De Blasio Draws All Liberal Eyes to New York City
Jan 1, 2014 13:44:16 GMT -5
Post by PrisonerOfHope on Jan 1, 2014 13:44:16 GMT -5
I'm so glad I don't live in NYC anymore...
De Blasio Draws All Liberal Eyes to New York City
Bill de Blasio blew a kiss to the crowd gathered outside his Brooklyn home for his midnight swearing-in ceremony.
By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM
Published: December 31, 2013
Liberals across the country are looking to Bill de Blasio, who was sworn in as mayor early Wednesday, to morph New York City’s municipal machinery into a closely watched laboratory for populist theories of government that have never before been enacted on such a large scale.
The elevation of an assertive, tax-the-rich liberal to the nation’s most prominent municipal office has fanned hopes that hot-button causes like universal prekindergarten and low-wage worker benefits — versions of which have been passed in smaller cities — could be aided by the imprimatur of being proved workable in New York.
“The mayor has a remarkable opportunity to make real many progressive policies and prove their merit,” said Gavin Newsom, the lieutenant governor of California, who as mayor of San Francisco introduced a form of universal health care and allowed same-sex couples to wed.
“De Blasio matters,” Mr. Newsom said. “A lot of us are counting on his success.”
New York has long been a lodestar for urban governments the world over. The avant-garde policing pioneered by former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani transformed the way major municipalities fight crime. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s corporate-minded approach to education and feats of social engineering, like the ban on smoking in bars, quickly gained global traction.
In Mr. de Blasio, a wily, image-conscious strategist who had lagged far behind in polls just weeks before the Democratic primary, advocates on the left see a unique aligning of the stars: a champion of their values who is also a shrewd and cunning practitioner, stepping into office at a time when the national debate over inequality and social justice has reached a fever pitch.
His administration could be a redemptive moment for a national left whose policies were often blamed for the crumbling of urban centers in the 1960s and 1970s, yet has now started to reassert itself in smaller jurisdictions with bold new approaches on issues like income equality and poverty.
But Mr. de Blasio must also grapple with the restraints placed on local executives: He is barred from unilaterally setting income tax policy, meaning he must persuade legislators in Albany and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to approve his proposal to raise taxes on the wealthy. And he has never experienced the day-to-day demands and compromises of managing an enterprise anywhere near the size of the city he will now lead.
Even supporters excited about the prospect of a liberal mayoralty in New York are urging patience to the grass roots, and cautioning that the mayor will have to manage expectations of an audience to whom he promised sweeping change.
“Do I expect him to keep every one of his promises? Absolutely not,” said Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont, who ran his own insurgent liberal campaign in the 2004 Democratic presidential primary.
“This is the truth of mayors and governors: Until you sit in the chair, you don’t really know,” said Mr. Dean, an early backer of Mr. de Blasio who attended the midnight swearing-in ceremony at the mayor’s home in Park Slope, Brooklyn. “He’s going to find out that he can’t keep all of his promises, through no fault of his own.”
The stakes are high for Mr. de Blasio, who entered politics as an aide to former Mayor David N. Dinkins and has seen firsthand the consequences of a failed left-leaning administration.
The waves of crime and racial tensions that plagued Mr. Dinkins’s tenure nudged Democrats into the city’s political wilderness for two decades, as the lengthy tenures of Mr. Giuliani and Mr. Bloomberg ushered in an era of hard-nosed, business-minded executives in City Hall.
Fans of Mr. de Blasio hope he can repair the reputation of mismanagement and corruption that had tainted liberal administrations back to the 1960s.
“My sense is, he is going to be very intent and dedicated to showing that he can construct this new model of municipal governance,” said Katrina vanden Heuvel, the editor of The Nation, a left-leaning periodical that has dedicated a journalist full time to covering the early days of the new administration.
“He needs to deliver, and he understands that,” Ms. vanden Heuvel added.
Story continues at link.
De Blasio Draws All Liberal Eyes to New York City
Bill de Blasio blew a kiss to the crowd gathered outside his Brooklyn home for his midnight swearing-in ceremony.
By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM
Published: December 31, 2013
Liberals across the country are looking to Bill de Blasio, who was sworn in as mayor early Wednesday, to morph New York City’s municipal machinery into a closely watched laboratory for populist theories of government that have never before been enacted on such a large scale.
The elevation of an assertive, tax-the-rich liberal to the nation’s most prominent municipal office has fanned hopes that hot-button causes like universal prekindergarten and low-wage worker benefits — versions of which have been passed in smaller cities — could be aided by the imprimatur of being proved workable in New York.
“The mayor has a remarkable opportunity to make real many progressive policies and prove their merit,” said Gavin Newsom, the lieutenant governor of California, who as mayor of San Francisco introduced a form of universal health care and allowed same-sex couples to wed.
“De Blasio matters,” Mr. Newsom said. “A lot of us are counting on his success.”
New York has long been a lodestar for urban governments the world over. The avant-garde policing pioneered by former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani transformed the way major municipalities fight crime. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s corporate-minded approach to education and feats of social engineering, like the ban on smoking in bars, quickly gained global traction.
In Mr. de Blasio, a wily, image-conscious strategist who had lagged far behind in polls just weeks before the Democratic primary, advocates on the left see a unique aligning of the stars: a champion of their values who is also a shrewd and cunning practitioner, stepping into office at a time when the national debate over inequality and social justice has reached a fever pitch.
His administration could be a redemptive moment for a national left whose policies were often blamed for the crumbling of urban centers in the 1960s and 1970s, yet has now started to reassert itself in smaller jurisdictions with bold new approaches on issues like income equality and poverty.
But Mr. de Blasio must also grapple with the restraints placed on local executives: He is barred from unilaterally setting income tax policy, meaning he must persuade legislators in Albany and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to approve his proposal to raise taxes on the wealthy. And he has never experienced the day-to-day demands and compromises of managing an enterprise anywhere near the size of the city he will now lead.
Even supporters excited about the prospect of a liberal mayoralty in New York are urging patience to the grass roots, and cautioning that the mayor will have to manage expectations of an audience to whom he promised sweeping change.
“Do I expect him to keep every one of his promises? Absolutely not,” said Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont, who ran his own insurgent liberal campaign in the 2004 Democratic presidential primary.
“This is the truth of mayors and governors: Until you sit in the chair, you don’t really know,” said Mr. Dean, an early backer of Mr. de Blasio who attended the midnight swearing-in ceremony at the mayor’s home in Park Slope, Brooklyn. “He’s going to find out that he can’t keep all of his promises, through no fault of his own.”
The stakes are high for Mr. de Blasio, who entered politics as an aide to former Mayor David N. Dinkins and has seen firsthand the consequences of a failed left-leaning administration.
The waves of crime and racial tensions that plagued Mr. Dinkins’s tenure nudged Democrats into the city’s political wilderness for two decades, as the lengthy tenures of Mr. Giuliani and Mr. Bloomberg ushered in an era of hard-nosed, business-minded executives in City Hall.
Fans of Mr. de Blasio hope he can repair the reputation of mismanagement and corruption that had tainted liberal administrations back to the 1960s.
“My sense is, he is going to be very intent and dedicated to showing that he can construct this new model of municipal governance,” said Katrina vanden Heuvel, the editor of The Nation, a left-leaning periodical that has dedicated a journalist full time to covering the early days of the new administration.
“He needs to deliver, and he understands that,” Ms. vanden Heuvel added.
Story continues at link.