First-week actions included two relating to Rikers, but neither weighed in on the broader issue of the need for a true Receiver to enforce the Rikers Consent Decree, not the current prospect of a weak tea “Remediation Manager,” the measure that the judge presiding over the case intends to pursue.
“Simply put, when, after 10 years of judicial oversight, conditions remain as terrible as they are, that oversight can only be described as a dismal failure. ”
Despite having the strongest law in the country, barriers to accessibility for people with mobility impairments have been allowed to persist in New York City for far too long. There's an easy toool that the Mamdani administration can use to help begin a real crackdown.
New poll shows that things are not a lock for Zohran Mamdani, but that he is clearly in the best position. But, if he does win, how big or small that victory is will be quite consequential.
As it appears on his website, it's 171 words in all, most of which don't have to do with what goes on in the classroom. And it's strikingly devoid of planks addressing deep-rooted problems. How will Mamdani fill in the blanks?
On Primary Day, you want to know "who is winning?" Leading up to the general election, "What will the candidate be able to accomplish or block" needs to be among the questions posed. That means taking the Council into account.
“Will the candidate have enough Council support to back his initiatives and to block measures he wants stopped?”
What was striking last night was how many candidates didn't have the substance to fill even 30 seconds, or revealed in that time an under-appreciation of the problems that are going on. I remain convinced that candidates still treat a host of school-related issues as taboo.
There's a lot that doesn't add up, at least if voters want to be able to make informed choices. Many substantive issues remain unexplored or underexplored, and the rhetoric often doesn't match what the winning candidate would be able to do as mayor.
Most of the candidates running for mayor of New York City have explicitly described the Trump administration as creating an emergency for the city, including in their assessments the prospect of reduced federal funding. But it is unclear how much they appreciate fully the impact of what is likely coming. They do, however, appear to be united in not admitting that emergencies require sacrifice.
“What is clear is that they do not want to tell the voting public that emergencies often have deeply unpleasant consequences, not all of which can be warded off.”
Well, 50 actually (not including subparts). With a bunch of "why?" and "why nots?" Taboo breakers, too. Don't worry, though: I've thrown in some easy ones!
How hard should it be to get broad agreement on “unless and until you get the rules changed, follow them”? Not very. But achieving that consensus sometimes seems an impossible dream in New York City, a place where you’re generally not doing your rule-breaking in splendid isolation but rather in ways that have real impacts on others.
“Romanticizing and idealizing (go-to indulgences on the left) and grievance and demonization (animating principles on the right) are no small part of the problem.”
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A win is a win is a win, right? Yes and no.
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The City Council part of the mayoral equation
Mayoral debate on education: Fine question, largely depressing answers
Central paradoxes of the NYC mayoral primary
Do they know it's truly an emergency?
A few questions I'd love the NYC mayoral candidates to answer
Even the easy stuff isn't so easy