New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio speaks with HUD Secretary Julian Castro sitting nearby. December 16, 2016. Photo courtesy of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Editors of the WSJ are making noise about breaking with the newspaper’s longtime policy: they are considering endorsing Bill de Blasio for president, under one condition. First de Blasio must resign as mayor of NYC while he is running.
A Tale of Two Cities
In a Dickensian moment, de Blasio referred to New York as “a tale of two cities,” one for the wealthy elite and the other for everyone else. Unfortunately for many New Yorkers, his policies have hurt most the least affluent and least connected, the WSJ reminds readers.
NYC Housing a Lot Like Biblical Plagues of Egypt
De Blasio’s has presided over such a catastrophic mismanagement at the New York City Housing Authority that a federal judge imposed a federal monitor. “Somewhat reminiscent of the biblical plagues of Egypt, these conditions include toxic lead paint, asthma-inducing mold, lack of heat, frequent elevator outages, and vermin infestations,” the judge said.
$800 Million on de Blasio Renewal Program
Then there’s de Blasio’s School Renewal program. After spending nearly $800 million for NYC’s failing public schools, there has been little improvement in student performance. Furthermore, de Blasio directed his best efforts in harming the city’s successful charter schools that now educate 123,000 children.
Mayor Bill de Blasio is also campaigning against steel-and-glass skyscrapers because they emit too much CO2, which, the WSJ writes, is akin to the mayor of Las Vegas running against casinos.
Predecessors Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg made New York more livable by cleaning up neighborhoods like Times Square and making the subways safer.
But on Mr. de Blasio’s watch, homelessness, panhandling, vagrancy, turnstile-jumping to avoid subway fares, and public urination and drug use are rising. A Manhattan Institute study found that inequality was as wide at the end of Mr. Progressive’s first term as it had been under Mr. Bloomberg.
As one WSJ reader notes, extreme narcissism was once considered a mental disorder.
Read more here.
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