This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

Isaac Regnier, a civic-minded seventh grader at IS 96 in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, successfully lobbied City Hall to close school on Monday, Dec. 23 – rather than having a one-day school week right before Christmas. Regnier, who hopefully will also get in touch with this magazine, garnered thousands of signatures on his school calendar petition and was celebrated at a press conference with the mayor and schools chancellor. Every kid’s dream!

It pays to be close to the mayor. New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ chief advisor Ingrid Lewis-Martin received a wage bump this year, bringing her annual salary from $251,982 to $287,663. She’s not alone. Some other top advisors for Adams also received hefty pay raises this year. But unlike former schools Chancellor David Banks (whose annual salary got boosted to $414,799) and former Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Philip Banks (who got bumped to $287,663) she’s still around at City Hall to collect her check. 

New Yorkers love three things: kvetching about the subway, boasting that our pizza is the best and jaywalking anywhere and everywhere. Turns out all 8 million of us were technically breaking the law. Fortunately, New York City Council Member Mercedes Narcisse’s bill to decriminalize jaywalking just took effect, ending jaywalking tickets that often unfairly targeted Black and Hispanic pedestrians. We’re now all “walkin’ here,” and the only thing criminal is Connecticut’s claims of pizza superiority. 

Yet another questionable choice made by the Republican nominee for the 18th Congressional District has come to light. Esposito reportedly didn’t disclose her stock portfolio to federal regulators after she began campaigning for Congress. While she hasn’t gone full Wolf of Wall Street, the overall vagueness of her financial disclosure gave some watchdogs pause. News of the inaccurate filing is just the latest example of the Goshen Republican’s actions distracting from her message.

Corruption scandals are at their best when they’re at their weirdest. City Council Member Lincoln Restler dropped a hell of a weird development at a hearing this week, revealing a video that showed Jesse Hamilton – the Eric Adams ally/city real estate honcho/Ingrid Lewis-Martin vacation pal – hyping up a private property as a great potential acquisition for the city. Department of Citywide Administrative Services Commissioner Louis Molina said the “unauthorized” video is now under review.

The New York Working Families Party planned take a backseat in the NY-17 race after Mondaire Jones endorsed against Rep. Jamaal Bowman in a neighboring primary election. Party Co-Directors Ana María Archila and Jasmine Gripper announced that they would not spend money or volunteer manpower to support Jones, despite endorsing him in NY-17. Then Jones lost the WFP primary to a suspected GOP plant. Now Archila and Gripper must devote money and effort to ensure that progressives in the district DON’T vote WFP and instead cast their vote for Jones on the Democratic line.