New York City mayor-elect Bill de Blasio. (Photo: William Alatriste via Bill de Blasio / Flickr)
Bill de Blasio: Mayor of Two Cities
Monday, 11 November 2013 — By Steven Wishnia, Truthout | News Analysis
While income inequality was a central theme of Bill de Blasio’s mayoral campaign, what specific ideas, programs and policies does he have, and what can New York City’s mayor do that’s not circumscribed by political reality?
Bill de Blasio’s landslide victory in the New York City mayoral election Nov. 5 signifies a rejection of the plutocratic regime of Michael Bloomberg. Where the outgoing multibillionaire thought the city’s skyrocketing rents were a fine thing because they indicated a strong housing market, the Democrat campaigned hard on the theme of “a tale of two cities,” one where billionaires are buying newly built penthouses with a view of Central Park for more than $90 million while close to half of its people live in or near poverty.
“It’s not divisive to acknowledge the greatest income disparity since the Great Depression,” de Blasio told a crowd of labor-union supporters in Brooklyn Nov. 1. In his victory speech election night, he called economic inequality “the defining challenge of our times.” He won almost 74 percent of the vote, the biggest margin in a mayoral election since 1985 and the biggest for a non-incumbent since the five boroughs were united in 1898. Many of the city’s more liberal politicians, union leaders and activists say they’re “thrilled,” and call the election a historic turning point after 20 years of Bloomberg and Rudolph Giuliani. [read more]
Comments
Surprise surprise !
New New York mayor elect with a whacking 74% majority….
He was always on a win win with …anti rich pro poor agenda.
Out goes the billionaire in comes the “Robin Hood”….always a cynic politically…
However I did like Juliani “mafiaosa” hard on crime and corruption agenda.
Employ a thief to catch a thief….just make sure they are not “triple
agent” ha ha…MI5 female agent who retired many decades ago
admitted being a ” multiple” agent …patrolled by CIA KGB et all…
I salute her as her confessions were made public before her passing in her
94 year…her seat wish….wow wow
Kamptan
Sorry not patrolled ….patrolled ! Maybe both ! ha ha…
This tablet is whacky…it is PAYROLLED…..finally…it wants to think for me….
The new mayor of NYC seem to be well advised….too early to comment…
Congratulations for a convincing victory.
Kamptan
This man Richard Cohen definitely displayed gumption, when he wrote about the de Blasio family: “People with conventional views must repress a gag reflex when considering the mayor-elect of New York — a white man married to a black woman and with two biracial children. (Should I mention that Bill de Blasio’s wife, Chirlane McCray, used to be a lesbian?) This family represents the cultural changes that have enveloped parts — but not all — of America. To cultural conservatives, this doesn’t look like their country at all.”
In his own defence, Cohen said that he was expressing the views of the Republican-Tea Party. Even the Editor defended Cohen by taking the hit for improper editing: “Anyone reading Richard’s entire column will see he is just saying that some Americans still have a hard time dealing with interracial marriage. I erred in not editing that one sentence more carefully to make sure it could not be misinterpreted.” Check it out: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/nov/12/washington-post-richard-cohen-racism
It is a scientific fact that “mixing” blood produces more intelegent
offsprings….First and second generations.
Mixed race marriages should be encouraged ….what is more a problem is the religious and cultural influences of mixed marriages….
If our species are to survive “Darwin’s” thesis should be rewritten.
Not survival of the fittest of the species
Survival of the most adaptable of the species
More mixed marriages please !
Kamptan