NYC'13: Congrats to Mayor de Blasio

[traininthedistance]

My vote (in the primary and the general) goes to whoever pledges to keep on the FF in my signature. 

If nobody wants her, and it looks like nobody does at the moment, then I'm not quite sure what I'll do.

[traininthedistance]

Koch-Giuliani-Bloomberg tradition

Gibberish.  Giuliani is one of the worst mayors NYC has had in the past 50 years, whereas Bloomberg is arguably the best since LaGuardia.

EDIT:  Somewhat embarrassingly, I don't know enough about Ed Koch's term to pass judgment.

[traininthedistance]

My vote (in the primary and the general) goes to whoever pledges to keep on the FF in my signature. 

If nobody wants her, and it looks like nobody does at the moment, then I'm not quite sure what I'll do.

Who is the FF in your signature?

The Transportation Commissioner. Big on green environmental stuff.

Indeed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janette_Sadik-Khan

[traininthedistance]

Koch-Giuliani-Bloomberg tradition

Gibberish.  Giuliani is one of the worst mayors NYC has had in the past 50 years, whereas Bloomberg is arguably the best since LaGuardia.

EDIT:  Somewhat embarrassingly, I don't know enough about Ed Koch's term to pass judgment.

Bloomberg is good except for the soda ban thing.

I get what he was trying to do, but yeah, a Pigouvian surtax would have been better in just about every way.

[traininthedistance]

Urg, there are no good options.

Not Bill DeBlasio:

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Not Bill Thompson:

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And definitely not Christine Quinn, either.

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...

The leading Democratic contenders are all horribly out-of-touch and anti-progressive on transit issues, which is my number one issue wrt city government.  They're sufficiently bad that I would seriously consider voting for Lhota should he get the nomination.

[traininthedistance]

Being a bike lane proponent would be a surefire way to lose the election.  The outer boroughs despise bike lanes, to the point that they're a running against Bloomberg and the DOT.  

FYI, being a former MTA chairman who oversaw toll and fare increases is another easy way to lose.

A popular meme that is completely untrue.  Heck, even at the furthest reaches of Eastern Queens, which is about as "outer borough" as you can get besides Staten Island, more people like them than not.

It is certainly true that the editorial boards at the newspapers (who are not representative of the city as a whole) may not like them, and of course there are the misinformed busybody NIMBYs who get all the oxygen and drive coverage, but if you actually listen to actual people, and this includes actual people in the Bronx and in Brooklyn and in Queens, they most definitely tend to approve of bike lanes.

...

Also, it wasn't Lhota's fault that fares had to be raised- Albany forced his hand.

Edit: forgot this one.  The most recent poll, from August, has support for bike lanes rising to 66 percent.  Oh, and more households in NYC own a bike than a car, and yes that includes all five boroughs.  The idea that this is a "surefire way to lose the election" is rendered utterly ridiculous by the actual poll numbers.

[traininthedistance]

But are these the major issues?

How would former Ambassador to Japan (2001-2005) William Burgess IV do in the race, if he were real?

They're the major issues for me.  I am of course aware that they are not the major issues for 90 percent of the electorate, and I am unlikely to be satisfied.  Gun to my head, I probably go with Quinn right now- at least she was in favor of congestion pricing.

[traininthedistance]

Just because a majority of people don't drive cars to work doesn't mean that the large majority who do so should be ignored, traininthedistance.

Um.. what do you mean by "large majority who do"?  Because in NYC, a large majority don't drive to work, and IIRC non-drivers are a majority in every borough except perhaps Staten Island.  You're not using words right here.

Also, the laughable contention that drivers are being "ignored" by advocates for a sane transportation system is nothing but their sense of overweening entitlement that assumes non-drivers are to never have any voice whatsoever.  All of these improvements have been subject to community input.

[traininthedistance]

I'm not referring to the actual opinion-making process so much as your opinion (unless I've misunderstood it) that the city doesn't have the same obligation to help drivers as those who get to work using public transportation/any other method because they are a minority.

You're misunderstanding a lot more than just my opinion.

[traininthedistance]

So, it appears there is a good option out there, someone who understands the crucial importance of transit issues to this city and is putting forward a sensible, forward-thinking plan, and putting it front and center- Sal Albanese.

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And his views on other issues seem good too.

Pity it's the long-shot dude that everyone thinks has no chance.

It's early, but screw it, Sal has my support.

[traininthedistance]

I just got called by Quinnipiac (for some reason we still have a land line) and decided to do my civic duty and answer it.  Took ten minutes.

Mostly about NYC stuff; the top-line Dem primary question only included four prompts: Quinn, DeBlasio, Thompson, Liu.  Not Albanese, boooo. 

Also approval/disapproval of several figures (one of which even a political junkie like me didn't recognize), stop and frisk (disapprove, of course), Bloomy (I approved), and several Bloomy initiatives:

* adding more skyscrapers to Midtown (I VERY VERY strongly approve of this, cannot be overstated)
* the soda ban (I said I disapprove, but wasn't an easy choice)
* the initiative to hide cigarettes behind the counter (I approve of this)

And of course all the standard demographic stuff.

[traininthedistance]

I don't care what the polls day, this woman isn't winning sh_t.

I think those comments make me think more favorably of Quinn, tbh.

[traininthedistance]

Ugh, I don't like the prospect of Weiner entering the race at all.  He's going to suck up way too much oxygen, and his transportation plan is pitifully bad.

I'll admit there's a tiny part of me that wants to see McMillan break out into legit double digits.

[traininthedistance]

In huge news, Jimmy McMillan will be running as the Rent Is Too Damn High candidate.

I hereby endorse Jimmy McMillan. He's the most serious candidate of the bunch

I agree.

Quinn is seriously terrible though, she's an authoritarian liberal of the worst kind, and probably even worse than Bloomberg.  Hates unions, supports privatized education, racial profiling, civil liberties violations, soda bans, raising the smoking age (quite unconstitutional and absurdly controlling).

The G&L victory fund should really be ashamed of backing her so strongly, would think even as an LGBT political action group they would have enough of a head on their shoulders to realize a bad candidate when they see one, regardless of orientation.

The LGBT community itself seems to realize Quinn isn't that great, and her voters are probably going to be Republican leaning anyway.

Same with the Emily's list type of groups.. she's female but her policies are plain wrong.

I wouldn't say she hates unions.  The truth is that a lot of the unions in New York state are terrible and they're obviously self-interested.  A politician needs to clash with unions sometimes or else they're a complete hack. 

It will be interesting to see who the unions endorse in this race.  Some of the major unions have been known to endorse crazy people just for spite.  It's quite a political culture we have here in New York. 

Yeah, the behavior of the TWU has definitely hurt the state of mass transit in the city, and forced me to conclude that no, we can't just defend unions because they're unions; the public interest requires a more nuanced approach.

(They're not the only villains, certainly, and they're not as bad as coal, but they've definitely pushed against a lot of things we should be doing, and for some things we shouldn't.)

[traininthedistance]

Ugh, boo hiss.

Weiner's transportation plan is nonexistent at best, and he's sure to suck the oxygen out of the room from better candidates (not just, of course, my favorite no-hoper, but de Blasio qualifies as "better" here too).

http://secondavenuesagas.com/2013/05/22/on-candidate-weiners-lackluster-transportation-plan/

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There's basically no way I'm voting for Weiner with a platform like that.

[traininthedistance]

I'm voting for Weiner to stop Quinn. Quinn broke with Bloomberg a few too many times for my taste.

You're against Quinn because she broke with Bloomberg too many times? I thought the rap against her was she was too close to him. In any case, you don't have to vote for him unless he makes it into the runoff with Quinn. Personally I don't see what's so bad about Quinn.

I like Bloomberg! But he supported building the West Side Stadium and Quinn was one of his leading opponents on that. New York could be hosting the Super Bowl this year if not for that. And I want Weiner to make the run off because I think he would have the best chance of defeating her- so technically I do "have" to vote for him. Not all candidates will be equal against Quinn. It'd be great to have a female mayor but Quinn isn't a good fit for me.

I like Bloomberg, but the West Side Stadium was an awful idea.  Manhattan needs room for people and businesses, not for a stadium that will get used a couple dozen times a year and lay empty most of the time.  It makes far more sense for the Giants and Jets to share the Meadowlands, where they will use the facility more often, and you can actually put in parking without destroying the city's fabric.  And, well, the NYC metro already is hosting the Super Bowl.  (Note that this calculus is less relevant for arenas and baseball stadiums, which are used many more times each year.  Putting them downtown makes sense.  But football- and fútbol- stadiums really should be in the burbs.)

I seem to recall that the main draw of a West Side stadium was actually the Olympics, which for a city like NYC (that doesn't need the publicity and has inflated construction costs) would be nothing but a massive, irresponsible white elephant.

A football stadium in Manhattan is one of the very few development-related decisions on which Bloomy is in fact wrong.  Knowing that Quinn opposed it makes me more likely to support her- although it doesn't change the fact I'm not voting for her in the primary, but would certainly vote for her against Weiner.

[traininthedistance]

Question for NYers: who do you think is more likely to make the runoff- De Blasio or Thompson?

I really don't know.  They've been basically even all campaign.

[traininthedistance]

Wow, this is pretty exciting! The most competent (and most liberal) candidate takes the lead!

Can someone rank DiBlasio, Weiner, Thompson, and Quinn on a spectrum from most liberal to most centrist/moderate? Feel free to include Liu if you know enough about his ideology to do so.

My unscientific guesstimate:

1. de Blasio (He's reasonably far-left by mainstream American standards on most of the issues as far as I can tell; I especially like his animal rights positions.)

2. Liu (He's been a fierce critic of Bloomberg, don't know as much about him as the others though.)

3. Weiner (He used to be pretty liberal but does he still have political positions? He's always talking about or arguing over sexting/penis pictures when I see him now.)

4. Thompson (He's about as liberal as Weiner I guess. You could probably even flip them, whatever.)

5. Quinn (She's essentially a Bloomberg crony. She's a corporate Democrat and easily the worst of the bunch.)

Actually Liu is the worst of the bunch, on account of being a corrupt liar.  Liu and Weiner are the two candidates here that I would not vote for, no matter what.

[traininthedistance]

New York Post endorses Quinn and Lhota

The Post and Times agree on something?  Who would have thunk that?

Well, is anyone daft enough to endorse Catsimatidis for the Republican primary?  The easiness of the choice on that side of the ledger makes it at least 50 percent more likely.

[traininthedistance]

Joe Lhota is the only candidate who would prefer kittens being run over to delayed subway trains so far, for the record.

This may have something to do with the fact that he was the only candidate to run the MTA.

[traininthedistance]

The NY Times is on the attack against de Blasio. Perhaps they're a bit upset that their endorsement of Quinn doesn't seem to have helped her at all?

http://gothamist.com/2013/09/01/times_daily_news_take_shots_at_fron.php

De Blasio's opposition to the outer borough taxi plan is wrong, horribly wrong, wrong for the wrong reasons, and it does gives me pause.  Frankly at this point, I suspect that he will not need my vote to make the runoff and I'll go with Albanese.  Back when it looked like a Weiner-Quinn race, I was all set to tactically vote de Blasio, but the probability of that is now thankfully just about nil.

Of course, if the NYT really wants to ding de Blasio, the best angle they can get is to keep running stories about how he's an unapologetic Red Sox fan.  Really.

[traininthedistance]

The Quinnipiac poll also shows Stringer up 47-45 over Spitzer.

Really hope Spitzer pulls this one out.  Stringer is absolutely terrible.

I'm honestly still undecided on the Comptroller's race, largely due to not paying much attention to it (and a general impression that there's not much daylight between the two).  What makes Stringer so bad?

[traininthedistance]

The Quinnipiac poll also shows Stringer up 47-45 over Spitzer.

Really hope Spitzer pulls this one out.  Stringer is absolutely terrible.

I'm honestly still undecided on the Comptroller's race, largely due to not paying much attention to it (and a general impression that there's not much daylight between the two).  What makes Stringer so bad?

Think about what the comptroller does: Manages the city pension funds, audits city agencies and signs off on contracts.

Stringer is a pandering machine politician with no experience in finance.  He's never had a real job and he's just risen up the ranks by being a hack.  He owes favors to half the borough of Manhattan.

Spitzer, on the other hand, is extremely intelligent, willing to go after special interests and has relevant experience.  Spitzer actually knows about capital markets and ran the AG's office extremely well, which probably has more responsibility than the comptroller.

Eh, "pandering machine politician" is not really a charge that resonates much with me- all politicians pander to some extent, and "machine" strikes me as more of a stock term of abuse than something actually meaningful.

But you're certainly right that Spitzer's experience as AG is relevant, positive, and a solid reason to vote for him. 

[traininthedistance]

Is there any polling on the Public Advocate race? 

It would be hilarious/a potential train wreck if Letitia James won; if only because the Public Advocate becomes Mayor in the event of the Mayor's death, God forbid. 

Not that I have seen.

I strongly support Daniel Squadron, by the way.

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This part of your rumination is spot-on, and I agree entirely.  I think you're way way off base on the idea that unions will bankrupt the city, or that stop and frisk hasn't been statistically proven to be discriminatory to the max, but credit where credit is due on this part.  I would love to see reactivation of Rockaway Branch service, and agree that the structure of interest groups and excessive localism is a major hurdle here, and in so many other cases.

Nice post, Simfan but I disagree with your fundamental take on these things.  These constituencies that you seemingly deride are residents, voters and people who help the city run as it does. Many of these stakeholders have been left behind in the progress. One could take the exact opposite stance and malign the "faceless" business interests that have gained so much over the past decades. Many have no actual vested interest, other than profit of course, on the future of the city and its development.

I think you are right that in a city with competing interests the mayor cannot always be all things to all people. Difficult decisions about what type of city you want into the future have to be made. NYC has done a fantastic job on reducing crime and re-development in many once no-go zones. There were/are some top rate planners in "city hall". However, lost in the mix is the destruction of the character of many neighborhoods and overall affordability for the working classes. One should expect to pay a premium for living in a safe, vibrant city. Yet, the current course, if left unchecked, leaves the bulk of the populace lying on what used to be the margins- the wealthy and those in housing. For continued vibrancy and a balanced socio-economic development, the next mayor must address the housing issue.

Well, the best way to fix the housing issue is to engage in wholesale upzoning- massively increase supply.  I understand that this might be hard in areas that are poorly served by transit (which remain affordable, though) and in historic districts (which is mainly an argument that historic preservation is directly at odds with housing affordability); at the very least we should be lifting restrictions on accessory apartments, "granny flats", and the like.  True story: my SO, before we moved in together, lived with her roomate in an apartment that was technically illegal- it was a 2 BR floor of a three-story house, but the zoning code only allowed for single family occupancy, or two units at most.  It wasn't in any way unsafe or cramped- there was a fire escape and everything, it was actually quite spacious for NY- it was just illegal.  And there was no reason for it to be.  Those sorts of things should not just be brought out of the shadows, but encouraged, along with building taller and denser along transit hubs and major corridors.

[traininthedistance]

Is there any polling on the Public Advocate race?  

It would be hilarious/a potential train wreck if Letitia James won; if only because the Public Advocate becomes Mayor in the event of the Mayor's death, God forbid.  

Not that I have seen.

I strongly support Daniel Squadron, by the way.

Most recent polling I can find for Likely Voters:

Letitia James - 16%
Catherine Guerriero - 12%
Daniel Squadron - 12%
Reshma Saujani - 3%
Sidique Wai - 2%
Other - 6%
Undecided - 49%

http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/WSJPoll0816.pdf

The only political mailer our household has received this season is for Reshma Saujani, actually.  She seems good but I'm super familiar with Squadron and basically agree with him on everything.

Letitia James is local, but she has campaign finance problems and is generally not that great.