THE CITY first published this story in January 2022, but the information and dates have since been updated for the 2024 community board application season. Community boards in New York City weigh in on liquor licenses, budget items and local development rules. Chances are, they’ve hosted a heated debate in your neighborhood over future housing, or roadway changes. But what is a community board, really? And how do its members get a say in all those hyperlocal issues, from street cleaning to rezonings? Now’s the time to learn — because boards across the boroughs are choosing new members ve ..read more

A donor to Eric Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign told THE CITY that their boss reimbursed them for a contribution recorded at an event that is at the center of the federal probe into whether the campaign conspired with the Turkish government to accept unlawful foreign donations.  Such a reimbursement would constitute an illegal “straw donation,” enabling the true source of the funding to remain unknown in an effort to evade campaign finance laws that set limits on who can give and how much they can donate.  The Adams campaign reported that it received the individual’s contribution at a ..read more

Rep. George Santos has “embellished” his resume, allegedly filed false campaign finance reports and improperly used campaign funds for OnlyFans and Botox.  But one thing he won’t be doing is running next year to keep his seat in New York’s third congressional district — where 16 candidates have already filed to run for the swing-district vacancy as Democrats are looking to flip an estimated five seats in New York to regain a House majority. “This election and this race is one of the best Democratic pickup opportunities in the country,” said Democratic strategist Trip Yang, who calle ..read more

Bradley Tusk joins host Harry Siegel to discuss his new novel, Obvious in Hindsight, about a company working to legalize flying cards and — sound familiar? — a mayor of New York City in the crosshairs of the FBI. If you like what you’re hearing, please spread the word, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever podcasts are found. THE CITY is a nonprofit newsroom that serves the people of New York. Sign up for our SCOOP newsletter and get exclusive stories, helpful tips, a guide to low-cost events, and everything you need to know to be a well-infor ..read more

In March 2021, a 33-year-old tech worker from Flushing, Queens, joined Eric Adams’ mayoral campaign as a volunteer, working regularly with an effusive and understatedly powerful member of Adams’s inner circle named Winnie Greco.  Shortly after Adams got to City Hall, Greco, by then on the city payroll as the mayor’s $100,000-a-year director of Asian affairs, promised the tech worker a job in the administration on the condition that he volunteer once more, he recently told THE CITY — this time on a kitchen renovation in her Bronx home.  After two months of shuttling a pair of local c ..read more

Early speculation over who might challenge Mayor Eric Adams in a 2025 primary has reached a crescendo in recent weeks as the mayor faces questions about an FBI probe into his campaign funding as the city is in the midst of the migrant crisis. Adding to the chatter is the annual post-Election Day Somos conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where thousands of politicians and other officials meet for panels and parties.  For the first time since becoming mayor, Adams skipped this year’s event, citing the city’s budget woes. But he was still the topic of conversation, according to dispatches ..read more

THE CITY is a nonprofit newsroom that serves the people of New York. Sign up for our SCOOP newsletter and get exclusive stories, helpful tips, a guide to low-cost events, and everything you need to know to be a well-informed New Yorker. Councilmember Marjorie Velázquez’s last-minute decision, under pressure from City Hall, to support a rezoning plan in her district explains how she ended up losing her seat, receiving just 47% of the vote in a district where 61% of voters are registered Democrats.  Her reversal from opposition to support of a proposed 349-apartment Throggs Neck housing dev ..read more

THE CITY is a nonprofit newsroom that serves the people of New York. Sign up for our SCOOP newsletter and get exclusive stories, helpful tips, a guide to low-cost events, and everything you need to know to be a well-informed New Yorker. Shahid and Yahya Mushtaq, two brothers who run a construction company in Queens, each pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a misdemeanor conspiracy charge stemming from a straw donor scheme that generated illicit public matching funds for Eric Adams’ successful 2021 mayoral campaign.  Manhattan District Attorney spokesperson Douglas Cohen confirmed that the plea ..read more

THE CITY is a nonprofit newsroom that serves the people of New York. Sign up for our SCOOP newsletter and get exclusive stories, helpful tips, a guide to low-cost events, and everything you need to know to be a well-informed New Yorker. Mahmoud Kasem, 36, owner of Al Aqsa, a Palestinian restaurant in Bay Ridge, said he was trying his best to go through the motions, coming into the restaurant from his home in Bayside, Queens and chatting up customers.  “But inside it’s boiling, it’s like a volcano,” he said, speaking outside the restaurant on a Thursday afternoon.  Kasem’s mother, wh ..read more

THE CITY is a nonprofit newsroom that serves the people of New York. Sign up for our SCOOP newsletter and get exclusive stories, helpful tips, a guide to low-cost events, and everything you need to know to be a well-informed New Yorker. On the morning of Oct. 7 in Jerusalem, Steven Galitzer was preparing to go to synagogue with his family when they were surprised by the sounds of sirens. As observant Jews, they avoided the use of technology until the following day, but in cafés across the city they began to learn the news: Hamas carried out the deadliest attack on Israeli soil in decades with ..read more