“The people have spoken, they must be punished” Ed Koch after losing Mayoral election in 1989
Now that we’ve gotten the snide quotes out of the way, it’s time to reconciliate. The people have spoken, and the unquestionable majority have voted for Mamdani. With 50.4% of the vote, he beat both Cuomo and Sliwa combined. Hopefully the reality of ruling (and budgeting) will temper some of his idealistic instincts.
I will point out once again the Mike Bloomberg litmus test. Will he stay or go if an additional tax is added to NYC millionaires? Quite frankly, his visibility (and flexibility) gives him a lot of leverage to kill this tax just by stating his intentions. Will he if it arises? We’ll see come 2026.
In an unusual confluence, other worries sprung to life in my head late at night, just as they did a year ago when our latest President was elected (The similarities are remarkable). This time, and closer to home, I couldn’t help but wonder if free buses will give the green light to ‘free subways?’ As in zero enforcement of fare evasion. This will be an interesting trend to watch, and you can experience this phenomenon live at the Vernon-Jackson/Ct Square/Queensboro Plaza stations…
//CLOSER to home, Julie Won won re-election by a 63% margin according to the NYT. Which comes on the heels of a press release announcing she secured $2 billion for LIC as a result of agreeing to the OneLIC program, including money/approval for the waterfront walkway extension between Queensbridge Park and Gantry Plaza State Park. I’ve shared my thoughts on this already, asking about the cost and wondering how much it will really benefit the residents of Queensbridge? Also included in the $2 billion, was $206 million for the Queensbridge Houses to “address chronic plumbing issues, bring vacant units back online, and upgrade community facilities.” Though ‘millions’ have been dwarfed by ‘billions’ (and now ‘trillions) in the 21st century, $206 million is a lot of money for upgrades. And it seems to never end with these buildings that were opened in 1939.
With a new Mayor looking to make a huge impact on the less fortunate, this is the time to think big about Queensbridge. It’s a real opportunity to undertake a massive and groundbreaking project that those on all sides of the political spectrum could work together on, in order to benefit low income and middle income residents of NYC. Ironically, it also happens to be in our new Mayor’s (former) backyard. With the election over, now is the time for our councilwoman to think big.
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