Tag: New York City

NYC, Oregon Pension Funds Named Lead Plaintiffs in Fox Lawsuit

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.ai-cio.com/news/nyc-oregon-pension-funds-named-lead-plaintiffs-in-fox-lawsuit/

Excerpt:

A Delaware Chancery Court has appointed pension funds from New York City and from Oregon as the lead plaintiffs in a shareholder lawsuit that alleges Fox Corp. breached its fiduciary duty by exposing itself to defamation lawsuits during its coverage of the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

In September 2023, New York City’s five public pension funds, as well as the Oregon Investment Council and the Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund, filed shareholder derivative lawsuits against Fox for breach of fiduciary duty. The lawsuits allege Fox’s board of directors knew that Fox News was promoting former President Donald Trump’s false claims that he was the true winner of the 2020 election without regard for whether the assertions were true and thus created significant exposure to defamation charges.

In April, Fox settled a $787 million defamation lawsuit brought by the voting machine company Dominion Voting Systems after Fox broadcasters falsely alleged Dominion was involved in altering results during the 2020 presidential election. Fox also faces a $2.7 billion lawsuit from voting machine company Smartmatic USA Corp.

Author(s): Michael Katz

Publication Date: 9 Jan 2024

Publication Site: ai-CIO

Rudy Giuliani says he regrets not having pension as he faces devastating $148m legal payout

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.aol.com/news/rudy-giuliani-says-regrets-not-194510062.html

Excerpt:

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said he regrets not taking a city pension now that he’s facing a $148m civil court payout for defaming a pair of Georgia election workers.

The former mayor has since filed for bankruptcy, according to the New York Post.

Empire Centre for Public Policy, a taxpayer watchdog group in New York, found no evidence of Mr Giuliani ever filing to receive a pension.

Had he applied, he would have been eligible for approximately $26,000 per year once he turned 62.

The former mayor would have an extra $442,000 in his coffers if he had applied for a pension.

When The New York Post asked him why he never took a pension, he suggested he was “giving back to the city I love.”

“Although I would like to take it now,” he added.

The former mayor then admitted that he also didn’t “know how to go about it.”

He also is not receiving a federal pension for the time he spent working as Manhattan’s US Attorney and for other government work he performed.

Author(s): GRAIG GRAZIOSI

Publication Date: 1 Jan 2024

Publication Site: Independent UK via AOL

NYC pension funds lose $2M in failed First Republic, Signature banks

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://nypost.com/2023/05/20/nyc-pension-funds-lose-2m-in-first-republic-signature-banks/

Excerpt:

City pension funds had almost $2 million invested with First Republic and Signature banks — losing it all when both banks failed this year.

The losses were contained in new data The Post obtained from the city Comptroller’s office under a Freedom of Information Law request.

Though a federal bailout rescued bank depositors, the city’s pension cash had been invested in bank stocks and bonds.

“The overall loss is negligible in the context of the daily market motions of our $240 billion pension funds,” said Chloe Chik, spokesperson for Comptroller Brad Lander.

All five city pensions funds were hit in the bank failures.

Author(s): Jon Levine

Publication Date: 20 May 2023

Publication Site: NY Post

Big City Pensions and the Urban Doom Loop

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://manhattan.institute/article/big-city-pensions-and-the-urban-doom-loop#new_tab

Graphic:

Key Findings:

  • Pension spending increased in all of the 10 largest American cities over the last decade, with a few cities experiencing a doubling or even tripling of their expenditures in 2021 dollars.
  • Almost all cities saw an increase in pension spending per employee.
  • There is large variation in the amount per employee that American cities are spending on pensions.
  • To respond to rising pension demands, some cities have reduced employment, often in the area of public safety.
  • A worsening market environment for pension funds will necessitate increased pension expenditures by cities in 2023 and beyond, exacerbating pressures to limit or reduce employment and, thus, city services.

Author(s): Daniel DiSalvo, Jordan McGillis

Publication Date: 6 April 2023

Publication Site: Manhattan Institute

NYC subway-track deaths soar, driven by social-media dares

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://nypost.com/2023/04/02/nyc-subway-track-deaths-soar-driven-by-social-media-dares/

Excerpt:

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority had distressing news last week: Deaths on subway-train tracks soared in 2022, to 88.

It’s a little-remarked element of our post-2020 era of disorder and chaos.

….

But as with everything else in New York in the past three years, things went awry. Last year’s 88 track deaths were 35% above the 2018 and 2019 averages — 65 each year.

For context, 120 pedestrians died above ground last year in crashes with cars or trucks, close to the average of 121 in 2018 and 2019.

….

What’s going on? Of 1,365 known subway-track incidents in 2022 (most of which didn’t end in death), about 15% were accidental falls or medical emergencies, a new MTA analysis finds.

A thankfully surprisingly low number — fewer than 10% — was suicides or suicide attempts.

An even smaller percentage was assaults — that is, people being pushed to the tracks. (Though with pushes to the tracks comprising three of last year’s 10 subway murders, a 30-year high, a small percentage is too many.)

In most cases — well more than two-thirds — people ended up on the tracks voluntarily.

In 20% of total cases, people were clearly mentally ill (but not attempting suicide); in another 10% or so, people were drugged or drunk.

….

The worst spike in track intrusions started a little more than a year ago, in December 2021 to February 2022. (This includes January 2022, when Michelle Go was pushed to her death in Times Square by a mentally ill, violent ex-con.)

This winter, track intrusions are down 30%.

Why? Largely police enforcement.

Author(s): Nicole Gelinas

Publication Date: 2 April 2023

Publication Site: NY Post

Crash Curse: In New York City, traffic deaths are up as enforcement is down.

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.city-journal.org/nyc-traffic-deaths-up-as-enforcement-is-down

Graphic:

Excerpt:

Since the Covid pandemic hit New York City in March 2020, traffic deaths have skyrocketed, just as they have across the country. Locally and nationally, these deaths have paralleled the same double-digit trajectory upward as homicides and drug-overdose deaths. In 2019, 220 New Yorkers died on city streets, near the record low of 206, set the year before. In 2021, 273 people died, a nearly one-quarter increase in two years. In 2022, as of late May, 93 people have died, down slightly from last year, but 12 percent above pre-Covid levels.

….

s in many areas of public safety and public health, New York City started the pandemic with an advantage. In 2019, the city’s 220 traffic deaths—whether people in cars, or pedestrians, or cyclists—represented a per-capita rate of about 2.6 per 100,000 residents, just a small fraction of the 11.1 per 100,000 killed nationwide. Among large, urbanized areas, New York stood out for safety, as well. In Miami-Dade County in 2019, for example, the rate was 11 per 100,000; metro Atlanta’s rate was similar. Even among denser northeastern and mid-Atlantic cities, which have long had lower traffic-death rates than the sprawling south and west, New York performed slightly better than Boston, with its 2.8 traffic deaths per 100,000, and much better than Philadelphia, with its 5.7 deaths per 100,000.

Pre-pandemic, New York’s falling traffic deaths made it a national outlier. Between 2011, when traffic deaths hit a modern low nationwide, and 2019, such fatalities across the country rose by 11.9 percent, to 36,355 annually. In Gotham over this period, by contrast, they fell 12 percent. The difference in pedestrian casualties was especially striking. Nationwide, pedestrian deaths began rising in 2010, after having fallen, reasonably steadily, for at least three decades. By 2019, annual pedestrian deaths had risen from their 2009 low by more than half. But in New York, pedestrian deaths fell by 21.5 percent over the same near-decade.

Author(s): Nicole Gelinas

Publication Date: Summer 2022

Publication Site: City Journal

NY State Pension Returns 9.5% in FY 2022, While NYC Pensions Lose 8.65%

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.ai-cio.com/news/ny-state-pension-returns-9-5-in-fy-2022-while-nyc-pensions-lose-8-65/

Excerpt:

The New York State Common Retirement Fund has reported a 9.51% investment return for fiscal year 2022, while the New York City Retirement System reported an annual preliminary loss of 8.65% among its five pension funds.

However, the fiscal year for the state’s pension ended March 31, while the city’s pension funds ended their fiscal year June 30, after a quarter during which global markets tumbled and the S&P 500 fell by more than 16%.

…..

The portfolio’s alternative investments buoyed the pension fund’s returns, which raised the portfolio’s asset value to $272.1 billion as of March 31. Private equity returned 37.57% for the year, while the fund’s real estate investments and real assets returned 27.4% and 16.12% respectively. The three asset classes account for nearly 24% of the portfolio’s total asset allocation. The pension fund recently reported that it had committed more than $3 billion in alternative investments during June alone.

The NYCRF had an asset allocation of 49.70% in publicly traded equities, 21.18% in cash, bonds and mortgages, 13.64% in private equity, 10.00% in real estate and real assets and 5.48% in credit, absolute return strategies and opportunistic alternatives. The fund’s long-term expected rate of return is 5.9%.

Author(s): Amy Resnick

Publication Date:

Publication Site: ai-CIO

Pension Plunge Puts Eric Adams in Future Financial Squeeze

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.thecity.nyc/2022/8/1/23287828/pension-plunge-eric-adams

Excerpt:

New York City’s pension funds lost 8.65% of their value for the fiscal year that ended June 30, according to a release Friday from city Comptroller Brad Lander. 

While more detailed information won’t be released until September, the losses reduced the pension funds to about $240 billion.

While the S&P 500 stock index fell 14% in the first six months of 2022, Lander said that all is well with the pension funds “Despite market declines on a scale that hasn’t been seen in decades, the New York City retirement system outperformed our benchmarks and are well positioned to weather market volatility in the long run,” he said in a statement.

But the city budget — currently $101 billion — will still take a hit.

Author(s): Greg David

Publication Date: 1 Aug 2022

Publication Site: The City

NYC Comptroller Lander and Trustees Announce $7 Billion Milestone in Climate Solutions Investment

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://comptroller.nyc.gov/newsroom/nyc-comptroller-lander-and-trustees-announce-7-billion-milestone-in-climate-solutions-investment/

Excerpt:

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and trustees of the New York City Retirement Systems announced that investments in climate solutions have now reached more than $7 billion across all systems and asset classes as of the end of 2021, well exceeding the $4 billion goal set by three of the funds in 2018. These investments in companies that are helping to facilitate a just transition to a low carbon economy build on the $4 billion divestment by three of the five funds from companies that own fossil fuel reserves, which is expected to be completed later this year.

This milestone surpasses the goals set by the New York City Employees’ Retirement System (NYCERS), Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS), and Board of Education Retirement System (BERS), in 2018 to double their investments in climate solutions from $2 billion to $4 billion by 2022. In October 2021, the three Systems adopted a goal to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. As part of this commitment, the three Systems set a goal to reach a total of $37 billion in climate solutions investments by 2035, in line with a total of $50 billion across all five Systems by 2035.

The climate solutions in the New York City Retirement Systems’ portfolio includes investments in companies that derive a majority of their revenue from climate mitigation, adaptation, and resilience activities, such as renewable energy, energy efficiency, pollution prevention, and low-carbon buildings. Climate solutions investments in the Systems’ portfolios have grown consistently and greatly in the last several years, more than doubling in value since 2018.

Author: Brad Lander

Publication Date: 5 April 2022

Publication Site: NYC Comptroller’s Office

New York City Wants to Amp Up Risk in Workers’ Pensions

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-york-city-wants-to-amp-up-risk-in-workers-pensions-11650976985

Graphic:

Excerpt:

New York City’s comptroller is the latest public official trying to change laws aimed at limiting risk in pension investments, as U.S. state and local pension funds try to plug shortfalls in a low-return environment.

Comptroller Brad Lander, who oversees about $260 billion in retirement money for city police, firefighters, teachers and other public workers, is asking New York lawmakers for more flexibility to invest in private markets, high-yield debt and foreign stocks. The state comptroller’s office, which supervises another $280 billion in retirement assets, views the idea favorably, with a representative saying such flexibility “is key in times of market volatility.”

Pension funds, like household investors, are facing a relatively bleak environment for stocks and bonds, the bread and butter of a traditional retirement portfolio. In the face of historic inflation and Federal Reserve efforts to contain it, these funds are finding they can no longer rely on bonds to rise when equities fall and vice versa. In the first quarter, the S&P 500 returned minus 4.6% while the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate bond index returned minus 5.93%.

“Those two things taken together is what’s scary: the prospect of both going down at the same time,” said Steve Foresti, chief investment officer at Wilshire Associates, which advises large public pension funds. Retirement portfolio managers, he said, are asking “in that environment, do I have anything that actually goes up?”

Author(s): Heather Gillers

Publication Date: 26 April 2022

Publication Site: WSJ

How Much Private Equity Is Too Much for a Public Pension?

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.ai-cio.com/in-focus/shop-talk/how-much-private-equity-is-too-much-for-a-public-pension/

Excerpt:

Pension funds around the U.S. are upping their allocations to private equity after a year of record-breaking returns. According to data obtained from Preqin, the average public pension’s allotment to private equity increased to 8.9% in 2021. In contrast, the average allocation was just 6.5% in 2012.

New York City’s pensions are among those that may see an increased allocation to the asset class in their portfolios should a new law pass. Currently, New York State implements a “basket clause,” which prevents public pensions from investing above 25% of their total portfolios in investments considered higher risk, including real estate, infrastructure, hedge funds, international equities, and private equity. The proposed law would increase that allocation to 35% for all pension funds in the state. If the law passed, the boards of New York City’s five public pensions would vote on whether to increase the “basket” for their own pension funds.

New York City Interim CIO Michael Haddad, who is responsible for overseeing investments in the five pension plans across the city, says that while the change in the law isn’t targeted at private equity exclusively, it’s likely that the asset class would increase.

Author(s): Anna Gordon

Publication Date: 10 May 2022

Publication Site: ai-CIO

New York pension money ‘held hostage’ by Vladimir Putin, Russia

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://nypost.com/2022/05/14/ny-pension-money-held-hostage-by-vladimir-putin-russia/

Excerpt:

New York employees and taxpayers are unwittingly financing Russian companies and the oligarch pals of Vladimir Putin with at least $519 million invested in assets now frozen by the war-mongering dictator, The Post has learned.

City and state pension systems have pledged to sell off the holdings in protest of Russia’s assault on Ukraine, but Moscow has prohibited foreign investors from dumping the stocks.

“Putin is a thug and he’s holding our money hostage,” said Gregory Floyd, a Teamsters union leader and trustee of the New York City Employee Retirement System, NYCERS.

New York City’s five pension systems – covering teachers, cops, firefighters and other city employees – have invested a total $284.5 million in 33 publicly traded Russian stocks, according to records released to The Post by city Comptroller Brad Lander’s office. 

On Feb. 25, the market value of the Russian assets was $185.9 million, nearly $100 million less than the purchase price, the latest available records show.

Author(s): Susan Edelman, Thomas Barrabi

Publication Date: 14 May 2022

Publication Site: NY Post