NYC General Discussion - You Hear That Giant Sucking Sound?
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  NYC General Discussion - You Hear That Giant Sucking Sound?
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Author Topic: NYC General Discussion - You Hear That Giant Sucking Sound?  (Read 14599 times)
traininthedistance
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« Reply #125 on: August 22, 2015, 03:16:52 PM »

Here's some required reading on this mess.

Toplessness is protected speech, there's no good reason to suppress it.  Also it's sexist as f**k that they're going after the desnudas but not the Naked Cowboy.

Also, (as you surely expected me to say) this is truly awful of DeBlasio.  At best he's a spineless panderer, at worst he is genuinely reactionary.  Given that he is so invested in going to the mat for his daily SUV-chauffeur-to-the-gym routine, and that Bratton has gone on record as wanting to "tear it out", I fear the worst.

Bloomberg nostalgia level rising.  The man, for all his reputation, and not to say that he was without his faults, was genuinely more progressive and perceptive than de Blasio on the issues that really matter.
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Oakvale
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« Reply #126 on: August 22, 2015, 03:21:48 PM »


Huh
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Jacobtm
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« Reply #127 on: August 22, 2015, 03:22:16 PM »

Bloomberg nostalgia level rising.  The man, for all his reputation, and not to say that he was without his faults, was genuinely more progressive and perceptive than de Blasio on the issues that really matter.

Being governed by a great businessman is better than being governed by a socialist fool.

Who would have ever imagined.
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Simfan34
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« Reply #128 on: August 22, 2015, 03:29:13 PM »
« Edited: August 22, 2015, 03:35:08 PM by Simfan34 »


I do like it when oakvale is on my side of things!

Like I said, I support Diaz's proposal to ban toplessness for both sexes.

Bloomberg nostalgia level rising.  The man, for all his reputation, and not to say that he was without his faults, was genuinely more progressive and perceptive than de Blasio on the issues that really matter.

Being governed by a great businessman is better than being governed by a socialist fool.

Who would have ever imagined.

Bring back Bloomie! De Blasio is an exhibit of idealess ineptitude at its worst. He's bound to be primaried in 2017.

Seriously though, can Bloomberg run? If not, give us Diana Taylor.
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traininthedistance
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« Reply #129 on: August 22, 2015, 03:33:14 PM »


Eh, maybe "protected speech" wasn't the exact right phrase, but it is most certainly legal:

http://www.villagevoice.com/news/yes-ladies-you-can-walk-around-the-city-topless-6710067

Diaz's bill is at least not discriminatory, but it is unnecessary and useless prudery for the sake of prudery.
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traininthedistance
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« Reply #130 on: August 22, 2015, 03:43:59 PM »

Seriously though, can Bloomberg run? If not, give us Diana Taylor.

My ideal candidate would be someone like Antonio Reynoso or Brad Lander (who is superficially similar to DeBlasio but is plainly orders of magnitude better and more genuine on transit/infra issues).
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Simfan34
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« Reply #131 on: August 22, 2015, 04:04:35 PM »
« Edited: August 22, 2015, 04:36:42 PM by Simfan34 »


Eh, maybe "protected speech" wasn't the exact right phrase, but it is most certainly legal:

http://www.villagevoice.com/news/yes-ladies-you-can-walk-around-the-city-topless-6710067

Diaz's bill is at least not discriminatory, but it is unnecessary and useless prudery for the sake of prudery.

Let's not try and make this some progressive woman's rights thing or call them "desnudas" as if this were some identity politics issue. These women are working for "managers" (i.e., pimps) who take a 30-50% cut of their earnings.  It's an organised operation, not some free-spirited performance.

If you want to be liberal about it you could say that it appeals to the same old objectifying and sexualising tendencies of men that liberals have until recently fought against (buy now, they want to legalise prostitution!). It's not about rights, it's about public decency, restraint, and the freedom to walk around unmolested by panhandlers. I mean just think about it. It sounds something out of Bangkok's Soi Cowboy on a late night:

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Do you support the opebo-isation of New York? Is that progressive? This also applies to the weird bootleg Elmos and so forth, which I think de Blasio is also (rightly) trying to suppress.
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Simfan34
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« Reply #132 on: August 22, 2015, 04:37:27 PM »


How the Christ is this a real quote from the mayor of the largest city in the country?

I am increasingly convinced that New York's only real hope would be for the entire state to go through something akin to post-Civil War Reconstruction. Our governance, our political culture, and our public leaders are really that irredeemable.

New York would be the ideal place to try out experimental ideas on "stakeholder-driven, community-oriented" governance (a new euphemism for an old idea of mine). Of course, I doubt anyone else would like my ideas aside from the transit, zoning, and maybe cultural policies.
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YaBoyNY
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« Reply #133 on: August 22, 2015, 05:37:35 PM »

Strangely enough, women breastfeeding in public annoys me, but not women being topless.
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Simfan34
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« Reply #134 on: August 22, 2015, 07:36:20 PM »

NYT with an editorial with a bad pun of a pun: Shirtless Bodies in Pointless Times Square War

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Right to call ripping out the pedestrian plazas an overreaction, wrong to brush off concerns about tawdry and crude panhandlers accosting and even groping passers by (the example given in the Daily News could certainly count as sexual harassment). Someone there observed that it might sound prudish and provincial to find topless women offensive, but as a New Yorker it is embarrassing to see parents be confronted by them out of the blue; they should not have this kind of thing thrust at them without prior warning.

For many people visiting this is their first experience with the city. An outsider might wonder why such a (presumably) great city would allow itself to be overrun by such tasteless, talentless hacks for whom crude self-exhibition is the only way they could make money. Even the musicians in the subway have to audition for their gigs. These talent-less freeloaders add nothing good to Times Square.

We owe the city, its residents, and our visitors so much better than this.
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Simfan34
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« Reply #135 on: August 22, 2015, 07:57:01 PM »

The Observer has it's own take: De Blasio Open to Ending Times Square Pedestrian Plaza to Fight Off Naked Women

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Meanwhile the Times a few days ago had a weirdly fawning and whitewashed article, as if they were overeager to show how "openminded" and "permissive" they were. There was also the usage of "desnudas" and a healthy amount of references to the Hispanic origin of many of the women, clearly trying to work the ethnic angle as well as the "women's lib" angle of this. A selection of quotes shows the steepness of the slant:

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The most (unsettlingly) comic part of the article is how they bury sexual harassment--but it's by liberated women, paid well and totally uncoerced, on men, who like it anyway:

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It's weird and discomforting how powerless the city seems about this, to the extent that de Blasio must propose repaving the whole place with road to get rid of them.
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« Reply #136 on: August 22, 2015, 07:57:48 PM »

Strangely enough, women breastfeeding in public annoys me, but not women being topless.

That's not strange at all. It's kind of terrible, but it's not strange.
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Simfan34
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« Reply #137 on: August 22, 2015, 08:18:20 PM »

Meanwhile, de Blasio has come out as willing to let the $3 billion plans to develop Willets Point be torpedoed (and let half a billion dollars of city money go to waste) unless the developer gives into his demands to jam in "affordable housing" as he has been doing-- because we all know leaving the literal car junkyard that is Willets Point at present will do more to solve the housing shortage than allowing the big bad developers to build 5,000 market-rate apartments out in Central Queens, an area well-known for its exorbitant real estate prices.

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What wasteful, small minded, and short-sighted pettiness. Here are some pictures of the "neighborhood" as of present that our mayor is willing to let stay unless the developer gives in:





Truly something worth fighting over. Roll Eyes
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Simfan34
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« Reply #138 on: August 22, 2015, 08:44:11 PM »

Is that what they call it? Either way, I'm a little bit disappointed to see you (apparently) glorifying squalor, particularly when it's that egregious.
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Simfan34
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« Reply #139 on: August 22, 2015, 09:33:53 PM »

I see. If we were talking a parking lot I can see where the sentiment would come from. Thankfully (for now), that's not what's on the table.
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Badger
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« Reply #140 on: August 23, 2015, 11:28:07 AM »

NYT with an editorial with a bad pun of a pun: Shirtless Bodies in Pointless Times Square War

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Right to call ripping out the pedestrian plazas an overreaction, wrong to brush off concerns about tawdry and crude panhandlers accosting and even groping passers by (the example given in the Daily News could certainly count as sexual harassment). Someone there observed that it might sound prudish and provincial to find topless women offensive, but as a New Yorker it is embarrassing to see parents be confronted by them out of the blue; they should not have this kind of thing thrust at them without prior warning.

For many people visiting this is their first experience with the city. An outsider might wonder why such a (presumably) great city would allow itself to be overrun by such tasteless, talentless hacks for whom crude self-exhibition is the only way they could make money. Even the musicians in the subway have to audition for their gigs. These talent-less freeloaders add nothing good to Times Square.

We owe the city, its residents, and our visitors so much better than this.

The issues of panhandlers objectionally accosting and grabbing passersby is wholly separate and distimct from their being topless. Women going topless is legal and cracking down on this legal behavior will only get the city in hot water.
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Simfan34
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« Reply #141 on: October 20, 2015, 08:36:36 PM »

Greg David: Why Mayor de Blasio is in Israel

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A concise summary from Crain's Greg David, insightful as ever. I've mentioned his book Modern New York before many times and I'll mention it again-- you should read it.

Jews, surprisingly, don't appear to be particularly overrepresented amongst the voting population; they're around 18% of the total population. I actually thought it'd be much lower, I swear I read an article a while back saying that the Jewish population in NYC had fallen below a million yet the figures I can find claim anything between 1.1 to 1.5 million. Maybe someone who knows more about this than I can shed some light on the matter.

Either way, the Jews don't care for de Blasio, and that should be cause for worry. Because Jews control everything, at least according to the guy who stands by the campus gates every now and then, holding up a sign reading just that. Which I'm fine with; where would this country be without the Jews? Speaking of Jews running things...

WSJ: Eva Moskowitz won't run against de Blasio

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So I imagine the leading challenger would be Stringer now. Tell me, though, what would you think a de Blasio v Bloomberg election would look like? (NYC limits consecutive terms, so Bloomie could actually run again. I'd obviously love to see this happen, but I'm curious how others think it would play out. De Blasio's poll numbers, while on a downwards trend, don't seem poor enough to guarantee defeat.
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traininthedistance
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« Reply #142 on: October 21, 2015, 05:08:03 PM »


I remember Tish James (I think?  Either her or Adams) retweeting something that floated her name as a potential de Blaz challenger in 2017.  I remember even back in 2013 lamenting that the Public Advocate race wasn't the top of the ticket, since both James and Squadron seemed better than de Blasio.

I could support the right de Blasio challenger– his problem is not where he stands on the political spectrum, but rather his reasons for standing where he does, as well as his general (in)competence in office.  One gets the sense that views policy as a series of checkboxes to satisfy interest groups rather than as any sort of coherent vision to make the city a better place.  And I liked a lot of what Bloomberg did but after twelve years there is some justified fatigue, and a need (both real and perceived) to hand governance to the next generation.

FWIW, I probably still had qualified support of de Blasio until he let Bratton threaten to rip out the TS plazas.  My disillusionment with Bill is very much not the same as the olds who want to bring back stop-and-frisk, and shouldn't be counted together when trying to gauge the viability of any particular challenger.
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bedstuy
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« Reply #143 on: October 21, 2015, 08:31:40 PM »

It's annoying that politicians have to pay lip service to nonsense, like the Times Square plaza issue.  But, unless De Blasio makes really bad decisions, you have to let him pay lip service. 

But, Tish James would have to pay lip service to an entirely different set of cranks.  There's no side of NYC politics that doesn't have its ridiculous pet issues and unreasonable demands.  The great thing about Bloomberg was that he was independent of those concerns, so he could push for common-sense policy, even if it was tinged by his more conservative, upper class Manhattan perspective.   

De Blasio is basically solid on the big issues.  I would like someone less ideological, like Bloomberg, but De Blasio is about the best Mayor we could hope for at the moment.
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Simfan34
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« Reply #144 on: October 22, 2015, 02:37:28 PM »

Exactly. So let's bring Bloomberg back.
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bedstuy
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« Reply #145 on: October 22, 2015, 03:21:09 PM »

Exactly. So let's bring Bloomberg back.

I'd vote for him, but he couldn't win an election. 
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Simfan34
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« Reply #146 on: November 28, 2016, 08:00:22 PM »

Clueless de Blasio needs a Trump Tower traffic plan – fast

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http://nypost.com/2016/11/15/clueless-de-blasio-needs-a-trump-tower-traffic-plan-fast/
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ag
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« Reply #147 on: November 28, 2016, 10:44:39 PM »


He should urgently put a highly radioactive nuclear dump across the street. Would make it certain nobody is trying to tie up the traffic.
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Simfan34
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« Reply #148 on: May 21, 2017, 09:15:52 AM »
« Edited: May 21, 2017, 09:34:19 AM by Simfan34 »

Mayor de Blasio's Approval Rating Soars, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; He Tops Little-Known Challengers 3-1

This is just depressing. Sure, he's not as terrible as I feared he'd be, but the city is treading water. It's coasting on the achievements of the past three decades, losing its dynamism. Transit services are perceivably on the decline. It's one thing for his challengers to be relatively unknown, but approval numbers this high is another thing entirely.

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This is despite a serious recent pay-for-play scandal, in which he avoided charges but racked up $11 million in legal fees, even though one prosecutor said  he"acted on behalf of donors seeking favors from the city," while the other said that some of their practices appeared to violate “the intent and spirit” of the law. He's alternately tried to pay off the bills with contributions (more ethical problems, yay!) or with public funds.
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Simfan34
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« Reply #149 on: May 21, 2017, 09:25:20 AM »

Mayor de Blasio Has a Habit of Leaving Out the Press

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http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/05/mayor-de-blasio-has-a-habit-of-leaving-out-press.html

It appears he's not up to media scrutiny; as the Observer put it, he appears to have a "transparency problem"

This remains an issue, as an article and an editorial in the Times expressed:

Bill de Blasio's Press Problem? Don't Ask
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A Mayor Raises Questions by Refusing to Take Any
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