NYC General Discussion - You Hear That Giant Sucking Sound?

[Simfan34]

No Managers Need Apply
Bill de Blasio brings another professional leftist into city government.

http://www.city-journal.org/2014/eon0311hm.html

There was a good piece in the Observer a while ago making the case that de Blasio was being quite measured in his appointments, which was encouraging- the excellent choice of Polly Trottenberg as Transportation Commissioner as a case in point. But it seems to have have been a case of false optimism.

[Simfan34]

New Yorkers Want Horse-Drawn Carriages to Stay (and oppose de Blasio's school policies)

http://politicker.com/2014/03/poll-new-yorkers-want-horse-drawn-carriages-to-stay/

Obviously a plan to put hardworking people, most of whom are from immigrant backgrounds, out of a job for no good reason, is unpopular. (I assume most of the horses would be put down as well).

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

He's made it very clear that he's not here to listen to public opinion. He's here for "justice".

I've never seen a politician burn their bridges so quickly. He's negative in approval rating three months in, digging a deeper hole every day, and has pissed off the Governor from his own party. And the thing is, I really don't think he cares. He knows he's got almost four more years of absolute control to undo the Giuliani/Bloomberg years.

[Lief 🗽]

Sounds like a bunch of right-wing nonsense.

[traininthedistance]

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(Bolding mine.)

Uh, sure.  Certainly looks to me like "impugning his personal or professional integrity" is kind of what this whole article is about.

I've never seen a politician burn their bridges so quickly. He's negative in approval rating three months in, digging a deeper hole every day, and has pissed off the Governor from his own party.

To be fair, Cuomo is hardly a Democrat.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Jindal: Bill De Blasio A 'Petulant Tyrant Holding Low-Income Kids Hostage'

Ahahahaha...

He's made it very clear that he's not here to listen to public opinion. He's here for "justice".

I've never seen a politician burn their bridges so quickly. He's negative in approval rating three months in, digging a deeper hole every day, and has pissed off the Governor from his own party. And the thing is, I really don't think he cares. He knows he's got almost four more years of absolute control to undo the Giuliani/Bloomberg years.

In other words, keeping his campaign promises?

I haven't seen his approval numbers, but if that's true, then most of that city must have been living under a rock all last year.  What has de Blasio done that contradicts what he promised he'd do?

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

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(Bolding mine.)

Uh, sure.  Certainly looks to me like "impugning his personal or professional integrity" is kind of what this whole article is about.

I've never seen a politician burn their bridges so quickly. He's negative in approval rating three months in, digging a deeper hole every day, and has pissed off the Governor from his own party.

To be fair, Cuomo is hardly a Democrat.

That's really more a statement of how the Democratic party has lurched far to the left in recent years. Cuomo is a perfectly normal centrist Democrat butting heads with a Mayor who is essentially a Democratic Socialist.

Hell, he's even stopped fracking from going forward by delaying it indefinitely.

[bedstuy]

What does this actually amount to?  Nothing in my estimation.  The horse carriage thing was sort of the cost of doing business during the campaign.  At least we haven't banned foie gras like San Francisco.

The complaint over appointing liberals is just a bunch of hot air.  You don't have to be a McKinsey & Company consultant to run a city agency.  Wait until he's actually done something before you criticize him.

[traininthedistance]

That's really more a statement of how the Democratic party has lurched far to the left in recent years. Cuomo is a perfectly normal centrist Democrat butting heads with a Mayor who is essentially a Democratic Socialist.

Hell, he's even stopped fracking from going forward by delaying it indefinitely.

A "normal centrist Democrat" wouldn't have gone out of his way to side with Senate Republicans during redistricting, or Chris Christie recently, over his own party.

You have no idea how much I'd prefer it if Cuomo actually was a "normal centrist Democrat".

As for de Blasio, I'm pretty sure that his rhetoric is way fierier than his ideology.  He's doing a lot of leftish special interest pandering- the carriage thing being an example of something I'm happy to agree is super dumb- but seems to me it's mostly just that.

[Brittain33]

Another conservative self-made billionaire blasts DeBlasio's socialism.

http://bit.ly/1ozC1mE

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

What does this actually amount to?  Nothing in my estimation.  The horse carriage thing was sort of the cost of doing business during the campaign.  At least we haven't banned foie gras like San Francisco.

Banning foie gras makes, at least on principle, a good deal more sense than the horse carriage thing.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Another conservative self-made billionaire blasts DeBlasio's socialism.

http://bit.ly/1ozC1mE

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[IceSpear]

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(Bolding mine.)

Uh, sure.  Certainly looks to me like "impugning his personal or professional integrity" is kind of what this whole article is about.

I've never seen a politician burn their bridges so quickly. He's negative in approval rating three months in, digging a deeper hole every day, and has pissed off the Governor from his own party.

To be fair, Cuomo is hardly a Democrat.

That's really more a statement of how the Democratic party has lurched far to the left in recent years. Cuomo is a perfectly normal centrist Democrat butting heads with a Mayor who is essentially a Democratic Socialist.

Hell, he's even stopped fracking from going forward by delaying it indefinitely.

Oh please. Cuomo is much closer to being a real conservative Republican than most "conservative Republicans" these days.

[Simfan34]

A Tale of Two Cities: Racial Divide Over Bill de Blasio’s Support Widens

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http://politicker.com/2014/03/a-tale-of-two-cities-racial-divide-over-bill-de-blasios-support-widens/

[Simfan34]

de Blasio stands by park fund-redistribution scheme
http://observer.com/2014/03/de-blasio-still-wants-conservancies-to-share-money-with-poorer-parks/

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[warandwar]

de Blasio stands by park fund-redistribution scheme
http://observer.com/2014/03/de-blasio-still-wants-conservancies-to-share-money-with-poorer-parks/

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That proposal is completely reasonable, considering how much cash the Central Park Conservancy has. ($210 million in net assets! http://www.centralparknyc.org/assets/pdfs/990-forms/CPC-990-ForPublicInspection-FY12.pdf)

[bedstuy]

de Blasio stands by park fund-redistribution scheme
http://observer.com/2014/03/de-blasio-still-wants-conservancies-to-share-money-with-poorer-parks/

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That proposal is completely reasonable, considering how much cash the Central Park Conservancy has.

I don't think I agree.  For one thing, there are a handful of parks in NYC that matter in terms of tourism.  Reducing their funding could hurt the entire city, not just the rich people who live next to them and contribute to their upkeep.  And, if you think about it, there is no reason that the money for small, poor parks needs to come from the big, rich parks.  You could write more traffic tickets and pay for the overall parks budget that way.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

You simply cannot take people's donations that they chose to give to a certain cause, and give it to another cause. That's a great way to dry up donations, and should be illegal.

[traininthedistance]

The gross inequity in parks funding is a real issue, and one which materially harms poorer and outer-borough New Yorkers, even if one were to accept the argument that Central and Prospect Parks deserve more money because they bring in tourists.  I suspect that this particular approach won't pass legal muster, but I do support efforts to try focus more attention on the smaller and more outlying neighborhood parks.  I'd start with a PR blitz to try and get people to shift their donations to the smaller parks, as well as moving the Parks Dept. operating budget in that direction.

(Also, this is a great example of how and why private charity is a pisspoor substitute for public spending.)

[bedstuy]

The gross inequity in parks funding is a real issue, and one which materially harms poorer and outer-borough New Yorkers, even if one were to accept the argument that Central and Prospect Parks deserve more money because they bring in tourists.  I suspect that this particular approach won't pass legal muster, but I do support efforts to try focus more attention on the smaller and more outlying neighborhood parks.  I'd start with a PR blitz to try and get people to shift their donations to the smaller parks, as well as moving the Parks Dept. operating budget in that direction.

(Also, this is a great example of how and why private charity is a pisspoor substitute for public spending.)

It's also interesting how much charity ends up being: "I live on 5th Avenue, I want that park right next to me to be really nice."  It's almost like the $200 a month gym membership and the ridiculous common charges people pay for access to apartment amenities as opposed to giving money to a cause you care about.

[Oakvale]

I know very little about de Blasio's tenure so far, but the ban on horse carriages cements him as a solid FF in my book.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

The gross inequity in parks funding is a real issue, and one which materially harms poorer and outer-borough New Yorkers, even if one were to accept the argument that Central and Prospect Parks deserve more money because they bring in tourists.  I suspect that this particular approach won't pass legal muster, but I do support efforts to try focus more attention on the smaller and more outlying neighborhood parks.  I'd start with a PR blitz to try and get people to shift their donations to the smaller parks, as well as moving the Parks Dept. operating budget in that direction.

(Also, this is a great example of how and why private charity is a pisspoor substitute for public spending.)

It's a worthy cause, I agree. It's just that the proposed solution is wildly unconstitutional. Your idea sounds like a solid one to try to close that gap a bit.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I know very little about de Blasio's tenure so far, but the ban on horse carriages cements him as a solid FF HP in my book.

Fixed.

[Deus Naturae]

I know very little about de Blasio's tenure so far, but the ban on horse carriages cements him as a solid FF in my book.

Do you work in the glue industry or something?

[Simfan34]

Some people disagree with oakvale:

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/26/nyc-horse-carriage-_n_5037062.html