William Wilhelm aka Bill De Blasio aka who knows

cover of NY Magazine for this week.
"Their holiday card is going to be great. Then what?"

Are those flowers stapled to Chiara's head? She's never changed them, maybe another color?

openhouse, it's pretty brave of Chiara to tell her story about substance abuse and recovery, no?

It just tells me that her father was pimping out this vulnerable and sick girl, putting her IN FRONT OF THE CAMERAS and selling his sorry ass. Thta's pretty much defines abuse, don't you think?
Ans Chiara did not tell her story. Her manipulative, abusive parent understood that this will come out somehow and preventively USED her again, cameras, publicity and all. Her mental health be damned.

Campaigns are about perception.
Now we get reality.
What was it about the last 12 years that folks are so unhappy about?
Tale of two cities?
Tax the rich and spend it on the poor.
More like tax the rich and waste the money through political patronage.
Lots of cities compete for investment which brings jobs and adds to the tax base.
Does Bill really want that?
We could allow crime to rise, tax the crap out of everyone, reduce city services until it looks like 1990.
Tale of one city

falcogold1, what do you think about the windfall aboutready received at the expense of those who the rent regulated programs are supposed to support?

To have a figure of Mr. Clinton’s stature swear in a New York City mayor is unusual. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and his predecessor, Rudolph W. Giuliani, were sworn in by judges at their inaugurations, as was Edward I. Koch, who was mayor from 1978 to 1989. In 1990, Mayor David N. Dinkins, was sworn in by his former law partner. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/29/nyregion/bill-clinton-will-preside-at-de-blasios-inaugural.html

Happy New Mayor!

- Should be interesting to see if delivers on his promised rent freeze for stabilized tenants, who already pay $1100 below market in Manhattan. He has pledged to appoint "pro-tenant" members to the Rent Guidelines Board, which votes on rent increases every June.

- Raising taxes on the rich to pay for universal pre-k must go through Albany.

- His housing plan outlined at http://archive.advocate.nyc.gov/affordable-city calls for:
- "Mandating developers include affordable housing in large developments, spurring the creation of up to 50,000 new affordable units." More 80/20 I guess, where people making 24k per year get to live in luxury apartments.

More DeBlasio housing policy:
- "Investing $1 billion from the City’s public pension funds in revitalizing and rehabilitating aging affordable housing developments." Doesn't sound like the best use of pension funds to me.
- "Launching a national coalition of mayors and governors to secure more federal investment in affordable housing." Great! More Section 8 and projects?

>- "Investing $1 billion from the City’s public pension funds in revitalizing and rehabilitating aging affordable housing developments." Doesn't sound like the best use of pension funds to me.

That seems to miss the fund's fiduciary responsibility.

The city will spend $8.2 billion on pensions during de Blasio's first year, up from $1.5 billion in Bloomberg's first year. Health costs for city workers and retirees are now $7.1 billion, from $2.7 billion. Pensions plus healthcare now account for 1/3 of the city budget, up from 17% when Bloomberg took office.

Is that just a factual statement or are you trying to blame someone?

Before Bloomberg took office, the city spent $1.8 billion annually on interest and principal costs, or about 5.5 percent of the city-funded budget. During de Blasio’s first year, debt will cost $7 billion, or 13.1 percent of the budget.

Sounds like you blame Bloomberg.

I was surprised to find that pensions, healthcare for city workers/retirees, and debt payments consume 45% of the city budget. That is money that can't be spent on things such as new subway lines to help alleviate the housing situation in NYC.

I don't recall De Blasio discussing this issue during the campaign. He was too busy playing class warfare/envy with his "tale of two cities."

I did like George McDonald's idea of putting city retirees on Obamacare--I'm guessing most of them voted for Obama. http://www.mcdonald2013.com/mcdonald-proposes-to-protect-city-pensioners-health-care-generate-budget-savings-by-transitioning-city-retirees-to-the-affordable-care-act/

"I was surprised to find that pensions, healthcare for city workers/retirees, and debt payments consume 45% of the city budget. That is money that can't be spent on things such as new subway lines to help alleviate the housing situation in NYC."

That's because that is money that's already been SPENT on services rendered by city employees.

Kind of like paying down your VISA bill -- that money is money that's already spent. It's not for the city to use on anything else.

> That's because that is money that's already been SPENT on services rendered by city employees.

It is a high percentage of the city budget, and it is growing. At what point must reforms be made--when it hits 50%? 70%? Instead De Blasio talks of spending pension funds on affordable housing and retroactive pay raises.

"It is a high percentage of the city budget, and it is growing. At what point must reforms be made--when it hits 50%? 70%?"

You're looking at it from the wrong perspective.

Bloomberg has been making draconian spending cuts across the board for more than a decade. It's no surprise, then, that the percentage of a giant fixed expenditure would get bigger, but only in relation to the shrinking of everything else.

I could spend $2,000 of my $5,000 monthly budget on rent, which would make it 40%. A year later, I decide to make cuts to my spending, slashing my phone and cable service and deciding not to eat on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, effectively shrinking my monthly "budget" now to $3,000. Now my rent is nearly 70% of my monthly budget. That doesn't mean my rent has skyrocketed, it just means that I've cut everything else.

> Bloomberg has been making draconian spending cuts across the board for more than a decade.

I believe that spending was up significantly under Bloomberg, even on an after-inflation basis. Not sure if anyone has the exact numbers handy.

"Kind of like paying down your VISA bill -- that money is money that's already spent. It's not for the city to use on anything else."

Only if VISA tells you the $500 sweater you bought actually costs $900, and only then starts charging interest.