Transcript
If you were sitting next to me on the stoop right now, out of your left ear, you'd hearthat loud beep, beep, beep of a large truck backing up.Out of your right ear, you'd hear the mechanical whir of an industrial-sized paper shredder.And all that noise is the sound of an administration disappearing, literally.I'm Jessi Mercury, and you're listening to Stoop Politics.This week, we've got reports of shredding trucks idling outside City Hall, Mamdani picksa fight with the charter schools, and the MTA just got a ransom note from the WhiteHouse.The transition isn't just rocky anymore, it's turning into a crime scene.If it's happening in the five boroughs, we're spilling it right here on the stoop.Let's get into it.First up, the rumor everyone is slacking me about, the shredders.On Tuesday morning, two massive document destruction trucks were spotted parked onthe Broadway side of City Hall.According to leaks from the Mamdani transition team, they are calling this Operation Bleach.They claim that when they ask for critical data, like the vendor contracts for the migrantshelter system, or the internal emails regarding the suspicious midnight lease we talked aboutlast week, they're getting file not found errors.Mamdani's team is publicly threatening to call the Department of Investigation.They think the Adams transition is wiping the hard drives to hide the receipts beforethey hand them over the keys on January 1st.Adams' press secretary says it's just standard end of term housekeeping.Yeah, okay, since when does housekeeping require an industrial grade pulverizer?Next up, education.You thought the fight over the police commissioner was bad?Wait until you see the parents' WhatsApp groups today.Yesterday, Mamdani announced his pick for school's chancellor.He chose Dr. Amara Solis, a SUNY New York professor and a former union organizer who,wait for it, has publicly called for the abolition of standardized testing.Well, the charter school lobby went ballistic.Within hours, a new super PAC called Save Our Schools NYC launched a six-figure ad purchaseattacking Solis, but here is the real drama.The United Federation of Teachers is split.The leadership loves her, but the rank and file teachers are nervous about her plan tocut ties with police safety agents in schools.Mamdani is betting the house on a holistic safety model, but if a fight breaks out ina high school cafeteria in his first week, the tabloids are going to eat Dr. Solis alive.Finally, let's talk about your commute.We told you Trump was going to play hardball.Well, the pitch just came in high and inside.This morning, the US Department of Transportation, on Trump's orders, announced they are pausingthe release of $2 billion in capital grants for the MTA.This is the money meant to fix the signals on the A and C lines.The reason?They claim New York's congestion pricing toll, which has been running for almost ayear now, needs a federal environmental re-review.It's a total pretext.It's a ransom note, obviously.Trump is effectively saying, nice subway system you got there, shame if it fell apart.He's squeezing the city's wallet to force Mamdani to drop the sanctuary city protections.The MTA chair is already warning of weekend service cuts starting in February if the moneydoesn't flow.So the files are being shredded, the schools are a battleground, and your train is delayedby order of the president.Happy holidays, right?Join me next week on Stoop Politics.We'll be covering the last city council meeting of the year and whether they can stop Adamsfrom appointing his gym buddy to the library board.I'm Jessi Mercury.Watch the closing doors and mind the gap.
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