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Monday Bulletin: Do Cities Have a Point? Does Aspiring Rep. Bill de Blasio? Plus, Nadler vs. Maloney

May 23, 2022 | 5:15 AM - Updated on June 5, 2022 | 11:40 PM
in COLUMNS, NEWS, POLITICS
11
Duck, duck…ball of light? Photograph by Margie Smith Holt.

By Carol Tannenhauser

Monday, May 23, 2022
Early morning clouds followed by sun. High 76 degrees.

Notices
Our calendar has lots of local events! (Click on the lady in the upper right corner.)

News
This weekend, the news yielded two questions to ponder: What is the point of a city?; and, Can Bill de Blasio be popular?

“In the age of Zoom, when white-collar workers are increasingly untethered to the office, cities need to be more than skyscrapers,” writes Mark Sappenfield, editor of The Christian Science Monitor. “They need to be livable. In other words, if you can live where you want, then cities need to be a place you want to live.”

Through the centuries, public health crises have played important roles in making cities more livable, Sappenfield points out. “A 2021 United Nations report notes that during the bubonic plague, Lucca, Italy, required all its residents to clean the street in front of their houses every Saturday. In the 19th century, concerns about tuberculosis in the United States led to a demand for more open spaces. The result was public parks like the Emerald Necklace in Boston and Central Park in New York.”

We are still at the point of recognizing and analyzing the changes COVID-19 has made to New York City, and their effects on livability. What of the dining sheds, with their advocates and detractors? Or the rise in bicycle riding and ownership, leading to more bike lanes and less parking spaces? Or the continued push for more open spaces, such as open streets. Will we one day say that COVID-19 challenged the pre-eminence of the automobile in New York City, and led to a re-evaluation of the use of public space, including sidewalks and curbsides, in the name of livability?     

“In 2017, I won my second term with two-thirds of the general-election vote. But by last year my popularity had tanked. Why?” Former Mayor Bill de Blasio settles on one reason in an essay in The Atlantic: “I failed to give New Yorkers a clear sense of where I was taking them. I lost my connection with the people because I mistook real policy for real popularity. I let a focus on individual initiatives, no matter how noble or substantive, distract me from offering an overarching vision for the future.”

I can think of others. But I can also think of de Blasio’s accomplishments, big ones: universal preschool and sheparding the city through the acute stages of the pandemic — his disastrous concert not withstanding — with a relatively clear and creative head.

So, why couldn’t I wait for him to leave office? Let’s start with his embarrassing run for President! Still, in the end, his essay offers good advice to President Joseph Biden, whose popularity is also at a low ebb: “A lot of voters are waiting for something to convince them that things can get better. Let that something be Joe Biden’s warm, positive voice, with a vision to match it.”

Finally, it’s the match-up of the century, Nadler vs. Maloney, and it’s already making national news. “Reps. Jerrold Nadler and Carolyn B. Maloney, both first elected 30 years ago, will square off in a Democratic primary later this summer that has the potential to bitterly divide the House Democratic Caucus,” the Washington Post reported, under the headline “Only in NY.”

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And send your best photographs of the neighborhood and its creatures to info@westsiderag.com. One might end up illustrating Monday Bulletin!

Thank you, Margie Smith Holt, for today’s!

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11 Comments
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Mark Moore
Mark Moore
1 year ago

De Blasio never had the support of two-thirds of the people. Most people just don’t vote. And his opponent in that election was Nicole Malliotakis. De Blasio barely broke 40 percent in the 2013 primary and that might have been his high point.

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Concerned
Concerned
1 year ago

I think that in time de Blasio’s term as mayor will not be looked at with such hate and hostility as it has been while he was in office and while he was exiting. I’ve already missed him and it’s only been 5 months of the celebrity Mayor we have now who does not live here and does not care about this city at all, only photo ops at events and the possibility of running for President. I thought he was going to clean up the subway, but I haven’t seen any reduction in the homeless on there, in fact it’s only gotten worse and now we have two shootings under his belt. I guess that’s his version of “Law and Order”.

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Peter
Peter
1 year ago

Overarching vision for the future, huh? How about “clean, safe, prosperous, easy-to-live-in city”?

Here. Took all of 5 seconds.

Get back to work. Oh wait… too late.

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Sally
Sally
1 year ago

Joe Pinion is a great option too – let’s get rid of Nadler.

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Pedestrian
Pedestrian
1 year ago

DeBlasio still thinks it was just a PR problem. Hey Bill it was a policy problem, a scandal problem and a billionaire developer problem and a results problem.

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Judith Norell
Judith Norell
1 year ago

I wouldn’t vote for Bill DeBlasio even if he were the only candidate on the ballot. I felt he totally coasted – and disappeared – in is second term, didn’t show up at the office, was bored so decided to run for President. Your comments are more considered than mine, but I don’t trust him anymore. Why would I want him as a Congress person? He’d probably get bored again and disappear.

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Bob A
Bob A
1 year ago

De Blasio and all his progressive claptrap. What an embarrassment to a world city! Anyway, I’m glad the carriage rides remain.

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SMT
SMT
1 year ago

Say it however he wants to, our former Mayor single-handedly took a prosperous, thriving, safe city and ran it into the ground.. with what we are left with today. When less than 10% of people voted in the last mayoral election, stating he won by 3/4 doesn’t qualify for bragging rights either. Sounds like he is a legend in his own mind as they say.

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Jean Luke
Jean Luke
1 year ago

DeBlassio was the worst mayor in modern NYC history and probably all of NYC history. Everything that worked to get crime to low levels he eliminated. His run for the Presidency was delusional and he was funded by contributions from the Hotel Lobby as payback for his getting rid of Air BnB.

Also he was a Red Sox fan and was never a part of the fabric of the city, going to restaurants, theater etc. Just a horrible mayor and almost universally despised.

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Claire
Claire
1 year ago
Reply to  Jean Luke

Eric Adams makes me miss De Blasio

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Reply
rj
rj
1 year ago

please vote against deblasio make that man go away

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Reply

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