Op-Ed from NY TIMES

Mayor Bloomberg will probably waltz into another 4 years at the helm of New York City winning in November as mayor. It is unlikely that any of the democratic candidates will mount an effective retaliation and rather Bloomy will win by default, not to mention that he has the most cash and can fund his own level of exposure through multi-lingual ad campaigns. Is it asking too much for a little back bone from the democratic party, to question the current mayor on our economic situation? The fact that couples with combined incomes of around $200,000 a year are being priced out of Manhattan where the average price of a home is listed at 1.2 million? A recent survey states that there are more poor people in NYC and our mayor has been focused on economic development for rich developers and sweetheart corporate deals for useless things like the Olympics and sports stadiums. The other thing the mayor should be held accountable for, enough to cost him the election is his blatant disregard for the city dwellers civil liberties. It was one year ago that Bloomy brought his pals the Republicans to town and locked up all the demonstrators in a toxic bus depot for 36 hours. The mayor’s basic policy about expressing your first amendment rights is: It’s ok to protest as long as you are not foolish enough to try it. We have seen this punishment continue into the cyclists with a one year attack on the critical mass. Bloomberg should be asked: “why are willing to spend our tax dollars so cops can arrest bike riders on the last Friday of every month this year?” “Why is the city so stubborn to create safe infrastructure for pedestrians and bike riders at a time when the price of oil is $3.00 a gallon and due to our foreign dependence on oil we are occupying a hostile country in the middle east spreading terrorism around the globe. That this obsession for the car is screwing up our climate so badly that the City of New Orleans is now underwater and pedestrians and cyclists are being mowed down in on the streets on a daily basis by cars and trucks? Hmmm do you think we have a problem here? So I blame Bloomberg but who do I have to turn to as a replacement? Who has other ideas about how to run this city and can contextualize them into some cohesive plan of action?

I think we must focus our attention on a more local, more winnable strategy. This is why I endorse Norman Siegel for Public Advocate. Lets put a little fire under the administrations belt and turn a silent job into one that makes noise.

Here is an op-ed from the NY Times.

OP ED