How to ‘Have a nice life’
COURIER L 20 IFE, JANUARY 22-28, 2021
OPINION
On Jan. 20, after a 78-day
tantrum enabled by the
rest of the GOP and way
too much of the media, Donald
Trump (DT) became a former
president. In his fi nal
speech as president, DT listed
many grievances, things he
considered accomplishments
(including not being a normal
administration), ominously
promised to be back in some
form and closed by saying
“have a nice life.”
In contrast, a couple of hours
later, President Joe Biden’s address
was a conventionally
Jesuit-type call for unity and
action. To be fair, Biden’s inaugural
address may have
seemed more conventional
than it was due to the contrast
with the Trumpian style we’ve
become accustomed to over the
years.
It may feel like we’ll never
forget the fi nal day of Trump’s
term, but that’s hardly certain.
Contrasting speeches matter
far less than what is accomplished.
The executive orders,
recovery, and infrastructure
proposals are better starting
points than I expected. If I continue
to be surprised in such a
way, I’ll be pleased but maybe a
little disappointed in the functionality
of my two political
science degrees.
While those policies can be
the sign of a promising future
for federal policies and funding,
they are also outlines of
how we’ll be governed. State
and local governments, in our
case a city with more people
than most states, administer
and implement policies constrained
by federal guidelines.
How they do so is the way most
will interact, and thus, form
opinions on government. For
example, President Biden’s
goal to have 100 million doses
of currently approved vaccines
in the arms of 50 million
people within the fi rst 100
days (about the end of April)
of his administration will be
— aside from supplying the
vaccines and in large part —
determined by state and local
governments.
This makes who we elect
at the local level to organize
the effort that much more important.
We anticipate having
other vaccines approved as safe
and somewhat effective, but we
may need over 260,000,000 people
vaccinated nationwide to
develop herd immunity.
This year, in New York City
we have elections for mayor,
comptroller, public advocate,
all fi ve borough presidents and
all 52 City Council seats . We
have a Democratic primary in
June that, outside a couple of
Council seats and the race for
Staten Island Borough President,
will likely determine the
winners. We will also have, for
the fi rst time, ranked choice
voting. Hopefully, ranked
choice voting decreases negative
and scorched earth politics
of the recent past. (If you
haven’t already started your
research on who you’ll rank
where, do it now).
As for me, I’ll be voting at
the Independent Neighborhood
Democrats endorsement
meetings later today. I don’t
have enough space to explain
each candidate specifi cally but
each one, in my opinion, has a
similar passion and work ethic
and I’ve been impressed by
them even when I don’t agree
on a specifi c issue.
So without further adieu I’ll
reveal my fi rst choices: Scott
Stringer for mayor, Jumaane
Williams for public advocate,
Brad Lander for comptroller,
Jo Anne Simon for Brooklyn
Borough President and Lincoln
Restler for the next city
councilmember in the 33rd district.
I haven’t determined who
I’ll rank second or third in
these races, so I’ll continue to
pay attention and research who
I think is best to help New York
City go forward. I hope everyone
else does so, too, and that
we can all “have a nice life.”
Mike Racioppo is the District
Manager of Community
Board 6. Follow him on
Twitter @RacioppoMike.
MIKE DROP
Mike Racioppo
The case for BK’s own ‘Berghain’
This week fi nally saw the
peaceful transition of
federal power most New
Yorkers have been waiting for
these past many months and
years. Many crave a return to
normalcy, but what “normal”
means any more is unclear.
Twelve years ago, Barack
Obama was inaugurated in
another moving and historic
ceremony. Since that time,
it’s not just that we’ve learned
more about the toxic beliefs
and actions of so many of our
countrymen. In those twelve
years, the world has also produced
a quarter of the carbon
emissions for all of humanity’s
existence.
So evil stuff remains in
the air, and the horrible disease
that has already killed
400,000 Americans remains
unvanquished and more contagious
than ever. But people
are receiving vaccinations
this week; there is a light at
the end of the tunnel.
The performing arts and
nightlife within New York City
have been especially harmed
by necessary social distancing
restrictions, and many of
those organizations and businesses
will not come back. We
must commit to building a new
nightlife, a new artistic scene,
on the ashes of the old.
New York City’s partisans
act like we have everything
in our city, and while we have
more than others, it’s simply
not the case that we have everything.
For example, despite
the years-long efforts of Congresswoman
Carolyn Maloney,
New York has no pandas.
In the nightlife realm, New
York has never had anything
like Berghain.
Built in an abandoned
power plant near the former
border of East and West Berlin,
Berghain is a multi-level club
devoted to techno and house.
Photography is forbidden and
there are no mirrors inside.
Parties last for days. Not only
is it larger and stranger, it is
a less commercialized dance
music experience than one is
able to regularly fi nd in New
York.
Brooklyn deserves a
Berghain. It should happen
next year. What about transforming
the Red Hook grain
elevator?
When COVID-19 fi nally
ends, we’ll be facing competing
drives. On the one hand,
we will have lost many of the
regular habits of socializing,
and will be slow to redevelop
them. On the other hand, we
will be yearning to return to
the social pleasures we knew
before. Human beings are sociable
animals: we did not
evolve working together and
expressing our love for each
other through screens.
After the last pandemic,
America entered the Roaring
Twenties. We could be
due for another such decade.
Maybe our new era will be as
booze-soaked and inequitable
as the Jazz Age, or maybe we
can come up with a new way
to party: one more mindful,
more accepting, more sustainable,
more global.
But also a way that features
multi-day parties in ancient
industrial buildings.
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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