Maybe the next Mayor won't be a disaster

I love Yang and have some Yang gear from his Presidential campaign.

Yang the Mayor Candidate seems totally different from Yang the Presidential Wannabe. In Iowa and NH, he was mostly reduced to a single-issue stock character around his welfare plan. Here in the mayor's race he seems to be willing to say what others won't, and his outsider status seems to attract a lot of interest from people who are sick of the corruption of Blas.

Maybe you followed the presidential campaign closer than I did? I always knew Biden would win the nomination (but I thought he'd lose to Trump), so I paid no attention to the other candidates. Maybe I should have given Yang some mindshare.

I was a Mayor Pete supporter but also liked Yang a lot. I knew Yang had no chance because his thinking was too far outside the box for voters, but that does not mean that it was without merit in my mind. In my thinking, he is too smart for America, but hopefully not for New Yorkers. And I apologize if I am offending anyone by implying that the average American voter is not smart enough to get Yang; I own that I think that and lament that I believe the bulk of Americans have neither the time nor the skill set to evaluate the complex range of issues that we have to consider when we vote. And I don't exempt myself by any means. There are a host of issues on which I am not informed enough to cast a thoughtful vote; I just pick those issues that are most important to me and place my focus there. Fraught with all sorts of peril, but the system is what it is, and I cannot point to a better one.

And re Biden, I was not as sure as you were, though Mr. MCR was. (Mr. MCR also called Trump in the summer of 2015 and the whole group who heard it, all of whom were politicals scientists, candidates or heavily involved in public policy, mocked him mercilessly). I got behind Biden as soon as Mayor Pete endorsed him, but he was not my first choice. He actually was Mr. MCR's first choice not just because he thought he was the only one who could beat Trump, but because he has been a fan since working on Biden's 1988 Presidential Campaign.

In response to Yang, this is the level of intelligence we're dealing with when it comes to many local politics;

"Democratic mayoral challenger Scott Stringer shot back in a tweet of his own: “I, for one, will not send undocumented New Yorkers to Rikers for selling churros,” the city comptroller posted."

I am not a student of NY politics, but I am sure they are as rough as they get. A friend of ours who was a Quinn supporter when she ran said that what destroyed Quinn's ultimate chance was whatever stance she ultimately adopted on carriage horses. I have no informed opinion on the validity of that statement, but his point was that NYC mayoral race is no different than any other political race where one can't imagine the strength of the varied special interest groups. And I know nothing even of the debate on the horse carriages, which shocked our friend, who is a life-long-many-generation New Yorker.

A candidate that satisfies both George & MCR???? Fuuuuck......

George, what does a man like you do: register as a Democrat to vote in the primary? I don’t register (out of apathy?), but as a man of interest & conscience, I figure you must have a view.

George might well be a center-right Dem; remember he liked Ed Rendell. He is as cagey about his party affiliation as he is about the location of his house, which I totally respect. Boundaries. Maybe he will let us in down the road, maybe he won't.

I was thinking the exact same thing nada. However was also surprised that MCR made no reference to George's nod to Giuliani : )

There was one post where I put George on the spot and his answer floored me to the extent that he did not appear in favor of paving the way further for oligarchs to dominated the United States, so he is not quite like my former FedSoc Libertarian cronies. I cannot quite situate him and find that he and I are likely not far apart some policy issues, though I believe social justice is not part of his candidate choice at all, whereas it is quite high on my priority list at this particular moment in time. I am a relatively fiscally conservative D such that I sympathize with a large swath of the former Republican Party. I suspect the majority of Americans feel as I do - they are not a perfect fit for either party such that their vote is always up for grabs depending on what the country/city/school system/whatever looks like when it is time to cast their vote.

While I'm no longer able to vote in NYC, I wholeheartedly share George's concern about electing another progressive ideologue into office. That, on top of the state's eagerness to run employers and the wealthy out of dodge, would be nothing less than catastrophic for the city. We are already dealing with cops who no longer want to be cops, and very few interested in joining the profession. We are already dealing with a homeless problem the likes of which we have not seen in our lifetimes. We are already dealing with a school system that insists on utopian ideals at the expense of quality.

It just cannot be another progressive. God help us if it is. We can take some comfort from the past, though. New Yorkers have a tendency to wake up during administrations like De Blasio's and Dinkins' and whip the steering wheel around right before the cliff.

I'm still holding out for another electrical engineer.

I would not lump Dinkins in with Deblasio, IMHO. Dinkins took over during a time of wide spread corruption/scandals. Think Esposito and Manes etc. Ironically, he also dealt with the 'red apple boycott' of a Korean grocer in Flatbush (I was working in Flatbush at the time). And the Lemrick Nelson murder trial after the Crown Heights riots. Dinkins had quite an interesting background including a stint in the Marines. Rising crime rates actually began to fall under Dinkins, he also initiated a lot of programs that really benefited the city and it's inhabitants. I think he even kept schools open into the evening?

@mcr Most of us want the same thing. I think what we disagree on is how to achieve those goals.

Loved Yang, the presidential outsider who really expanded the dialogue during the presidential race...and it seems that his UBI thoughts are now policy. HOWEVER, I've concluded that we can't take another inexperienced Mayor. From the research I've done, seems that Kathryn Garcia is the only competent candidate...she's made the complicated machinery of the $93B budget/300,000+ employee municipal infrastructure work. Yang basically has never even voted in a NYC election. https://www.kgfornyc.com

The real shame is that so few NYers vote (22% turnout for last Mayoral election, I think) and so the carriage-horse issue is what determines EIGHT years of the City's QOL.

Can't imagine looking at the smoking ruins of DeB's once-formidable political coalition and thinking that what NY needs is another politician who focuses more on national spotlight than on understanding City Hall machinery. I prefer Stringer to Garcia but either would be far more effective than first-timers like Yang or Morales. When it comes time for RCV I'll probably even put Adams above Yang, much as we differ ideologically, as at least he won't stick his foot in his mouth every couple weeks or turn tail & run when the tide turns against him.

I like competence in government officials. Hence liking both Rendell and Giuliani, one a Dem, one a Rep. Both spoke truth to their city's special interests. I dislike business oligarchs as much as I dislike municipal employees unions, MTA contractors, and corrupt cops -- they are all rent-seekers.

The problem with progressive and conservative ideologues is that they are rarely both competent and willing to attack rent seekers. Often one, not both. Bloomberg was both. Maybe Yang will surprise us. I know the retread candidates won't.

Here's a good read for those who enjoy NYC, politics and history.

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/1160184.City_for_Sale

https://nypost.com/2021/04/12/andrew-yang-regrets-tweet-about-illegal-street-vendors/

@keith - Thanks for the book rec. This discussion has piqued my curiosity. I know nothing of NY politics, state or city, and this discussion has put it on the never-ending list of things I would like to know more about.

Thanks, Mouse. I take back the title of this thread. Yang is a groveling servant to the woke left just like the other knuckleheads running for mayor. The squeegee men will be back in no time.

Squeegee people, boomer. It’s a new era.

I think the bigger problem is most of these politicians, especially at the local level don't understand the complex issues that cities and states face. I'll take a successful, well rounded business person, over most of these politicians that I view more like entertainers.

I think Americans understand that most politicians stink, hence the rise of Trump. Would Trump be possible if we had a political system that people trusted and had faith in? This so-called average American that you reference, just needs a better political pool to choose from. It's American ingenuity, entrepreneurial spirit that built this country and made it the great success that it is.

As a kid having been more on the radical side of the political spectrum, I always had a strong dislike for progressives. Perhaps they're well-meaning, but I think they've done much more harm to the people they thought they were helping. Now some cynics think this was by design, ever read any of Malcolm X's speeches? Or some of Baldwin's early interviews? What were their thoughts on building housing projects and creating a welfare system that traps people for generations. I grew up in a working class family with a factory working father. I lived in the hood most of my life, so I'm talking about my experiences with real people. Not academic studies on race and poverty.

Keith, there are some who turned conservative for that reason...they tried to engaged with the left when the housing projects and welfare systems were being built. The left's (alleged) response was that it was important to be seen doing something, whether or not it would work or not. Didn't seem to matter, at the time, that some thought it doomed to fail, or invite differing opinions in on the subject and build-out. Just political calculation. Sound familiar? (Defund the police!)

Were I entitled to vote and were voters entitled to give their proxy to someone, I'd give mine to Richard Berg. Every poster on here seems to genuinely love and want the best for NYC and everyone's trying to do their best. I'll be watching NYC mayoral race with all of your thoughts in mind. Please keep them coming!

I find it a bit silly to have a thread about the mayor's race where half the posters do not actually live here. Shall we discuss the Virginia governor's race next?

DC statehood should be next if anything! :)

One of the greatest bands to come out of DC, Bad Brains... Four black dudes, playing music like no one had ever heard before. Check out there album artwork.. they literally did get banned in DC, moved to New York in 79 and that's where I met them...

https://youtu.be/gnWKhq8l_5c

I was just playing the clip and my husband came bounding into my office from his office across the hall and said "Who are you listening to? I really like that! Reminds me of all the stuff we listened to in high school!"

Okay, now I am even bugging myself with my digressions. I promise to shsh, but I did appreciate that clip.

A band with a great history, the singer HR (human rights), suffered some serious mental illness but it's back on track and still playing music, mostly reggae these days. This was recorded in an underground club on avenue A called 171a in 1980, and released as a cassette. This is also where the Beastie Boys recorded their first 7-inch called 'poliwog stew'.

Mr MCR has good taste in music : )

https://youtu.be/koKiCOEgmss

People are becoming more and more intolerant nowadays.