Aging hipster former Mayor Bill de Blasio recently gallivanted down to Colombia with his terminally online new girlfriend and an alleged Chinese Community Party-linked lefty group to denounce American imperialism, The Post has learned.
Valenzuela documented the trip on her Instagram. instagram/roxanna_valenzuela_
The under-the-radar trip in January saw de Blasio join an “emergency” conference — Nuestra América — to defend democracy and peace in the Americas after the controversial US capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro that month.
The ex-Hizzoner’s far-left trek drew disbelief and derision from many New York City political insiders, particularly because de Blasio jetted off along with Code Pink — an anti-war group bedeviled by accusations of ties to Beijing, sources said.
A DSA longshot for a New York City congressional seat annually accepts as much as $20,000 from a Texas casino despite voting to foil a union-backed gaming project in her own borough, The Post has learned.
Zohran Mamdani-backed Assemblymember Claire Valdez rakes in between $5,000 and $20,000 each year as a member of the tribal nation Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo, which gets 60% of its revenue from the Speaking Rock Entertainment Center casino in El Paso, according to disclosures.
Mamdani-backed congressional candidate Claire Valdez ta Hans Pennink
But Valdez, who has a notably thin political resume, sided with her socialist comrades in voting against a casino opening near Citi Field.
She was one of just two Queens lawmakers to vote against the proposed gaming complex – coined “Metropolitan Park” — which developers say would generate roughly 23,000 union jobs and over $1 billion in community benefits.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani has hired a fellow comrade from a lefty think tank for the city's budget office — inserting the true believer into the historically non-partisan office of "bean counters" with a newly minted role to push the young lawmaker's socialist ideals, The Post has learned.
Nathan Gusdorf joined the administration earlier this month after spending four years as the executive director of the Fiscal Policy Institute, a pro-union research group that has repeatedly pushed for increased taxes, downplaying the slow growth of wealthy New Yorkers, and ramping up social services in the state.
Mamdani has created the position for the DSA-adjacent official. Stephen Yang for NY Post
The DSA adjacent official — who has publicly backed Hizzoner's slate of socialist freebies — is now serving as the Office of Budget and Management's deputy director for policy planning.
The gig, which has not existed under prior admins, per sources, is tasked with "building a division that can provide strategic policy advice across a wide range of tax and budget issues, including revenue measures, government efficiency, capacity building, and program delivery," Gusdorf wrote on LinkedIn.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani has succeeded in at least one thing during his fresh-faced administration — infuriating everyone, including his typically ride-or-die lefty buds, over his bald-faced lie that the City Council’s budget plan cuts services.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani managed to miff even his allies on the City Council with his response to their proposal budget. ZUMAPRESS.com
Peeved City Council members roundly ripped Mamdani after he used one of his slick social-media videos Wednesday to call out Speaker Julie Menin by name and wrongly portray her budget proposal — an alternative to his doomsday version — as slashing billions of dollars from city agencies.
“This is deeply misleading and potentially harmful! I thought these four years were going to be different,” Councilman Kevin Riley (D-Bronx) — an obviously disappointed Mamdani backer — posted on X.
ALBANY – State assembly members are set to personally enjoy a million-dollar renovation for their lounge space just off the chamber floor -- even as they push to hike taxes on businesses while driving up spending, The Post has learned.
The Office of General Services, a division of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration which handles much of the capitol complex, is moving forward with plans to renovate the space with the price tag potentially exceeding $1 million, according to bidding documents reviewed by The Post.
The assembly is living large in luxury. AP
The move comes as the same pols who exclusively get to recline on the couches in the antechamber and chomp down on treats prepared in the lounge’s kitchenette demand Hochul hike taxes on businesses amid next year's proposed $263 billion state budget.
“Albany Democrats always find money for themselves while asking New Yorkers to pay more. They are completely out of touch,” upstate Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY), a former assemblywoman, told The Post.
Ex-Assemblyman Andy Goodell (R-Chautaqua) added, “The assembly members should work harder rather than ‘lounge’ around."
Lawmakers ran for the hills Wednesday for Passover break after failing to come to an agreement with Hochul on her proposed $263 billion state budget proposal.
Despite being on a scheduled two-week recess, lawmakers will likely have to gather to vote Tuesday on another stopgap spending bill to keep state workers paid.
At least some will likely skip the tally in person, Goodell said.
“Rather than upgrade the assembly lounge, the assembly should eliminate empty seat voting and require its members to actually attend legislative floor debates and vote in person,” he said.
The renovations are planned to be finished by Dec. 11, allowing construction to take place during the roughly seven months state lawmakers spend away from Albany from June through December to hit the campaign trail.
A rep for Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) did not return a Post request for comment.
The state Assembly included a number of new tax hikes on high-income residents and corporations in its largely symbolic one-house budget proposal last month, as it has in recent years, though the effort to raise some sort of levies has renewed vigor this years now that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is pushing the cause in Albany.
ALBANY –Gov. Kathy Hochul is quietly negotiating a possible deal with one of New York’s top labor leaders to allow public workers from teachers to nurses hired after 2014 to retire at 55, sources said.
The age is currently 62 for those hired in the past 14 years.
The potential fat pork deal pact would involve more than a billion dollars in sweetening pensions for the unionized public employees.
Legislative leaders are being kept in the wings of the talks – which could be wed into the state budget package and lead to taxpayers footing billions – with Hochul dealing directly with New York AFL-CIO President Mario Cilento on behalf of New York’s heavyweight teacher, healthcare and other public sector unions, whose members top 2.5 million.
The unions are pushing a proposal that would include lowering the retirement age from 62 to 55 for employees hired since 2012 known as Tier 6, Newsday first reported Wednesday. Those hired before 2014 can currently retire at 55.
The proposal would also lower employees' contribution rate from 4.5% to 3.5%, according to details shared with The Post from a source familiar with the situation.
If she goes along with it, Hochul’s handout to the unions could cost taxpayers $1.5 billion, split between additional costs handed down to school districts and local governments including New York City, which could be left with $328 million in additional costs.
The unions cry that the pension boosts are necessary to boost "recruitment and retention.”
"There was a time when public service meant stability and a real path to the middle class. That's not what people see anymore. If we want to recruit and keep great public workers, we have to fix Tier 6.” New York State United Teachers President Melinda Person posted on X on Wednesday.
A major environmental activist group is launching a letter-writing campaign to sink Gov. Kathy Hochul's plan that would delay compliance with the state's costly Climate Change law.
The New York State Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act of 2019 aims to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions over time and transition to clean energy. But Hochul, who was lieutenant governor when the law was approved, said the green mandates could cause already high gas prices to explode by 2030.
"There are indications that Gov. Hochul is considering making changes to the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act that would weaken the law and make families more vulnerable to the rising cost of fossil fuels," the New York League of Conservation Voters said in an e-mail blitz to members.
A protest against Gov. Kathy Hochul's planned changes to parts of the state's Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act outside of her Manhattan office on March 30, 2026. ZUMAPRESS.com
"We know the truth: clean energy is the path to affordability for New Yorkers, and now is not the time to step backward on our future. New York State should be focused on implementing Cap and Invest to fund the CLCPA and protect consumers from the real cause of growing energy costs for New Yorkers – rising fossil fuel prices."
LCV said fossil fuels are "tethered to foreign interests and international disruptions."
"Tell the governor, hands off the CLCPA!," the enviro-group said.
"We can't wait any longer - it's been 7 years - we need Cap and Invest regulations in 2027."
The New York League of Conservation Voters has launched a letter-writing campaign that aims to stop Hochul from making changes that would "weaken the law." ZUMAPRESS.com
The “cap and invest” program aims to reduce carbon emissions by forcing oil companies to pay for greenhouse gases, a cost the industry giants will try to pass onto consumers.
Hochul argued that gas prices at the pump and in utility bills could jump 40% by 2030 because clean energy sources like hydropower, solar and wind won't be in place by then to replace energy from fossil fuels, such as natural gas and oil.
“We cannot meet the Climate Act’s 2030 targets without imposing new and additional crushing costs on New York businesses and residents,” Hochul said of the law’s requirement that New York reduce emissions by 40% by 2030.
ALBANY – Lefty pro “tax the rich” lawmakers in Albany were feeling pretty poor Wednesday after the New York City Council released an alternative to Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s budget — and it doesn’t rely on a tax increase.
The liberal pols -- who already blew their own April 1 budget deadline -- have been committed to filling the $5 billion gap in Mamdani's spending plan with some sort of tax increase, most likely corporate taxes, The Post reported earlier this week.
But Mamdani and his cronies were dealt a blow Wednesday by Big Apple City Council Speaker Julie Menin, whose camp laid out a proposal that would close the gap by rejiggering spending and revenue estimates along with $2 billion in savings, thus negating the need for Albany to approve tax hikes.
"That's a good thing,” state Assemblyman Charles Fall (D-Staten Island) told The Post of the council's plan, claiming that tax increases aren't needed to balance the city budget.
"I don't think there's a need to raise taxes.
Big Apple City Council Speaker Julie Menin laid out a proposal that would close the gap by rejiggering spending and revenue estimates along with $2 billion in savings, thus negating the need for Albany to approve tax hikes. Robert Miller for NY Post
"People are complaining about wasteful spending under the prior administration. Well, what is being done about it?” Fall said.
Lawmakers left Albany for the week far from a deal on the state budget.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has signaled in recent weeks that she would not chip in more state resources to the city than she’s committed already – $1.5 billion in addition to billions of dollars of new spending, such as on childcare.
"Now it's up to the City Council,” Hochul said earlier this month.
To help reap more dough, Hochul has proposed an extension of the 7.25% statewide corporate tax on businesses making more than $5 million for three years, but both the state Assembly and Senate have called for increasing it.
On the campaign trail, Mamdani called for hiking the corporate tax to 11.25%, but in Albany this year, he is pushing for smaller hikes of the city’s rate.
The City Council is floating a wild money-making scheme -- to rent out the iconic Brooklyn Bridge’s hidden rooms -- to help plug the Big Apple's cash hole.
Tucked inside the world-famous span's stone anchorages is a total of 13,000 square feet of hidden vaults that once hosted art shows but has been locked up since 2001.
The space is currently being used as a glorified parking garage for city-owned vehicles.
The City Council is floating a wild money-making scheme -- to rent out the iconic Brooklyn Bridge’s hidden rooms -- to help plug the Big Apple's cash hole.
Instead of storing cars there, the council suggested City Hall slap a “For Rent” sign on the front of the vaults to raise much-needed cash.
At average Manhattan rents, the city could rake in about $17 million a year if it fully leased the space, according to council estimates.
The bridge's rented rooms could start coughing up the millions of dollars as early as fiscal 2027, the council wrote in its budget response to Mayor Zohran Mamdani's own controversial spending plan Wednesday.
New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin rallied with council members and advocates Wednesday to push for funding to ensure an accurate headcount of New Yorkers for the 2030 census -- regardless of their immigration status.
The event occurred on National Census Day - as House Republicans move to add a citizenship question to the 2030 federal survey to try to thwart the notion.
"We have a situation where House Republicans are trying to put the citizenship question back on the census," Menin said.
"What this will mean is that cities like New York with our immigrant communities, with ICE raids, are going to be severely undercounted in the census," Menin added, saying the question would be used to weed at least some migrants out of the count and noting that undercounts jeopardize congressional seats and federal funding.
Menin said more money is needed for both the city and state to prepare to do battle.
"So that is really what's at stake here with the census, and that's why we are here today to demand additional funding ... to make sure that every single New Yorker is counted in the 2030 census," she said.
The City Council released a $127 billion alternative budget plan Wednesday, closing gaps without raising property taxes, dipping into reserves or cutting services by finding savings —calling foul over Mayor Zohran Mamdani's financial plan.
The Council’s response to the mayor’s Fiscal Year 2027 budget outlines a mix of re-estimated revenues, savings and new funding sources to resolve what the Council identified as a $6 billion shortfall.
“Amid a serious affordability crisis impacting New Yorkers across the city, the Council has a responsibility to act as a strong fiscal steward as we face a significant budget shortfall,” Speaker Julie Menin said.
The gap estimated by the Council stems from $1.1 billion in Council-backed programs left out of the mayor’s plan, alongside the Mamdani administration’s reliance on roughly $3.7 billion from a proposed property tax increase and $1.2 billion in reserve drawdowns to balance the books.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaking at a press conference about catch basins, at Sunset Park in Brooklyn, New York City. Michael Brochstein/ZUMA / SplashNews.com
Menin and finance leaders framed the Council’s approach as a more stable alternative at a time when budget negotiations are increasingly shaped by pressure to maintain city services amid an affordability crisis.
“We cannot in good conscience fund the City’s needs on the backs of homeowners or renters, by digging into emergency reserves, or by cutting essential programs," Menin said. "Our response offers a clear alternative to taking those steps, puts the City back on stable footing and invests directly in New Yorkers.”
Instead of tax hikes or reserve use, the Council proposes $3.5 billion in revised revenue and spending estimates -- such as recognizing higher-than-expected construction permit income and underspending on vacant city positions -- along with $2 billion in agency efficiencies and $462 million in "revenue enhancements" like going after "harder-to-collect" tax liens.
The Council's plan would also restore funding for programs Mamdani stiffed in his preliminary budgeting, including libraries, cultural institutions, CUNY initiatives and legal services for housing and domestic violence victims.
“New Yorkers grappling with an affordability crisis should not see a decline in the quality of the services they receive due to a budget dance, and the City Council is committed to fighting to ensure residents receive the investments they deserve," the Council's finance chair, Linda Lee, said.
The Council's budget response also pushes new investments like expanding Fair Fares to fully subsidize transit for low-income New Yorkers and boosting college savings accounts for public school students.
New York City's budget negotiations will intensify after Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers finalize the state's spending plan -- whenever that is. State lawmakers passed a deadline extension Tuesday to give them until April 7 to release a plan.
ALBANY – State lawmakers will blow past Wednesday’s deadline to pass Gov. Kathy Hochul’s $263 billion budget plan, as negotiations drag on over her push to delay green energy mandates and her bid to lower car insurance premiums.
Democrats in the state Assembly and Senate passed a one-week stopgap measure Tuesday keeping the government funded through next week amid the largely-stalled discussions between Hochul and legislative leaders.
“We’re still at the beginning of the middle, as it turns out,” Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Westchester) said, using a stale Albany adage to indicate the discussions have not moved much since they began in earnest about two weeks ago.
Stewart-Cousins indicated to reporters that the main issues holding up the talks were the non-fiscal policy-related items that Hochul pitched in her massive spending package proposal.
