For the first time since 2000, the mayoralty of New York City will be an open seat, and there are a lot of people grabbing for it.

Depending on how you count the candidates—most are still technically undeclared—there are at least a dozen hopefuls vying for the job, and possibly as many as 20. And though quite a few of the would-be mayors will likely not make the ballot, with the passage of a 2010 referendum reducing the number of signatures required to qualify by 50 percent—to 3,500—it is likely that the victor will ultimately have to vanquish a crowded field of challengers in order to prevail.

And who will the big winner be? The answer is anyone’s guess.

Visit cityandstateny.com to read the full article.

Who are the 100 most powerful people in New York City politics? Of course, the answer is both subjective and controversial. Still, in an audacious attempt to arrive at a ranking that reflects who really are the movers and shakers that drive New York City’s agenda, City & State has solicited the off-the-record opinions of many of the five borough’s most savvy political insiders, poured over dozens of reader nominations and incorporated the results of our online polls. It should be emphasized that the scope of this list has been limited strictly to city politics. It does not judge each individual’s place in history or standing on the statewide, national or global stage. If that had been our aim, we would have arrived at a very different list. Also, though our selectees come from different communities, genders, parties, sexual orientations and religious affiliations, we openly acknowledge that the list does not adequately represent the city’s rich diversity. We do believe, however, that it is an accurate portrait of the distribution of power in city politics at this moment in time—and thus an illustration of how far we still need to go for our government to mirror the demographics and dynamics of its people. With no further ado, we boldly present City & State‘s first-ever New York City Power 100 List. We hope it gets you talking.

To read the full list, please visit cityandstateny.com.

The East River Ferry (via nycedc.tumblr.com)

The closure of the flooded subway system frustrated commuters earlier this month but it was a godsend for the East River Ferry.

Over 7,400 commuters crowded into the boats on Nov. 1, a number more than double the average ridership for the season. The weekend saw heavy ridership numbers as well, with 5,000 on Nov. 3, 3,000 on Nov. 4, and more than 7,700 people on Tuesday, Nov. 6, one of the highest totals of the year. When the L train returned on Friday, Nov. 9, some 3,200 people rode the ferry over the East River, an average figure for this time of year.

Ferry officials say that the high figures show the service is a necessary transit alternative for the city. “The return of the East River Ferry service was a significant step in providing a quick and safe transit option for commuters heading back to work in the wake of Hurricane Sandy,” said Paul Goodman, CEO of Billybey Ferry Company.

To read more New York political coverage, visit cityandstateny.com.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is pushing for high-tech investment in New York, has touted the University of Albany’s College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering. (Photos from College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering)

New York City isn’t the only part of the state that has been attracting a growing number of high-tech companies.

In upstate areas struggling to rebound from the recession and recover from the longer-term decline in manufacturing, the state has been recruiting companies like Yahoo! and IBM to add or expand operations, create new jobs and assist in rebuilding the economy.

To read the full article, please visit cityandstateny.com.

The embattled legislator had already lost his coveted housing committee and Brooklyn Democratic Party chairmanships this summer when news broke of allegations that he sexually harassed four female staff members.

To read the full article, please visit cityandstateny.com.

NYC Board of Elections Commissioner “J.C.” Polanco (via Twitter)

With Election Day rapidly approaching, the devastation from Hurricane Sandy could have residual consequences that may alter the outcome of local and federal elections. With many polling sites still without power and thousands of residents displaced due to flooding and damage to their homes, the New York City Board of Elections has been scrambling to come up with solutions that would allow voters to cast their ballot.

To read the complete article please visit www.cityandstateny.com.

A tree blocks two lanes of traffic on Bedford Avenue at Avenue T in Brooklyn.

Their offices were flooded, their phones were down and the power has been out, but that hasn’t stopped lawmakers in Zone A from helping their constituents.

Sen. Dan Squadron

On Monday, New York City Councilman Steve Levin drove around Brooklyn neighborhoods from Manhattan to Atlantic avenues monitoring flooding and gawking at residents who did not evacuate from their Zone A condos.

To read the full story, visit www.cityandstateny.com.

Bob Turner. Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons.

As legislators scrambled to get their bills passed with the session coming to a close this week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo saw his marijuana legislation go up in smoke, reviving questions about a second-year slump, but sealed a deal on teacher evaluations with the strategic mastery politicos have come to expect from the governor. So with mixed results for Cuomo, we looked elsewhere across the city and state for this week’s winners and losers.

Peter Rivera – When Gov. Cuomo nominated the assemblyman a few months ago to take over as commissioner of the Labor Department, Rivera indicated that it was a hard sell and said that the governor had to convince him to leave. But he’s following a well-worn path to Cuomo-land, a haven for Assembly refugees. And with Rivera’s ties to a troubled Bronx nonprofit, whose executive director was just convicted of fraud and obstruction of justice, the assemblyman may have decided that it was time to go.

Richard Iannuzzi – The Legislature’s passage of a bill to limit disclosure of teacher evaluations was a rare win for the NYSUT president, who has found himself a political punching bag for months as the national political discourse turned toward talk of taming the unions. But Senate Republicans gambled this week on siding with NYSUT over Mayor Michael Bloomberg, both party benefactors, despite Bloomberg’s largesse toward the conference and disapproval of the bill. Iannuzzi, unlike Bloomberg, isn’t a lame duck.

Preet Bharara – We weren’t keeping track with an abacus or anything, but we’re sort of stunned to realize the Southern District U.S. Attorney had notched 60 convictions in insider trading cases over his term in office, including his conviction last week of former Goldman Sachs board member and McKinsey & Co. head Rajat Gupta, a case that had news outlets pondering whether he’d replace Eric Holder as Attorney General or whether he might be the next Eliot Ness. In the middle of it, Bharara took time out to seek the safe return to Mongolia of a dinosaur skeleton, showing there’s no case too big, or too prehistoric, for him to tackle.

Clyde Williams – Prior to Saturday, former DNC political director Clyde Williams’ campaign for Congress was largely ignored, as the media reduced the five-candidate field in NY-13 to Rangel vs. Espaillat. Then came the Times endorsement and a glowing follow-up profile by the Grey Lady. The next day the Daily News added their nod. All this ink might end up being too little too late for Williams, but his campaign couldn’t have hoped for a better final stretch before Tuesday’s primary.

Bob Turner – Turner’s Senate campaign again showed its mastery at pulling off publicity stunts. The same team that engineered last summer’s defeat of David Weprin brought Turner to south Brooklyn this week to sing God Bless the U.S.A. with a bunch of kindergartners, in protest of reports that the kids were being forced to sing Justin Bieber at a graduation ceremony instead of the patriotic song. But the protest turned ugly as the kids were heckled by adults – and when the whole thing was caught on video, Fox News and other conservative media outlets had a fit. Then, Turner blamed the whole thing on Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who he may face this fall. In an otherwise low-interest Senate race, Turner found a way to get himself noticed by conservatives.

George Maragos - The GOP candidate for U.S. Senate tried to spin his decision to pay himself back $795,000 of the money he lent his largely self-financed campaign as savvy fiscal management, but it was hard to construe the six-figure withdrawal, which was disclosed in a late filing, as anything other than a tacit admission that his campaign is a sinking ship. Candidates who believe they are going to win pour every last cent they have into the final days of a tight race. Soon-to-be losers, well, they do what Maragos did.

Michael Grimm – The Staten Island congressman is celebrating “Take Your Dog To Work Day” today with his Yorkshire Terrier, Sebastian, but what’s really dogging him these days is the FBI’s investigation into his campaign fundraising. His most recent campaign disclosures listed hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees – far more than he brought in during the same period – and several people on his campaign subsequently said the FBI had been asking questions about 2010 campaign donations and who collected them. A “ruff” time, indeed.

Nick Spano – Some tax cheats do pay the price, it turns out. Once one of the state’s most influential lawmakers, Spano this week was sentenced to a prison term for failing to pay $53,000 in taxes, though the year and a day he’ll spend behind bars is at least somewhat less than the 18 months the prosecutor asked for. He’ll also get to enjoy his freedom through Independence Day – when he’ll perhaps ponder his betrayal of the public trust and the black mark he brought to Westchester’s powerful Spano family – before being locked up on July 9.

Yossi Gestetner - Gestetner resigned his new job as director of Jewish outreach for the state GOP this week after reports surfaced of his past work for an anti-Zionist group and defense of accused sex offenders. That wasn’t exactly convenient for the state GOP, which is trying to make inroads into Brooklyn’s Orthodox community, though the whole thing did seem a slight bit unfair. A well-known Jewish blogger, Gestetner blamed the whole thing on his past, negative writings about Senate candidate Simcha Felder.

Larry Seabrook - What could be worse than facing a corruption trial? Answer: facing your second corruption trial, on the same charges, after having the first one declared a mistrial. No matter what the verdict in the City Councilman’s second case, and despite what, if any, good he’s done as a lawmaker, he won’t be able to shed the ignominy of his doctored receipt charging New York taxpayers $177 for a $7 Snapple and a bagel. That’s a pretty harsh sentence all on its own.

To vote for the ultimate political Winner & Loser from this week visit City & State by clicking here.