NYC Mayor/2021 Megathread

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

Corey Johnson! Corey Johnson! Corey Johnson!


(yang is such a gimmick)

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

I like Corey Johnson because he stood up to Airbnb, but Yang is not a gimmick. I just don’t know where that idea comes from.

Everything about Yang 2020 was a gimmick. He was dubiously qualified, his plans ranged from the economically illiterate to the unconstitutional, and his support base was...memey...to say the least. And now you guys want this weirdo running a city of 8 million people. No thanks.

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

I like Corey Johnson because he stood up to Airbnb, but Yang is not a gimmick. I just don’t know where that idea comes from.

Everything about Yang 2020 was a gimmick. He was dubiously qualified, his plans ranged from the economically illiterate to the unconstitutional, and his support base was...memey...to say the least. And now you guys want this weirdo running a city of 8 million people. No thanks.

I didn’t agree we everything he proposed but his way of thinking in many ways has been entirely vindicated by the pandemic. You’re making him out as this memey weirdo like Kanye or Vermin Supreme. He’s an accomplished businesses man who has written extensively on socioeconomics. Sure some of his supporters are idiots but if we judged every candidate just on their worst supporter we’d get nowhere. Yang proved to be a far more seriously competitive candidate than many comparatively “serious” politicians. And I never even supported him for president.

So yes I want him to run my city of 8 million people.

Still not a particularly good endorsement. Being a second-rate businessman with a loose grasp of socioeconomics is not a strong rationale for electing someone mayor. My bet is that he'd try a few gimmicky reforms but fail miserably against NYC's enormous institutional intertia (the unions, NYPD, Wall Street, PANYNJ, the MTA) because at the end of the day, he has no idea how to run a city. I'm very unimpressed by the tech bro move-fast-and-break-things approach to municipal governance.

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

I like Corey Johnson because he stood up to Airbnb, but Yang is not a gimmick. I just don’t know where that idea comes from.

Everything about Yang 2020 was a gimmick. He was dubiously qualified, his plans ranged from the economically illiterate to the unconstitutional, and his support base was...memey...to say the least. And now you guys want this weirdo running a city of 8 million people. No thanks.

I didn’t agree we everything he proposed but his way of thinking in many ways has been entirely vindicated by the pandemic. You’re making him out as this memey weirdo like Kanye or Vermin Supreme. He’s an accomplished businesses man who has written extensively on socioeconomics. Sure some of his supporters are idiots but if we judged every candidate just on their worst supporter we’d get nowhere. Yang proved to be a far more seriously competitive candidate than many comparatively “serious” politicians. And I never even supported him for president.

So yes I want him to run my city of 8 million people.

Still not a particularly good endorsement. Being a second-rate businessman with a loose grasp of socioeconomics is not a strong rationale for electing someone mayor. My bet is that he'd try a few gimmicky reforms but fail miserably against NYC's enormous institutional intertia (the unions, NYPD, Wall Street, PANYNJ, the MTA) because at the end of the day, he has no idea how to run a city. I'm very unimpressed by the tech bro move-fast-and-break-things approach to municipal governance.

Loose grasp? Half his platform has been vindicated by the crisis. And I trust him to deal with the cogs of governance far more than any of the various ingrained city politicians who indebted to a collage of those groups. Yang has made no enemies or debts and I trust his ability to manage successfully.

Has it though? A couple stimulus checks is hardly an endorsement of Yang's platform. Anyone who thinks a UBI would reduce rather than exacerbate wealth inequality most certainly has a loose grasp on economics. Yang may not have any enemies, but he also has no friends. And nobody is going to break these institutions power alone. Yang's experience is essentially helping out a couple hundred entrepreneurs. Running a city as complicated as New York is several orders of magnitude more complicated and you can't learn on the job. NYC would be much better served by a reformist local politician who actually understands how the system works and has the experience to improve it. Yang isn't that person.

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

I like Corey Johnson because he stood up to Airbnb, but Yang is not a gimmick. I just don’t know where that idea comes from.

Everything about Yang 2020 was a gimmick. He was dubiously qualified, his plans ranged from the economically illiterate to the unconstitutional, and his support base was...memey...to say the least. And now you guys want this weirdo running a city of 8 million people. No thanks.

I didn’t agree we everything he proposed but his way of thinking in many ways has been entirely vindicated by the pandemic. You’re making him out as this memey weirdo like Kanye or Vermin Supreme. He’s an accomplished businesses man who has written extensively on socioeconomics. Sure some of his supporters are idiots but if we judged every candidate just on their worst supporter we’d get nowhere. Yang proved to be a far more seriously competitive candidate than many comparatively “serious” politicians. And I never even supported him for president.

So yes I want him to run my city of 8 million people.

Still not a particularly good endorsement. Being a second-rate businessman with a loose grasp of socioeconomics is not a strong rationale for electing someone mayor. My bet is that he'd try a few gimmicky reforms but fail miserably against NYC's enormous institutional intertia (the unions, NYPD, Wall Street, PANYNJ, the MTA) because at the end of the day, he has no idea how to run a city. I'm very unimpressed by the tech bro move-fast-and-break-things approach to municipal governance.

Loose grasp? Half his platform has been vindicated by the crisis. And I trust him to deal with the cogs of governance far more than any of the various ingrained city politicians who indebted to a collage of those groups. Yang has made no enemies or debts and I trust his ability to manage successfully.

Has it though? A couple stimulus checks is hardly an endorsement of Yang's platform. Anyone who thinks a UBI would reduce rather than exacerbate wealth inequality most certainly has a loose grasp on economics. Yang may not have any enemies, but he also has no friends. And nobody is going to break these institutions power alone. Yang's experience is essentially helping out a couple hundred entrepreneurs. Running a city as complicated as New York is several orders of magnitude more complicated and you can't learn on the job. NYC would be much better served by a reformist local politician who actually understands how the system works and has the experience to improve it. Yang isn't that person.

It's not the stimulus checks, it's the crisis itself which has accelerated the need for many of his policies. In New York City especially so. I would prefer a fresh face with a list of policies that make all the sense right now and an innovative approach to policy making to the alternatives.

Which ones make sense?

UBI?
The legion of builders and destroyers?
Modern time banking?
Data as intellectual property?
A Department of the Attention Economy?
Cutting funding to higher ed?

They're all absurd, and they do nothing to fix New York's three big problems: the MTA, housing affordability, and crooked law enforcement. C'mon, he doesn't have a clue how to make actual change and build coalitions in the areas that actually matter.

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

I like Corey Johnson because he stood up to Airbnb, but Yang is not a gimmick. I just don’t know where that idea comes from.

Everything about Yang 2020 was a gimmick. He was dubiously qualified, his plans ranged from the economically illiterate to the unconstitutional, and his support base was...memey...to say the least. And now you guys want this weirdo running a city of 8 million people. No thanks.

I didn’t agree we everything he proposed but his way of thinking in many ways has been entirely vindicated by the pandemic. You’re making him out as this memey weirdo like Kanye or Vermin Supreme. He’s an accomplished businesses man who has written extensively on socioeconomics. Sure some of his supporters are idiots but if we judged every candidate just on their worst supporter we’d get nowhere. Yang proved to be a far more seriously competitive candidate than many comparatively “serious” politicians. And I never even supported him for president.

So yes I want him to run my city of 8 million people.

Still not a particularly good endorsement. Being a second-rate businessman with a loose grasp of socioeconomics is not a strong rationale for electing someone mayor. My bet is that he'd try a few gimmicky reforms but fail miserably against NYC's enormous institutional intertia (the unions, NYPD, Wall Street, PANYNJ, the MTA) because at the end of the day, he has no idea how to run a city. I'm very unimpressed by the tech bro move-fast-and-break-things approach to municipal governance.

Loose grasp? Half his platform has been vindicated by the crisis. And I trust him to deal with the cogs of governance far more than any of the various ingrained city politicians who indebted to a collage of those groups. Yang has made no enemies or debts and I trust his ability to manage successfully.

Has it though? A couple stimulus checks is hardly an endorsement of Yang's platform. Anyone who thinks a UBI would reduce rather than exacerbate wealth inequality most certainly has a loose grasp on economics. Yang may not have any enemies, but he also has no friends. And nobody is going to break these institutions power alone. Yang's experience is essentially helping out a couple hundred entrepreneurs. Running a city as complicated as New York is several orders of magnitude more complicated and you can't learn on the job. NYC would be much better served by a reformist local politician who actually understands how the system works and has the experience to improve it. Yang isn't that person.

It's not the stimulus checks, it's the crisis itself which has accelerated the need for many of his policies. In New York City especially so. I would prefer a fresh face with a list of policies that make all the sense right now and an innovative approach to policy making to the alternatives.

Which ones make sense?

UBI?
The legion of builders and destroyers?
Modern time banking?
Data as intellectual property?
A Department of the Attention Economy?
Cutting funding to higher ed?

They're all absurd, and they do nothing to fix New York's three big problems: the MTA, housing affordability, and crooked law enforcement. C'mon, he doesn't have a clue how to make actual change and build coalitions in the areas that actually matter.

UBI? Certainly without a doubt vindicated by the crisis. And I'm sure he would present suitable policies to the city's problems if he ran for Mayor, obviously he wasn't proposing MTA fixes in his presidential campaign. I have complete faith that if he ran he would push forward innovative policies to New York specific problems. And that's why I've written him asking him to run.

Oh come on. Limited stimulus checks during a recession make sense but UBI is absolute bulls**t economics. In the long term, its primary effect is making the upper middle class wealthier. A means-tested welfare state will always make more sense.

So basically your whole argument for Yang is "huh, he seems kinda smart and innovative unlike everyone else because reasons. I bet if he ran, he'd somehow be the candidate with the best policy platform over actual NYC politicians because more reasons and despite his utter inexperience he would somehow be the most effective candidate once in office because other reasons."?

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

UBI has been proven to be entire successful, specifically in Finland and I see no reason why not to test pilot it in New York City.

Uh, not exactly. It hasn't delivered all the promised benefits and the downsides show up only after many years. And UBI wouldn't work at the municipal level for several deeply obvious reasons.

Why are you misconstruing my argument? There is no doubt in my mind he possesses a unique approach to policy making not shared by any of the other prominent names in contention.

I'm not. I just don't think his approach to policymaking is worthy of being taken seriously. All his flagship plans have shaky economics, are downright illegal, or don't actually solve any particularly important problems.

It is precisely because it's not an "actual NYC politician" they I have particular interest in him.

Right...because electing random outsiders is working our so great for America right now...

Also, Bloomberg wasn't experienced either (and while I'm not a fan of him), nobody can dispute he was capable of executing the job.

Bloomberg's pre-election experience was significantly more comprehensive and besides, my main critique of Yang isn't his inexperience but his "unique" (bad) approach to policymaking.

Andrew Yang isn't a child and I'm perplexed as to why you continue to make him out as some infantile meme obsessed joke when he ran a serious presidential campaign and has undeniable unique socioeconomic knowledge that he has put pen to paper on.

There's a big range in-between "infantile meme obsessed joke" and effective New York City mayor. While he may not be the former, he sure as hell isn't the latter. And I certainly wouldn't characterize Yang's presidential campaign as particularly successful or his socioeconomic knowledge as uniquely insigtful.

I don't think anyone calling himself Blairite can lecture anyone else about economical absurdity.

Yeah...because third way economics totally didn't produce the most prosperous society in human history lmao.

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

Ugh Corey. Why'd ya have to screw up this summer so much, especially considering you were clearly the best on housing and transportation?

Team Donovan it is!

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

Ugh. This is gonna be tedious.

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

Andrew Yang was my third choice in 2020, after Bernie Sanders and Tom Steyer.

You of all people supporting a billionaire? Color me surprised.

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

Andrew Yang was my third choice in 2020, after Bernie Sanders and Tom Steyer.

You of all people supporting a billionaire? Color me surprised.

Steyer's on a different level than Bloomberg, who is scum.

And Warren's place in all this?

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

I, for one, stand by consistent anti-Yangism.

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

Why isn't Eric Adams gaining traction? Is it because McGuire is in his lane of moderate black voters in Queens and Brooklyn? Is it because he is a former cop?

Is it because he sucks?

How does he suck?

Because he's allied with the independent Democrat coalition that helped the Republicans nuke rent control laws and affordable housing in NY.

That's inherently an oxymoron. Even though Adams and the IDC suck for other reasons.

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

Why isn't Eric Adams gaining traction? Is it because McGuire is in his lane of moderate black voters in Queens and Brooklyn? Is it because he is a former cop?

Is it because he sucks?

How does he suck?

Because he's allied with the independent Democrat coalition that helped the Republicans nuke rent control laws and affordable housing in NY.

That's inherently an oxymoron. Even though Adams and the IDC suck for other reasons.

Let me guess, you're going to tell me how allowing predatory developers to triple the rents in some neighborhoods in 20 years actually made the housing affordable? Save it.

No, that didn't work either--to the extent that the power dynamics are as you suggest. But there are, in fact, other alternatives to your band-aid solution which helps *very few* people at the expense of many more--probably including you.

Cite:
https://www.economist.com/europe/2021/03/09/after-a-year-berlins-experiment-with-rent-control-is-a-failure
https://www.wsj.com/articles/wealthy-older-tenants-in-manhattan-get-biggest-boost-from-rent-regulations-11560344400
https://www.huduser.gov/portal/pdredge/pdr-edge-featd-article-061520.html
https://www.igmchicago.org/surveys/rent-control/
https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.20181289
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1465-7295.1991.tb00850.x
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0094119099921630
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0094119006000635?via%3Dihub
http://freakonomics.com/podcast/rent-control/

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

because he probably had the gay vote before this (he's a celebrity) and this will def lose that.

Come again?

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

Dianne Morales's campaign does not use VAN. Extrapolate from there to imagine the train wreck inside.

WTF? How lmao....?

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

Hoping desperately for a Garcia RCV win. For various reasons, I don't trust Adams, Yang, or Wiley to effectively solve New York's many problems.

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

400K in-person votes as of 4pm:

https://twitter.com/TweetBenMax/status/1407435309671976967
Add in the 200K early-votes & the 87K already-returned absentee ballots, & nearly 700K votes have already been cast. At this pace, with another 200K in-person votes still possible later today in addition to the 150K outstanding absentee ballots, 1M votes is looking doable. In contrast, the 2013 primary saw just 750K votes cast. Good news for Adams, I guess, ughhh.

I wouldn't think so. Adams and Garcia have the highest-propensity supporters. Yang and Wiley would seem to have more low-propensity support.

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

There is no justification for voting for Adams

Adams, unlike Yang, Garcia and a couple others, does not have the indefensible position that students should be required to be COVID vaccinated to return to school but teachers shouldn't, so that is a big plus in his favor in my book.

https://nypost.com/2021/05/13/where-nyc-mayoral-hopefuls-stand-on-vaccines-in-schools-remote-learning/

There's also the reality that he's less beholden to the Democratic activist class than any other candidate. The machine is corrupt, spendthrift, authoritarian, and incompetent but anything is better than the chaos of Year Zero. He might also create some distinctive headaches for Cuomo.

But none of this makes him better than Garcia for example, who is completely unconnected from the “activist class” as you say, but with the added bonus of not being a corrupt egomaniac.

100%. The only candidate really tied to the whims of the "activist-industrial complex" is Wiley.

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

STOP THE COUNT!!!

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

Garcia has run as a technocrat but she hasn't done anything to dispel the impression left by her resume that she is a seasoned public administrator whose chief talent is a consistent habit of failing upwards. Her campaign follows the familiar pattern of Democrats who believe that running as a manager rather than a leader implies competence. It doesn't; for all of his zany remarks, Adams' history suggests that he has a stronger chance of being an effective political actor.

That's...an interesting take. Make what you will of her, but Garcia's track record of exceeding the expectations of her job is solid.

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/buzzfeednews/nyc-mayor-results-democratic-primary

For those of us too poor for the New York Times, there's Buzzfeed.

They got 190K votes currently and it's at

52K Adams - 27%
48K Garcia - 25%
41K Wiley - 22%
20K Yang - 11%

67k Brooklyn - 33%
62k Manhattan - 31%
35k Queens - 18%
25k Bronx - 13 %
10k Staten Island -5 %

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

So... are these good numbers for Garcia so far?

Probably, depending on which specific Brooklyn/Queens precincts are reporting.

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

My hot take is that Yang will be everybody's second choice because the Adams/Garcia/Wiley camps hate him less than they hate each other.

Yang objectively has the highest unfavorables in the race.

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

The fact that 46% of New Yorkers can listen to Eric Adams speak for more than 15 seconds and maintain a positive opinion of him is stunning. I mean, the man has no shame.