Democrats need to exercise their
authority in the state legislature
COURIER L 16 IFE, NOV. 20-26, 2020
OPINION
My previous column was
about cynicism ceding
ground to the celebrations
that broke out across
Brooklyn and the world when
the current president lost his
bid for re-election.
It’s a pleasant memory and
indicates, or at least suggests
the possibility of, a better future
with Joe Biden in the
White House.
Unfortunately, he’s not
there yet, the current occupant
continues to cause harm
and then we are still likely to
deal with the consequences of
a Republican-controlled senate
and their likely rediscovery
of fi scal parsimony.
As a second viral wave descends
upon us with schools
once again closing, we as a
city see the days to recovery
dwindling down to a precious
few and we lack time to play
the waiting game. More businesses
are shuttered, and people
go hungry and homeless
with each passing day.
While we wait for wickedness
to pass, we need a functioning
Albany to bridge the
gap — and by functioning, I
mean a willingness to ask everyone
to do their part and not
allow anyone to stand in the
way of fi nancial relief.
While it now appears likely
the Democrats will have won
a veto-proof supermajority
when the new State Senate is
seated, the governor should
lead with new anti-austerity
measures now.
As I’m writing this, state
Sen. Andrew Gounardes has
pulled ahead of his opponent
and is likely to be re-elected.
We have also added to the
state senate Democratic Socialists
who ran on the Democratic
line, such as Velmanette
Montgomery’s successor
Jabari Brisport.
So the fi rst step — and I
think it’s a small fi rst step —
would be to implement a piedà
terre tax. If you’ve got more
than one residence and they
are worth millions of dollars,
that’s great, but under these
exigent circumstances it is reasonable
to ask for a small additional
payment to make sure
our subways run all night, and
schools aren’t short staffed.
Ideally, if we ever restore
a fully functional federal government,
and the wickedness
mentioned above indeed
passes, then we’d get suffi cient
aid and local taxes could then
be a less critical focus.
I know that the governor
has allowed his fears of fl ight
to serve as his theory of the
case, but I strongly believe
that he misjudges the balance
of consequences. If he doesn’t
budge, the new legislature
should set the agenda.
As the Roosevelt administration
said in responding to
criticism as it fought the great
depression, “People don’t eat
in the long run. They eat every
day.”
If Gov. Andrew Cuomo
doesn’t relent now the incoming
state legislature must,
thanks to the Democratic supermajority,
govern with an
urgent understanding that
lives are at stake.
Mike Racioppo is the District
Manager of Community
Board 6. Follow him on Twitter
@RacioppoMike.
MIKE DROP
Mike Racioppo
What kind of city are we?
New York is the city that
never sleeps, but then
Broadway was shut
down. Then, so were the clubs
and the bars and the restaurants
past a certain hour —
and even before that, the subway
was closed overnight.
That was the real change.
We make changes here to
fi ght emergencies, and we’re
in an emergency now, no question
about it.
When people say that New
Yorkers are mean or annoying
or diffi cult, what they really
mean is we demand faster
responses and higher quality,
whenever we want, to a greater
degree than anywhere else in
the Western Hemisphere. Because
we are a big old city,
state, and country, though,
that quality is lacking in all
our levels of government.
I’ve been a columnist
here for about nine months.
I’ve been right and I’ve been
wrong. To be reactive and
competent, to deliver anything
of high quality, you’ve
got to admit when you are
wrong.
I was right to warn the federal
election was not something
we could control. I was
right to warn of coronavirus.
I was right to repeatedly notice
how incompetent, slow,
unreactive, and blinkered
Mayor Bill de Blasio is. I will
be proven right that commercial
real estate in this city will
collapse in value.
But it turns out I was
wrong when I wrote in a column
about the mayor and
the city’s public schools and
his general slowness three
months ago, that “perhaps it
is okay or even good that unlike
most other large public
school districts, New York
City plans to continue to offer
some in-classroom instruction
to students who desire it.
But not much in-class instruction.
And it’s not at all clear
staying open will end up being
a good idea.”
Three months later, it’s
increasingly clear from
data around the world that
schools, especially elementary
schools, are not the major
spreaders of coronavirus,
especially not compared to
indoor restaurants and gyms.
Almost everywhere else in
the world has chosen to close
almost everything else before
they close their schools, especially
for their youngest.
In this regard, New York
again showed itself to be more
like the world than America.
For a little while.
Because now de Blasio has
decided to stick with his plan
of closing schools when the
citywide positive test rate has
hit 3 percent, even as indoor
dining and retail continues.
We are showing once again
that our true priorities are
commercial priorities, nourishing
companies and their
employees instead of humans
and their offspring.
Forget the Big Apple: a terrible
nickname, used only by
tourists. I still like Gotham
and The City That Never
Sleeps. We know we’re New
York Tough, so let’s try to
not to be The City That Never
Learns.
Nick Rizzo is a former Democratic
District Leader and a
political consultant who lives
in Greenpoint. Follow him on
Twitter @NickRizzo.
WORDS OF
RIZZDOM
Nick Rizzo
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