On Brooklyn’s movie theaters and
saving a generator of empathy
Since October, I’ve been
What’s wrong with politicians
At the state level, New
York is in the process
of distributing vaccines
to everyone over 30 and
then over 16, halting most
solitary confi nement in the
city and state, legalizing
marijuana, and a generous
budget fi nanced by the fed
“stimmy” and new taxes on
the rich. Meanwhile, at the
city level…
Uh, we’re still sick of de
Blasio and the mayor’s race
looks pretty similar to the
way it looked a month ago.
At least this was the
week Politico published
its article on the mayoral
candidates’ tax returns.
The eight major candidates
all submitted, except
for investment banker Ray
McGuire, who of course
had the tax returns we all
wanted the most to see.
My first takeaway from
the tax returns is that
owning a house that you
rent out part of but that
24 COURIER LIFE, APRIL 2-8, 2021
doesn’t cover your total
mortgage payment and tax,
insurance, and fuel cost is
a solid and perfectly legal
tax avoidance strategy.
My second takeaway is
that Borough President
Eric Adams was perhaps almost
correct when he said
Andrew Yang “never held a
job in his entire life.”
Actually Yang started
a small test prep company
(not very progressive!) and
then pivoted to founding a
startup called Venture for
America which — get this
— was premised on taking
jobs out of New York
City. It didn’t do too well
in terms of the goals it set
for itself, and Yang left it
in 2017, three years after
the publication of his book
“Smart People Should
Build Things.”
Yang has lived off royalties
from the book,
speaking fees (his taxes
registered 120 days in California
over the last four
years), and mostly his savings
ever since. He is in
his mid-forties and has
two young children. But
don’t worry — if he fails
to become mayor, he will
surely be able to monetize
his now-broad “platform”
of followers for the rest of
his life.
If he wins, he will be in
charge of a $92 billion budget.
Between Yang and
McGuire, we can see our
least politically experienced
candidates are just
as problematic as the lifelong
politicians.
And the political insiders
can be terrible! This
week saw marijuana legalized
in New York state, but
that effort had been hung
up for years by the pettiness
of various long-term
Albany denizens. I have
heard terrible stories that
I will not print about most
but not all of the figures
who negotiated the final
deal, long-time state elected
officials whom the general
public cannot name.
I’ve been in the political
game for a while now,
and it’s clear that most political
hopefuls are quite
limited people, in terms of
ethics and intellect. Why
they are terrible is a question
longer than I can answer
here, though I think
it involves both the kind of
people who put themselves
forward and the processes
they operate under, that
determines which of them
succeed.
The professional politicians
are often damaged
people, who extinguish
their lights in order to succeed
and move up. But in
my experience the amateurs
are worse, because
they excuse all their bad
behavior with naive selfrighteousness.
Nick Rizzo is a former Democratic
District Leader and a
political consultant who lives
in Greenpoint. Follow him on
Twitter @NickRizzo.
fortunate to have this
space to express myself
as I please. I use it to opine for
and against various policies
drawing a link from macro to
the local.
Still, nothing draws that
line more powerfully than
a virus that stopped life as
we know it for more than a
year and is likely to create
new norms for many years to
come.
Unfortunately, when we get
back to whatever the post-pandemic
world — specifi cally
post-pandemic Brooklyn — is,
far too many things we took
for granted will be gone.
Many small businesses
were and will be forced to
close their doors forever while
billionaires getting richer by
the minute will Swope in and
bargain hunt. I’m not saying
this be gloomy, but because it
did not have to be this way and
some policies are proving that
good things can be done.
Take, for instance, the Save
our Stages Act.
There are technical and detailed
aspects of it. The legislation,
sponsored by Brooklyn’s
own US Senator Chuck
Schumer, provides billions of
dollars to independent entertainment
venues such as music
halls and movie theatres to
prevent them from closing.
Everyone and every community
have experienced the
COVID-19 pandemic in different
ways.
In my personal and professional
experience, as a resident
and manager of Brooklyn’s
Sixth Community District,
two things come to mind immediately
when thinking of
this: the independent Cobble
Hill and. Nitehawk movie theaters.
Roger Ebert said that movies
were like a machine that
generates empathy by allowing
you to experience and understand
what others are going
through, two hours at a
time.
Of course, that is even longer
if you, like me, are into
Scorsese.
After a year of having to
stay apart and people worrying
as their social skills have
deteriorated, I can’t imagine
anything better than going to
either of these theaters, getting
popcorn and whatever
(root beer) else, and enjoying
what’s playing.
Something like that is
worth saving.
Mike Racioppo is the District
Manager of Community
Board 6. Follow him on Twitter
@RacioppoMike.
MIKE DROP
Mike Racioppo
WORDS OF
RIZZDOM
Nick Rizzo
OPINION
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