2 women and 2 ways to wield power in New York

Good morning. It is Wednesday. We’ll be looking at two powerful figures in New York City politics – one that’s well known and one that’s not. We also get details of a fire that renewed concerns about the dangers of e-bike batteries.

Two stories from the past few days were unexpectedly a study of contrasts. One was about a highly visible elected official who is keeping a low profile at the moment. The other was about the most powerful political official you’ve probably never heard of, someone who was never elected, but who is perhaps the second most important person in the city’s government—and the most important person in Mayor Eric Adams’ close circle.

The first is Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The second is Ingrid Lewis-Martin, the mayor’s chief adviser.

My colleague Nicholas Fandos writes that Ocasio-Cortez is evolving from an insurgent focused on winning over other like-minded leaders to a more conventional figure who, among other things, doesn’t want to overextend her capital.

So, unlike House colleagues like Representative Adriano Espaillat and Representative Nydia Velázquez, Ocasio-Cortez has yet to endorse candidates in the city council primary.

“If we asked her for support in the future, I’m sure she would definitely step in,” says Chi Ossé, a Brooklyn city councilman she helped behind the scenes. “But she’s very focused and busy with what’s happening in Washington right now.”

That’s a change from 2021, when Ocasio-Cortez’s political action committee endorsed some 60 candidates, and it comes at a time when her own political operation is changing. She fired her campaign manager in March after a congressional ethics report concluded there was “substantial reason to believe” that the congressman attending the 2021 Met Gala may have violated House ethics rules and possibly federal law. A replacement, the former political director of Senator Bernie Sanders, only started last week.

Lauren Hitt, a spokeswoman for Ocasio-Cortez, said last week she was “still considering” whether to run in city council races. Hitt also said Ocasio-Cortez’s silence was not a sign of a permanent withdrawal. “It’s just a very different election cycle,” she said, adding that “the overwhelming reason” is that many incumbent councilors are either running unopposed or not competing in competitive races this time around.

Lewis-Martin has been instrumental in some of the mayor’s most critically viewed moves, including criticizing President Biden over the migrant influx, rejecting the separation of church and state, and taking on three people charged with homophobic views. My colleagues Brian M. Rosenthal and Jeffery C. Mays write that Lewis-Martin has a tendency to override other city officials, even on minor issues — and that has helped create a divided city hall where aides say she’s a rival of the First Deputy Mayor, Sheena Wright.

Lewis-Martin said she created the lead counsel role after getting a job at city hall. She enjoys the flexibility: “I can choose which weeds I want to be in,” she said.

But her broad reach underlined Adams’ reliance on a tight-knit group of advisers — a problem that resurfaced last week with the resignation of Keechant Sewell as police commissioner. Many cast Sewell as another official who has left the Adams administration frustrated at being undermined by his inner circle.

Lewis-Martin’s husband knew Adams from their training days at the police academy in the 1980s, and they hung out together. She says Adams wanted to run for mayor back then — and she wanted to run. ordained.

Her work for Adams has raised ethical concerns. Last month, Politico reported that she had helped lead a political action committee that supported moderate candidates for the Assembly, the Committee for a Fair New York. That raised the question of whether donating was a way to ingratiate yourself with City Hall.

Last year, Lewis-Martin worked with another PAC, according to two people involved. Which group, which one also supported moderates, attracted attention because it gave less to candidates than to its founder and his associates. It too donated $10,000 to Lee Zeldin, the Republican who ran against Governor Kathy Hochul. City Hall did not comment directly on the group Aiming for a Better New York, but said all employees must follow ethical guidelines and cannot do political work on city time.

Weather

For the first day of summer — the solstice occurs at 10:58 a.m. — expect partly sunny skies with temperatures around the mid-70s. Prepare for a chance of showers at night, with temperatures hovering around 60 degrees.

ALTERNATIVE SIDE PARKING

In effect until June 28 (Eid al-Adha).

“It’s very clear that this was caused by lithium-ion batteries and e-bikes,” said Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh.

She was standing outside an e-bike service shop that was destroyed by a three-alarm fire. Four people who lived in the building, on Madison Street near Chinatown, were killed as the fire spread outside the store, HQ Ebike Repair. Belal Alayah, who works at his family’s deli nearby, said a “circle of flames” sloshed against the metal gate of the e-bike shop until it “looked like it was melting”.

Daniel Flynn, the chief firefighter, said the e-bike shop was cited for violations in 2021 and again last year when the fire department cited violations including lithium-ion battery charging. He said the store was fined $1,600.

He also said fire investigators had seen “lots and lots of batteries” during a recent “surveillance” at the store. But no one was charged at the time.

Biyun Liu, whose family opened the shop about two and a half years ago, said he did not believe the e-bikes had started the fire. “We turn off all electrical panels and we don’t charge anything in the store,” he said. “So there’s no way it could catch fire.”

Lithium-ion batteries power everything from smartphones and laptops to power tools, but firefighters have repeatedly warned about the risks of batteries used in e-bikes and scooters. They’ve set 108 fires in New York City so far this year, with 13 fatalities, Kavanaugh said. In 2022, about 200 fires were linked to lithium-ion batteries.

METROPOLITAN Diary

Local joint

Dear Diary:

After completing university studies in our native South Africa in the mid-1970s, my husband took an internship at Bellevue Hospital and we went on to enjoy life in New York City for a few years.

We rented a modest apartment on 72nd Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue. A small Italian restaurant on the corner became our kitchen and dining room at least four nights a week. We could practically smell the garlic from across the street.

There was a lanky waitress there with a wry tone. We called her Olive Oyl. She tossed the menus onto the plastic tablecloth, set down a carafe of house wine, and walked away until we were ready to order. We always got the same thing: clams casino, veal parmigiana and a cannoli to share.

When our visas expired, we returned to South Africa. Seven years later, in New York for a conference, we went looking for our old restaurant.

Luckily it was there and nothing seemed to have changed. We got the same spot on the corner and Olive Oyl came by, threw down the menus and walked off.

Then she turned and stared at us for a few seconds.

“We haven’t seen you in a few weeks,” she said. “Did you move to a different neighborhood?”

—Lydia Lipman

Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Send submissions here And read more Metropolitan Diary here.

Glad we could get together here. See you tomorrow. — JB

PS Here’s today’s Mini crossword And Game match. You can find all our puzzles here.

Melissa Guerrero and Ed Shanahan contributed to New York Today. You can reach the team at nytoday@nytimes.com.

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