in workforce and healthcare access and delivery.   

With these investments, Governor Hochul proposes to rebuild and grow the healthcare workforce by 20 percent over the next five years with a program designed to strengthen home care, improve the career pipeline, expand access to healthcare training and education, and recruit healthcare and direct support professionals to care for people in underserved areas.    

Strengthening the Teacher Workforce

School Aid: The FY 2023 Executive Budget provides $31.3 billion in total School Aid for SY 2023, the highest level of State aid ever. This investment represents a year-to-year increase of $2.1 billion (7.1 percent) compared to School Year (SY) 2022, including a $1.6 billion Foundation Aid increase and a $466 million increase in all other School Aid programs.   

Foundation Aid: Foundation Aid is the State's main education operating aid formula. It is focused on allocating State funds equitably to all school districts, especially high-need districts, based on student need, community wealth, and regional cost differences. The Executive Budget provides a $1.6 billion (8.1 percent) increase in Foundation Aid, supporting the second year of the three-year phase-in of full funding of the current Foundation Aid formula and ensuring each school district receives a minimum year-to-year increase of 3 percent.  

The Executive Budget provides SUNY and CUNY with $106 million - $53 million each - to hire additional full-time faculty at both four-year colleges and community colleges. This investment will fund an estimated 880 additional full-time faculty - 340 at SUNY and 540 at CUNY, including support for CUNY's plan to convert adjuncts to full-time faculty. 

MAYOR ADAMS, COMMISSIONER CAMPION ANNOUNCE EXCLUSIVE COVID-19 TESTING SITES AVAILABLE TO CITY WORKERS THROUGH OFFICE OF LABOR RELATIONS WORKWELL NYC PROGRAM

 

 Today, New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Office of Labor Relations Commissioner Renee Campion announced that in addition to the citywide COVID-19 testing available for all New Yorkers, exclusive testing sites will be available to City workers through WorkWell NYC, the City’s wellness program for municipal employees. Testing sites will be available in all five boroughs and are appointment-only. Testing is at no cost.

“We know that testing is a critical tool in stopping the spread of COVID-19 and protecting all New Yorkers,” said Mayor Adams. “These new testing sites show that we are leading by example to create safe environments for all City employees.”

 

“Keeping our workforce safe is our top priority,” said Commissioner Campion. “We are thrilled to announce this initiative, which will provide additional testing for the convenience of our workers.”

 

Testing is available for employees who have been exposed to COVID-19 but do not have symptoms. Employees who have symptoms are encouraged to stay home and self-isolate. More information on testing site locations and appointments is available here.

Free PPE and Sanitizer Giveaway in Riverdale by District Leader Candidate Ramdat Singh

 

In front of Riverdale's famous Metate Restaurant located at 3515 Johnson Avenue Democratic candidate for the 81st Assembly District Male District Leader Ramdat Singh was joined by friends George Espinal 72nd Assembly District Male District Leader candidate, and 80th Assembly District Male State Committeeman Christian Amato to give out 150 boxes of K95 face masks (50 per box for 7,500 total masks), and 120 containers of hand sanitizer. 

While he gave out the face masks and hand sanitizer candidate Singh put one of his cards with his phone number, mailing address, email address, and webpage on the front. On the back was Teacher, Neighbor, and Activist. Mr. Singh is a teacher at the Riverdale Kingsbridge Academy, resident of Kingsbridge, and a Community Activist. 

Ramdat Singh candidate for 81st A.D. Male District Leader talks to a woman before giving her a box of K95 masks, and a bottle of hand sanitizer. George Espinal candidate for 72nd A.D. Male District Leader repacks the table.

People line up for free face masks and hand sanitizer.

The pile of face mask pile has gone down as has the bottles of hand sanitizer.

Governor Hochul Updates New Yorkers on State's Progress Combating COVID-19 - JANUARY 17, 2022

 

7-Day Average Positive Cases Declining in All Regions

Statewide COVID-19 Hospitalizations Net Declining Over Past Week

7-Day Average for New COVID-19 Hospital Admissions Down 10.7% Over Past Week

152 COVID-19 Deaths Statewide Yesterday

 

 Governor Kathy Hochul today updated New Yorkers on the state's progress combating COVID-19. 

"I'm proud of the work New Yorkers have been putting in to keep the numbers down and protect our vulnerable loved ones," Governor Hochul said. "While we are continuing to see promising trends, we are not through the winter surge yet and it is critical that we continue to use the tools that will help stop the spread. Our best weapon is the vaccine, so if you haven't, get your shot today and make sure you get your second dose and booster as well."

Today's data is summarized briefly below:  

• Test Results Reported - 204,126
• Total Positive - 26,772
• Percent Positive - 13.12%
• 7-Day Average Percent Positive - 15.68%
• Patient Hospitalization - 11,751 (+38)
• Patients Newly Admitted - 1,196 
• Patients in ICU - 1,602 (-11)
• Patients in ICU with Intubation - 900 (-10)
• otal Discharges - 255,748 (+1,070)
• New deaths reported by healthcare facilities through HERDS - 152
• Total deaths reported by healthcare facilities through HERDS - 50,836 

The Health Electronic Response Data System is a NYS DOH data source that collects confirmed daily death data as reported by hospitals, nursing homes and adult care facilities only.  

• Total deaths reported to and compiled by the CDC - 62,891

This daily COVID-19 provisional death certificate data reported by NYS DOH and NYC to the CDC includes those who died in any location, including hospitals, nursing homes, adult care facilities, at home, in hospice and other settings.  

• Total vaccine doses administered - 35,033,604
• Total vaccine doses administered over past 24 hours - 42,512
• Total vaccine doses administered over past 7 days - 593,556
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with at least one vaccine dose - 90.2%
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with completed vaccine series - 81.3%
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with at least one vaccine dose (CDC) - 95.0%
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with completed vaccine series (CDC) - 83.7%
• Percent of all New Yorkers with at least one vaccine dose - 79.4%
• Percent of all New Yorkers with completed vaccine series - 70.9%
• Percent of all New Yorkers with at least one vaccine dose (CDC) - 86.1%
• Percent of all New Yorkers with completed vaccine series (CDC) - 73.0%

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW - By Councilman Rev. Ruben Diaz District 18, Bronx County

 

“America’s Gonna Burn”

You should know that these were the words shouted out loud by Winston Glynn, an illegal alien accused of murdering 19-year-old Kristal Byron-Nieves during an armed robbery in a Burger King in New York City, according to news reports. As you may know, Kristal Byron-Nieves was working the late shift (1:00 A.M) at the Burger King in Manhattan, on Sunday January 9th, 2022, when Winston Glynn, allegedly came in to rob the place at gun point. Upon doing so he shot Ms. Nieves killing her ending her young life. You should also know that thanks to the great, intense hunt for her killer by the NYPD, in less than one week the perpetrator, was captured and identified as Winston Glynn.  He was immediately taken into custody and arrested.  As he was being taken out of the 25th Police Precinct in Manhattan he shouted “America Is gonna burn” among yelling other obscenities to the onlookers.  It is important for you to know that Winston Glynn is in this country illegally, an “undocumented” resident in this country.  But what makes this case much more tragic is that this young girl’s life could have been saved given that he has a past criminal record. According to news reports he has been previously charged with the following crimes:   1. In 2017 he was arrested and charged with Criminal mischief. 2. In 2018 he was arrested and charged with menacing. 3. In December 2020 – He was arrested for criminal possession of a weapon and was set free.8 4. In November 2021 – He was residing in a hotel and got into a violent dispute and threatened a person with a screwdriver.  He was given a ticket    for a desk appearance and with a simple slap on the wrist they let him go free. 5. And tragically now in January 2022 –He is arrested and charged with armed robbery and murder.     As you can see, my dear reader, we must ask ourselves why is it that an illegal alien, an individual who should not have been in this country to begin with, who has been arrested and continues to commit crimes is allowed to freely walk the streets of our city? How is it that this individual enters our country illegally, gets arrested several times and is not deported?  What is he doing in America to begin with?  This young woman didn’t have to lose her life so tragically, leaving a grieving mother and broken family. Why? What’s the sense? Can someone please help me make sense of this, why was he not deported!? Now with the new Manhattan District Attorney, Mr. Alvin Bragg, we can only expect crime in our city to get worse.  Mr. Bragg has made his intentions to downgrade crimes to misdemeanors, clearly thereby refusing to bring criminals to justice, including armed criminals.  As residents of this city, we must be vigilant to ensure that Mr. Bragg does not go soft on Winston Glynn and that Kristal Byron-Nieves, and her family get justice.    It is unacceptable, it’s a disgrace that we are allowing illegals to enter our country, break our laws, overwhelm our government programs and institutions, like schools, hospitals, housing, prisons, etc., while those Citizens of this nation must do with less or do without.  When this criminal shouts out so boldly “America is gonna burn” he shouts it out in our faces, he is not in the shadows.  Shame on us for allowing this outrage. What a disgrace!  I am afraid that Winston Glynn’s words that “America is gonna burn” are prophetic and will become a reality if we continue to allow our elected leaders to prevent the enforcement of our immigration laws, and tying the hands of our law enforcement officers, while forcing us to live with their open border policies that have allowed unvetted individuals like Winston Glynn to walk freely among us.   I am Former Senator and Former Councilman Rev. Ruben Diaz, and This Is What You Should Know.

LABOR BROKER CONVICTED OF INSURANCE FRAUD IN PROCURING WORKERS’ COMPENSATION INSURANCE

 

 Daniel G. Cort, Acting Commissioner of the New York City Department of Investigation (“DOI”), issued a statement on today’s guilty plea by CONSOLIDATED NY SERVICES, INC. (“CONSOLIDATED”), of Brooklyn, N.Y., a labor broker in the construction industry in New York City, to one count of Insurance Fraud in the Second Degree, a class C felony. CONSOLIDATED was convicted of falsifying an application for workers’ compensation insurance that was submitted to the New York State Insurance Fund (“NYSIF”), which has a mission of providing affordable workers’ compensation insurance to New York employers. As part of the negotiated plea, the company was promised a conditional discharge upon payment of $75,000 to NYSIF, the amount of the fraud. Sentencing was adjourned until January 17, 2023. The plea was entered before Judge Charlotte E. Davidson in New York County Supreme Court. DOI investigated the matter in partnership with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and NYSIF.

 DOI Acting Commissioner Daniel G. Cort said, “Labor brokers who defraud the workers’ compensation fund not only undermine the finances of the fund but place injured workers’ financial security at risk. Construction workers at City construction sites must be covered by workers’ compensation insurance. DOI will continue to work with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the New York State Insurance Fund to expose insurance scams and protect these essential worker protection funds.”

 According to the criminal complaint and the investigation, the defendant company is a labor broker supplying labor to various construction companies in New York City, and was required to obtain workers’ compensation insurance. From approximately April 6, 2016, to March 9, 2018, CONSOLIDATED submitted to NYSIF an application for workers’ compensation insurance that contained materially false information about its annual payroll and the type of work its workers performed, which NYSIF used to calculate CONSOLIDATED’s insurance premiums. Specifically, in its application, CONSOLIDATED claimed that it was in the commercial cleaning business with a total annual payroll of less than $30,000. In fact, CONSOLIDATED worked in the construction industry, and its total annual payroll far exceeded $30,000. The false information provided by CONSOLIDATED allowed the company to receive insurance coverage through NYSIF at a lower price that did not accurately reflect the company’s business nor its annual payroll. Additionally, CONSOLIDATED failed to submit its books and records for review as requested by NYSIF's auditors.

 This investigation was an outgrowth of another insurance fraud investigation, in which defendants are charged with scheming to evade more than $1 million in insurance premiums. That case is pending in court. Read more about it here: https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/doi/press-releases/2019/sep/2019-09-05-SouthsideRelease.pdf