Dear Neighbor,

As I'm sure many of you have heard, early this month I had a stroke. Fortunately, I was able to receive treatment extremely quickly and expect to make a complete recovery. The staff at Lenox Hill Hospital were nothing short of remarkable — fast, brilliant, and genuinely lovely people with whom to spend time. 

I’m up and about, recovering well at home, and am in regular contact with Senate leadership, my colleagues, and staff. There's simply too much to do to remain on the sidelines.

It will take a bit more time to get all the way back to fighting fit, but I want to be absolutely clear: my staff and I are working every day to represent the interests of District 28, New York City, and New York State in this absolutely critical time.

Right now that means finalizing the state budget, which is now a month late. I have always said that I believe New Yorkers care more about having a good budget than an on-time budget. I continue to have concerns about several of the governor's proposals, especially her push to roll back New York's landmark Climate Law, the CLCPA, which will increase our dependence on oil and gas and lead to higher costs for New Yorkers in the short-, medium-, and long-term.

Below you will find governmental updates from the past month, recent actions by the Trump Administration impacting New Yorkers, and upcoming events and other useful information affecting our district.

As always, if you have any questions or need assistance, please email or call my office at lkrueger@nysenate.gov or 212-490-9535.

Liz Krueger

State Senator

What's In This Newsletter?

Governmental Updates:

• Update on Trump Administration Impacts
• Senate Passes Earth Day Bill Package
• Op-Ed: Corporate Investors are Killing the Dream of Homeownership
• Roosevelt Island Steam Plant Update
• Senator Krueger Joins Fellow Electeds to Demand Transparency on Penn Station Renovation

Community Updates and Info:

• Beat the Heat (and the Costs) This Summer
• New York Foundation for Senior Citizens Minor Home Repairs Program
• Free Shredding Event May 2nd
• Lenox Hill Hospital Blood Donation Drive
• DOT Public E-Bike Charging Program Feedback Opportunity
• Community Board 8 Art Show
• NYC Trash Bin Requirement
• State Senate Graduate Certificate Program
• Free Swimming Lessons
• Smorgasburg Central Park
• Good Neighbor Awards Nominations
• I Love My Park Day
• Commercial Revitalization Grants

Update on Trump Administration Impacts

Below is a small sample of actions the Trump Administration has taken this past month that have had concrete, negative impacts on New Yorkers. Click on the links for more details:

• This week the US Supreme Court issued a party-line decision effectively rendering Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act ineffective. Section 2 ensures that states cannot draw electoral districts in such a way as to dilute the impact of minority voters and deny them representation. Justice Elena Kagan, in her dissent, made clear that the Court had achieved the long-held radical right-wing goal of the “demolition of the Voting Rights Act”.

• President Trump's war in Iran, which has resulted in the ongoing double-blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, is increasing costs for Americans across the board. The cost of gasoline alone has increased by over 40% since the war began, costing Americans an additional $15 billion. The combined cost of just the increase in gasoline and diesel fuel totals over $218 per household. Meanwhile, economy-wide, prices were up 0.9% in March compared to February, driving the year-to-year inflation rate up to 3.3% (see chart below). This self-inflicted oil and gas crisis doesn't just impact gasoline and natural gas prices, it also has effects further down the supply chain on commodities like fertilizer and plastic that raise costs for many other necessities like food, as well as on production and pricing of prescription medications.

• In the middle of this oil and gas crisis, President Trump's recently released budget proposal would continue his attacks on cheap renewable energy and other climate action, in favor of continued reliance on price-volatile fossil fuels.

• The combination of the Iran war oil and gas crisis and President Trump's attacks on modern sources of energy means that the US is becoming a petrostate at a time when the world needs an electrostate, thereby effectively surrendering the 21st Century to China, whose leaders have invested heavily in producing solar panels, wind turbines, and electric vehicles.

• The proposed budget includes several other cuts that are targeted to hurt New Yorkers, including the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP) and billions of dollars in Community Development Block Grants.

• The federal government has begun the process of refunding the $166 billion of tariffs that were illegally collected over the past year, following the Supreme Court decision overturning the import taxes. But it looks increasingly likely that American consumers will not benefit from the tariff refunds, resulting in a significant windfall for companies that passed those costs on to consumers.

• The federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) admitted that they had made a massive error when launching an investigation into alleged Medicaid fraud in New York State. Television personality and CMS Administrator Dr. Oz had previously claimed that New York's Medicaid program had provided nearly 5 million people with personal care services, which would have amounted to 3/4 of the total Medicaid population. It turns out the actual number was 450,000.

• The Department of Health and Human Services recently issued new guidelines for federal Title X funding, which is supposed to support family planning and reproductive healthcare. The new guidelines, on the other hand, push the funding in entirely the opposite direction. In the words of Jill Filipovic, "the health department seems to want to shift taxpayer dollars away from reliable contraception and toward counseling men on erectile dysfunction, testosterone levels and sperm motility, each of which merits three mentions in the new guidance, while IUDs and birth control pills earn none. The document is a mishmash of Make America Healthy Again talking points on lifestyle changes, conservative bromides on marriage before babies and pronatalist nods to fertility."

• Continuing the attack on Americans' reproductive healthcare, the EPA is recommending that states test drinking water for traces of abortion and birth control medications, adding those medications to a list of "contaminants."

• The Trump Administration's immigration policies are exacerbating a national shortage of doctors, which will have a particularly negative impact on rural areas.
  
• Under the Trump Administration, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has already been weakened by firing the members who were qualified and properly vetted, replacing them with individuals who question or are against vaccines. Now, the rules governing ACIP have been rewritten, further compromising the Committee that has been responsible for making effective, evidence-based vaccine recommendations to protect public health in the U.S.

• The Administration has also announced that it will be dissolving the Office of English Language Acquisition, which is charged with helping non-English speaking public school students learn the language. English Language Learners represent 16-20% of New York City public school students.

• A recent analysis by ProPublica reveals that in the first six months of the current Trump Administration, the Department of Justice dropped 23,000 active criminal investigations in order to redirect resources to prosecuting immigrants and institutions considered to be promoting DEI policies.

• The Endangered Species Committee, a special government panel nicknamed the "God Squad" because it can decide the fate of species nearing extinction, met for the first time in 30 years in order to issue a blanket exemption from the Endangered Species Act for oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, which could doom the Right's whale, a species driven to the brink of extinction by the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster of 2010.

• It turns out that many of the over 1,500 violent January 6th insurrectionists pardoned en masse by President Trump are committing a lot of crimes.

• Trump's Department of Justice is taking steps to bring back executions by firing squad.

As the Trump Administration engages in more prominent authoritarianism, our democracy becomes increasingly fragile and compromised. Many question what it will take to reclaim our democracy and what shape a new found democracy should take. The following articles examine the global state of democracy and consider these questions:

• Out of the Ashes: Building a New American Democracy
• Resisting Trumpism Can Revive the U.S. Labor Movement
• Inequality, Collective Power, and Democratic Renewal
• Freedom in the World 2026: The Growing Shadow of Autocracy

Daily acts of nonviolent resistance continue to push back against the tide of authoritarianism, from which we can draw strength, inspiration, and hope:

• Federal judge blocks Trump administration restrictions on wind and solar projects
• House passes a bill to protect Haitian immigrants, in slap back to the Trump administration
• Federal judge dismisses DOJ lawsuit seeking personal details about Rhode Island voters
• Spanberger signs first wave of bills targeting health care, housing and energy cost
• A federal judge dismisses another DOJ lawsuit seeking voter data, this time in Massachusetts
• Seattle ramps up legal services, small grants for immigrants and refugees
• Wisconsin town revolts against a Trump-backed data center project
• Taylor wins the 2026 Wisconsin Supreme Court election
• Trump not immune from civil claims from Jan. 6 speech, judge rules
• Immigrant Workers in Colorado Lead “Historic Strike” at JBS, Largest U.S. Meat Processor

A nationwide day of noncooperation will take place this Friday, May 1st, which is International Workers' Day. Rallies, marches, and other peaceful actions will be held, and people can also participate simply by staying home. The principle is for individuals to engage in peaceful disruption by refraining from working, going to school, and shopping that day.

Senate Passes Earth Day Bill Package

On Earth Day, the State Senate passed a package of bills to address environmental issues, from climate change to clean water to chemicals in consumer products. Included in the package were two of my bills, the SUNNY Act to increase access to plug-in solar, and the Electric Landscaping Equipment Rebate Program, to support adoption of cleaner and quieter equipment by landscapers and institutional users.

The SUNNY Act, which passed unanimously in the Senate, would open the door for millions more New Yorkers to have access to cheap, clean solar power, be part of the solution to the climate crisis, and shave a little bit off their electricity bill every month. Once the market for plug-in solar fully matures, like it already has in Germany, New Yorkers will be able to simply walk into a store, pay a few hundred bucks for a system, take it home and plug it in like any other appliance, and start saving hundreds of dollars every year. This would be a small but important step to help New Yorkers fight climate change, save money, and claim real energy independence.

The Electric Landscaping Equipment Rebate Program, which passed both the Senate and the Assembly and now awaits the governor's signature, would create a rebate program for the purchase of electric landscaping equipment to assist commercial landscapers, local governments, school districts, and other institutions. Gas-powered landscaping equipment emits a stunning amount of air pollution, not to mention the noise that blights communities across the state. This bill will make it easier for New York's landscaping companies to transition to cleaner, quieter equipment. It's a win for small businesses, workers, communities, and our shared environment, and I urge Governor Hochul to sign it.

Op-Ed: Corporate Investors are

Killing the Dream of Homeownership

Late last month Michael Barrett, CEO of Habitat for Humanity of New York State, penned an op-ed in the Albany Times Union in support of my End Hedge Fund Control of New York Homes Act. Corporate ownership of one- and two-family homes is driving the dream of home ownership further out of reach for regular Americans. My bill will make sure those homes go to New York families, not corporate profits.

Large scale hedge fund investors are taking over the housing market at an alarming and accelerating rate. In 2011, no single entity owned over 1,000 single-family rental units. As of June 2022, the Urban Institute estimated that large hedge funds and other institutional investors owned roughly 574,000 single-family homes. Data from the first three months of 2023 showed this trend continuing, with hedge funds purchasing 27 percent of single-family homes.

Predatory hedge funds disproportionately target Black families and vulnerable single parents, as revealed in a House Financial Services Committee report in 2022. The report found these investors focus on neighborhoods with larger Black populations and approximately 30% more single mothers than the national average. Additionally, studies show that hedge funds are 68% more likely than small landlords to file for evictions and often impose high rent increases, inflated fees, and deteriorating housing conditions to maximize profits.

The End Hedge Fund Control of New York Homes Act, introduced in April of 2024, would impose a 50% tax on the fair market value of any future purchase of single-family residence (defined as 1- to 4-family dwellings) by hedge funds and similar managed funds, and require hedge funds to reduce their holdings of single-family homes by 10% per year over 10 years or face significant tax penalties. The money raised through these taxes would be deposited into a Housing Down Payment Trust Fund, which would be used by NY State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) to create a grant program to help New York families buy homes. 

All the revenue collected through these taxes would be deposited in the Housing Down Payment Trust Fund. This Fund would be used by HCR to provide grants to state housing finance agencies that provide down payment assistance to families purchasing homes within the state. These agencies must give priority to families seeking assistance to purchase any single-family residence from a fund covered by the new taxes.

Roosevelt Island Steam Plant Update

My office has heard from many constituents living on Roosevelt Island expressing concerns about the demolition of the Steam Plant. I understand the significance of the project as well as its potential environmental, public health, and safety impacts. For these reasons, I joined Assemblymember Rebecca Seawright, City Council Speaker Julie Menin, and Congressman Jerrold Nadler on a letter strongly urging the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation to establish a Community Advisory Group (CAG) for the project that includes representatives from relevant City and State agencies, elected officials, and local residents. We believe a CAG will ensure ongoing essential and consistent information sharing and dialogue during this project. 

Senator Krueger Joins Fellow Electeds to

Demand Transparency on Penn Station Renovation

This week, Senator Krueger joined Congressman Jerrold Nadler, Assemblymembers Micah Lasher and Tony Simone, Senator Erik Bottcher, and Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal in releasing the following statement on the Trump Administration’s mishandling of the Penn Station renovation project:



We stand here today in front of Penn Station — united as elected officials of the State and City of New York — to send a clear message to Donald Trump and his administration: We will not stand for secret deals. Not on our watch. Not with our money. Not with our infrastructure. And not with our rights.

Let us be clear — we agree that Penn Station must be rebuilt. With the Gateway Tunnel project moving forward and new tunnels that will transform rail capacity across the Northeast corridor, this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity. We want to see it done. But we will not allow it to be done in the dark, behind closed doors, in private meetings between a president and his billionaire friends — while the State of New York, the City of New York, the MTA, and the communities we represent are left holding the financial bag.

President Trump held secret meetings to privately negotiate the future of this station. His own White House wouldn’t even confirm the meeting took place. This same president tried to leverage billions of dollars in withheld infrastructure funds to pressure Senator Schumer into a backroom renaming deal. This is a pattern — deals made in private, costs dumped on the public, and assets handed to the wealthy and well-connected.

A Word About Andy Byford

Andy Byford is a respected transit professional and we are not here to question his integrity. But Byford himself has confirmed that the White House will have final say over the winning design and developer. This is not a process insulated from politics. Donald Trump — not transit experts, not New Yorkers — makes the final call.

Three Failures. No Answers. No Accountability.

First, there is no transparency. Three developer teams have been shortlisted behind closed doors — all three with strong connections to the Trump administration and its donors, and all three actively lobbying the White House. No RFP has been released. No public hearings. No community input. When all three finalists have ties to Trump’s political world and the White House picks the winner, that is not a competitive process. That is a political favor waiting to be handed out.

Second, there is no honest accounting of the cost. Estimates run as high as $7 billion with a potential public shortfall of nearly $6 billion. The full price tag has not been disclosed. Will commuters face surcharges on their MTA and NJ Transit tickets? Will the State and City be forced to absorb billions they never agreed to fund? New York State has already pulled back its $1.3 billion commitment expecting the federal government to step up — and Washington has put forward just $43 million so far. That gap has to be filled by someone. New Yorkers deserve to know who — before a single contract is signed.

Third, the MTA has been shut out. The agency that serves millions of New York commuters every single day has no meaningful seat at this table. There are serious questions about whether the MTA’s existing rights at Penn Station — rights that protect LIRR riders and the investments New York has already made — will be respected as this process moves forward. We are putting the Trump administration on notice: those rights will be honored and New York’s investment will be respected.

No transparency. No cost accountability. The MTA frozen out. These are not oversights. These are deliberate choices — and they all point in the same direction. Public assets in. Private profits out. New York left holding the bag.

Not On Our Watch

We will not be presented with a done deal cooked up in secret between the President and politically connected billionaires. We will not allow public assets to be handed to private developers under terms the public never saw, never debated, and never approved. And we will not allow the MTA to be frozen out of decisions that directly affect its riders and operations.

We are calling today for a fully open and transparent process. Release the RFP. Disclose the full costs. Restore the MTA to its rightful place at the table. Hold public hearings. Give New York a real voice in the future of its own station.

And let us be clear about one more thing. The people who live and work around Penn Station must have a real voice in its future. This is their neighborhood. Any redevelopment of Penn Station is an opportunity to do something truly transformative — not just for commuters, but for this community and this city. We should be building a true 24/7 neighborhood around Penn Station. Housing — and especially affordable housing. Retail. Public spaces. A living, breathing community that takes full advantage of the finest transportation hub in the entire region. That is what New York needs. That is what our city and region deserve. And that vision cannot be decided in a backroom deal between a president and his billionaire developer friends. It must be decided with the community, for the community.

Amtrak owns Penn Station — but make no mistake, it belongs to the people. It will be rebuilt with public money. And it will be rebuilt on public terms.

We are not going anywhere. We are united. And we are just getting started.

Beat the Heat (and the Costs) This Summer

For more information on HEAP, go to: https://otda.ny.gov/programs/heap/

For more information on cooling assistance as part of the NYS Essential Plan health coverage, go to: https://info.nystateofhealth.ny.gov/CoolingProgram

For more information on the utility Energy Affordability Program and Expanded Energy Affordability Program, go to: https://dps.ny.gov/energy-affordability-program

New York Foundation for Senior Citizens'

Minor Home Repairs Program

Free Shredding Event May 2nd

Lenox Hill Hospital Blood Donation Drive

DOT Public E-Bike Charging Program

Feedback Opportunity

NYC DOT is gathering public input to help shape their Public E-Bike Charging (PEC) program. This spring they're asking for New Yorkers' feedback on the proposed e-bike battery swapping cabinet locations.

Your input will guide their next steps. They’ll review comments on the proposed sites, refine the list of locations, and develop a prioritized short list to initiate the project’s design phase.

Please submit feedback by Friday, July 31st. 

Community Board 8 Art Show

NYC Trash Bin Requirement

State Senate Graduate Certificate Program

As the school year nears its end, the State Senate would like to honor your graduating and/or moving up student class with a Certificate of Achievement to commemorate this auspicious occasion. This program acknowledges your students' hard work and dedication by presenting them with a Senate certificate celebrating their accomplishment.

Please note: This program is available only to K–12 schools across New York State.

To participate in this program, please provide a list of potential graduates in an Excel file at least 1 week before your school’s graduation date.

Free Swimming Lessons

Smorgasburg Central Park

Good Neighbor Awards Nominations

I Love My Park Day

Commercial Revitalization Grants

Applications are now open for commercial revitalization grants from the NYC Department of Small Business Services (SBS) to support New York City neighborhoods!

• Merchant Organizing Grant: Funding to support projects that aim to form new merchants associations or revitalize existing ones.
• BID Development Grants: Funding for the staffing, planning, and implementation of a Business Improvement District (BID) formation or expansion proposal
• Small BID Support Grants: Funding to support smaller BIDs address issues of resource access and equity across the city
• Avenue NYC Commercial Revitalization Grants: Funding to CBOs conduct carry out a Commercial Needs Assessment (CDNA) and programs targeting commercial districts in LMI communities.
• Public Realm Grant: Funding for CBOs to design, produce, and install creative streetscape improvement projects on commercial corridors such as lighting, public art, or wayfinding.