Short answer: NO
7
This clown can start improving the City by resigning.
In the meantime he can get Andy Byford to stay despite Byford's beef wit the nitwit governor. He can direct City Criminal Court judges to ignore the new unconstitutional bail laws. He can stop that sanctuary city nonsense. He can forget about closing Rikers and scattering jails around the City, unless, of course, he wants to try this out by erecting the first new neighborhood jail in Park Slope where he lives. He can get Rikers guards to shape up or get out. He can forbid the City from entrusting incompetent, spendthrift Chirlane with anything, especially money. And he can stop taking money from people who want things from him, among other things.
25
No. DeBlasio is a lightweight poseur who I regret voting for.
12
I feel that the big problem were those who never liked him from the start and always kept raising the bar on him as they were never pleased by him no matter what he did for them. Unfortunately, this is pretty much the case for a lot of politicians. In a way, I feel like this as well with my family or even my boss or manager acts if I never do anything good no matter how hard I do it. Also, the critics always place de Blasio into lose-lose situations where he can't win anyone over no matter what he intends to do, because he will be soon as apathetic if he doesn't while not doing a good job if he does. Another way to relate this is being a janitor who just finished moping up the floor and then someone spitting on it claiming that they missed a spot. Overall, I will agree that he wasn't perfect, but he did try to make the city feel for the 99% again by advocating for more affordable housing and rents along with even trying to get the rich to pay their fair share. Under Giuliani and Bloomberg, you only mattered to them if you were rich and would get numerous tax breaks and subsidies while making everyone who wasn't be forced to leave due to gentrification. Honestly, I wish my hometown of Pleasantville had a mayor like de Blasio. Seriously, if he was that hated, the voters could have easily voted against him but didn't, which really said something.
1
Pre-K saved me thousands in day care costs, so that alone earned him a vote from me for re-election.
2
Bill DeBlasio won his first election because of a concerted grassroots effort to defeat Christine Quinn, whom everyone expected to roll into City Hall. He won his second election because in a one-party town, no one would run against their party’s incumbent. He lacks a meaningful work ethic, crowded out, I imagine, by his massive ego. Bye bye, Bill.
21
He’s got 22 more months...not bye-bye by any stretch
2
The city is suffering its worst decline in memory. Such a shame after all the progress before and in the aftermath of 9-11. In the past it would have been an oversimplification to blame just one person, but it is just that simple -- de Blasio is to blame.
22
Worst mayor of NYC in my lifetime.
Just left Penn Station which is an embarrassment to this city and country. On top of all of its logistical problems, it is now overrun with the homeless and mentally ill. Why is there no safe place for these people to get help? This is not a new problem for NYC but has grown exponentially worse under DeBlasio.
There must be somebody who can turn around the state of this city after DeBlasio’s inept leadership.
28
@Kbon I agree. He has been a disservice to this city and especially the homeless population he swore to provide for. He has spent endless taxpayer dollars on $160 a night hotel rooms for the homeless which do not provide any services much needed services. In my neighborhood we are overrun with these makeshift shelters (4 within three blocks and many more within 10). Many of the people are mentally ill and now roam the streets, a situation that did not exist before this mayor. Now he's going after middle class home owners through exorbitant property taxes. He can't go soon enough.
14
New Yorkers here display their strong disapproval of this mayor.
So the question arises: why did they ever elect him?
12
@RP /They didn't elect him, they elected his son Dante after Dante did that commercial.
6
Which of itself is mind-boggling.
Still, Bill de Blasio knows his constituency. The rest of us he cares little about.
4
@RP During his first candidacy, we suffered through the Weiner sexting scandal, who was essentially lined up to be the party nominee. After that fiasco, we were left with DeBlasio. Second term, no liberals ran against him.
5
He is and was a party hack from the get go.
Who worked every angle for himself in the end and still is.
9
Strange headline - "can we believe in him again" - whose says we ever believed in him to begin with. Two words - lazy and corrupt!
11
Please fellow New Yorkers, I know we mostly all hate Republicans at the federal level, but if a good strong R mayoral candidate cones along, don’t dismiss them just because they’re not a D. In NYC it doesn’t matter - they’re not going to deal with abortion and war and other right-wing nut job causes. And they won’t be friends of Trump - nobody likes him here.
19
@B I am with you but is stop and frisk part of the deal?
He AND his wife (a blatant racist) are horrible for the city I use to live in and loved very much. A recent visit was such an awful experience that we will not go back and our friends are thrilled. They visit us in the midwest (and spend thier money here) where we now live surrounded by a huge population of KKK members (if you are think they are only in the south you would be most incorrect) and Chisto-facists and other Trump supporters. And they are thrilled to get out of that city for a bit of time to come here. I am happy I no longer live in NYC. It has lost its magic.
8
An incompetent Mayor. Good riddance and let’s get one like Rudi or Mike.
15
De Blassio’s only legacy is that, as a mayor, he is an utter disaster and completely useless! He can never compare himself to Bloomberg. All New Yorkers know he gets the votes from pleasing the Union. The whole city is full of awnings but & worker in sight fixing the city architecture. So disappointed in this guy!
12
He was nothing but a lazy hippie wearing a coat and tie when he was elected and he will leave office as nothing but a lazy hippie wearing a coat and tie.
12
Worst. Mayor. Ever.
Get him out ASAP. Please.
Such an embarrassment to the city and himself.
17
And his awful photo op at the Mexican border that he used for his laughable presidential.
And what about his wife losing $850 million that she still hasn’t found.
16
Mr. De Blasio and Ms. Trottenberg should be incarcerated for this knowing and deliberate violations of the Vehicle and Traffic Law and Education Law.
They have City Planners doing traffic engineering when the law requires a licensed Professional Engineer to do this work.
Mr. de Blasio has worked with councilmembers to increase racial segreagtion through his rezoning efforts in areas such as downtown Far Rockaway and the Peninsula Hospital site as well as Inwood and Brooklyn.
Mr. de Blasio believes in the right things, but he is a hopeless incompetent.
8
Wow. I've never seen such unanimity in comments, even from New York-ers on The Donald. I always wondered what he had done as a N.Y.C. Councilman to qualify him for Mayor. When he leaves office, if he doesn't return to his row house in "the Slope," he might find living in a gated community and hang out at Brooklyn Borough Hall if perchance his wife (the real Mayor) becomes Beep.
4
When he was on the City Council, he pressured Maimonides Hospital into inventing out of thin air a six-figure job for his wife.
He is very good at getting money out of other people and using it for his own needs. Look at all those donations to his whatsis -- he skirted the law as skillfully as his doppelgänger Donald Trump.
And what of all the money that went into his wife's mental health initiative?
Mr. de Blasio has his fans, of course. Mostly people who also are very good at getting and spending other people's money.
14
1. Vilifed the police day one in office, causing attacks and deaths against law enforcement, nationwide.
2. Gave his wife a billion of our tax dollars to do "something related to metal health"-- what exactly is that again?
3. More homeless camping (and their bodily effluvia) on the sidewalks and subway than ever.
4. Disappeared weekly to run for President. No one was interested.
5. Worst Mayor Ever.
6. I think that sums it up.
20
No. I was impressed with him during his first bid for Mayor. He is well-spoken and articulate. His multi-cultural family was appealing. He appeared to care for all the citizens of the city. Ha. His shenanigans regarding the potential Amazon headquarters showed him to be an opaque player. And a poor negotiator. His Presidential bid revealed an oversized ego, and took him way from his work for the city. His wife's black hole, ThriveNYC, gobbled up millions, if not more, of taxpayer money. He has failed at his most important task: fixing the subways. Please let him go away.
15
What? He’s not going to manipulate the City Council in giving him a third term as his predecessor did?
He’s done. DiBlaso can not undo what Bloomberg has set in motion for the super rich of this City.
Can any mayor be successful?
1
Which is worse: four more years of Trump, or two more of De Blasio?
Tough call. Heaven help us if we have both.
11
Seriously??? No one I know ever took de Blasio seriously to begin with. He's underperformed every step of the way, from his poorly implemented school reforms to the zero competence management of vision zero, he has been a total failure. If he wanted to show some leadership, he would resign now so that much needed change could happen faster.
12
As long as he continues to build men’s homeless shelters in residential neighborhoods instead of permanent housing, continues with his plan to build mega jails in residential neighborhoods, does nothing to support changing aspects of criminal justice reform which has already caused an increase in crime, and doesn’t fire racist, divisive Schools Chancellor Carranza, the answer is no, he cannot redeem himself. He is the worst mayor of NYC.
16
Let's keep it simple. de Blasio did one thing in six years: Pre-K. Otherwise, can't walk and talk at the same time. Planning serious work on homelessness? He's delusional. He's had more plans to end homelessness than we can count. Are the one million + public school students in the city getting a materially better education? No. He has even tried to undermine the excellent selective high schools. Let's see what works well and break it, seems to be his MO. Crime down? Yes, thanks to a dedicated NYPD. But is gang violence down? No. Are the 400,000 public housing residents better off? Absolutely not. RIP, Bill. We're moving on without you.
13
He is ineffectual, self-important, and out of ideas.
He also had no commitment to his current job during his embarrassing campaign for President.
What he should do is resign.
10
A loser and a phony. Makes believe he cares but courts the well-off and powerful. Just look to the dreadful living conditions in the Boroughs. A grim reality is lived by so many. Everyone wants to live in NYC. The huge fortunes possessed by so many of the mega wealthy need to be severely taxed. If they want to live in Manhattan then really make them pay.
7
“Look, I have no delusions of grandeur, I just have numbers,” Mr. de Blasio said. Really?? I suggest that delusions of grandeur along with self-congratulatory hyperbolic twaddle are Mayor Bill’s stock in trade. And he seriously thought he could be President? He seriously thinks that Brooklyn is waiting for his wife to move onward and upward? Exhibits A and B in the Mayor Bill self-delusions file.
His departure from the scene will be a gift to NYC.
13
How did his Presidential aspirations turn out?
5
This mayor has done nothing positive ,except for lowering the vehicle speed limit.He came into the forefront saying that the police,cannot be trusted and shown the respect that they deserve.These individuals work under difficult situations, and the mayor's stating that police cannot be trusted ,has prompted an uneducated, unappreciative, segment of the city's population to show this disrespect by pouring water on ,spitting on ,and not cooperating with those who are trying to protect all in this great city. This city will survive despite Mr. de Blasio
8
The headline implies we once believed in him to begin with.
He's the most passive and reactive mayor the city has had since Dinkins, following two of the most proactive and effective mayors ever (For better and worse). Issues he should be addressing head-on include homelessness, an overabundance of luxury housing, loss of low-income and middle-class housing, commercial property laws that wildly favor landlords to the detriment of retail renters and neighborhoods, horrible street conditions, and a DOE chancellor who is divisive and uninterested in talking with parents (especially those that disagree with him). He also oversees a Police department who doesn't trust that he has their backs even while the civilian population thinks he doesn't care about police misbehavior unless there's a public scandal (and both POVs are accurate). But he won't get out in front of any of these issues. He'll leave it all to dump in the next mayor's lap.
46
@radius8 Thank you for sharing an objective opinion on this mayor and the trouble areas that continue to exist under Di Blasio's leadership.
1
Also, Universal Pre-K is not necessarily a success. I work in preschool education; UPK was rolled out too fast with a focus on quantity over quality. And of course little thought given to what happens in low-income homes that gets in the way of the child learning even when school quality is high. It's all a numbers game to De Blasio, but children are not statistics.
24
I don't know why Ms. Fitzsimmons believes the mayor has any real interest in helping the homeless. I stood arm's length from him when he joined my neighbors and me protesting the proposed closure of Long Island College Hospital. He sounded convincing. He even got arrested. When the issue was taken up by state government, de Blasio who had by then won the mayoral election, did nothing. The hospital building was demolished. The lot stood empty for a while. Soon to come no doubt will be more luxury condos.
De Blasio also protested with other NYC citizens when Bloomberg proposed tearing down the World Heritage Site Forty-Second Street Library because it was a waste of valuable real estate. I stood on the steps of that library where de Blasio apparently posed for a photo op. Same story happens again. De Blasio assumes office and libraries are torn down to make way for luxury housing. I patronize the Brooklyn Heights Library, which has now been relegated to a space with a leaky roof that's rented in a church.
The Newark Star Ledger recently outed the fact that our mayor feels a solution to homelessness is shipping these unfortunate people off to Newark to live in substandard housing. That's what his secret policy was. Now he all of a sudden is going to work hard to help the homeless as his term winds now? Nothing he has done up until now convinces me of that.
27
I rarely agree with many NYT commenters, but as a native and resident (still) New Yorker I see one of the few topics that we do agree on - that self-serving de Blasio has been the worst mayor in decades overseeing a declining NYC.
41
De Blasio is right that most New Yorkers are onboard with his agenda. The problem is his policies and implementation.
Homelessness will be a stain on his legacy, as it is a stain on our reality now. He campaigned on this issue. From what I can tell, he's done nothing to fix it.
I don't want to criminalize homelessness. But every day on the subway at 207th st, every subway car has 1-3 homeless people sleeping on it. Families are scattered all over the city, put in shelters far from their neighborhoods, friends, and schools. No one seems to be helping them escape their desperate situation.
He could have launched a major Housing First initiative, and transformed the homelessness epidemic. Maybe he still can. If he doesn't, as much as I like his politics, I'll still consider his time in office as largely wasted.
13
Strange title for this article. I can say that I never voted for him and never "believed" in him and he has met my every bad expectation. The sooner he goes, the better.
34
I arrived in NYC for college in August of 1977, which you may remember as the Summer of Sam, or the Summer of the Blackout. The city was a nightmare run by Abe Beame which continued through Dinkins and Koch. Improvements started happening as evidenced by the reduction of homeless on the street, disappearance of squeegee guys, construction etc. True, visible improvements. Since DeBlasio took over I see more homeless on the streets than I have in decades, dirtier streets, a diminishment in quality of life. He talks the talk, but cannot walk the walk. Move on Bill, join a NFP group where you might help some people, because you are not a good mayor.
57
@steve It was Rudy Giuliani who made the institutional and practical changes in New York City that turned the city and its quality of life around. Nobody in their right mind disputes that fact.
27
@paul Agree with that
2
79,000 people sleep on the street every night, and yet we have a hedge fund billionaire or two, added to a Russian- Israeli oligarchs daughter yet and a techie billionaire who between them drop a billion dollars on 5 residences that they will seldom visit: add to this an entire industry that caters to building expensive condos allowing Chinese investors to get a visa( hello Kushner) and literally hundreds of thousands of investors buying up condos to use as Airbnb cash cows( making life miserable for the neighbors and driving up property prices as they are used for investment vehicles rather than shelter), Tishman Speyer attempting to convert Cooperstown, a venerable community of rent controlled apartments that oddly enough so many investment bankers love to point out they lived in growing up and attending almost free college before joining say Goldman Sachs and making every effort to pull the ladder out from under the former middle class. This doesn’t really seem to be the way democracy should work; whoops I forgot we are no longer living in a democracy more of a kleptocracy, a democracy in name only with some of our biggest cities beginning to resemble third world country standards. What do the comments seem to be most concerned with, their wallets no matter how full, very sad.
21
@Ted. The city will spend $3.2B on homeless. That’s $40,000 dollars for each of the 79,000 homeless. Clearly money is not the problem. It’s city government not accountable for their spending or results.
35
@Ted 79,000 people absolutely do not sleep on the street each night. If this were the case, you'd see tents covering the sidewalks from FiDi through Midtown. Only about 2k-3k people are unsheltered in NYC.
That said, totally agree that there is a significant issue with foreign nationals coming in and purchasing luxury high-rises that they plan to stay in once or twice a year.
12
@Mike Cos Yes Mike that does sound like a lot of money per person, but rather than blaming city government I wonder if there were more government involved particularly in areas rife for overcharging like emergency room care for the homeless or warehousing them in hotels. I have to believe a concerted effort of a more, gasp, socialist type system like Denmark’s couldn’t address it more efficiently, any time you can take the “ for as much profit as possible” healthcare and real estate industry out of the equation society as a whole would be much better off, not to mention the legions of lawyers at every corner. Our system just isn’t working and hasn’t for decades the reasons are manifold and impossible to discuss in 1500 letters but suffice it to say runaway capitalism is to blame.
4
His agenda is higher property taxes?! In a city where we already pay exorbitant income taxes, mansion taxes, etc that cannot be deducted anymore. This city has zero respect for its tax payers.
38
Owners of multiple dwelling units, rental buildings pay through the roof. The single, double family and townhouse owners are laughing all the way to the bank
6
In Brooklyn Heights, taxes on townhouses are about $45,000 a year. In Manhattan, they run over $100,000 a year.
3
@South Of Albany You do realize that the cost of any property in this city is so high that for anyone remotely middle class to be able to own, they rely on the lower property taxes? We already pay through our nose in taxes to this city and state.
But I suppose only the very wealthy should be able to own property in this city, no?
2
As a born and bred New Yorker I loath him for his hypocrisy, tardiness and self absorption.
Despises car culture yet is motorcaded from Gracie Mansion to park Slope to work out?
His miss management of NYCHa and Thrive are border line criminal.
And the fact he thought he could be President was absolutely comical.
You wanna win our hearts and minds? Own you faults and match our hustle like the rest of us do on a daily basis.
115
@James You wanna win our hearts and minds? resign
5
Utterly disastrous mayor. He is returning us to the late 1970s, when there was dog waste everywhere, music blaring at all hours--no respect for law. What a nightmare of a mayor.
61
At this moment, I realize we were all wrong not to work harder for De Blasio's election to higher office. We have two more years to go with this weird inflatable tube man as mayor. If he were president, it would only be one year.
32
He is the expected outcome when you don't have a robust two party system functioning in a democracy.
42
@Anthnoy F Indeed. All these immigrants escaped from one-party ruled Communist regimes (the old USSR, China, Cuba, etc) and came all the way to NYC and asked: "This is the American democracy we dreamed about? Where are the options on the ballot?"
3
how can we believe in him again if we never believed in him in the first place?
maybe if he showed up regularly to city hall and did work there instead of gallivanting around the country to places and meetings where he is unwanted and irrelevant
maybe if he'd stop taking a caravan of SUVs to Brooklyn during rush hour to go to his gym while calling himself an environmentalist
maybe if he'd stop granting political patronage favors to real estate interests who back him - I can't wait to see which of his cronies gets a sweetheart deal to develop condos on Rikers Island
maybe if he'd swallow his unfounded ego and work with the governor, the MTA and the police
maybe if he'd make the failing NYC public schools a priority and dump his good for nothing chancellor instead of destroying the few good schools that are left
And that's just off the top of my head.
82
@Amalia Cruz
He and Cuomo pretended that he didn't know about Amazon coming to Queens and that was a lie in our face
1
The proposed real estate tax "reform" threatens to break much more than it purportedly fixes. Read the linked article and the reader comments. Read other analyses in other news sources. It threatens to massively multiply the taxes on lots of New Yorkers, in the middle class as well, so that it may make many people lose their homes. What about renters? Wouldn't this cause a rent increase across the city as well?
It would remove the annual cap on tax increases. Even with that cap allows increases far beyond typical income increases; without it, there would be no protection from sudden massive jumps in taxes.
The assumption seems to be that if you own an "expensive" (on paper) home, you must have accessible money to handle a massive tax increase. Instead, my impression is that lots of New Yorkers in middle class are barely able to afford their housing costs (whether it's rent or own). We've already been hit with the Federal "reform" that limits mortgage interest tax deduction and SALT (state and local tax) deduction. This "reform" could push lots of people over the edge into losing homes, defaulting on mortgages, even bankruptcy, etc. This could encourage a mass exodus from NYC, of upper and middle class. There goes the tax base.
Instead, the government needs to get its own house in order. Control and reduce government spending. Then, if you want to reform taxes, reduce taxes on those you find are taxed excessively, instead of raising it radically on everyone else.
27
"But other than universal prekindergarten, much of Mr. de Blasio’s agenda has failed to register with New Yorkers."
Oh, no, it has registered all right!
A sharp run-up city's payroll.
The "green" agenda that made a mess of NYC streets.
An unprecedented run up in RE taxes and forcing DOB changes with an indirect impact of increasing cost of NYC RE ownership
And, oh, yes, a real, long lasting softening of NYC real estate market.
Great achievements. Congratulations Mayor. You made NYC irresistible again!
33
Bill de Blasio is delusional. New Yorkers are not fooled by those who act only in their self- interest. Our city’s reputation is being sullied at both the local and federal levels as we count the days until both regimes come to an end.
60
Mayor de Blasio may be a bit short in accomplishments, now that his time in office will come to an end in two years, but no one ought to undermine his accomplishments. Bill is a decent man, and he means well; and the antithesis of vulgar Trump, the latter always with criminal intent; and, as if not enough to destroy America's trust in it's democratic institutions, spews resentment whebever he goes and opens his big mouth. Therefore, hats off to de Blasio, for his courage and efforts in trying to make a difference in our lives. Flawed? Of course; but just like the rest of us. If we are to criticize him, fine and dandy, but let's do it constructively.
5
@manfred marcus was that meant to be satire? He is far from decent and much more like Trump than you realize. The only difference is that Billy pretends to care about people and Trump is actually honest (the only case in which he is) about the fact that he only cares about his supporters. He has no courage, other than to try to hide his level of corruption from being exposed.
If he is an example of progressive values, progressives should be very afraid.
30
Churlish and aloof, without grace or class. And so sure he's on the right side of every issue that ethics are irrelevant.
That is de Blasio.
And that is why he's unpopular.
62
@Paul’52
I think you really are talking about Trump
I lived in NYC for 40 years. Love the city. DeBlasio doesn’t have his heart in the city. It’s elsewhere— heaven knows where it is. There is such arrogance and defiance and even sneakiness that he exudes— in a very passive-aggressive way. He’s not nice. I wish him well.
64
It’s telling that the only numbers this Mayor cites are election numbers.
When it comes to things like street safety, subway crime, congestion charging, reducing traffic, yeshivas, ending car culture and many other issues: he often goes by gut or his own opinion. In some instances he has ignore panels of experts that he himself created. He also conveniently ignores the dollar amounts he has received from donors who have been convicted of bribing him.
His allergy to data and fact is yet another example of his stubbornness and arrogance.
What’s worse, if he actually dug into the polling data from his election wins he’d see just how few New Yorkers actually voted for him. He may have “won” a high percentage, but the extreme apathy created by NYC’s rotten political machine has created a system where weak leaders like De Blasio can win office with only a fraction of the city’s support. He would be wise to stop talking about his “mandate” and look deeper at his approval ratings and his dismal reception on his vanity run for POTUS.
50
Sounds very similar to a former Real Estate guy from NY who sought office a few years ago!
He lost New Yorkers a long time before he left for Iowa. As a constituent of his when he was in city council I can assure you, one term on the council was enough! He supported unnecessary private housing inside the park the community collaboratively developed a plan for, over 20 years (housing was not needed to pay for it, either, as we had developed many non-privatizing ways to pay without the horrible presedence-setting privatization of public park lands), he faked caring about our local hospital by getting himself arrested to win the mayoralty and then when elected moved quickly to shake down developer donations for his Campaign One fake charity destroying the Cobble Hill historic district in the meantime without any benefit of losing the hospital: No affordable housing, no school, no new parklands for the thousands of people who were coming to the area. Listen, the guy is a total hack, lacking any understanding of what real New Yorkers need and pandering only to the next embattled group that his focus groups say are good talking points. The middle class is almost dead in NYC today, thanks to deBlasio.
66
Bill de Blasio has never been interested in the day-to-day management of the city, exemplified by his running for president shortly after his re-election. In contrast to the more recent occupants of the office, he focused upon issues (such as income inequality) which are well outside of the scope of the job. His more realistic goals, such as affordable housing, are meaningless without the leadership and policy work necessary for successful reform.
He seems to have little interest in New York City or its residents. His empty slogan "vision zero" is a perfect, unintended summary of his tenure.
96
Correction: Bill de Blasio never won his first primary. His son Dante did. He also only wanted to be Mayor as a steppingstone to become the national progressive leader. The reason he won his second term in 2017 was because he would be term limited to run again, thus increasing chances for challengers in 2021. Doubtful his popularity will increase in his last two years i office.
27