Progressive Democrat Issue 33: LOCAL NYC ACTION

I want to continue to hammer away at the Bloomberg issue. This guy is NOT good for NYC. The following is drawn from a diary I had on Daily Gotham:

First off, I do not want to place Bloomberg in the same category as Bush. Bush is so extremist, many Republicans I know can't stand him. Bloomberg is, in essence, a more old-school style Republican with some influences from the Dems. That is not necessarily a bad thing. But when push comes to shove, I think Bloomberg has failed NYC big time and fails to represent us.

First of all, I will never forgive him for pissing on our civil rights. Not only did he use our tax money to restrict our freedoms so he could host Bush's convention, but even now he is persecuting Critical Mass in retaliation for their role in the anti-RNC protests (notice he ignored them before then!) and he is trying to prevent New Yorkers from protesting in general--in essence trying to take away our freedom of assembly. During the RNC he actually called the protesters (which included myself and my 8 months pregnant wife) terrorists. I do not approve of someone who accuses Americans who are simply exercising their Constitutional rights of being terrorists. That smacks of Bush America! He also violated the rights of protestors who were arrested by holding them longer that the legal limit before they were processed. So he gets an "F" in my book for his opposition to Civil Liberties and that alone turned me against him.

Then there is development. He and his buddy Ratner have a vision for NYC--it involves more and more skyscrapers, the destruction of NY's unique neighborhoods, Wal-Marts and high priced stadiums and arenas without due consideration for open space, affordable housing, parking, subways, schools, etc. I am not anti-development. I am for sane development that ADDS to a neighborhood rather than destroys it. I am most familiar with his plans for Atlantic Yards and I think it is exactly what Brooklyn does NOT need. In many of the neighborhoods where Bloomberg wants to put up luxury hotels, expensive housing and arenas, there are rival neighborhood plans that are much more reasonable. But Bloomberg, in his dictatorial way, dismisses the neighborhood plans unless forced to pay attention to them by either courts or the city council. For Atlantic Yards, the rival plan is partly the vision of Letitia James (WFP City Councilwoman). You can find out about how crazy Bloomberg's plan is and how much mroe reasonable the neighborhood plan is by going to Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn. There is also Park Slope Neighbors. Atlantic Yards is only one example of how out of touch Bloomberg is with NYC neighborhoods. There is also Willamsburg/Greenpoint. And many other neighborhoods that Bloomberg is threatening. Bloomberg gets maybe a "D" in my book for his development ideas for NYC.

Then there is his inability to be an advocate for NYC at the state and federal level. Pataki refuses to give NYC the funds it is entitled to for education and for subways. Yes he has pursued the lawsuit for the education funds, but why hasn't he taken Pataki aside and said, "look, you want to help Republicans in NYC, give us these funds and both you and I look good." He also failed to get the money Bush promised for rebuilding after 9/11. Why isn't Bloomberg speaking out each and every day against Pataki and Bush for stiffing NYC? Instead he hosted their convention...which lost the city money. I'll give him a "C" on this issue because he HAS pursued the lawsuits, but he hasn't actually gotten us all these funds.

Then there are priorities. He always seems to have money for his development schemes. Build a stadium? SURE! Let's do it. But when it comes to firefighters, cops, teachers, nurses, infrastructure, open space, schools, etc...nope. We don't have enough money for THOSE. Let's CLOSE firehouses, let's make kids bring their own toilet paper to school, let's not give city employees contracts for years and years. What message does this give our teachers, firefighters, nurses and cops? It tells them that they are less important than the Jets. It tells the city that developers are more important than our children, our firefighters, our cops, etc. I give Bloomberg a "D" for his priorities.

Wal-Mart and Ratner seem to be Bloomberg's demographic. Not the average-Joe New Yorker. I want a mayor who represents you and me and our children not Ratner and Wal-Mart.

Now what about the Dems? None of them stand out as being the perfect mayor. Each of them has flaws. BUT, overall they all are good candidates and, potentially, good mayors. Miller may be too close to developers, but overall he is excellent. Wiener has little name recognition and is more a legislator than an executive right now, but he also is excellent. Fields is smart and popular in Manhattan and, as long as she is good overall, I am all for NYC having a black woman as mayor. Ferrer may be the toughest of the lot, and NYC needs a tough mayor. I have a hard time forgiving him and Green for their fiasco last time around, but that aside, Ferrer represents the outer boroughs, who are underrepresented in NYC and I am all for having an outer borough mayor.

For those (Dems, Reps and Inds) who want to find out more about why Bloomberg sucks as mayor, and who want to find out about ALL his opponents (not just the Dems), check out BOOT Bloomberg out of Town, a non-partisan anti-Bloomberg group set up by a liberal Dem and a pro-Bush Repub.

And once again, I think Staten Island is a key to NYC politics. Not to say that we have to turn it completely blue, but if we can shift it slightly more blue, we might see a shift in NYC politics overall. Here are two Dem groups in Staten Island for your consideration:

a. Staten Island Young Democrats
b. Richmond County Democratic Committee.

But most importantly, GET ACTIVE WITH YOUR LOCAL DEM and DFA GROUPS (see below).