For a decade or more the status and needs of Upstate New York’s economy has been the number one issue in virtually every statewide political campaign. In 1994, Republican George Pataki unseated his predecessor as Governor, Democrat Mario Cuomo, in part by blaming Cuomo for Upstate’s economic decline. In 1998, Democrat Chuck Schumer unseated his predecessor as Senator, Republican Al D’Amato, by blaming the Republicans for failing to revive the Upstate economy; meanwhile, Governor Pataki criticized his opponent, New York City Council Speaker Peter Vallone, for not caring enough about Upstate New York. In 2000, future Senator Hillary Clinton scored points by “listening” to Upstate New York while her opponent, Republican Rick Lazio, committed a “gaffe” by claiming that Upstate New York was improving. And one of the few risks in George Pataki’s 2002 re-election campaign was potential Upstate resentment at his “unjustified” attention to New York City in the wake of a minor incident with a couple of airplanes. In this election, Eliot Spitzer compared Upstate to Appalachia, Tom Suozzi said upstate needs jobs, and John Faso is running in the tradition of candidates who believe lazy, undeserving New York City needs to be cut off to help hard working, deserving Upstate.
Category: News and Opinion
Mea Culpa Maxima; or The Mouth Bites Off More Than It Can Chew
|How embarrassing. A Reader who was either FUSTB or “Angry Bald Husband of an Overrated Judge” (ABHOAOJ) wrote an intemperate reply to one of my Voter’s Guide’s and while I was forced to zap their inappropriate remarks, the substance of their criticism was largely correct. Others also pointed to some smaller factual errors.
This was without bad intent (and I’m sure their correction was without good intent), but it was clear that it was my fault and needed to be addressed. My attempt to say something resembling insightful commentary about every contested primary for public office in the entire City was clearly a goal beyond my grasp. If the Citizen’s Union, with an entire team, couldn’t do it, how could I?
More Endorsements: Rock-style
|By now most of you readers know that I have endorsed the following candidates:
Chris Owens (11th Congressional), Eric Adams (20th Senatorial), and Terry Hinds (58th AD/ Male District Leader); and since today is the infamous “Thursday before the Tuesday”, let me lengthen my endorsement list before it’s too late to make an impact / lmao. I will save the gubernatorial race for last.
Upballot: vote for Sean Patrick Maloney for Attorney General. Even though Mark Green is better suited to this job than Andrew Cuomo (and it’s not even close, so don’t even try debating this), it’s really hard for me to vote for Green. I don’t think that I have to go into the reasons beyond saying: 2001. Cuomo reminds me of the guy who proposed marriage to this fancy uptown chick (gubernatorial run), and after being rejected fell back on the girl next door for solace (AG). Maloney has done surprisingly well (to me) in the debates, and I think it’s time for new blood.
Which Mike Should We Believe?
|Mayor Bloomberg says politicians who oppose measures to crack down on illegal guns have been "cowed or duped" by an "extremist gun lobby."
During an appearance in front of the Congressional Black Caucus in Washington yesterday, Mr. Bloomberg said elected officials in both political parties have been too "soft" when it comes to trafficking and possessing illegal guns.
"They say that they are protecting the Second Amendment, but that’s a red herring if ever there was one, and it’s time for us to start exposing it," Mr. Bloomberg said.
“The Dean, and the premier source of legitimate information” (Even For Those Who Disagree With Him)
|“Yassky has attractive credentials (smart, committed, excellent on gun control), with one drawback. He had to move three blocks to be able to say he lives in the district, continuing a pattern in which he seems a bundle of ambition and campaign contributions in search of an office. Previously, he had run for school board in Washington and for Brooklyn DA as well as for the Council.”
New York Daily News Editorial (9/7/06)
“David’s obsessive ambition is still a concern. Sometimes it appears that he really thinks he’s going to be the first Jewish president. He’s spent his life looking for the next office to run for (from DC School Board to Council to DA to Congress) and is always starting his campaign about five minutes after (if not five minutes before) he unloads his moving van”
Gatemouth’s Blog (4/14/06)
The High Cost of Living in the Downstate Suburbs (Phony/Exaggerated Problem 3 of 4)
|During the Pataki administration, New York City’s pleas from the business community for overall lower taxes, and from poverty advocates for more spending on the poor, have largely been ignored. Not so the whines of suburban New York about its high cost of living – high property taxes, high housing costs, and the lack of alternatives to multiple automobile ownership, all of which are pricing out the young. When our politicians talk about bringing down the high cost of living, however, their “solutions” have generally involved subsidizing the high costs with taxes collected elsewhere, rather than reducing those costs. Reducing taxes in the suburbs is difficult (but not impossible) because suburban living is expensive by design, and in some ways by choice. And unless and until suburbanites become willing to change their choices and bring the cost of living down, the high cost of suburban living will remain a phony issue.
Gatemouth’s Voter’s Guide (Part Four-The State Assembly)
|“Dear Emperor Gatemouth, In the land of pomposity, your reign is supreme.”
– Ravi Batra (who ought to know)
For New York City Residents, the Assembly is the good cop to the Senate’s bad. Those who have any illusions concerning what this means are reminded to read the following:
- Albany Primer, Why Does NYC Always Get Screwed at Budget Time
- Don't Print the Legend – The Real Story of the Commuter Tax Repeal
The Member of the Assembly is the elected official in the City with the smallest constituency, allowing parochialism to be at its most manifest. There are 62 Assembly Districts in the Naked City; here are a few of their stories:
Stuyvesant Town & Peter Cooper: Redistributing Income Upward
|The big story in New York real estate in recent weeks has been the potential sale, for a purported asking price of $5 billion, of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, two huge “middle class” housing developments on Manhattan’s East Side, by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, their developer and long time owner. Metlife had previously sold its other large New York City housing projects, such as Parkchester in the Bronx. Immediately, politicos have rallied to the side of the potentially embattled tenants of these developments, most of whom benefit from rent stabilization. The local council member has proposed a tenant buyout, which he says will be possible with union pension fund money, “socially conscious” investors, and city subsidies. If the existing tenants want to make a bid for the place, more power to them, although I advise that we are in a real estate bubble and any buyer will likely pay too much – one reason Metlife is selling. But if they want to put city pension fund money at risk, given that the city would be required to raise taxes and cut services to make up any losses, and to receive tax breaks, I say forget it. Since Stuytown and Peter Cooper village are large enough to be their own census tracts, we can use 2000 census data to find out some characteristics of those who live there. And like Waterside Plaza, another development that was granted a city tax subsidy in exchange for a continued great rent deal for the tenants, residents of these developments are MUCH better off than most of the rest of us.
Gatemouth’s Voter’s Guide (Part Three-The State Senate)
|"You are a Saul Bellow character…fixated, detail-oriented, obsessive interiority"
–Ben Smith (The Daily News)
Everything I think relevant about the State Legislature is probably encompassed in these pieces:
Albany Primer – Why Does NYC Get Screwed at Budget Time
Settling for the Steak Knives
Don’t Print the Legend – The Real Story of the Commuter Tax
To the extent that I’ve recommended candidates here, it is mostly in the spirit of trying to make the best of a bad situation, although when applied to some of these races, that would be an optimistic assessment. Our legislature is reflective of the state in the same way a mirror would be if it was glued together after being smashed with a ball peen hammer. While viewing it as a whole may be frightening, looking at it piece by piece does not necessarily provide any additional illumination, as the whole is less than the sum of its parts, given that only two of those parts are usually operable. The Senate may be the bigger problem, but in some ways this is like drawing the distinction between Leopold and Loeb.
Poverty and Income Inequality in New York City (Phony/Exaggerated Issue 2 of 4)
|Most New Yorkers would agree that poverty and inequality are bad, and the data confirms that both are far above average in New York City. Advocates for the poor report this constantly. Their solution: more money for their organizations, and more places for the poor to live.
As I wrote here, poverty and inequality may be explained by economic and social conditions and public policy at the national level. At the local level, however, the level of poverty is primarily a product of migration: who moves in (or is kept out), who moves out (or is pushed out), who is born and who dies off. Local changes in the poverty rate may have nothing to do with whether individuals are getting richer or poorer whatsoever. Even if the city succeeded in helping every poor person within its borders to advance out of poverty, its poverty rate would not go down if those formerly poor people moved out and were replaced by new poor people seeking to move up. When people advocate for more low-income housing in New York City, they are advocating for the opportunity for more low-income people to live here, and thus a higher poverty rate. Places with low poverty rates are generally affluent suburban jurisdictions that seek to exclude the poor, through zoning rules that keep the price of housing high (more on that in future essays). Thus, the city’s high poverty rate is an inevitable by product of its accessibility to the poor, something that is in other ways desirable.