A Message from the Comptroller   Budget season is in full swing and I just returned from Albany where I testified about the state of the City’s finances, the significant challenges we currently face, and the urgent need for greater investment in New York City through State funding. As you’ve likely heard, the City faces a multi-billion-dollar budget gap in the next two years. It’s not all doom and gloom, however; revenue is high and revised tax receipts are up this year. Still, New York remains a city of contradictions. The stock market is at an all-time high — the Dow above 50,000 for the first time ever — yet nearly 90,000 New Yorkers slept in our shelters last night. New York City is home to more billionaires than any other city in the world. And yet nearly one in four New Yorkers live in poverty. That’s 2 million people, including 420,000 children. And this month’s New York by the Numbers, our monthly economic snapshot, reflects that disconnect. While New York City’s office market has continued its steady and robust rebound in early 2026, job growth remains stagnant, with weekly jobless claims creeping upward in January and persistent hiring challenges for recent graduates which could further hamper future job growth. Rents continue to soar, which means shelter costs and the City’s contribution to rent subsidy programs are also rising. At the same time, New York City remains a preeminent destination with tourism numbers coming in stronger than last January and higher consumer confidence than the rest of the country. These contradictions are also evident in the City’s budget. With a fiscal gap not seen since the Great Recession, all options are on the table and a stronger partnership with Albany will be essential — after all, New York City sends far more money to the state than we receive in return; by one recent estimate, more than $20 billion. If we act now with clarity, urgency, and a real partnership with Albany, we can create a more resilient fiscal foundation, steel ourselves for the uncertainty ahead, and be a city and state that leaves no one behind. As always, we will continue to track these trends closely and share clear, data-driven insights to help New Yorkers understand what’s happening in our economy, and what it means for the City’s future. Sincerely, New York City Comptroller Mark D. Levine

Office of the New York City Comptroller Office of New York City Comptroller Mark D. Levine 1 Centre Street New York, NY 10007 United States

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Financial resilience is the ability to withstand life events that impact one’s income and/or assets. Some financially stressful events, such as unemployment, divorce, disability, and health problems can affect people in different ways, and it’s clear that many Americans have been facing short-term money challenges brought about by COVID-19.

A new survey shows say the pandemic has changed their perceptions of what’s important in life as it relates to their finances. For example:
 A majority of adults (nearly 60%) say they have experienced financial stress amid the pandemic.
 About two-thirds now want to save more, view emergency funds as more important than ever, and place more value on being resilient.
 One-third had their employment affected.
 1 in 5 had to tap into an emergency fund.
 1 in 4 took on more debt.

But there are strategies to help everyone achieve financial resilience in today’s climate.

Strategies include:
 Increasing retirement savings: Saving for retirement is a top contributor to financial resilience, yet 60% of respondents report they’re falling behind.
 Having a source of guaranteed lifetime income in retirement: 90% agree it’s important to have source of income that will not run out as they age, but most don’t know how to make that happen.
 Building an emergency savings fund: 77% of individuals now report having emergency savings compared to prior to the pandemic when only 69% said they had savings for emergencies.
 Paying down dept: Nearly 65% of those surveyed say they have some form of debt beyond their car or mortgage.

Shelly-Ann Eweka, Director of Financial Planning Strategy at TIAA to discuss strategies of how Americans can focus on long term financial planning, especially during periods of economic uncertainty. She’ll also reveal details of the Financial Resiliency Survey.
Interview is courtesy: TIAA Financial Services

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Some 52% of Americans said that the COVID-19 pandemic has made it more difficult for them to get their prescriptions. That could be a number of factors, difficulty seeing doctors, getting to the pharmacy, and even a loss of health insurance due to high unemployment numbers.
The survey was commissioned by FemiClear for Genital Herpes, a new OTC treatment shown to be effective in reducing the severity of genital herpes outbreaks.
FemiClear has been working with Dr. Jessica Shepherd, an OBGYN and gynecological surgeon at Baylor Medical Center, to get the word out about the impact of COVID on Americans including the 1 in 6 women who suffer from genital herpes.
www.organicare.com
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VENICE BEACH the musical

A contemporary musical with various styles of music and dance from hip hop
and rock to standard musical theater about American college graduates trying
to survive in the post-graduate world between 2008 and 2012, a time of
economic recession and high unemployment. Jesse, a native Californian, is
trying to convince three of his mid-western fraternity brothers, Bradley,
Michael, and Steven, to move with him to Venice, California, promise land of
sun, surf, hot girls in bikinis, and plenty of jobs. During their graduation
ceremony at Ohio State University, they express their doubts and concerns
about what’s next after college. At the celebration party that night in
their favorite campus bar, The Stadium Pub, they shake off their fears and
agree to go, encouraged by Joe the Barman to get out of Ohio and pursue
their dreams. They drive together to California in Jesse’s car, where they
lease a beach house in Venice. The boys initially try to keep the college
party lifestyle going. They adopt a new favorite bar, the Sidewalk Café,
where Joe the Barman once again presides. Gradually, however, they face all
the challenges of the adult world, no longer cradled in college campus life,
nor funded and cared for by parents. They must make tough choices regarding
starting their careers, pursuing relationships, making rent, paying off
student loans, discovering self-identity, and ultimately, dealing with
disillusionment when their high expectations, and those of their parents,
don’t meet reality as they learn that success and happiness isn’t always
rewarded simply for individual effort.

Jesse, handsome and charismatic, immediately adopts a player life style
and seems to get whatever he wants. He lands a good job at Merril-Lynch, but
quietly struggles with the heartbreaking loss of his failed writer/artist
father from suicide during his junior year. He also finds that his job in
finance holds no interest for him, nor has he any real aptitude for it at
heart, he’s an actor/singer and a writer himself. He is also frustrated with
his mother, Kay, who, though she loves him dearly, is unintentionally
encroaching on his space in Venice, for she herself moves there in her
transition out of grief, as she strives to reclaim the lost years of her
youth because of marrying so young. Bradley finds an entry level job at
Coldwell Banker real estate, and begins guiltily to enjoy his temporary
freedom from Emily, his fiancé who must stay in Ohio to finish her senior
year. From a distance, she expresses her anquish over his absence, for she
has always placed her music and singing aspirations second to Bradley’s
plans for their future. She believes him when he says he will only be gone
for the summer, but when he informs her he wants to stay longer, she is
heartbroken. Michael, a talented architect and former fraternity president,
is hired at Cunningham, a prestigious architecture firm, and begins to
pursue Sarah, his hard-driving, slightly older project manager. He
gradually discovers he doesn’t like his work, nor does he feel comfortable
with Sarah. Ultimately, he meets Kenny, a gay art teacher and yogi, who
helps him to -come out- and re-discover his love for painting. Steven, a
tough, Irish Catholic from the working class farming community of
Youngstown, also majored in architecture, but is unable to get hired, so he
begins waiting tables to pay his portion of the rent. He sees Marika, a
beautiful Eur-Asian yoga instructor with several tattoos, and joins her yoga
class on the beach. They begin to date, and through her influence, he
discovers a deep interest in yoga and a desire to be health conscious, all
the while covering himself in tattoos. Marika has always distrusted men due
to her father’s early abandonment, but her unlikely relationship with Steven
becomes, surprisingly, the most stable one of the group. Things change for
Jesse when he reconnects with an old musical theater friend and high school
prom date, Rose, now an eclectic, Bard educated woman living in Mexico.
Jesse begins to fall in love again, but Rose’s fierce independence and
desire to explore the world causes her to avoid his romantic advances,
though not necessarily his sexual ones. The Boys fun Venice Beach life
begins to unravel during a crazy, alcohol and drug-filled Halloween party,
where Bradley cheats on Emily with Sarah. Michael confronts Bradley over his
disloyalty, and Bradley accidently –outs- him as a defense for his actions.
As winter 2009 arrives, the boys see that the party is over and so they
decide to go their separate ways. Bradley returns to Ohio but Emily refuses
to take him back. She now has plans to go to NY and attend graduate school
for music. In May 2009, as they are all moving out of the Venice Beach
house, Bradley, shattered by losing Emily, as well as his job at Coldwell
Banker, and facing the prospect of moving back in with his parents in Ohio,
attempts to take his own life with pills. Jesse is shaken by his friend’s
act, especially since the experience of his father’s suicide is still so
painful. Jesse has also been let go at Merrill Lynch, which is downsizing.
When Rose leaves for Africa to work for the Peace Corps for two years, it
becomes clear that they will remain -just friends- and nothing more. She
says goodbye to him on Venice Beach, leaving him alone, loveless, jobless,
hopeless, wondering what he’s going to do. At that moment, his father
appears to him (or is it simply Jesse’s subconscious) to talk with him he
gives him the advice and guidance he’s been needing for some time.

One year later, June 2010, Jesse moves to New York to reclaim the acting and
singing aspirations he once had and then temporarily abandoned. Bradley is
back in Ohio, Steven is living with Marika in Venice and Michael with
Kenny in West Hollywood. Having kept in touch with Emily over the years,
Jesse responds to her facebok invitation to go and see her sing a set at The
Bitter End club in N.Y. She has found her voice, and is pursuing her singing
career. At the club, Jesse finds himself attracted to her, and after the
show, they lament about how things were when they were kids, how they were
led to believe by everyone that they were special, that fate had great
things in store for them, but they now know that life is much more
complicated than that. The Bitter End seamlessly transforms into the
Sidewalk Café back in Venice Beach where they join the old gang who have all
come together again. Only now, it is two years later, June 2012, and The
Boys, Kenny, Marika have come together for Jesse and Emily’s wedding to
occur on Venice Beach the following day. Joe the Pastor officiates the
wedding. He urges them to enjoy life and love while they can, but work to
make it last. At the ceremony, The Boys once again express their angst over
what’s next, for they still don’t know for sure what the future holds for
them. But they have come to understand that they must simply continue on
doing the best they can to learn, to live, to love, to work, and to grow.

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AMAC acts and speaks on behalf of its members, protecting their interests and offering a practical insight on how to best solve the problems they face today. AMAC’s advice to Seniors: Live long and make a difference! More information is available about AMAC at: http://amac.us

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