{"blocks":[{"id":"kyy5b9hz-4p10rdzs","type":"linkTool","data":{"link":"https://nypost.com/2026/07/04/us-news/68-of-nyc-residents-are-proud-to-be-american-new-poll-finds/","meta":{"title":"68% of NYC residents are proud to be American, new poll finds","description":"","image":{"url":"https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/crop-39889231.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=171&h=114&crop=1"}},"variant":"compact"}},{"id":"3lzly0cy-ui9sr12r","type":"linkTool","data":{"link":"https://nypost.com/2026/07/04/lifestyle/new-york-one-of-the-least-patriotic-states-study/","meta":{"title":"Most patriotic states listed in honor of Independence Day — New York did not fare well","description":"","image":{"url":"https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/133283347.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=171&h=114&crop=1"}},"variant":"compact"}},{"id":"ivd6wkwm-ygml707s","type":"linkTool","data":{"link":"https://nypost.com/2026/07/04/us-news/likely-gop-ny-congressman-gifted-trump-statue-of-his-attempted-assassination/","meta":{"title":"NY congressional GOP hopeful gifts Trump $250K bronze statue depicting prez after attempted assassination","description":"","image":{"url":"https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/anthony-constantino-delivers-victory-speech-133032355.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=171&h=114&crop=1"}},"variant":"compact"}},{"type":"header","data":{"text":"GAS MADNESS ","level":2}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"James E. Hanley"}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Banning natural-gas hookups in new buildings requires the use of heat pumps."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"But heat pumps are not sufficient to keep homes warm in the colder parts of the state, they also add to the demand for electricity — because, unlike natural-gas furnaces, it takes electricity to run heat pumps. "}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"But the supply of electricity in New York is not expected to keep up with growing demand over the next two decades, and the state plans to replace reliable natural-gas power plants with unreliable wind and solar."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Add that up and it means more strain on the electrical system and an increase in the risk of blackouts and loss of heat in the depths of winter. "}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"To avoid catastrophe, the state may be forced to keep natural-gas power plants operating — but that means an increase in heat pumps will cause a small increase in greenhouse-gas emissions because it’s less efficient to burn natural gas to create electricity than it is to burn it directly in the home for heat."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"The long-term goal is to eliminate all natural gas use in the state, whether for home use or for generating electricity. "}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"How much this will cost New Yorkers remains unexamined, but it’s such a minuscule portion of global greenhouse gas emissions that it will have no measurable effect on climate change."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"How much New Yorkers are willing to pay for policies that are primarily symbolic remains to be seen. "}},{"type":"image","data":{"file":{"url":"https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/NYPICHPDPICT000009618944-6.jpg?w=1024"},"caption":"\n Lawmakers added $2 billion in spending to the governor’s proposal, as spending is 30% higher than it was before COVID. AP"}},{"type":"header","data":{"text":"CHARTER BETRAYAL ","level":2}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"By Eva Moskowitz"}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Despite ever-growing demand for charter schools, state law arbitrarily limits their number."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Albany has now seen fit to allow a measly 14 additional charters to open in New York City, but not in any school district where more than 55% of the children already attend charters. "}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Charter enrollment has reached this level in only one area: Harlem."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Thus, for all practical purposes, we might call Albany’s legislation the “no more Harlems” bill. "}},{"id":"6k9jtu54-nx1732w0","type":"linkTool","data":{"link":"https://nypost.com/2023/04/27/lawmakers-agree-to-open-14-new-charter-schools-in-nyc/","meta":{"title":"State pols reach deal with Gov. Kathy Hochul to open 14 new charter schools in NYC","description":"","image":{"url":"https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/charter-schools-deal-comp.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&1682607937&w=171&h=114&crop=1"}},"variant":"compact"}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"What is happening in Harlem that is so horrifying that Albany wants to prevent it from ever happening again?"}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Student achievement is increasing dramatically, an idea that strikes terror in the hearts of charter school opponents such as the teachers unions, who have long argued that charters just cherry-pick the best students and harm district schools in the process."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Harlem disproves both of these claims. "}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"In 2006, the year I opened up the first Success Academy Charter School, only 6% of Harlem’s public school students attended charter schools, and student achievement lagged far behind state averages: by 25 points in math and 22 points in reading."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Now charter-school enrollment has grown to 59% and, as a result, the achievement gap in Harlem has virtually disappeared."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"It is just 2 points in reading and 3 points in math. "}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"This improvement was primarily driven by Harlem’s charter schools, which beat the statewide averages by 10 points in math and 9 points in reading."}},{"type":"image","data":{"file":{"url":"https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/NYPICHPDPICT000006836923-1.jpg?w=1024"},"caption":"\n Albany has now allowed an additional 14 charters to open in New York City. Stephen Yang"}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"However, even at Harlem’s district schools — which supposedly should be worse because charters cherry-picked all the best students — student performance increased relative to statewide average by three points in math and six points in reading. "}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"These results raise an awkward question for Albany: If the proliferation of charter schools can have such a dramatic positive impact on academic achievement in a community such as Harlem, why does Albany insist on limiting the number of charter schools that can open?"}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Here’s a hint: It has nothing to do with student achievement and everything to do with campaign contributions. "}},{"type":"header","data":{"text":"TAX HIKES, DEAD ENDS ","level":2}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"By Nicole Gelinas"}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Gov. Hochul’s $229 billion budget deal with the Legislature is a mess."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Somehow, lawmakers added $2 billion in spending to the governor’s proposal, meaning spending is 30% higher than it was before COVID. "}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"A lot went wrong — but one of the biggest failures is that Hochul is waving through a billion-dollar-plus tax hike on New York City jobs. "}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"The tax hike is Albany’s supposed rescue for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which faces a $2 billion deficit next year. "}},{"id":"gtaccswp-c5vwkvu7","type":"linkTool","data":{"link":"https://nypost.com/2023/04/28/some-new-yorkers-say-future-gas-stove-ban-in-new-buildings-is-not-so-hot-an-idea/","meta":{"title":"New York on cusp of being first state in nation to ban natural gas under new budget — and residents are furious","description":"","image":{"url":"https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/no-gas-x.gif?w=171&h=114&crop=1"}},"variant":"compact"}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"In February, Hochul proposed to increase a 14-year-old tax levied on downstate employers’ payrolls, from 0.34% of payrolls to 0.5%, raising an extra $800 million a year. "}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Predictably, suburban lawmakers balked at this hike, and for good reason: Employers on Long Island and in the Hudson Valley don’t get the same value, in everyday service, from transit that city employers do. "}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"So lawmakers solved this problem by nixing the tax hike on suburban employers. "}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Good — but bad. The state will grab the money from city employers instead — and then some. "}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Instead of facing a 47% tax hike, from 0.34% of payrolls to 0.5%, city employers get a near-doubling of the tax, to 0.6%. "}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"And oh, the tax will raise more money, a $1.1 billion increase instead of $800 million. "}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"The state will drain more than a billion dollars from New York City employers just at the time employers are wondering: Do I really need the hassle of being in the city? "}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"White-collar employers have never been more mobile."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Their employees refuse to come to work five days a week, meaning firms are getting less value for the exorbitant real-estate prices they pay here (and less value, too, from the MTA). "}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"The quality of life for Manhattan commuters has deteriorated."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Big banks and tech firms are laying off thousands. "}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"And now the state is saying: Even when we have a budget surplus, even when the economy is not (yet) in recession and even when we are still flush with federal relief funds, our first solution to a fiscal challenge is a tax on jobs. "}},{"type":"header","data":{"text":"WHAT’S LEFT OUT ","level":2}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"By Ed Cox"}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"What’s worse than “three men in a room?”"}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Three Democrats in a room, two of whom have supermajorities, rendering the third, Gov. Hochul, weaker than she already is. "}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Needed: full debate of the proposed budget in the committees and on the floors of the Legislature. "}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"New York is the only state with major deposits of frackable shale not producing natural gas."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Needed: under a solid regulatory regime, full production of natural gas in New York State. "}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Illegal pot shops, now 1,400 and growing, all dealing in cash and subject to dangerous unreported robberies."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"

"}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Needed: a workable law thoroughly vetted by the Legislature and the public. "}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Unsafe streets are killing our major cities, and New York City is no exception."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Needed: major commonsense changes in the “raise the age,” discovery processes and bail provisions of New York’s criminal laws. "}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Oppressive taxes and regulations and a budget twice the size of Florida’s despite 2 million fewer residents have continued to drive citizens away, with the result that last year, the tide of New Yorkers leaving continued to rise to more than 200,000."}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Needed: tax cuts and regulatory reforms. "}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":""}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Needed generally: more jobs, safe streets and better schools. "}},{"type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"That’s the way to save our state — and the governor’s budget delivers none of it. "}}]}

James E. Hanley

NypJamesEHanley@RoundtableIO

Post experts give their unvarnished view on Hochul’s $229 billion boondoggle