NYC Mayor/2021 Megathread

[It’s so Joever]

Copying and pasting some thoughts I wrote out on Twitter cuz I don't feel like rephrasing it for here.

This guy is so hard to pin down. On the one hand, he does talk about issues that are important and even forward-thinking, but he seems to do so without command of the topic or any grasp of how legislation works. I remember during his Presidential campaign, it seemed like almost every issue he talked about related back to UBI. As if he did not have a complex understanding of how poverty or systemic injustice works other than “the absence of money.” The Times piece in the OP refers to him as a “neophyte” and even that feels too charitable. He’s more like a layman. A lot of the things he espouses are rooted in the abstract of what *could* be done as opposed to what *can* be done. And not in a “this idea is pie-in-the-sky” kind of way, more like “well if I think this is a good idea, it must be a good idea” He doesn’t understand legislation, he doesn’t understand government, he doesn’t understand governing. He admits that he’s never voted for mayor because he has “taken city government for granted.” How can you run for President while not having an appreciation for local politics? It seems like it’s a lot more vain than altruistic. It’s like he wants the credit for being the genius who figured out that poverty is bad. He doesn’t want to govern, he wants to be a movie star. It always rubbed me the wrong way that he would run for Pres w/o govt experience. After we elected Donald Trump, who ran for POTUS for the personal glory without understanding how government or legislating works, YOU’RE the guy who should succeed him? Someone who has virtually the same resume as Trump? That takes a lot of ambition. And not in a good way. I’ve always been skeptical of Yang and this article further proves that he may not really understand politics or issues outside of a very elementary grasp of things. It’s like he’s arrived at the correct answer without doing the work. It’s very technocratic.

Perhaps, but he can lead us to victory and he can get us a nice cult.

[KaiserDave]

Definitely update time


Frontrunners
Scott Stringer, Eric Adams, Andrew Yang
Competitors
Maya Wiley, Ray McGuire, Shaun Donovan, Diane Morales
Stragglers
Loree Sutton, Carlos Menchaca, Kathryn Garcia, Christine Quinn
Bottom Feeders
Eddie Cullen, Aaron Foldenauer, Quanda Francis, Max Kaplan, Art Chang, Joycelyn Taylor

[Roll Roons]

Definitely update time


Frontrunners
Scott Stringer, Eric Adams, Andrew Yang
Competitors
Maya Wiley, Max Rose, Ray McGuire, Shaun Donovan
Stragglers
Diane Morales, Loree Sutton, Carlos Menchaca, Kathryn Garcia, Christine Quinn
Bottom Feeders
Eddie Cullen, Aaron Foldenauer, Quanda Francis, Max Kaplan, Julia Qing Reaves, Art Chang, Joycelyn Taylor

I thought Rose was out.

[KaiserDave]

Definitely update time


Frontrunners
Scott Stringer, Eric Adams, Andrew Yang
Competitors
Maya Wiley, Max Rose, Ray McGuire, Shaun Donovan
Stragglers
Diane Morales, Loree Sutton, Carlos Menchaca, Kathryn Garcia, Christine Quinn
Bottom Feeders
Eddie Cullen, Aaron Foldenauer, Quanda Francis, Max Kaplan, Julia Qing Reaves, Art Chang, Joycelyn Taylor

I thought Rose was out.

oops, edited

[rhg2052]

Definitely update time


Frontrunners
Scott Stringer, Eric Adams, Andrew Yang
Competitors
Maya Wiley, Max Rose, Ray McGuire, Shaun Donovan
Stragglers
Diane Morales, Loree Sutton, Carlos Menchaca, Kathryn Garcia, Christine Quinn
Bottom Feeders
Eddie Cullen, Aaron Foldenauer, Quanda Francis, Max Kaplan, Julia Qing Reaves, Art Chang, Joycelyn Taylor

I thought Rose was out.

oops, edited

Julia Qing Reaves is also out as of a few days ago

https://twitter.com/JuliaQingReaves/status/1338575778167087107

[Interlocutor is just not there yet]

I want Yang to win, but the constant whiplash I've gotten on this thread in the last 4 days has been aching.

It's gonna be a long primary.

[KaiserDave]

So far I like Yang, Stringer, and I'm looking into Garcia and Donovan. I thought I'd like Adams but it's hard to see past his record (check Wikipedia). Morales is positioning herself as the most left wing candidate, she has my sympathies and I agree with her on some things, but I don't think she can run the city, nor is a left wing ideologue necessarily what we need.

[Real Texan Politics]

Uh

https://twitter.com/taylorlorenz/status/1349539337973727233?s=21

Not sure how I feel about that, although maybe it can work?

Though I know one politician who would probably use the crap out of that, and the name starts with A and ends with OC.

[brucejoel99]

Seems like the other candidates are (rightly) afraid of Yang but holy hell, if he's not doing their job for them:

https://twitter.com/katieglueck/status/1349821876525215748
https://twitter.com/bobhardt/status/1349844783943077888
https://twitter.com/TweetBenMax/status/1349848880305868802
https://twitter.com/katieglueck/status/1349868674526687232

[Oryxslayer]

Surprised nobody mentioned this. Reflects the fact that no Republican can win in NYC these days, even when they try to imitate bloomberg and do the "I'm different" appeal.

https://twitter.com/erinmdurkin/status/1349832915211976707?s=19

[KaiserDave]

Surprised nobody mentioned this. Reflects the fact that no Republican can win in NYC these days, even when they try to imitate bloomberg and do the "I'm different" appeal.

https://twitter.com/erinmdurkin/status/1349832915211976707?s=19

That is....very funny. Thanks for sharing.

Wow the NYCGOP really is dead then. However Catsimatidis, who remains an avid Trump supporter, would do abysmally in a Democratic primary. 5% ceiling.

[Crane]

Yang in.

https://twitter.com/andrewyang/status/1349522020615278593?s=21

Best of luck for Yang! I'm sure he'll be a great improvement over de Blasio.

You don't live here, so you wouldn't know, but De Blasio has actually been decent. New Yorkers love to bitch about the current Mayor, especially if the media tells them to hate him, and then they elect a train wreck like Giuliani.

[brucejoel99]

Yang in.

https://twitter.com/andrewyang/status/1349522020615278593?s=21

Best of luck for Yang! I'm sure he'll be a great improvement over de Blasio.

You don't live here, so you wouldn't know, but De Blasio has actually been decent. New Yorkers love to bitch about the current Mayor, especially if the media tells them to hate him, and then they elect a train wreck like Giuliani.

Eh, you really don't have to live in NYC (or be a media shill) to understand the objective truth of de Blasio's sh*ttiness:

What about on healthcare? The Long Island College Hospital was a huge issue during his first campaign; he even got arrested for protesting in front of a SUNY building about the sale of the hospital. There were multiple bids put in by developers, with 2 of them promising to keep a full-service hospital & renovating the satellite buildings as housing. de Blasio pushed for these proposals to move to the forefront to save jobs & keep health services for the community. Once he was sworn in, all of his public support went out the window, & the hospital heard f**k all from him. Backdoor dealings went through, & the hospital was sold to a real-estate developer who chose to tear everything down & barely maintain a glorified clinic.

That's not good from any perspective, let alone a left-wing one.

Yeah that's bad. I'd like to hear more and on more structural issues, but that's definitely a fair reason to vote HP.

Let's start with ineffectiveness. De Blasio regularly gets owned by Cuomo. Part of this is because that's how it's supposed to work, & also because de Blasio is just bad at PR. Universal Pre-K was a big deal & something that de Blasio was out in front of, but Cuomo batted him aside like a kid & passed the project, taking all the credit. Instead of just saying "we won, let's go," de Blasio whined about how it wasn't the best version, but people didn't care; they had Pre-K for their kids.

Vision 0 is his program to reduce pedestrian fatalities, & it hasn't exactly worked. In fact, pedestrian deaths in 2019 were up over 2018. The program has a few really unpopular features too: speed cameras, a 25 mph speed limit (especially unpopular in the more conservative fringes of the outer boroughs), & bike lanes in places were many locals don't want them.

His relationship with the NYPD also constantly causes him problems. At points, he wants to be able to distance himself from the actions of individual cops (i.e. Eric Garner's death) but wants to take credit for crime statistics. This pisses off both cops & people who have high opinions of the NYPD.

And his record on homelessness has been abysmal. The homeless are perceived to be everywhere & he has increased funding to seemingly no effect. His administration also allowed hotels to be converted into homeless shelters, & the city just pays $50 million/yr for homeless people to be warehoused in hotels without access to the basic services they actually need to stay off the streets. The sites of these hotel-shelters is also very controversial, & de Blasio has done next to nothing to meet with leaders in affected communities.

Another problem is one of corruption. de Blasio has been under investigation for his fundraising practices. He established a PAC/fund after his first election that his campaign fundraiser managed & solicited donations for. The people that gave to this fund were major lobbyists & their clients, particularly from the real-estate industry, & those donors have been rewarded. Rivington House was turned from a medical facility into luxury condos by a big donor & de Blasio's office gave the permission necessary for it to happen, & that's not even the first medical site to be converted (remember: the Long Island College Hospital) & even though he was arrested protesting planned conversions during the campaign, he just hasn't governed the same way. The Brooklyn-Queens connector is a tram that nobody asked for, wouldn't relieve much congestion, & would only benefit luxury condo developers along the Queens & Brooklyn waterfront. Those same developers that are backing the project are also hefty campaign donors to de Blasio. A corrupt restaurant owner who was a big political donor also got a controversial lease on a city-owned property in Queens after having given $54,000 to the mayor. He also allegedly helped his donors to sidestep election laws when giving to State Senate candidates he liked during the 2014 elections, which triggered an investigation.

And then there's the horse thing: horse stables (for the horses which are a part of the Central Park carriage rides) sit on very valuable land on the West Side, & developers wanna buy that land, but the stable owners won't sell. So developers funded NYCLASS, a group that went all out against Christine Quinn in the 2013 primary, & their consultants went on to get in trouble for breaking election laws because of data sharing & expenditures between campaigns. de Blasio said that he wants to ban the horses, but his motives have been questioned &, thus far, he hasn't been able to get it done. He has raised rates for horserides though.

So yeah. Seriously, it's some very structural issues that de Blasio has been bad at.

[Born to Slay. Forced to Work.]

This mayoral election is gonna be clown at. It’s shaping up to be worse then 2020

[Gracile]

Not supporting Yang thus far, but I'll be interested to see how he performs.

[Crane]

Yang in.

https://twitter.com/andrewyang/status/1349522020615278593?s=21

Best of luck for Yang! I'm sure he'll be a great improvement over de Blasio.

You don't live here, so you wouldn't know, but De Blasio has actually been decent. New Yorkers love to bitch about the current Mayor, especially if the media tells them to hate him, and then they elect a train wreck like Giuliani.

Eh, you really don't have to live in NYC (or be a media shill) to understand the objective truth of de Blasio's sh*ttiness:

What about on healthcare? The Long Island College Hospital was a huge issue during his first campaign; he even got arrested for protesting in front of a SUNY building about the sale of the hospital. There were multiple bids put in by developers, with 2 of them promising to keep a full-service hospital & renovating the satellite buildings as housing. de Blasio pushed for these proposals to move to the forefront to save jobs & keep health services for the community. Once he was sworn in, all of his public support went out the window, & the hospital heard f**k all from him. Backdoor dealings went through, & the hospital was sold to a real-estate developer who chose to tear everything down & barely maintain a glorified clinic.

That's not good from any perspective, let alone a left-wing one.

Yeah that's bad. I'd like to hear more and on more structural issues, but that's definitely a fair reason to vote HP.

Let's start with ineffectiveness. De Blasio regularly gets owned by Cuomo. Part of this is because that's how it's supposed to work, & also because de Blasio is just bad at PR. Universal Pre-K was a big deal & something that de Blasio was out in front of, but Cuomo batted him aside like a kid & passed the project, taking all the credit. Instead of just saying "we won, let's go," de Blasio whined about how it wasn't the best version, but people didn't care; they had Pre-K for their kids.

Vision 0 is his program to reduce pedestrian fatalities, & it hasn't exactly worked. In fact, pedestrian deaths in 2019 were up over 2018. The program has a few really unpopular features too: speed cameras, a 25 mph speed limit (especially unpopular in the more conservative fringes of the outer boroughs), & bike lanes in places were many locals don't want them.

His relationship with the NYPD also constantly causes him problems. At points, he wants to be able to distance himself from the actions of individual cops (i.e. Eric Garner's death) but wants to take credit for crime statistics. This pisses off both cops & people who have high opinions of the NYPD.

And his record on homelessness has been abysmal. The homeless are perceived to be everywhere & he has increased funding to seemingly no effect. His administration also allowed hotels to be converted into homeless shelters, & the city just pays $50 million/yr for homeless people to be warehoused in hotels without access to the basic services they actually need to stay off the streets. The sites of these hotel-shelters is also very controversial, & de Blasio has done next to nothing to meet with leaders in affected communities.

Another problem is one of corruption. de Blasio has been under investigation for his fundraising practices. He established a PAC/fund after his first election that his campaign fundraiser managed & solicited donations for. The people that gave to this fund were major lobbyists & their clients, particularly from the real-estate industry, & those donors have been rewarded. Rivington House was turned from a medical facility into luxury condos by a big donor & de Blasio's office gave the permission necessary for it to happen, & that's not even the first medical site to be converted (remember: the Long Island College Hospital) & even though he was arrested protesting planned conversions during the campaign, he just hasn't governed the same way. The Brooklyn-Queens connector is a tram that nobody asked for, wouldn't relieve much congestion, & would only benefit luxury condo developers along the Queens & Brooklyn waterfront. Those same developers that are backing the project are also hefty campaign donors to de Blasio. A corrupt restaurant owner who was a big political donor also got a controversial lease on a city-owned property in Queens after having given $54,000 to the mayor. He also allegedly helped his donors to sidestep election laws when giving to State Senate candidates he liked during the 2014 elections, which triggered an investigation.

And then there's the horse thing: horse stables (for the horses which are a part of the Central Park carriage rides) sit on very valuable land on the West Side, & developers wanna buy that land, but the stable owners won't sell. So developers funded NYCLASS, a group that went all out against Christine Quinn in the 2013 primary, & their consultants went on to get in trouble for breaking election laws because of data sharing & expenditures between campaigns. de Blasio said that he wants to ban the horses, but his motives have been questioned &, thus far, he hasn't been able to get it done. He has raised rates for horserides though.

So yeah. Seriously, it's some very structural issues that de Blasio has been bad at.

Fair points. I've never pretended De Blasio is perfect. But, I think the criticism has been way overblown and tends to be from the sort of people who really like empty luxury condos and that stupid Hudson Yards boondoggle. Also the homeless issue was just a bad situation with the hotels; I just can't see what he is supposed to have done there. Plus the rent issues that exacerbate homelessness predate him, they were caused by intense large landlord lobbying through the IDC at the state level.

[RI]

Yang getting some heat for this tweet:

https://twitter.com/AndrewYang/status/1350079442488590337

[KaiserDave]

Yikes

[Not Me, Us]

Maybe it's because I don't live in NYC, but I don't see a problem here? What's wrong with this video?

[KaiserDave]

Maybe it's because I don't live in NYC, but I don't see a problem here? What's wrong with this video?

I personally don't care, but that's a really high class bodega to the point where you can barely call it one. Also he follows it up with a "haha I love New York" tweet which is a bit cringeworthy. Then there's how he grabs all the bananas awkwardly.

Nobody is going to care about this tweet though. This is just pure meaningless twitter outrage. But Yang has a problem about being seen as out of touch with the city.

[brucejoel99]

I- I just... Andrew, Andy, buddy: stop shooting yourself in the foot!

[libertpaulian]

Looks like Cal Cunningham's "BBQ" Tweet is no longer the most cringe.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Maybe it's because I don't live in NYC, but I don't see a problem here? What's wrong with this video?

I personally don't care, but that's a really high class bodega to the point where you can barely call it one. Also he follows it up with a "haha I love New York" tweet which is a bit cringeworthy. Then there's how he grabs all the bananas awkwardly.

Nobody is going to care about this tweet though. This is just pure meaningless twitter outrage. But Yang has a problem about being seen as out of touch with the city.

It’s silly but it feeds into a negative image people already had of him.

[KaiserDave]

Maybe it's because I don't live in NYC, but I don't see a problem here? What's wrong with this video?

I personally don't care, but that's a really high class bodega to the point where you can barely call it one. Also he follows it up with a "haha I love New York" tweet which is a bit cringeworthy. Then there's how he grabs all the bananas awkwardly.

Nobody is going to care about this tweet though. This is just pure meaningless twitter outrage. But Yang has a problem about being seen as out of touch with the city.

It’s silly but it feeds into a negative image people already had of him.

Yeah but I maintain that the actual electorate doesn't care about twitter foibles.

[Lumine]

Yang seems particularly gaffe-prone and still awkward in some aspects, but it is an interesting question as to whether people will actually care about those apparent missteps, or whether the last few years may have dulled people in terms of what is actually considered problematic for a candidate. My guess - and in this I agree with others - is that he isn't doing himself any favors by appearing to be out of touch, but I wouldn't be that surprised if some people ended up liking him - or not disliking him more - simply by looking "unpolished" as opposed to a more standard candidate.

Having said all that, I still find it puzzling he chose New York mayor of all races, in the sense that the political scenario he'll have to navigate appears to be both particularly difficult and very ruthless for newcomers.