Winners & Losers
This week’s biggest Winners & Losers
Who’s up and who’s down this week?
You know that it’s going to be a week when New York magazine puts out a cover that becomes outdated within hours. The magazine put to print the status of various Adams administration officials, but it turned out to be a Sisyphean task, as (now former) Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Phil Banks tendered his resignation at the very beginning of the week. Over the next few days, embattled Adams aides Winnie Greco and Rana Abbasova also changed their status from “raided” to “raided and resigned.” Luckily for New York, they managed to incorporate former First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright’s resignation into the cover after she finally made her departure official late last week. And yet, the news didn’t stop there.
Maria Torres-Springer -
The ship may be sinking, but at least there’s a new captain. Will it be enough to steady City Hall? If anyone can, it may very well be Maria Torres-Springer, the new first deputy mayor. She’s a longtime bureaucrat who most recently served as the deputy mayor for housing, economic development and workforce. Her new position will no doubt bring even more to her plate, but if the sweeping praise surrounding her appointment is any indication, she’s earned her reputation as a highly capable leader.
Steve Cohen -
It was a good week for Uncle Stevie. His New York Mets are not dead yet, punching their ticket to the National League Championship Series in dramatic fashion Wednesday. But his bid for a Citi Field-adjacent casino might still be. While the New York Post reported that Gov. Kathy Hochul has considered introducing legislation in her 2025 state budget that would resolve some of the land use issues plaguing Cohen’s proposed casino, the governor later denied the report.
Ryan McMahon -
Republicans who opposed a new state law moving local races to even-numbered years feel vindicated now that a Syracuse judge has ruled the law unconstitutional. Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon brought the suit and touted the decision as a victory for local control. He and other Republicans criticized the conflation of local, state and national elections, and the judge in the case agreed, warning that the change would draw attention away from local races.
Mohamed Bahi -
Last week, federal prosecutors more or less promised that more criminal charges would be coming for officials in Mayor Eric Adams’ orbit. Sure enough, Mohamed Bahi, City Hall’s former senior liaison to the Muslim community, was arrested and charged by the FBI with witness tampering and destruction of evidence this week. Bahi allegedly told potential witnesses to lie to the feds and then deleted an encrypted messaging app from his phone just before being raided, learning about the pitfalls of Signal the hard way.
Jessica Rosado -
Getting fired does not scream Fab Over 40. Former Bronx district attorney bureau chief Jessica Rosado was fired for repeatedly asking her staff to vote for her in a Fab Over 40 contest that included a $40,000 cash prize – which she didn’t even win! Rosado may not be Fab Over 40, but her former coworkers can still vote for her to be City & State’s biggest loser of the week, which comes with no cash prize.
Diana Boutross -
Diana Boutross “represents Japanese hotels on their retail development requirements,” according to her company bio at Cushman and Wakefield – a big real estate firm that is probably not loving the press they’re getting right now. Boutross recently visited Japan along with several of Mayor Eric Adams’ associates – including her friend Ingrid Lewis-Martin and DCAS Deputy Commish for Real Estate Services Jesse Hamilton. But when the group landed at JFK, investigators from the Manhattan DA’s office intercepted them and seized their phones, in connection with a previously unreported probe into city commercial real estate leases.