Lived in LI and NYC for my first 30 years before moving to Chicago. Started my own business here. Any thoughts I have had about expanding to NYC flickered ever fainter as taxes and regulations there grew. Now that hope is extinguished. Well, maybe Amazon will provide all the jobs needed - who needs startups that can’t afford massive, mandated employer-paid taxes (and that is exactly what they are) from day one.
27
this is crazy talk. Cuba & Venezuela come to mind. Last I heard people are fleeing these countries. Redistributionist policies might sound good but are disingenuous. Yes, there are issues ie increasing income inequality; however punishing the wealthy & affluent is not the answer. Tax us enough and we seek other alternatives. Think about where the problem lies - in part inadequate public education system. You can socially engineer lief all you want - without education yu end up in the scramble heap. Fix that. Get teachers to be more efficient. I could go on; tired fingers.
27
The NY Times has abdicated their responsibility to NYC.
Read through the comments on this article - there is an overwhelming groundswell of outrage and frustration with this Mayor.
If the Times covered this situation as they cover the Federal mess, there might be some hope of bringing forth change.
For example:
We've seen endless articles about the defects of the Electoral College, but the barest mention that DeBlasio was elected by 8.5% of New Yorkers.
We've seen endless articles about Russian collusion, self dealing, and other conflicts, yet glancing attention paid to DeBlasio's involvement with illegal/inappropriate donors, shell non-profits, and purchased influence - then having taxpayers cover his legal bills.
We've heard endlessly about nepotism in Washington, but only periodically about Chirlane McCray's growing staff, payroll, personal ambitions, and role in policy making.
We've read about political gridlock in Washington - and yet the DeBlasio/Cuomo feud is as petty and ego-maniacal as feuds come.
NY Times' readers commenting on this article are frustrated beyond belief with the subway, public housing, fleeing retailers, traffic congestion, construction noise...yet the Mayor's response is to promise more "free" stuff to the sliver of voters who supported him.
If the Times would regularly and loudly beat the drum on these issues we might have hope.
In the meantime, he should be forbidden from using the word "free." Somebody has to pay, and it is us.
60
Bill de Blasio worked for Danny Noriega as he attempted to establish a socialist authoritarian government in Nicaragua. He hasn’t changed his beliefs. Yet New Yorkers elected him twice and now have to live with his nonsense.
27
de Blasio and Trump simply two sides of the same coin - incompetent, intellectually lazy with narcissism as their polestar.
21
Wow! He is beginning to sound like Hugo Chavez. God help us.
26
He's such a horrible Mayor. Like all Marxists his real enemy is the middle class. He wants to take their hard earned wealth and redistribute it to himself and his family and his cronies.
29
If there's plenty of money to go around, there must be lots of inflation to contain it.
De Blasio treats transfers of wealth between rich and poor on the same criteria that he projects liberal or conservative interests on the Democratic and Republican parties. If Democrats and Republicans compose a population, then the party becomes irrelevant to the interest, we might notice, What prosperity did the working class earn here? Which goals separate the power to transfer wealth from the duty to provide a public service at a reasonable cost?
Otherwise, he appeals to suffering as an excuse for shortage as the problem his politics ignores. So while money's effective value becomes more obvious, the interest and principal on the policy should determine no value to either party of any "deal"? When does anybody get out of bankruptcy court in this system? Do commercials become bullhorns as a practical matter?
3
He sounds so much like Maduro.
24
Communism failed, Bill. Google it.
28
Just about every comment I've read here is overwhelmingly negative. Were you not aware of any of these faults in November 2017? None of what he's doing should come as a surprise.
So to those commenters who live in NYC - who did you vote for? Or did you vote at all? Instead of electing an accomplished woman you elected a clown - with lots of money behind him. Just because she had an R next to her name?
You reap what you sow. Unfortunately, so do I.
20
As much as you want to be President, DeBlasio, it’s never going to happen. You’re a terrible mayor and widely disliked. I’m a lifelong Democrat and I would never vote for you. Go away.
35
@Reader look at what happened to AOC; she got passed over for seat on important committee. Just like extreme right unacceptable, the progressive left is disingenuous. The middle works
10
Mayor De Blasio is fine with wealth in the form of those luxury high rises going up all over the City. They get twenty year tax abatements. They are also main contributors to his Fairness PAC. Also he does not want to add to your burden with congestion pricing if you're too rich to use mass transit. But he'll come after you for funds to support his self glorifying generosity if you own your home in the five boroughs. Homes including those shown in the opening and closing credits of the show "All in the Family." Those are actual domiciles still in Queens, and they have seen their property taxes rise some 30% since Mayor Fairness has been in office, ostensibly owing to rising property values, although this past November the City saw fit to raise the rate for good measure. But who cares? As far as the Mayor is concerned, this diverse cadre of dutifully tax paying middle class home owners might as well all be Archie Bunker deplorables, safely outside the realm of any De Blasio regard.
20
Unfortunately after two previous mayors who helped lift the city in so many ways, New York is stuck with a pretentious and ineffective blow-hard, who thinks more about self-aggrandizing speeches dripping with populist cliches than spending his time working to manage municipal problems. His short working hours and absenteeism reported in this paper are disgraceful! He was elected twice in a small turn-out by what appears to be an otherwise apathetic electorate. It seems as though he’s done nothing for the city at all, and now with over-reaching comments favoring economic re-engineering he’s looking for a national stage. Another buffoon who wants the top job and loves himself! Does that sound familiar?
19
So much more hot air from "Do-Nothing" DeBlasio. He's going to "redistribute wealth"? Just exactly where does the mayor of New York City have the power to do that? WHO is going to decide how to redistribute it exactly and WHY should he be the one to draw the line between those who are wealthy and those who are poor? For someone so interested in the poor of this city, he's done damned little to benefit them from what I can tell. Maybe he should end his daily escort to Park Slope where his favorite gym is located and donate the $100K plus it costs annually to drive him there to a worthwhile organization for the homeless, for starters. I'm not saying that anyone should forgo all privileges before they can claim to want to help others, I'm simply saying that he's been a BAD example of how best to help the needy here in NYC. Seriously, other than extending pre-K schooling, what other program has he done and what has he accomplished? Finally, to reiterate: WHAT powers does DeBlasio have to redistribute wealth?
34
Rudy and Bloomberg cleaned up the streets of NYC. de Blasio is ruining them
47
de Blasio appears to be the Democrat's Trump. Self aggrandizing, self-absorbed, and totally interested in power. What he is missing is any experience in any industry or business. PS I thought he was the mayor of NYC, not a presidential candidate traveling across the country to promote his 'achievements' and ideas that relate to disgruntle folks not making the money they'd like to have given to them. Is he getting paid to be the Mayor or is this a side-job pro bono?
36
Outright socialism from the socialist in chief. You voted for him New Yorkers. Now you are stuck with him.
33
"Mankind is divided into rich and poor, into property owners and exploited; and to abstract oneself from this fundamental division; and from the antagonism between poor and rich means abstracting oneself from fundamental facts." Joseph Stalin
Amazing that if you support the ideology of Hitler and the Nazis you are labeled (correctly) as an intolerant fool. But embrace an ideology that promised a better life for all as many were being starved and tortured, well it seems that's cool to a lot of people today. There is no perfect system but Capitalism seems to be as good as we'll get. Of course, its the obligation of those that succeed in a Capitalistic system to make sure that there are adequate resources provided to those unable to support themselves, which we do pretty good job of currently as a nation. Some would argue that most of the poor today live a far less challenging lives then almost all the people living 100 years ago, rich or poor. Capitalism (along with technology) has raised the standard of living for rich and poor alike, while socialism has done just the opposite.
We must not forget the lessons of history, especially when people believe that it's government that's the solution to our problems. I believe Mayor Stalin is wrong thinking.
19
..what a liar. The Mayor said ".....the city has plenty of money..."
The city couldn't even pay the desperately needed repairs for the hundreds of public housing projects managed by NYCHA.
Hundreds of thousands of NYC residents live without utilities, or with disrepair and neglect after years of mismanagement. de Blasio's head of NYCHA lied under oath about lead paint tests to children.
The city has all time record debt of $116 billion - it's grown by over 60% since de Blasio has been in office....his 10 year capital plan will increase that debt substantially.
The city currently has unfunded pension liability of $98 billion - how will it pay pension to city workers.
The current deficit is estimated to be $3.8 billion - de Blasio will spend almost $4 billion more than New York City's revenues.
According to Scott Stringer, there are over 100 high schools in New York City where the graduation rates have declined and are in disrepair since the Mayor took office and those rates are currently hovering around 50% - pathetic.
He's mismanaged our city and is now positioning himself for Governor of New York - good riddance - New York City's gain will be Albany's loss.
He's a loser - he's fiscally irresponsible - he's
27
"seize buildings of scofflaw landlords"? The biggest scofflaw landlord of them all is NYCHA. What's the Mayor going to do about that?
18
Finance is not some giant conspiracy by Bilderberg, green lizards or what ever.
It is simply a mathematical machine - totally amoral
But like any machine it has to be controlled - that is the fallacy of the free market (which by the way does not exist)
But it was originally built as a tool to facilitate trade not to be an entity with any sort of value in its own right.
In short it must be humanity's servant not its master
2
Typical of his arrogance to be able to determine that one's wealth, however earned, is "in the wrong hands". Of course, if you're a bribing sycophant or the Mayor himself - apparently his quarter of a million dollar salary (complete with perks like being chauffeured around like a star), two homes, conveniently created job for his spouse, etc.) - it's alright, for he assumes HIS wealth is in the "right" hands. This is just as offensive as the insult from Obama with his "you didn't build that" nonsense.
27
PTO for all, healthcare for all, wealth redistribution.... I do support these ideas but... why all this now? Is the mayor working on his Progressive Brand for 2020?
Signed,
Cynical Voter
5
@Lifelong New Yorker Apparently his WifeMother has convinced him he needs to run for President. Then she is apparently going to run to replace him as Mayor.
7
“Here’s the truth, brothers and sisters, there’s plenty of money in the world."
He should have addressed the brotherhood in the "world" church down the street: the UN.
It's a scene right scene right out of Animal Farm where the great prize hog, Major, addresses the plebs, with Napoleon and Snoball rudely elbowing the brethren for the best seats. Has he announced his world tour yet? Let's hope coastal elites get a de Blasio in every city. He can start his shakedown with Bezos, both of them, move on to Gates, Google, Facebook, and then inland to Omaha. There's enough loot there to fund the UN for 100 years. Fast track this man to 2020. But a nation is too small for him. He's big enough for the UN.
7
I have not seen one positive comment here - not one - although I'd expect that at least some readers of the NYT would support a liberal Democratic mayor. I agree with all of the comments posted. During his tenure, DeBlasio has (1) nearly gotten charged with felonies for violating campaign finance laws, earning rebukes from two prosecutors, (2) steadily increased the city payroll which guarantees more pain during the next recession, (3) appointed a NYCHA commissioner who submitted false reports attesting to housing inspections that were never completed, (4) allowed his wife to appoint a "staff" for her "work" for the city, at an annual cost that exceeds $1 million, (5) thoroughly alienated the rank-and-file of the NYPD, despite throwing money at the agency, (6) wasted millions of taxpayer dollars by agreeing to settle pending litigation that probably would have been settled anyway at far less cost had he not committed to the settlements during his campaign for mayor, and (7) made a fool of himself by campaigning for Hillary Clinton in Iowa - where no one knew who he was when he knocked on doors out there. Enough already. Thankfully he won't be running for re-election in 2021.
26
@Arthur Larkin Yes, I think many of the people snarling at him now do support liberal Democrats and many of these same people voted for him, at least the first time. But what has become apparent to many of us is that he is really second or third rate -- not that smart, self absorbed, a guy who made a career out of lower level "public service" jobs (and we know now wasn't that good at any of them) and got lucky when his cute son did a clever campaign ad 5 years ago ( at the same time many of us were not impressed with Christine Quinn, until then considered the leading Dem candidate).
But watch out, his WIfeMother apparently wants to run to succeed him.
11
It sounds like the people he is reaching are in need of a babysitter/parent.
I guess it pays to elect politicians who will give you everything you should be earning for yourself.
12
This charlatan, well-named "Big Bird", has really gassed his head up with red hot rhetoric and grandiose visions for himself.
News flash: DiBlasio may like to throw an occasional verbal hand grenade at the conversation about the class divide, but he is no Robespierre.
He abases himself before the thuggish and unchanging secrecy-obsessed bullies at the NYPD. He is the lap dog of Big Real Estate. And he revels in luxury in limousines while his minions cook the books about failing schools, NYCHA's collapse, and phoney crime statistics. And he is a landlord!
The carnage of cars running wild, causing pedestrian and cyclist deaths and injuries, does not disturb his sleep.
His populism is a pathetic masquerade. We need a mayor who is interested in managing NYC. This narcissist is the worst candidate for the actual job. Thank God for term limits.
16
@Michael McAllister Indeed. Thank God for term limits, but there is talk his WifeMother wants to succeed him.
4
Let the redistribution start with his bank accounts. And he should sell his house and move to a 1 bedroom apartment. While he's at it, why doesn't he sell his SUV, take the subway and taxis and give up his armed security too? Yeah, when pigs fly, I know. Libprogs are the biggest hypocrites ever.
18
@Marc Medina Indeed. And despite being chauffeured to his gym in Brooklyn every day he seems to be gaining weight -- at least he looked to be developing a double chin the last time I looked.
7
He has not the background, skills, education or intelligence to decide to redistribute wealth-doing it correctly, he has a better chance of being capable of mixing rocket fuel for SpaceX.
Stick to what you're good at-when you figure that out.
18
@Matt Loved your comment. Sad but true.
7
The Communist Mayor of NYC, who paid the richest man in the world $3 billion to bring jobs to NYC, says the mopney is in the wrong hands. Crony capitalism? At least the money will be changing hands soom...at least half of it to the soon-to-be-ex Mrs. Bezos. Is that what he meant?
19
Stupidity masquerading as virtue
21
Wealth redistribution is the mantra for all socialist democrats. Every working person should be concerned before their take home pay is extorted by this thiefl
18
Growing up in New York, I heard about the blocks east of Avenue A with drug addicts openly buying and using. Never actually ventured that Far East out of fear. Well, yesterday I saw this with my own eyes - in 2019 - not in Alphabet City, but on Washington Place between Washington Square Park and Sixth Ave - approx. 10+ addicts and dealers openly and fearlessly getting high at 1 pm. I actually asked the doorman at WSP about it and they said they have tried but nothing can be done.
Yes this is a upscale block, so the Mayor does not care.?
Is this the City we want ? He and the City council cant say nothing can be done. Our prior two Mayors showed us you can have compassion BUT also rules of law for ALL on the streets. I honestly cannot understand the open classwarfare from this guy who rents out his own 2 Parkslope townhomes at market rate (not affordable to anybody but those he loathes).
He cannot get out of office soon enough. My concern is that there are no centrists remaining in City government. New Yorkers we need to wake up.
31
@212NYer The centrists will rise up. I think we have all had enough.
8
The age old socialist quandary: how to separate wealth from the people who created it without building a wall to keep them from voting with their feet.
18
@God Workers create the wealth for the bosses who get the biggest part of it.
5
Is a taxpayer funded "gospel preaching tour" a violation of Thomas Jefferson's concept of interpreting the 1st Amendment of the US Constitution to include 'the separation of church and state'. If it's not a true "gospel" tour, it certainly is a taxpayer funded campaign tour. Even it's legal, is it ethical? Like President Trump, Mayor de Blasio is running a risk of hurting his shoulder by patting himself on the back!
7
"Redistribution" - The purchasing of the of votes of the many by promissing them the money of the few.
15
Mayor de Blasio is correct. The wealth is in the wrong hands. The Government's hands. Failed program after failed program. Socialism/Marxism has never worked in any country over the last 100 years and has resulted in economic devastation, death & destruction. This dreamy notion of no borders, no profit, no prisons, free college, college loan forgiveness, guaranteed jobs, guaranteed housing, topple the rich, is dangerous and wrong. In fact immoral. It is stealing. And it will not work just because some victimhood-claimers, radicals, politicians, and academics don't like America & Capitalism. I will be moving out of NYC soon due to the current exorbitant tax rates (State, Local, Property, Sales, fake inspections, fines, rules & regulations and every government official looking to get their end out of my income.) Unfortunately, I will also lose money on my real estate since apartment vaues are clearly on a downward trajectory in NYC.
17
“The speech concluded: “Those goals are not utopian or unreachable. They are achievable.”
Venezuela.
21
He is a madman, but likely in tune with the Democratic party Left. This is what Chuck & Nancy have to put up with to stay in power.
10
Is the Mayor referring to the "wealth" of we middle-class coop owners that have seen our real estate taxes soar under his administration? He has been more concerned with his national standing than governing the City since Day 1 of his administration and he thinks this rhetoric will help his ambitions. Not that much different from the Oval Office occupant whose priority is himself.
8
@Louis Big breaks to his developer friends and Billionaire Bezos. or is that Bozos?
3
He knows exactly what he's doing, it's all part of the agenda to tear down the U.S., and it should be obvious to anyone with a brain.
7
@Steve Trump and his minions are tearing down the U.S. right under your nose.
2
@Lifelong New Yorker
So is Warren.
1
Hey Warren Wilhelm, instead of going on your tour, can you look into a couple of things before you leave? For starters, the homeless currently taking up residence on city sidewalks? The human excrement seen around town? The overflowing garbage on the streets and sidewalks? NYCHA Housing? Overcrowded subways and rising fares? See if you can fit this into your busy sked say after your day at the gym maybe you can get back to your constituents before noon? And remind us please where you live? Behind iron gates and your very own security detail. How much of your wealth have you given to charities too? And will you give up your publicly funded pension to help others? You're comfortable with spending other people's hard earned money but your own. Let's keep in touch ok?
24
So my hands are wrong hands I put myself through college ever took a dime from the government or used there services for any reason paid a lot of taxes worked hard invested saved lived frugal lifestyle now that I am older my money is in the wrong hands yes I am considered wealthy I guess but I earned and I plan to decide how I spend it. For that reason I am leaving New York I hope the person who takes my place can also cover the tax dollars I take with me
21
@EAH Me too. I am in my 70s and looking to get out.
3
With Trump and the Republicans on the run, oh their heels, the Dems resort to what they do best. Their Self Destruction is only matched by their Smug Lecturing. Reagan was before my time, but his famous quote resonates more today than ever. "The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.
Bernie, AOC, and most of all Mayor Wilheilm doing what they can to dissuade Americans of all colors and creeds from working and studying hard to get ahead. There is a reason why Capitalism won the Cold War over Communism, Socialism and Feudalism.
As someone whose family came here to get away from a Socialist/Communist Government interference to see this following us to these shores. this is distressing.
There is a reason people from all over the world want to come to America to make their dreams come true. Newsflash: it is not to work hard to better themselves for their children, only to see the Government take it all away to give it to those who with no ambition.
22
He wants to track empty store fronts now. Did he notice empty store fronts on his travels in the SUV? Now, please tell us all how NYC Small Business Services & NYC Economic Development have not been doing this. What technology will be used since all the local BIDS, Community Boards track anything (if you are lucky) on excel spreadsheets. Why don't all the community boards, BIDS have the same technology to track landlord, developer own storefront? Why is this not linked to buildings dept and violations? So much potential to utilize technology to track landlords, developers, empty storefronts and see the pattern of the blight.
8
Huh. He didn't mention some of that wealth being used to bribe him and his agencies to benefit a crony with a Parks concession, then when the bribes no longer worked, being sued for $2M of taxpayer dollars for "damages".
15
I count myself as very fortunate that I do not live in New York City. Hard earned money created by hard work from individuals is now morally wrong and King William wants to confiscate it. Simply put, the money IS NOT HIS to redistribute. The folks that make the money (and I'm not one of them....I live on a fixed income) are the only ones to decide what to with it. King Williams' righteous plan is nothing more than theft.
You want the better things in life? Work for it. And to be sure, not everyone will be successful. It's called life.
40
My household is far from rich. However, the more words that the mayor says with each passing week, the more and more we are rethinking how much we wish to give away to charities for fear that we won't soon have anything to pay for our own needs. How is that helping anyone at all?
17
@Allison I applaud you for consider giving charities Allison however the most basic needs of humans cannot and should not rely on it's whims. A fair wage job, affordable housing, educations, universal healthcare, clean water & air et.. must be a baseline we all agree on before having to resort to the kindness of strangers like you. Its called an agreed upon civilization.
5
How was that a issue that should be addressed at this speech.
As mayor there is very little he can do to redistribute money from he rich to the poor.
The facts are that if anything he has made it possible that the rich get even richer.
I don't blame him as the rich pay taxes which makes it possible to fund projects like pre 1 k which he takes credit
If he really meant what he says why would he give money to Amazon.
I was not against it.
My point is that he to be consistent should have been against it.
So if he didn't really mean what he said why did he say it.
I have a idea.
Because he would have to speak about his record of being Mayor.
He would have to speak how after five years in office about the subways are getting worse
He would have to tell us why the number of homeless have increased during a period where more apartment are being constructed than any time in the past.
He would have to tell us how after being in office five years and his promise to improve public housing things are getting worse not better.
The city is doing OK but that is not a result of anything he has done.
There is very little he actually can take credit for so found it easier to talk about a topic that would not be about his failures.
8
Please stop complaining about the city that never sleeps. It's only for the rich who don't pay taxes because of loopholes and for the poor who have social services. The middle class whose taxes pay for the services should rethink why they live in NYC or even NY..It a big country.
19
@Mary
I know rich people, but don't know what they pay. You live in NYC you are subject to triple taxation. I think the rich pay plenty, but they have so much it doesn't hurt and they rationalize it by living in the Big Apple.
2
Uh oh, the rental and real estate markets over in Jersey are going to skyrocket.
8
@BD
It would help my friends to move, but they won't. Too much cachet living in the city.
@Alan
Cachet comes with an ever growing price!
The Mayor should do his job during the time he is in office. He can go on his tour after his term is up. Inequality is a problem but de Balsio is just so out in left field. He is desperate for attention and recognition.
28
@Jack " He is desperate for attention and recognition. "
Reminds me of the current part time resident in the White House.
No mention of still acting commission at DDC - How many years can you have an acting commissioner?
Now BDB wants to have oversight over bad landlords. Can we start with him doing a little oversight at HPD where nobody can tell you how they decide on the property managers who mismanage their properties.
When it comes to NYC SBS how is the current Commissioner still employed there? With high turnover, empty storefronts all over the boroughs and failed programs one would think new leadership should happen at this agency. This agency oversees all the Business Improvement Districts who also fail the city small business daily. Each BID should send a report of all their empty units. But, the real issue is each of these bids have no software systems to track empty retail, to history, to cost per square unit, to put a link on their websites. This has been an ongoing issue, as these bids are mismanaged and look at their boards....example: Lincoln Center BID and all you will find is BIG REBNY members.
1
If Mayor de Blasio honestly feels this way, I hope he'll reconsider the Amazon give-away deal.
If neither Apple nor Google demanded financial incentives for their business expansion, then why is it OK for the world's richest human being — Jeff Bezos to get extra free money?
23
@Tedj Now Bezos has to pay for that big divorce.
1
@Larry G Heh. Jeff may be learning how the other half live in the not too distant future.
2
I assume this means the mayor will be giving up his salary, cashing out his pensions and forgoing any future payments to his retirement, giving up his security details and giving up living in Gracie Mansion and instead will live among middle class New Yorkers in poor or middle class neighborhoods like in Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens or Brooklyn.
DeBlasio does not care about what the average New Yorker is going through and is a typical elitist Leftist. His speech reeling against inequality and pledging to redistribute wealth is a distraction to avoid the realities of his incompetence. Nevermind, of course, Hugo Chavez made a similar pledge and look where wealth redistribution got Venezuela.
41
Agree 100 percent. Utter, rank incompetence characterizes this mayor's tenure. The worst in my adult lifetime by far. He makes Dinkins look effective.
11
Limousine Liberal personified.
9
What a joke. "Pledges" but doesn't have a plan. So the few Blacks who have strived and have finally become wealthy will now be punished for it? And to think people take this man seriously.
19
How many times can a man use the word "progressive"? It's not that progressive that the mayor is in charge of agencies that fail the residents of NYC daily. How many projects at DDC are not finished on-time? Who's responsible for that BDB!!! What happened to the Build it Back program that still has not built back peoples homes? Who's head should roll about that?
10
Sorry this is going to sound vitriolic -
This mayor doesn’t get it. He is dense beyond logic.
There is no logic to living in this city for a high taxpayer other than the sheer will to experience diversity and culture against the abrupt exposure of homelessness and the break down and inefficiencies of the local services (subway delays and garbage all over, and even cutting old growth trees because the city run by a bunch of morons)
The logic is tenuous
There’s only so many times my young kids can be accosted by sufferers of mental health issues for me to be secure living in this city (I don’t blame homeless people or mental health sufferers- I blame the city ineptness to use my tax dollars wisely to help others )
This mayor does not understand that his tax base can move 3 miles and bequeath a tax base to westchester, NJ or Long Island.
He is drunk off the tax largess given by those that pay over 50% all in taxes to live near museums and good coffee.
He should understand that if the tax base erodes because he is ignoring those who pay huge taxes to live her, they can leave, and the city can’t redistribute anything and instead spirals into a collapse.
NYC has a tax base DESPITE this mayor - but he is playing with fire to assume it will always be there.
Don’t bite the mouth that feeds you
42
Yes, absolutely. How did this incompetent politician - who accomplished nothing, zero, before he ran for mayor - ever get elected?
5
@Arthur Larkin You have to ask? I would have thought the answer was obvious. Peter Principle personified, if he thinks he'll get to the White House other than through a social visit with the next Democratic POTUS think again. He isn't qualified for much. Let alone President. He'll want to be flown to Brooklyn to workout and stroll into the Oval Office at 11AM.
1
@Arthur Larkin He has cute son who did a very clever ad that appealed to a lot of people who found the leading Dermocratic candidate -- Christine Quinn -- unappealing.
2
Mayor, all around my family here in Nolita, the construction of luxury condos and luxury commercial buildings has been non-stop since you have been in office. The air has been so filled with particulate matter that one of my daughters developed asthma. At the same time, the subway platform we use to take our other daughter to public school is almost always filled with homeless people. The public school closest to us was closed and is now filled with apartments costing in the multiple millions. Now, down the street, the Elizabeth Street Garden, an oasis in our cement village with no parks, has been taken by a developer in a move you support! Affordable housing is a pressing need, but must it come at the expense of green space when the whole city has been given to wealthy developers and their dreams of endless millionaire tenants? Meanwhile, the taxes we pay on the apartment we own have gone through the roof and are driving us out of the city. You have driven us out. We can't afford your NYC.
I like your talk, but that's all it is: talk.
41
@Joe Nailed it! Isn't it ironic, that Fred Trump, a capitalist, built more real housing for the middle class than any so called "progressive" like Bill, do nothing, de Blasio? I grew up in Trump Village, my neighbors were the working middle class that formed bones, heart and veins of this City. Now it seems, that unless you are very poor or part of the global elite, you have no place in this city.
33
@B Of course Fred Trump's buildings were not available to everybody.
1
This is the city of corruption. A city where subways are finished in decades and twenty to thirty times of the originally planned cost. This is a city where documents for workstations shows hundreds of people working, when indeed only 20 -30 are needed. This is a city where politicians, union members and businessmen cooperate to achieve the miracles of subways being completed in decades. And our glorious mayor talks about distributing other peoples money. Wow!
44
According to the article, the mayor is "aiming to take from the rich and give to the poor."
Is part of the mayor's method for accomplishing this lofty goal to first help to provide Amazon with $3 billion and expecting that somehow money will trickle down to the poor?
23
A progressive income tax was never an issue until Reaganomics won out over the stable, sensible anti-voodoo economics critic, HW Bush. Earlier, Teddy Roosevelt choked over what “great wealth” behavior did to America.
Bring back the progressive income tax.
The 1% didn’t “earn” it. They bought it and its nice returns. Yet, Mr. de Blasio might be more specific about who the wrong handed people are.
9
I believe we should help others less fortunate if we can;
that we should try to bring people up so they can also be successful and contribute for the greater good.
I started out as a democrat a long time ago.
I'm no longer a democrat because of people like Mayor DeBlasio.
If someone has earned, created and generated wealth, it is theirs to keep or share. It is their choice. It is their decision.
Mr. Mayor it is not yours to redistribute.
You did not create it or earn it.
It does not belong to you!
We need to encourage and help people to be productive, creative and responsible.
You don't achieve that by penalizing the people that are doing exactly that.
Please go away soon before you can do anymore damage.
54
The robots are coming.
6
He is such a nothing of a mayor.
32
Strange, this is the same reasoning used by thieves when they liberate their money being held captive in your wallet.
43
If this cartoon of a mayor were not so blatantly self serving it would be funny. He is the Mayor of the Simpsons not just a guest star. So why now at the end of his two terms is he rolling out all these measures, isn't it desperate? Where was he for the last 6 years. A binge of progressivism so sloppy and transparent it is embarrassing. Funny thing is he will never even be accepted by the true radical progressives, he will always be the dog chasing the car (or Volkswagen bus as the case may be) so sad, can we please get a real mayor next time, not a cartoon figure.
32
Doesn't deblasio realize Robin Hood was a fictional character. What will he next morph to? Who is running our country now.??? Isn't anyone an adult now???? I fear for when the rest of the children come out to play.
5
Another spot on comment about the most incompetent mayor in my lifetime. His main tangible accomplishment has been inflating the public payroll so that during the next recession, there will have to be layoffs, furloughs or salary cuts. Increasing the size of a useless, unresponsive bureaucracy, Blaz's legacy. He's a joke outside NYC, for the few who know who he is.
8
@Arthur Larkin - Thank you brother Larkin all we can hope is that people wake up
2
This in the city that just gave Billionaire Jeff Bezos $1.5 billion to open an office in the city.
Astounding.
28
We tried "Socialism in One City" in the seventies. It didn't turn out well. Someone should remind Bill.
31
We like Mike! Effective leadership.
11
The guy that gave developers sweet heart deals without investing in infrastructure?
The guy that mandated the non American made taxi that isn’t green?
The guy who had no green initiatives?
The guy who arbitrarily changed election laws to run a third time just because he thought he was best?
No. And no to Bill.
6
The wealth is in the wrong hands? And what qualifies him to decide who the right hands for that wealth are? Redistribution of wealth is ridiculous; evenhanded policies that don't benefit the rich so much aren't.
For the government to go and decide they are going to take away your money and give it to someone else makes no sense. But setting up public and taxation policy so that it doesn't make the playing field so skewed DOES make sense.
26
I'm sure he could just follow Trump's lead and declare a city emergency, to take property, etc.
Glad he's your mayor, not mine. Redistribution at the municipal level is pure folly.
Folks vote with their feet. Companies also.
It doesn't work here in California, and it won't in NYC either.
18
Here goes the phony progressive once again spouting garbage as the gap between rich and poor in NYC grows wider, rents climb higher and higher, homeownership is out of reach for middle income households, gentrification and luxury development are rampant, population is at its highest yet infrastructure is adequate for city a fraction our size, our garbage still floats out on barges to god knows where and we keep making more and more of it, corporate chains fill storefronts that once housed mom and pop shops, homelessness is at an all time, and the town is at its dirtiest in the past four decades. Does he even live in New York City?
29
@GC
Well, he made a big fuss about not wanting to leave his little house in Park Slope, but couldn't you tell he and Chirlane were drooling over living in Gracie Mansion?
(Gracie Mansion, you know, the big house that Mike Bloomberg renovated extensively so that it'll last another 150 years, and on his own dime.)
So now he lives in Gracie Mansion. Can't wait for him to get out of there. What a parasite.
17
Yes behind iron gates and guards. And a security detail.
2
Bill de Blasio's next feat will be to turn the East river into wine. After that he's going to sashay over to Wall Street and pull 1 million dollar bills out of his hat and distribute them to the crowd.
20
DeBlasio forgets that he’s MAYOR of a city that encompasses five counties that are separated by various waterways not the PRESIDENT of a the island nation of the People’s Republic of Manhattan.
19
The wrong hands-- his hands! People who earn money need to give it to de Blasio and his cronies, so they can use it to not fix problems. That way, they can claim they need even more money.
20
Mr. de Blasio talks a good game, but it would be better for the city if he displayed even minimal competence.
The city owned subway system doesn't work, and he refuses to sue the MTA for failing to maintain city property entrusted to its care.
The Transportation commissioner refuses to obey the Vehicle and Traffic Law or the Education Law. She says that it's really not important.
The Police commissioner allows bicycle riders to mow down pedestrians.
The DoITT commissioner has no problem that people die of old age reporting problems to 311.
We need a return to the days of Robert F. Wagner, jr who believed that the public had a right to receive the services that the city was supposed to provide. No administration is perfect, but recent (and not so recent) administrations starting with John Lindsey and continuing with Rudy Giuliani have believed in governing by press release instead of deeds.
And our local news media, primarily radio and TV stations, just show up at locations on press releases and read them. No original research. No investigation of the "facts" of the press release.
16
To be quite honest most New Yorkers couldn't care less for rhetoric. What the city needs is better transit infrastructure and the construction of more housing units for the middle class (40-70k) earning bracket. There is a huge number of New Yorkers who make too much to qualify for help from the city but too little to buy/rent into the multi million dollar luxury condos being built across the city. The state of the city in my opinion seems to get more unsustainable as time goes on. Lower and middle income individuals keep having to move farther and farther away to have housing; when will people realize this will come back some day to bite us.
16
Stop going to the gym everyday, fix the subway, and be quiet!
30
I work for grab hub and caviar ( food delivery), am I gonna get a paid vacation? That would be nice. I haven’t took a vacation in 2 years, because I cannot afford a vacation after paying $1000 for rent/month and rest of my income on bills, food and taxes.
8
Life has always been tough in the city unless you have a high income. People have always come ... and gone.
I think my difference of perspective is that I didn't grow up in the city, don't see it as some sort of right, or the only possibility, to live here. I'm a part-timer in NYC and don't expect to be here much longer. I'm close to retirement and surely will go -- the natural order of things.
These comments are full of angry grousing -- if you are unhappy in NYC then look somewhere else, don't just grouse! America is a big place, there are lots of other opportunities.
The developers in NYC run the place and treat everyone like a pusher treats a junkie precisely because so many people act like junkies: no choice, got a habit they can't break. So people pay more and more, get less and less.
Nothing changes unless you can exercise some real choice, and that means not being a junkie. And if more people would do that, NYC would then become a better place for ordinary people. Rents would be more reasonable, and condition of almost everything would get better. Developers would suddenly start telling city hall that life needs to get better so that they can get the rents they want ... you'll be amazed how fast things really would get better if the city realized that rental incomes actually depended on some quality of life for ordinary people.
But they don't, so they don't.
7
Housing pricing is a function of available well situated land, zoning rules and demand. There’s not much well situated land in nyc, zoning rules are tight and demand has for two decades been strong, the result of a hot local economy plus a trend towards urban living, for both working and retired people. Rent regulations are an additional factor that keeps down supply. Developers are not the problem.
8
@GC -- If by "well situated land" you really mean "Manhattan" ... then there you are, aren't you?
If you choose to pay the prices, and live with the problems, nobody can argue ... it's a free country.
Same applies to the outer boroughs. But the miseries of failing transit are inflicted much more seriously on the outer boroughs, and New York City's priorities are all about Manhattan.
Tens of billions have been spent on a new subway line that goes a few blocks in Manhattan, and insanities like the Occulus.
It's all about people voting with their wallets and their feet ... and when do the money people in the city see that cramming more people into Manhattan has come to a point of no return.
3
@Lee Harrison What you say is true, I just wish I had realized it 20 years ago.
de Blasio tries to steal ideas from the new wave of young elected officials without their deep understanding of how these ideas could work in reality.
Additionally, his posturing is reminiscent of Trump's in that he is making outlandish promises to people in pain without a record of helping them. He has not brought reduced transportation fares to the hundreds of thousands who should get them. He has not improved the horrible conditions in public housing. He has not improved overcrowding in schools and high pupil to teacher ratios. I am a socialist; he is not. All this posturing is weird and disturbing, like Trump's.
17
It's the same old...., a government official, an erstwhile socialist preaching the gospel of giving other peoples' money away, redistributing income to the have-nots, who'll get theirs on the backs of the haves; it's been tried before - with dismal results. Sooner than later the gravy train runs dry; the rich decamp for greener pastures and have-not will have much less.
The nice thing about this exercise is that its proponents get to feel good about themselves - men and women of the people. Count me out!
28
@heyomania
Nations with the lowest tax rates and the smallest government spending have the greatest poverty and no such thing as the "middle class." You can see the same thing here in the American states. The states with the lowest taxes and least spending have the most poverty. The states with the highest taxes and spending have the most prosperous (highest earning) middle class.
Distribution of wealth creates economic growth. Re-distribution of wealth isn't a moral exercise, it is good economic policy.
4
I have trouble figuring out what DeBlasio is really about. He has a lot of big populist ideas but the real populist of NYC Mayors was LaGuardia who I believe accomplished a lot more during the Depression. I am not sure that a City is the place to tackle big issues like inequality. These are really national issues that New York reflects rather than generates. Mayors need to focus more on day to day management and how the day to day management of City agencies impacts the City's future as a place to live and work Its not clear that we still have a plan to prevent the devastation of another major hurricane or a long term solution to the City's Mass transit woes though the latter is a largely a State issue. Just to name a few major issues impacting livability. These issues are ultimately about inequality because the poor are the ones who are most negatively affected by these issues. Trying to be an echo of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren is a reflection of vanity rather than hands on problem solving beneficial to NYC residents.
23
Mayor DeBlasio, please go back and donate all your collected campaign donations from the rich donors and give the amount to the poor people through charities and non-profits in the community like food banks. You talk the talk but can you walk the walk. Don't be beholden to your rich donors, don't accept the campaign donations from them. Take the pledge.
23
@nagus Also, did you know he is a 'greedy landlord'? Mr. De Blasio, if you truely believe what you preach, please enroll your properties into the Rent Stabilization mechanism. You can do that you know. I will now hold my breath.
13
Simply stop handing out tax breaks for the rich, and stop allowing them to deduct condo's, nights on the town, etc, as business investments. In other words: make them pay their fair share, and stop passing off what they avoid paying now on the middle class and the poor- they don't have it to pay!
17
At least part of the answer to income inequality is simple. We need to stop treating income earned from investments, which are largely held by the top 10%, much more favorably than income earned from labor. While we certainly want to encourage and reward investment, the negative results of such disparate treatment are now too great for the country to continue to ignore.
If investment income were taxed at the same or a similar rate as business profits and salaries -- and if certain significant fortunes (think Bezos, Gates, Buffet, etc.) were marked to market and taxed periodically, rather than held indefinitely and not taxed for many years, if ever - investors would still continue to invest, but federal and state governments would have far more resources to make many of the changes progressives are seeking.
Raising rates on income earned from labor to as high as 70%, as AOC and others are now suggesting we do, should only be a Plan B or perhaps even a Plan C.
8
@RDR2009 Agreed. 'Progressive' taxation is morally wrong and just rife for exploitation at all levels. All income, from all sources, should be taxed at the same low rate. It is wrong that Mitt Romney has a lower tax rate than I do, but it is also wrong to penalize people for being sucessful.
18
@RDR2009. "Investment income" is, pretty much, treated like income from labor -- there are exceptions, but I think you're conflating holding investible assets (think stocks, bonds, etc.) from the dividends or interest they kick off, or maybe thinking about retirement savings (public, private, IRA/401(k) etc.) which are generally not taxed while in the plans but generally taxed at ordinary income rates to the recipients when paid out.
3
@B -- progressive taxation does not "penalize people for being successful."
Further treating investiment income as income, eliminating all capital gain tax preference ( allowing for price-index inflation of the cost basis to current value, for the calculation of income) is the very definition of fair and equitable.
There is no reason that capital gains are morally superior to wage income. Many nations do not have a capital gains preference, there is no good argument for one.
The usual argument advanced is that "it makes capital cheaper, stimulating business." If you want to play that argument, then explain to me why Americans can treat foreign investments as capital gains? Why am I, as an american tax payer, making it cheaper for investments overseas , raising my taxes?
4
Although I agree that current income/wealth inequality is destroying the country and NYC, it seems to me that the BDB Administration has essentially continued the Bloomberg Administration policies that enable unfettered luxury real estate and rich people (of all ages) to destroy neighborhoods, displace long-term New Yorkers from their housing and ruin local businesses.
BDB allowed the sale of the Rivington nursing home for luxury development, the destruction of residential buildings on 11th Street so that a hotel could be built and more such examples.
22
@LS Wholeheartedly agree. All these other programs are well and good but affordable housing and making sure that speculative developers don't turn the city into a playground for the ultra-wealthy should be top priority.
7
He is in the pocket of developers, they are killing this city with the overbuilding. Look at that rikers island scam. Developers want it so he makes excuses to get it for them
6
The Mayor is now revealing his Sandinista roots:
https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/23/nyregion/a-mayoral-hopeful-now-de-blasio-was-once-a-young-leftist.html
https://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2014/12/n-y-mayor-de-blasio-active-supporter-brutal-communist-regime/
A Mayoral Hopeful Now, de Blasio Was Once a Young Leftist
11
So...he's going on a national tour to spread his ideas? Hmmm...I smell a quest for the White House...
17
This is trivia based reporting fueling a biased, likability contest. Years ago the NYTS decided it didn’t like De Blasio’s progressive policies and virtually every article they’ve published about him is critical of his style and his personality. The NYTs articles never seriously discuss DeBlasio’s policy issues - pros and cons and alternative proposals. Here in this article why is it so bad for him to address policy and inequality issues? Why are these reader comments about this always a blunt force cry of “TAXES!” rather discussing the real issue of rising inequality and ways to address the shrinking the middle class?
6
"Brother and sisters"? Universal health care. Mandatory vacation time.
Welcome to the People's Republic of DeBlasio!
38
I miss Bloomberg
80
I am curious, has this man ever worked in the private sector? Does he have any idea what it takes to run a small business?
"Here’s the truth, brothers and sisters, there’s plenty of money in the world. Plenty of money in this city,” the mayor said, flanked by screens with graphs of productivity outpacing compensation. “It’s just in the wrong hands!”
Did he really say that?
Those of us who for 30 or 40 years got up at 4am, worked until 7pm, to build a business? He has the nerve to say: “It’s just in the wrong hands!” WOW!
This is the man, who along with his colleague Cuomo, gave $3 Billion to Amazon, without any input from the electorate.
This man is going on a "national tour to trumpet his accomplishments and proposals."
This is the man who went to Germany to berate the office of the presidency immediately after one of NYC"S Finest, a policewoman, was murdered.
This is a man touting what he has accomplished.
Let's see: a crumbling city infrastructure, a hobbled subway system, lawsuits against him that, once again, the constituents must pay. Prosecutions and indictments of those all around him. His 2 SUV's that he needs to get him to his gym in Brooklyn? (There is so much more. But, why bother.)
According to The Wealth Record "Bill de Blasio has a net worth of over $2.5 million. The wealth has been created in his career as a politician."
Then, as the NYT suggested "he cast himself as an aspiring Robin Hood".
Maybe he is testing the marijuana before legalizing it.
106
@bsb
Not to defend anyone. I think his mom was smart in buying a couple of brownstones in Brooklyn, which the Mayor may have inherited.
1
@bsb
Your last sentence is the best of the week, and most likely true.
3
@bsb Not only has he not ever worked in the private sector, I don't believe he's ever had a particularly demanding public sector job.
1
"The wrong hands:" Smart people who worked hard and earned every penny honestly.
35
@Joe -- gee, like Donald Trump?
3
@Lee Harrison
No, not like Donald Trump.
Like me -- a middle-class schoolteacher who, not working for the city, made sure to live simply and sock money away for a rainy day.
And like millions like me.
12
Please let this guy run for president. Such great comedy..
19
Wealth will always be in the wrong hands. Give wealth to the poor and they will behave like the rich. The vast majority of people want a slice of the money pie, whether they worked for it or not.
15
New York elected this mayor and thus they deserve his failed socialism.
43
I haven't noticed that the poor to whom the mayor would like to distribute money taken from middle-class New Yorkers -- because you know he won't take it from his real estate buddies -- are any more virtuous than anyone else.
44
The mayor is on his socialist bullhorn again. The “wrong hands” he claims have the wealth are those of taxpayers, the golden geese he promises to pluck. What’s “wrong” with them? My son lives in Manhattan, works tremendously hard and effectively as a bond tradesman, and paid $1 million for his very modest co-op apt. Some years he does well but not so well other years. Are his “hands “wrong”? Who is deblasio to judge who’s worthy or unworthy. I realize deblasio is about to go on a “national tour to trumpet his accomplishments” and to aggrandize himself as a virtuous, selfless hero of the poor, a real Tinhorn Robin Hood. I appreciate the Times reporters here taking a skeptical if not jaundiced view of the “good” mayor.
55
I agree with some of the others posting here that the mayor is a little too focused on the lowest income earners - but to those at the top who are threatening to take their wealth elsewhere - I have a question - where?
Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston?
You'll be blessed with low taxes and absolutely zero culture or civic energy.
To quote the Racist in Chief, "bye bye!"
3
@Keith
Life is full of trade-offs. Of course Charlotte – or Atlanta or Houston -- doesn’t have the same amount of energy and “civic energy” (whatever that is) of bigger cities. But if you’re still confused about such a choice perhaps you should talk to Yankees flooding my town who have said “bye bye” to your city’s staggering tax load, thuggish municipal unions, spectacular political corruption (starting with your mayor and governor), failing schools, crumbling public housing and an dilapidated subway that will be fixed right after we colonize. But hey, at least you still got that “energy” thing working for you.
10
@Keith
You should get out more. All three cities have symphony orchestras, opera and dance companies and plenty of traveling Broadway shows to entertain most of us here.
All three have grown tremendously in the last 40 years.
We're not NYC but then why would we want to be?
8
No culture outside NYC? Really?
Good ammo for those who regard liberals as elitist.
The experiment is already underway.
7
The money is in the "wrong hands" - those of the people who earned it.
34
Depends on how you define “earned it”! For many of the wealthy, it’s money making money; it’s access to opportunities not available to the rest of us; it’s money made through the efforts of those much less well off.
5
Why can't the mayor concentrate his efforts on trying to improve the subways--yes, i know, it's the state that's responsible--but some advocacy could help. Also, there are homeless people sleeping all over the cars. This is inhumane and disgraceful. Dreadful.
Why don't you try to do something about this first before offering free eyeglasses to five and six year old children? Don't these children have parents?
12
For all the effort he has made to establish shelters in some neighborhoods, people have opposed it forcefully and have said not in my backyard loudly. Homelessness has always been an issue in NYC but has reached a toll with more drug addicts and evicted families living at so many corners of the city which has gone through so many cutbacks of social programs over the years. So now where do you expect those people to go? Public housing is overcrowded and can no longer accommodate more people. I have not seen people in Manhattan that concerned about those issues under Bloomberg who mostly accommodated the rich like him, brought Uber and other ride sharing, to the city making it even more congested and started programs to attract big techs now amazon, and closed more streets for tourism copying from other big cities. Cannot blame everything on Di Blasio because all the waiters, boss boys that service you at restaurants and workers at banks, fancy stores and super markets cannot afford living in the city working for minimum wage and years without a raise let alone spending part of their budget in transportation and long congested commutes daily to support themselves and families. As much as misleading the title of this article can be, no one talks about how manhattan 24 hrs functioning rely on so much cheap labor from the other boroughs while many have been pushed out to make rooms for the well to do, local and foreigners. Just thank the 1% for not paying their fair share....
Sometimes I think Mayor DeBlasio is corrupt and incompetent. Sometimes I think he is so ideologically driven that he is detached from reality.
Recently I have had grudging respect for him and think he is "Crazy like a fox."
His proclamation to spend more tax money to cover health care for illegal immigrants kicks in two years, when he is out office. So far he has built only 10% of affordable housing, but that target too is set after he has left office. He is challenging 94% of the abnormally high lead levels in the NYCHA projects. This can take five years to resolve, and by term limits he will be elsewhere, leaving the blame for someone else.
In effect he gets the "credit" for proposing these wonderful ideas. If they work, it is because of his genius, and if they fail it is because of his successor.
Mayor DeBlasio. Heads he wins, tails we lose.
17
One has to wonder if he also suffers from trump's ailment--narcissistic personality disorder.
18
Forgotten but not gone.
4
This administration has been one of the clumsiest and least transparent in our recent history and it's a shame. There's no reason for us to trust anything this man has to say when his office has consistently been unable to deliver and combative with the press and the public when questioned about it. If we were living in any other time and in any other city, he would have stepped down after we learned that hundreds of children in NYCHA tested positive for lead after YEARS of faked inspections. He went on to not only stick up for the head of that commission, but throw Trumpian rhetoric at the journalists who questioned him. We need to do better.
14
I am done with this Mayor. Can we have a recall election? This man has no ideas and instead fans class conflict like the worst right wing demagogue. He is sacrificing all the progress we made all these years on the alter of his own ego. His political future is over and he hasn't come to terms with it and so is thrashing about in desperation.
36
Washington DC has been solidly Democrat--moreso than NYC by a longshot--for decades, and yet its politicians never reached this level of preening socialism. Possibly because our politicians are elected by the most powerful demographic in town, minority blue collar and working poor.
De Blasio is what you get when people who have never had to worry too much can only hypothesize on how to fix things.
10
Mayor DeBloviated opens his mouth and promises the moon the stars and the sun. His new health plan for "All NYC residents: I am not illegible; so how does this benefit me? The subways are disgusting. The streets are filthy and the homeless population is growing. New buildings are going up but not in the areas that need the housing at affordable rates. Mayor -- you need to lose your ambitions for higher office, and just pack up your tent and go away,
15
What does he mean by saying wealth is in the “wrong hands”? And he’s going rectify it?
Is he going to pass some law that confiscates the earnings and wealth of the wealthy in Manhattan and hands it over to the people living in the housing projects?
Or perhaps he will pass a law decreeing that all of the investment bankers, regular bankers, white shoe lawyers, and media executives will henceforth be employed as janitors and food service workers, while all of the people in the projects will be given their high paid jobs?
Or is this just empty talk pandering to his base, and nothing will really happen?
24
Just no other way to describe this mayor .......Communist .
He espouses all of the same rhetoric and policies as Russia.
17
Another three years then term limited there is a God. The city economy has been extremely healthy collecting a lot of revenue and he has been spending it adding too much headcount to the city payrolls being the pied piper of half baked policies and programs. A man who‘s tax return showed almost 300k in income yet a charity deduction for 300 dollars! He is generous with the goody bag but it‘s always other people’s money.
23
The Mayor's plan to "fix" the selective high schools has includes an open-and-shut case of discrimination against Chinese
https://pacificlegal.org/plf-sues-to-stop-racial-discrimination-in-new-york-city-magnet-school-admissions/
I guess Progressive means discrimination against the weak and favoring those who will vote based on political favors.
42
@Amy
The NYTimes insisted on saying the was an attack of affirmative action "Challengers of Affirmative Action Have a New Target: New York City’s Elite High Schools"
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/14/nyregion/affirmative-action-lawsuit-nyc-high-schools.html
It's not, the City's plan is outright discrimination that is clearly illegal and that should be stopped.
7
What a disgusting statement to make. He has singled handedly been destroying my great city brick by brick.
“Here’s the truth, brothers and sisters, there’s plenty of money in the world. Plenty of money in this city,” the mayor said, flanked by screens with graphs of productivity outpacing compensation. “It’s just in the wrong hands!”
He needs mental help.
38
We got Giuliana after Dinkins.
Wonder which Republican we'll get after de Blasio.
19
Mr. De Blasio represents a failed administration. Crime and homelessness are up. PEDESTRIAN deaths are up too. Rent is also up.
There are many tall buildings going up too, but so is the number of people on the street. Maybe Mr. de Blasio can explain that (between workouts)- more housing but also more homeless.
The income of De Blasio's developer friends are up too.
The Mayor is positioning for his next job. But he is not going to be VP or President. He is going to do what he does best- become a real estate developer for very wealthy people.
27
@JTW
Although I despise de Blasio, you're wrong about crime having increased since he became mayor. For the seven major felony offenses (murder, rape, robbery, felony assault, burglary, grand larceny and grand larceny of motor vehicle); five of them have improved, one remains the same (felony assault), and only one (rape) has worsened. In particular; robberies, burglaries, and grand larceny of motor vehicles have declined significantly.
1
.... tall buildings going up: when Bloomberg had his last ( stolen) month in office there was a line at the bureau for construction, lined up with people who wanted to get permissions to build new skyscrapers ( for YEARS to come Bloombergs politics will shape this city ( New York Times at the time)). So please don't blame this mayor for ( most of) the constructions in your neighborhood.
... pedestrians killed: again here. It was Bloomberg ( the one many wish back) who started to install those " in- between- pedestrian- street -bicycle lines" ( next to those sitting plazas ( build on a emergency law) that just crushes the traffic into ever more smaller space. Again here, without alternatives in public transportation).
It was also Bloomberg ( the man many wish back) NOT taking care of the subway system for 12 years! ( but giving away! billions to constructors (30 years tax exemptions) BEFORE fixing the subway system or ( even better) using the tax money from the new buildings to start rebuilding the subway system one by one..
De Blasio inherited so! much from Bloomberg 's too many terms that not even King Arthur would be able to turn it around. De Blasio is trying to do the best one (he) is still able to do..
His ideas are actually rather civilized but years too late in surroundings that are defined for centuries to come. Installed, put in affect and cemented by 3terms-rigid Bloomberg.
Having said all that I ( also ) do not agree on everything De Blasio does or proposes.
1
He’s not progressive but simply anti elitist. Which is a non starter in a place like NYC, where ambition and drive has been part of the DNA since its founding as a Dutch trading post. His end date won’t come soon enough for me.
A progressive would find creative solutions to difficult problems. Tackle the issues in City housing. Embrace education reform.
The high point of the day for an anti elitist is a ride to Park Slope to spend time on the shabby treadmills of the local Y. There’s a very nice Equinox close to Gracie but that would mean sweating with ambitious and high earning folks.
58
@GC most progressive "creative solutions" to our greatest problems include raising taxes on rich people. I am not saying this is not part of the answer, but I am not sure why you are so certain the problem here is the individual and not the ideology.
2
This Mayor is clueless in his little Park Slope bubble. How about creating services for the middle class base that funds the city's coffers? He will bleed the middle class dry until the city is just rich folks and businesses vs the poor. Stop voting based on party lines. No, I'm not a trumper. I'm just a middle class Queens girl trying to survive. Having on.y rich and poor does not bode well.
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@ClaudiaBee
One problem is that DeBlasio incorrectly believes that the economy is a zero sum game with a fixed pie that only a wise sage like himself gets to decide how to ethically divide and apportion.
A rational social safety net is important, but I’m wondering if that’s what the Mayor is really after.
4
Meanwhile ever other ground floor space is left empty on the Upper West Side because the rent is too high and real estate companies are incentivize by New York tax code to leave them vacant. Yawn double yawn. What a dip.
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And, just to prove he's not on the side of the Rich, the Mayor's going to pay Jeff Bezos the 1.5 billion dollar bribe IN PENNIES!
32
Shut up and fix the subway.
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@William
That's controlled by the State of NY, not the City of New York.
Why are people still confused about this??
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@Matthew
Where is his leadership?
He is concerned about the national stage not fixing local problems
He should present a plan for congestion pricing and subway reform
He should focus on crime and homelessness
2
@William Cuomo controls the MTA which controls our subways, not the Mayor.
Yes--looking forward to confiscation of wealth from hyperliberals such as Bloomberg, Soros, Steyer, Bezos, the Google guys, Pelosi, Feinstein, Hollywood, other Silicon Valley......
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@FredO But not their wealth
1
I hope by "wrong hands" he doesn't mean the real estate industry which owns the ruling class in Albany.
9
This city could look like Detroit in a decade.
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@Talbot Parts of it already do
5
@Terrence Jeffrey Johnson
The Bronx burned because poor decisions that impacted the housing stock. We are likely on that path again. If he is so concerned about the poor
he should grab a broom and clean up the NYCHA.
If it was a private entity it would be taken over by the courts. This is announcement is a Trump bob and weave.
2
Shouldn't tax dollars be spent to fix the subway and comply with legal requirements to remove asbestos from public housing, before showering it indiscriminately on poor residents, some of them not even legally in the country? A working transit system is needed to keep alive the goose that lays the golden egges.
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So the Mayor is joining scores of other high profile Democrats running for national office? I don't blame him - he doesn't want to be left out!
14
@Connecticut Yankee
Only problem is warren is infinitely not qualified for higher office her has attained the Peter Principle distinction with high honors, he will never cut it in the real world where you actually have to be at work and put in a full day's work not stroll in at 11AM, he is a complete and utter failure. And to think I know people who love the man. College educated people too!
This will go on until NYC voters don't automatically vote for the candidate with the D next to his name.
That may take a while.....
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Before DiBlasio there were Republican and Republican turned Independent mayors for 20 years (Giuliani and Bloomberg.) 1994-2013.
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@Jonathan
Giuliani twice then Bloomberg three times. And not that long ago.
I don't know why a decent candidate could not be found in 2017. Mayor Big Bird is a real mess.
7
I am a liberal Democrat but the only ideas this mayor has is to spend money. He has zero creativity to create policies that may actually solve problems. And he asks nothing of the wealthy corporations or real estate developers. All his decisions pander to the poorest New Yorkers and ignore the needs of the shrinking middle class. Six years and parents still have to worry about where their children will go to kindergarten. Not to mention how dirty the city is and the disaster that is public housing.
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I, too, am what might conveniently be called a “liberal Democrat “. I reluctantly voted for DeBlasio, knowing full well that he is a dullard, a clod, and totally clueless. His idea of “progressive” leadership consists almost entirely of pandering to the poor, throwing them freebies. I can’t honestly say that I disagree with everything he’s done or has tried to do, but he is in way over his head. He just doesn’t strike me as particularly engaged, interested or all that bright.
28
@ann, your remarks are spot on. This de Blasio's Achilles' heel, and it worries me constantly. Indeed, the public schools are considerably sub-par, the city is filthy (which is quite fixable given some focus (see Chicago, San Fran, etc.), and the city's housing projects are truly rotten places for the people in them and the nearby neighborhoods (the mayor wants to build more). Of course, the subways are in desperate need of an overhaul as well. And before someone shouts that it's the State's responsibility, I'll point to the Koch and Guiliani administrations--both of which took on the subways head on with the State's oversight. De Blasio smugly washes his hands of that problem which is rode by 5.6 million of his constituents every day.
God forbid we head towards 1970s-style bankruptcy again.
24
@ann It's blatantly obvious that he's just gunning for a presidential run and neither cares nor probably knows how his policies will work out for the city.
The real tragedy of the Trump admin is the damage it's done to the Democratic Party. The Resistance which has taken over is merely an equal and opposite reaction to the blowhard in chief, more interested in Twitter hashtags like abolishICE than substantive policy ideas or nuanced debate.
12
The mayor says 'This country has spent decades taking from working people and giving to the 1 percent'.
The media should fact check this the same way it does each time President Trump speaks. I'll get this started:
- The 1% in this country earned 20.58 percent of all AGI, but paid 39.48 percent of all federal income taxes.
- The top 1 percent of taxpayers accounted for more income taxes paid than the bottom 90 percent combined.
- The top 50 percent of all taxpayers paid 97.3 percent of all individual income taxes while the bottom 50 percent paid the remaining 2.7 percent.
Mayor de Blasio's statement doesn't mesh with reality. America is a meritocracy, one that should seek to guarantee everyone begins at the same starting line, and not end at the same finish line. Those with more talent, knowledge, stronger work-ethic, skills, etc SHOULD have more than those with comparably less talent, knowledge, work-ethic, skills, etc.
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@North Face
Has there ever been a time when there was anything like a common "starting line?" To me, all of the stats you provide just underline how disgusting wealth inequality in this country is.
And it's getting worse.
The word "meritocracy" was coined 50 years ago in a work of satire that has unfortunately turned out to be sadly prescient. While we might not pass land and title directly along to our children as feudal lords did, the inter-generational transmission of wealth and privilege through education, experience, and networks has largely the same effects.
19
@Shirley0401
My husband and I came from lower middle class homes, were the first in our families to have a college education and the first to climb a rung or two on the socioeconomic ladder. Now we are defined as villains and the socialists talk of nothing but wealth redistribution. Basically that means taking money away from people like me and giving it to those deemed more deserving. We worked and sacrificed to get where we are. We started near the bottom. The merit system doesn't seem like satire to me and it enrages me to think I now am expected to lift everyone else while being dragged back down myself.
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@North Face
"... America is a meritocracy..."
You don't get it: THAT'S the part de Blasio wants to change. In Bill d.B's world, it's not WHAT you know that determines success - it's WHO.
10
Good luck mr mayor when the rich and upper middle class flee the city a la Detroit good luck paying for everything. I myself have 23 months 2 weeks left before I leave and take my tax dollars with me
67
@EAH Us in Arizona, Utah, Florida and Idaho are used to high-tax state expats. Tons of California/Illinois here. We'd love to have you, but leave the liberal voting at home.
8
More hot air from Mayor Moonbeam.
64
Great .... so the mayor feels he knows best on how to spend my money ... how about if he spent some money so that NYC would not be the largest slumlord with NYCHA. He has had 6 years to improve conditions for the residents ... would they say they are better off than they were 6 years ago?
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And so the mass exodus from NYC and New York in general will continue.
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@Christian
Exodus in? Because if you look at the data it has been steadily climbing. And if you look at real estate development in recent years, apparently that's lots of rich folks cuz that's the kind of housing that's being built to the near exclusion of anything for lower income folks.
3
@Matthew
In the last 6 months a reported in the NYT 48, 000 New York’s left the state. We continue to congressional seats due to lost of population. Middle Class New York’s can’t afford to stay!
5
Rich folks who launder money to buy expensive apartments but never live in them.
2