Mr. de Blasio, who needed Mr. Cuomo’s approval to act, pushed out a plan without the state’s blessing, only to have the governor override that plan with one of his own — causing unnecessary confusion for thousands of business owners and school parents. … As Mr. Cuomo’s staff worked to finish their own plan, Mr. Cuomo tried his hand at diplomacy, gathering Orthodox leaders on a conference call Tuesday morning. The governor asserted that local officials like Mr. de Blasio wanted a “total close-down” of synagogues, while he wanted to work with the Orthodox community to cap the occupancy at 50 percent. “I don’t want to do it in an adversarial way,” the governor said, according to a recording of the conversation obtained by The New York Times. “I need you to tell the community, ‘We have to comply.’”

Source: New York Times November 12, 2020 06:56 UTC