It’s campy, loud and a little gross.

But few things are more synonymous with good-old-fashioned fun than Coney Island. And after one of the darkest years in New York City’s history, the reopening of Luna Park today and the return to the world famous boardwalk is being met with a surfeit of joy and optimism — which is not something we’re really used to lately in New York City.

Mayor Bill de Blasio was late for his weekly interview with WNYC’s Brian Lehrer because he was riding the Cyclone, which may be the best excuse far in de Blasio’s history of tardiness.

“The mayor has unbuckled his seatbelt and is maybe wiping the cotton candy from his face,” Lehrer quipped while he waited.

Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul was on hand to kick off the festivities. De Blasio was joined on the roller coaster by Council Members Antonio Reynoso, Robert Cornegy Jr., Speaker Corey Johnson and State Sen. Diane Savino.

Three would-be mayors — Kathryn Garcia, Andrew Yang, and Scott Stringer — all had stops near Surf Ave. today.

And hard-nosed Wall Street Journal reporter Katie Honan claimed she was not crying at a kickoff speech delivered this morning by D.J. Vourderis, grandson of Denos Vourderis, of Wonder Wheel fame.

“Our differences aren’t so extreme, or even important enough to lose even one second of time being angry. Life is short. And for too many people this past year, tragically too short," Vourderis said. "So, let’s build a more considerate world in their memory. Let’s be better than we have been. Let’s listen, forgive and heal together. We started 2020 with a catastrophic pandemic about to devastate our world. We will respond with a roaring 20’s that bring about not just prosperity, but compassion. We have a chance to turn a wounded world into a wonderful one.”

“The eyes of generations to come will be watching what happens now," he said. "Let’s show them who we are. And as long as we remember who we are, Coney Island will always be a place for all people to come and play.”

Have a good weekend, New York.

IT’S FRIDAY, April 9. Welcome to PM Playbook, an afternoon check-in to spill the day’s tea — as we know it thus far — during one of the busiest seasons in New York politics. It’s the email version of the sweet caffeine that carries your brain from lunch to dinner. Got tips or suggestions? Shoot an email to [email protected] in Albany and [email protected] in NYC or send a shout on Twitter.

This newsletter has changed. As we move out of budget season, the PM Playbook is focused more on news out of the New York City mayor's race, which is only going to heat up in the coming months. On May 17 we'll return to our twin focus of city politics and the legislative session in Albany.

SAID TODAY: “There are investigations underway at this time. I’m here to show to the world that NYC’s back, ... There are a lot of answers that will be resolved in the impending months. There’s a number of investigations underway — I’m going to leave it at that.” — Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, via The Wall Street Journal reporters

NEW YORK will see a significant drop in the number of Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccines allocated to the state next week, following production issues at a Baltimore factory, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced today.

Key context: The state will receive just 34,900 Johnson & Johnson shots in week 18 of the vaccination rollout, which Cuomo noted represents “a drop of 88 percent week-over-week and the first decrease in weeks.” The decrease in supply comes just days after New York expanded vaccine eligibility to all New Yorkers aged 16 and older. But “no appointments should have to be canceled,” Cuomo said. — Shannon Young

MAYA WILEY won Rep. Yvette Clarke's backing for mayor in Flatbush today, an endorsement first reported by POLITICO. The nod represents a split in the Clarke family's Progressive Democrats Political Association club, some of whom have endorsed Eric Adams as others lean toward Yang.

“We have decided that in our first choice, because this is a ranked choice, we’re going to be doing member’s choice. A number of colleagues had preexisting relationships. We all came together and decided that first choice will be member’s choice. We will then be going back into a process to look at the rest of the rank choices that we have before us,” Clarke explained. “Most important is Maya Wiley is Yvette Clarke’s first choice.” Wiley and Clarke dismissed the concern that a wide range of progressive endorsements could be a boon for a more moderate candidate.

“I decided I would be as objective as possible,” Clarke said. “When I went through that assessment, I thought it was important that we change the status quo ... and I thought that it would be extraordinary for our city to embrace a Black woman.”

Wiley added that Clarke is part of a coalition of politicians and supporters that could help her reach Gracie Mansion and advocate for the needs of everyday New Yorkers. — Amanda Eisenberg

STRINGER would advocate for the Covid-19 vaccine to be mandated for the city’s 1.1 million public school kids — pending FDA approval — but most of the other Democratic mayoral candidates stopped short of such a move, according to a POLITICO survey posed to the eight leading hopefuls running in the June primary.

The Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine has been found to be 100 percent effective in children ages 12 to 15, as well as highly effective in teenagers 16 and older, which could be the key to schoolchildren resuming pre-pandemic-style, in-person learning. and Stringer, a public school parent, said he would push the state to include an approved Covid-19 vaccine to the immunization requirements, which include the measles-mumps-rubella and polio vaccines. — Amanda

MAYORAL CANDIDATES came out against the City Council’s practice of giving local members veto power on land use projects Thursday night. Candidates were asked at a forum hosted by the Supportive Housing Network of New York how they would respond to ‘not-in-my-backyard' pushback against supportive housing projects — a frequent occurrence when it comes to housing or services for people who have been homeless.

Several leading candidates said they don’t believe local Council members should be given singular power to shoot down rezonings in their districts — a power they largely have under the Council’s current land use traditions.

“While I think you have to create opportunity for people in communities to be part of the process, I do think that we can no longer create a NIMBYism that will hurt people in the city,” Stringer said during the forum. “I think at the end of the day ... no veto power, but I do believe in consulting and working with communities because that’s part of the success of a lot of these shelter and supportive housing initiatives.” — Janaki Chadha

CAMPAIGNING IN POETRY? “It’s not unheard of for job applicants to embellish their resumes. But a New York City Council wannabe from Brooklyn has made some real whoppers.

"Steven Patzer claimed to have an endorsement from a group called ‘New York Democrats.’ ‘I was expecting to get this endorsement next year, but in light of recent attacks about my loyalty to the Democratic party, they decided to endorse me now!’ he beamed on Facebook in December. ‘I am so humbled to receive the endorsement of the New York Democrats group.’

"The ‘endorsement’ came with a logo resembling that of the real state Democratic committee, prompting a stinging refutation from the real party. ‘The New York State Democratic Committee wants to be clear that it has not endorsed and does not endorse any candidate in New York City Council races at this point in time,’ it said in a statement. ‘Social media posts from Steven Patzer and any others indicating that they have our endorsement are inaccurate.’

"The real party called the ‘New York Democrats’ group ‘illegitimate,’ and said it "has not received our permission to use our likeness and/or branding” and contacted Facebook to have their page taken down.'” — The Daily News’ Shant Shahrigian

THE RACE FOR THE OTHER PLACE: Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin says he’s raised $1 million since launching a gubernatorial campaign on Thursday. A breakdown of the donors likely won’t be available until July, but a spokesperson for the campaign said “none of this includes transfers. No PACS, no corporations, no LLCs — these are all individuals.”

Boasting of first-day fundraising totals is becoming a bit of a rite of passage in New York politics. In 2018, Cynthia Nixon celebrated the fact she received 2,214 checks of less than $200 in the first 24 hours after she announced her plans to primary Cuomo, easily surpassing the number of small donors who gave to Cuomo in his first two terms in office.

Big early hauls, though aren't necessarily indicative of future financial success. Nixon wound up raising a relatively meager $2.8 million over the course of her campaign. — Bill Mahoney

STILL TO COME: The Islamic Leadership Council of New York is hosting a mayoral forum tonight at 7 p.m. (Ramadan Kareem for those who will be observing next week!)

POLITICO will be co-hosting three NYC debates in June with NBC 4 New York/WNBC and Telemundo 47/WNJU in the races for mayor and comptroller. Moderators include City Hall Bureau Chief Sally Goldenberg, WNBC political reporter Melissa Russo, WNBC news anchor David Ushery and WNJU morning news anchor Allan Villafana. More info here.

MEDIA MOVES: A couple of our friends over at Spectrum NY1 are getting promotions: Bob Hardt will become managing director of New York politics, and Michael Kurtz will be senior executive producer at one of our favorite shows: "Inside City Hall."

Jack Sterne will be leaving as a spokesman for the governor’s office and heading to the private sector.

Transportation: New Jersey Democratic Reps. Bill Pascrell and Josh Gottheimer said today the Biden administration should hold off on plans to tax drivers who enter Manhattan until more studies are done and hearings are held.

“This is an extra tax on our drivers, and that's exactly how we're going to look at it,” Pascrell said during a press conference held on a highway overpass in Fort Lee as cars and trucks sped by. “We have a responsibility to make sure New Jersey is going to be respected.” — Katherine Landergan

— Congestion pricing boosters on this side of the Hudson had some not nice words for the Garden State lawmakers. The MTA’s Ken Lovett noted the irony of “a representative from NJ is giving us advice on how to reduce pollution.” And NYCT Chief Sarah Feinberg pointed out that “anyone in New Jersey concerned about the possibility of tolls going up … can also ride NJ Transit.”

Streetsblog’s Dave Colon was slightly less diplomatic: “Polly Trottenberg left the reactionary swamp of community boards behind for … the reactionary swamp of dipshit New Jersey Congress clowns.”

Education: De Blasio said more than 40,000 families with young students and students with complex disabilities have opted into in-person learning as the deadline closes Friday.

"Today's gonna be the decisive day," the mayor said on WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show this morning. "Right now, we're well over 40,000 opt-ins, but we'll have the final number on Monday when we get a chance to really add up everything that comes in today."

The city recently announced it would revise its school closure policy. Schools will now close only if there are four or more coronavirus cases in the building. They also have to originate from a known exposure within the building. — Madina Touré

— Hip hop legend DMX has died. Born Earl Simmons in Mount Vernon, DMX faced some serious struggles but was one of the most influential rappers of his time and was synonymous with the New York hip-hop scene in the post Biggie era. He was 50.

— The state DMV’s online and phone systems for booking road tests have been down for more than a week, so if you wanted to schedule a test for a license, you’re SOL.

— There was a 2.5 hour long private irregular session for the state’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics. The result? "The commission discussed an authorized step in an investigative matter,” according to POLITICO’s eagle-eyed Bill Mahoney.

— The Syracuse area is getting the first downpayment — $800 million in the new state budget — for the plan to rebuild Interstate 81 “and the heart of Central New York’s interstate system.”

— New York is one of four states that doesn’t license athletic trainers. Trainers for the New York Yankees and Buffalo Bills are having a virtual event Monday with The New York State Athletic Trainers’ Association to explain why they believe that’s a problem. Here’s the link.

— LISTEN: To Capital Region Democrat Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner tell the Capital Pressroom about deer hunting for 12 and 13-year-olds that was authorized in this year’s budget.