Jon Lentz
City & State
New York, NY, United States
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Past articles by Jon:
The rise of Latinos in the New York City Council
New members bring the council more in line with the city’s population. → Read More
Why the life sciences leave people of color behind
And how COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement could mark a turning point. → Read More
How NYC is trying to prevent a second wave
Dave Chokshi took the helm of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene last month in the midst of the worst public health crisis in generations. And while New York has managed to bring down COVID-19 transmission rates dramatically and keep the spread of the deadly virus in check, the return to school for many students and the reopening of additional → Read More
New podcast targets Latinos ahead of 2020 elections
With the 2020 general election just weeks away, Latinos are poised to play a role in key races – and there’s a new podcast aimed at keeping them informed on the biggest issues.On Tuesday, HITN is launching a weekly podcast featuring members of Congress talking about politics and policy experts discussing pressing matters like the COVID-19 response. The New York-based → Read More
Who's driving the Black Lives Matter discussion?
The Black Lives Matter movement and calls to defund the police dominated the political discourse in New York for weeks in the spring and summer, with the conversation driven by officials on both sides of the political divide. High-profile Black politicians, including New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, struck a cord on social media with → Read More
Buffeted by crises, will New York regain its footing?
Will New York regain its footing in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and the unrest over police activity? Political insiders are optimistic that the state will rebound yet again following its latest crises, according to an online survey of City & State First Read readers and subscribers. → Read More
Poll: 1 in 10 political insiders approve of de Blasio
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s reputation has been in tatters in recent months, with longtime conservatives critics and former progressive allies alike attacking his response to two unprecedented crises – the coronavirus pandemic and the unrest over policy brutality and institutional racism.Another group that’s increasingly fed up with the mayor? Political insiders. → Read More
New York political leaders who downplayed the coronavirus threat
Politicians tend to be optimists by nature. But in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, many of them were too optimistic – and too confident in their assertions that the risk from the virus would be minimal. Here are some noteworthy statements by New York officials that were dubious or disputed – or turned out to be just plain wrong. → Read More
How Superstorm Sandy helped prepare NYC for the coronavirus
While Congress and the state Legislature have mostly avoided meeting during the coronavirus pandemic, the New York City Council has gone digital, holding a full meeting of the body and numerous hearings remotely over Zoom in the past couple weeks. → Read More
How New York’s building trades are adapting to COVID-19
In recent years, the unionized construction workforce has been pushing for an expansion of New York’s prevailing wage to cover any project that receives public subsidies. This year, with Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s support, construction unions got the legislation across the finish line – but with a later implementation date than originally planned, due to the economic disruption → Read More
How NYC could increase social distancing to combat coronavirus
On Sunday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that he had tasked New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Council Speaker Corey Johnson with developing strategies to ensure their constituents maintain safe distances in order to slow the spread of coronavirus – and that he wanted a plan to address the problem within 24 hours. → Read More
Who are the New York City Council’s most prolific lawmakers?
There’s a reason that elected officials in the New York City Council are called lawmakers, but not all of them live up to the label.In 2019, half a dozen council members had zero bills become law, while four lawmakers – Costa Constantinides, Daniel Dromm and Helen Rosenthal, along with City Council Speaker Corey Johnson – led the way with 11 new laws apiece. → Read More
The pros and cons of the MTA’s capital plan
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority released the broad strokes of its next five year Capital Program this week. At $51.5 billion, the 2020-2024 plan is the MTA’s most expensive to date, and about $20 billion more expensive than the previous one. → Read More
A tale of two Ruben Diazes
The first big showdown of Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.’s tenure was over the Kingsbridge Armory, a brick behemoth that has been vacant since 1996. After his election as borough president in 2009, Diaz came out against a plan to convert the building into a shopping mall. Diaz insisted that the developer ensure that a “living wage” of $10 an hour be paid to any employee at the site. → Read More
This week’s biggest Winners & Losers
Campaign funds can be used to cover child care, so why not payments to everyday Americans to test innovative policy proposals? Presidential candidate Andrew Yang announced during Thursday night’s debate that he’ll distribute $1,000 a month to 10 lucky people in order to sell his idea of universal basic income. → Read More
Frances Perkins and the lessons for today’s labor movement
A century ago, Gov. Al Smith nominated Frances Perkins to the New York State Industrial Commission. Perkins had made her mark lobbying for groundbreaking workplace safety measures following the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, in which more than 100 female workers were killed. But Perkins – the first woman named to an administrative post in New York state government – → Read More
How Heastie and Stewart-Cousins compare to the cartoon ‘Wonder Twins’
The shorthand for the way Albany operates has long been known as “three men in a room” – the governor, state Senate majority leader and Assembly speaker going behind closed doors each session to hash out what will or won’t get done. → Read More
Katz declares victory over Cabán in Queens DA race
In the latest unexpected turn in a topsy-turvy Queens district attorney race, Queens Borough President Melinda Katz declared victory over Tiffany Cabán, the public defender who had declared herself the winner on the night of the Democratic primary. → Read More
What Cuomo’s endorsement of Biden means
Gov. Andrew Cuomo is backing Joseph Biden for president – but why? According to the governor, he believes in Biden because he “can beat Trump” and “can actually get something done.” → Read More
Nadler blasts Barr’s moves ahead of Mueller report release
Rep. Jerrold Nadler and several fellow Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee blasted U.S. Attorney General William Barr’s latest moves ahead of the long-awaited release of Robert Mueller’s special counsel report, criticizing both the timing and the sharing of details with President Donald Trump’s legal team. → Read More