Los concejales afirman que la legislación tiene como objetivo ayudar a la ciudad a responder mejor a las necesidades de los casi 34.000 migrantes que aún se encuentran en su sistema de acogida. “Sinceramente, no hay excusa”, afirmó la concejal Alexa Avilés, que preside el comité de Inmigración del Concejo Municipal. “Tenemos una población muy numerosa a la que atender, y no ha desaparecido. Sigue aquí”.

Una mujer y su hija en uno de los refugios para familias de la ciudad a principios del año pasado. En los últimos meses, la ciudad ha cerrado la mayoría de esas instalaciones, ya que el número de personas llegando ha disminuido. (Ado Talwar/City Limits)

Este artículo se publicó originalmente en inglés el 29 de octubre. Traducido por Daniel Parra. Read the English version here.

Según una ley local aprobada el año pasado, la ciudad debía haber encuestado a inmigrantes en el sistema de refugios sobre sus necesidades en materia de desarrollo laboral y salud, y compartir los resultados en un informe para el Concejo Municipal antes del 30 de septiembre.

Sin embargo, casi un mes después, la administración de Eric Adams aún no ha presentado estos resultados y tampoco ha comenzado a realizar las encuestas, según ha descubierto City Limits.

“El desarrollo de estudios de esta magnitud requiere tiempo y una coordinación deliberada entre múltiples organismos municipales para garantizar que la encuesta sea precisa, se distribuya de forma rigurosa y arroje los resultados necesarios y fiables que se necesitan”, afirmó un portavoz del Departamento de Salud e Higiene Mental de la Ciudad de Nueva York (DOHMH por sus siglas en inglés), uno de los dos organismos municipales encargados de realizar las encuestas.

Los concejales y los defensores de los inmigrantes criticaron el retraso, alegando que la legislación tiene por objeto ayudar a la ciudad a responder mejor a las necesidades de los migrantes que están bajo su cuidado. Aunque el número de recién llegados lleva meses disminuyendo, todavía hay cerca de 34.000 personas en el sistema de refugios, la mayoría de ellas familias con niños.

“[Estoy] increíblemente frustrada por todo esto. Sinceramente, no hay excusa alguna, salvo la falta de interés en cumplir con los mandatos de la ley”, afirmó la concejala Alexa Avilés, presidenta del comité de inmigración del Concejo Municipal. “Tenemos una población muy numerosa a la que atender, y no ha desaparecido. Sigue aquí”.

Con la ley del año pasado se encargó a dos agencias municipales realizar encuestas: el Departamento de Salud es responsable de encuestar a los migrantes sobre sus necesidades de salud a largo plazo, sus enfermedades crónicas y su acceso a la atención médica como parte de la Ley Local 74.

La Oficina de Desarrollo del Talento y la Fuerza Laboral del Alcalde, creada por la administración de Eric Adams en 2022 con una orden ejecutiva, se encarga de estudiar sus oportunidades económicas y los obstáculos para el desarrollo de la fuerza laboral en virtud de la Ley Local 73.

Las encuestas deberían haberse entregado al personal de los refugios hace 11 meses, en noviembre de 2024, según la ley local, mientras que los resultados debían haberse facilitado al comisionado de estas agencias a más tardar el 31 de mayo de 2025.

“Estamos trabajando diligentemente con nuestras agencias asociadas y nos complace informar que la encuesta estará disponible en las próximas semanas”, dijo un portavoz del DOHMH, aunque no proporcionó una fecha exacta ni otros detalles.

“Además del tiempo, los proyectos de esta magnitud requieren una reflexión cuidadosa sobre la comunidad a la que intentamos llegar y cómo podemos hacerlo sin aumentar el miedo y la preocupación que ya puedan estar experimentando”, dijo el portavoz. 

En los últimos meses, los agentes federales han aumentado las detenciones como parte de la campaña de represión migratoria que lleva a cabo la administración Trump, incluso en los tribunales de la ciudad de Nueva York y en las calles. Recientemente, se detuvo a varias personas frente al Row Hotel, un refugio de emergencia para migrantes gestionado por la ciudad, y a vendedores ambulantes en una concurrida calle de Chinatown.

Al mismo tiempo, la ciudad ha ido cerrando su red de refugios de emergencia para migrantes, ya que cada vez llegan menos personas al sistema. La mayoría de las familias migrantes se alojan ahora en refugios tradicionales gestionados por el Departamento de Servicios para Personas sin Hogar.

“La administración municipal lleva inexplicablemente casi un año de retraso en la elaboración y distribución de estas encuestas entre los inmigrantes más recientes de la ciudad, que en su mayoría ya han abandonado los refugios”, afirmó un portavoz del Concejo Municipal en un comunicado. “Este fracaso supone una oportunidad perdida para aprender de la última ola migratoria en la ciudad de Nueva York”.

La realización de las encuestas no es la única ley que la administración Adams ha retrasado: todavía no se ha aplicado otra ley que permite a los ciudadanos denunciar las malas condiciones de los apartamentos vacíos de su edificio. La alcaldía también se ha negado a aplicar un paquete de leyes que amplían el programa municipal de vales de alquiler, una disputa que ahora se está dirimiendo en los tribunales.

“La incapacidad de la ciudad para completar una encuesta entre el ahora reducido número de solicitantes de asilo que permanecen en nuestro sistema de refugios pone de manifiesto el fracaso de esta administración a la hora de dar prioridad a las necesidades de nuestras poblaciones más vulnerables”, afirmó Carlos Arnao, de la Coalición de Inmigración de Nueva York, en una declaración a City Limits. “Instamos al alcalde Adams a que tome medidas proactivas para cumplir con la ley durante los meses que le quedan de mandato”.

Para ponerse en contacto con el reportero de esta noticia, escriba a Daniel@citylimits.org. Para ponerse en contacto con la editora, escriba a Jeanmarie@citylimits.org.

The post Alcaldía incumple plazo para cumplir con ley del Concejo que exige encuestar a inmigrantes en refugios appeared first on City Limits.

LW’s Bierstube in Inver Grove Heights will close today, Oct. 30, for good after 42 years of serving the community.

The owners sold the business, and another restaurant will take its place. No word yet on what that will be. But Bierstube’s other locations in Oakdale, Hastings and Red Wing will remain open.

“We are very sad — the Inver Grove Heights community and customers have been so loyal and supportive over all these years,” said owner Jodi Yanz, whose father-in-law opened the restaurant.

LW’s Bierstube: 6434 E. Cahill Ave., Inver Grove Heights; 651-451-8073; thebierstubes.com

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Eric Adams is considering appointing new members to the Rent Guidelines Board before his term expires, which could make it harder for frontrunner Zohran Mamdani to fulfill his promise to freeze rent for the city’s 2 million stabilized tenants. If Adams makes those appointments, it would leave the board split, sources say.

The last Rent Guidelines Board vote, pictured here in June, where members voter to increased rents for stabilized apartments by 3 percent. (Adi Talwar/City Limits)

Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani’s promise to “freeze the rent” for the city’s 2 million rent stabilized tenants has captured the race for mayor, and won him support of many New Yorkers concerned about the cost of housing.

But the controversial proposal could be under threat from outgoing Mayor Eric Adams, as he considers appointing new members to the Rent Guidelines Board (RGB), the body that sets allowable rent increases for the city’s rent stabilized apartments each June, as the New York Post first reported.

Those new members could make getting the necessary votes to freeze the rent more difficult for a potential Mamdani administration.

“This is unprecedented that a lame duck mayor would last minute stack the Rent Guidelines Board to subvert the next mayor,” said Ritti Singh, communications director with the New York State Tenant Bloc, a group organizing for the freeze.

The board has nine members, all of whom are appointed by the mayor: four public members, two landlord representatives, two tenant representatives, and a chair. They serve two, three, or four year terms.

Currently, seven members of the board are serving in “expired” terms, which means that they can step down or be reappointed or replaced by the mayor at any time. Mayors often let RGB members stay on after their terms expire because it provides them maximum flexibility to control the board, sources say.

Before the end of the year, Adams could replace two public members, one landlord member, and one tenant member who would serve the remainder of terms that extend through 2026.

(Credit: Patrick Spauster/City Limits)

Adams could also replace one additional landlord and tenant representative, Robert Ehrlich and Adan Soltran. But they would serve just two months before the end of the term, when a potential Mamdani administration could replace them in January.

A spokesperson for City Hall did not deny that Adams was considering appointing new members. The mayor has been critical of Mamdani’s rent freeze idea, which he said is “bad policy, short-sighted, and only puts tenants in harm’s way.”

Adams is not running for re-election, and recently endorsed Mamdani’s competitor, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in the race. 

“Just as he inherited appointees from the Rent Guidelines Board when he took office, Mayor Adams has the authority to appoint members to the board,” said City Hall Spokesperson Kayla Mamelak in a statement.

During the Adams administration, the board voted four times to raise rent, totaling a 12 percent increase, according to the Community Service Society.

If Adams makes all possible appointments to the board before his term ends at the end of the year, it would leave the next mayor with a split board. There would be five Eric Adams appointees—four new appointees with one holdover—and should he win, four new spots Mamdani could fill.

Assuming four new Adams appointees would be against the rent freeze, and four new Mamdani appointees would be for it, that would leave one member in between administrations: Alex Armlovich.

“Just as I wouldn’t want the next mayor to just make political picks… I wouldn’t want the current mayor to pick all public members who are actually just landlord members,” Armlovich told City Limits.

Armlovich, a housing policy expert with the Niskanen Center, was appointed by Adams in March 2025 and is serving a term that runs through the end of 2026. Because his term has not expired, he cannot be replaced before its end. He voted for a 3 percent hike on rent stabilized leases earlier this year, but told City Limits he does not know how he would vote next year.

“Our obligation is to look at the data,” he said.

That board breakdown would leave a Mamdani administration with a challenge. They would either need to convince Armlovich or a new appointee to vote for the freeze, apply public pressure, or replace them. RGB members can only be removed “for cause,” making firing a member legally complicated, as Gothamist reported.

Mayor Eric Adams and mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani. (Benny Polatseck/Mayoral Photography Office, Ron Adar/Shutterstock.com)

If Adams does appoint new members, any path to a freeze would also involve the hypothetical Mamdani administration finding a landlord member willing to vote for a rent freeze to replace the expiring term of Robert Ehrlich. Adams would also need to find a tenant member willing to raise the rent.

“We are very confident that [potential Mamdani administration officials] are going to do everything possible to make sure they deliver on this campaign promise,” said Singh.

“It’s possible that the existing composition of the Rent Guidelines Board in January will, by June, vote for a rent freeze. It’s possible that by June we are going to have a different set of Rent Guidelines Board members than we did in January,” she added.

Were the RGB to vote for a rent increase in 2025, it would take until 2026 for a Mamdani administration to have full control over the board’s appointees, when the terms of four new appointees would expire.

Armlovich told City Limits that he would consider a rent freeze if the data supported it. “You bring in flat cost data, we could freeze rents,” he said. 

He’d also consider it if there was a plan to lower costs for distressed rent stabilized buildings: improving hardship programs, reforming property taxes that overburden multifamily apartment buildings, or address rising insurance rates. 

He said he was encouraged to see mayoral frontrunner Mamdani talk about programs and reforms that could tackle those costs. 

Whether the data—which is usually a year old when the RGB is deliberating—actually supports a freeze or an increase is hotly contested. The Tenant Bloc pointed to a 12 percent increase in landlord profits this past year, and 10 percent the year before. But landlord groups counter that those numbers include many buildings that have both market rate and rent stabilized units, and that buildings with all rent stabilized buildings can’t keep up.

“For the past decade, the RGB has adjusted rents below inflation and well below operating costs, as the property tax burden has continued to grow. The result has been the severe defunding of thousands of buildings, leading to physical deterioration and worse living conditions for many renters,” said Kenny Burgos, CEO of the New York Apartment Association, in a statement.

Burgos and other landlord groups have highlighted the RGB’s legal responsibility to look at updated data about landlord costs, arguing that a premeditated freeze would not be allowed.

At the first mayoral debate, Mamdani said he believed the data would justify a rent freeze next year, and criticized the sitting mayor for looking to pack the board on his way out. 

“It is a fitting end to an administration that has been a betrayal of working-class New Yorkers,” he said in an interview with the news outlet Hell Gate.

To reach the reporter behind this story, contact Patrick@citylimits.org. To reach the editor, contact Jeanmarie@citylimits.org

Want to republish this story? Find City Limits’ reprint policy here.

The post Can Eric Adams Really Block a Mamdani Rent Freeze? appeared first on City Limits.

Country superstar Morgan Wallen will kick off his 2026 Still the Problem tour with two nights at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 10 and 11.

Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Nov. 7 through Axs. Fans who register at stilltheproblem.com by 10 p.m. Nov. 6 have access to a presale. Thomas Rhett, Gavin Adcock and Vincent Mason open the first night, with Hardy stepping in for Rhett on the second.

Wallen, 32, emerged in 2014 as a contestant on the sixth season of “The Voice,” but was eliminated during the playoffs. He released his debut EP the following year and scored his first major hit with 2017’s “Up Down.” After releasing his debut album “If I Know Me” in 2018, Wallen hit the road and opened for Luke Bryan at Target Field that July. His sophomore effort, “Dangerous: The Double Album,” earned glowing reviews and was the biggest hit of any genre in 2021.

Nearly every single he’s released has landed at either No. 1 or 2 on the country charts. And that’s a lot of singles, as he issued eight from 2023’s “One Thing at a Time” and seven (so far) from his fourth and most recent album “I’m the Problem.” Wallen’s biggest hits include “Whiskey Glasses,” “Chasin’ You,” “More Than My Hometown,” “Wasted on You” and “Last Night.”

Wallen’s success has come with some controversy. In early 2021, the gossip website TMZ released a video showing Wallen using a racial epithet, just weeks after the release of “Dangerous.”

He was arrested in 2020 after getting kicked out of Kid Rock’s Nashville bar, although the case was later dismissed. Last year, he was arrested again, this time for throwing a chair off the roof of Eric Church’s Nashville bar. In December, he pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of reckless endangerment and was sentenced to serve seven days in a DUI education center and two years of supervised probation.

The upcoming shows will be Wallen’s fourth and fifth at the Vikings stadium. He opened for Church there in June 2022 and returned two years later as a headliner for two nights. Wallen will also tie Taylor Swift’s record of playing two consecutive USBS shows on two different tours. Garth Brooks and Metallica are the only other acts to headline two nights in a row.

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