Talk is cheap. Recovery is expensive.
40 COURIER LIFE, MAY 7-13, 2021
OPINION
In our age of smartphones
and the web, traffi c-based
advertising often devolves
into clickbait that includes
promises of lists to confi rm
or confound your beliefs, to
amuse, or thrill. Things like
“you won’t believe the top 10
(insert noun that you won’t believe)”
or “12 places you must
see before you die” are common
types of clickbait. There
are also lots of lists that, when
combined with an article, are
referred to as “listicles” on
sites like BuzzFeed. This is
something millennials seem
to like, and as an old millennial,
I’m inclined to agree.
To segue, I fi nd that this
support for lists and rankings
carries seamlessly over to a
preference for Rank Choice
Voting. However, my support
for RCV — sometimes referred
to as” instant runoff” — rests
on an understanding of the
process by voters. I will do my
best to explain that process.
In 2018, city voters overwhelmingly
approved the use
of RCV in primary elections,
and this June, we’ll hold our
fi rst citywide elections with it.
In practical terms, on June 22,
you’ll be able to list your top
fi ve favorite candidates for every
offi ce that represents you
in city government- Mayor,
Comptroller, Public Advocate,
and City Council. If there is a
candidate with over 50 percent
of voters ranking them as their
number one choice, that candidate
is the immediate winner.
If not, the candidate who fi nished
last in fi rst-place votes
is eliminated, and those who
voted for the last-place candidate
will have their vote redistributed
to their second choice.
This process will go on until a
candidate exceeds 50 percent
or, if necessary, reducing to
two candidates where between
those two, one will have of necessity
attained a majority.
RCV is not just an exercise
in making lists but a way to
improve our city’s democracy
with the side effect of reducing
costs over the prior system
for citywide offi ce. It ends
the prospect of a primary runoff
two weeks later in which
hardly anyone shows up to
vote, resulting in a different
electorate. It encourages both
diverse expression and positive
campaigning while appealing
to more people.
Even if a person is certain
to rank a certain candidate 1,
there is an incentive for other
candidates to be appealing
enough to be ranked anywhere
from 1 to 5. RCV also eliminates
what’s known as the “spoiler
effect,” in which multiple candidates
having similar views
dilute those views by splitting
their votes. The “spoiler effect”
of plurality voting means that a
candidate with minority views
may emerge as the winner.
Some argue that a historical
example of a “spoiler” is Ralph
Nader in 2000. A fi ctional example
would be in season four
of “The Wire,” during which
Tony Gray took enough votes
from Clarence Royce to enable
Thomas Carcetti to become the
mayor of Baltimore.
Because in NYC, the Democratic
primary is so often the
true determinant of the election,
this is not fi ction, we have
some serious real-life choices to
make. Starting June 12, people
will begin early voting and thus
ranking preferences for who
they want to lead our city postpandemic.
It’s not something to
be taken lightly, and if you vote
for a candidate with less support,
the ones you rank with a
lower priority (fi fth through
second) could make a major difference
in our direction.
I’m not sure who will take
up all fi ve spots in each race
on my ballot yet. However,
my number 1 ranked choices
include Jo Anne Simon, Brad
Lander, Jumanee Williams
and Lincoln Restler,. And
without making a fi nal choice
for number one, I know I’ll
rank Kathryn Garcia somewhere
on my mayoral ballot.
Mike Racioppo is the District
Manager of Community
Board 6. Follow him on Twitter
@RacioppoMike.
Ranked Choice future
MIKE DROP
Mike Racioppo
OP-ED
BY JUSTIN BRANNAN
It feels good for politicians
to say “small businesses are
the backbone of our local economy”
but talk is cheap. And
for me, it’s personal.
My wife is a small business
owner who — because
of COVID — had to close her
storefront of 10 years. Leigh
did everything she could to
keep The Art Room afl oat, but
when push came to shove, and
the landlord wouldn’t negotiate,
that was the end of it. All
the work she had put into that
space didn’t matter, me being
an elected offi cial didn’t matter.
The landlord had the upper
hand, and she had to close.
My deputy chief of staff is
also a small business owner.
Kayla and her husband bought
Lock Yard less than a year before
COVID hit, which closed
them down for several months
and has limited their business
since. This is in addition to the
countless lifelong friends and
constituents who I speak with on
a daily basis who own their own
businesses. So the struggle is not
abstract to me — it’s real and tangible.
I see it and feel it every single
day. Through this past year,
I often wished I had a bag full of
cash that I could just walk up and
down the avenues with, handing
it out to struggling restaurants,
boutiques, and bars. But alas,
while being a councilmember affords
me some power, it does not
give me that opportunity.
Instead, we did everything
else we possibly could.
I helped lead the effort in the
City Council to cap the absurd
fees charged to restaurants by
third party delivery platforms
— which became very important
when the only business
they could do was takeout. We
pushed the city to put a hold on
all non-COVID safety-related
fees and fi nes, and to stop interest
on any overdue bills. I
went to bat for businesses when
they had unfair encounters
with the often inconsistent,
ever-changing and nonsensical
restrictions placed on them
throughout COVID. I called on
the governor to lift restrictions
when they seemed arbitrary.
And, as always, I helped small
businesses connect with city
agencies when they just needed
some guidance or clarifi cation,
but couldn’t break through the
bureaucratic morass.
We’ve all done our best to
navigate and survive this unprecedented
and ever-changing
landscape. But the reality is,
our small businesses have always
needed more help than the
city could provide. That’s why
I called on the federal government
to provide relief like the
PPP loans, which have been crucial
for so many businesses in
this district. And I’m also proud
to have fought for the passage of
the RESTAURANTS Act, which
resulted in a $28.6 billion federal
restaurant relief program
that will allow local restaurant
owners to apply for up to
$5 million in grants (not loans)
to cover COVID-related losses
from the past year. I’m relieved
that once those grants begin to
hit our neighborhoods, we will
fi nally begin to see relief.
As vaccination efforts pick
up steam, and as we begin to
contemplate what a return
to “normal” will look like,
we need to not only lick our
wounds and help struggling
small businesses recover from
the last year. We also need to
ensure that New York City is a
place where small businesses
aren’t holding on by such a thin
margin in the fi rst place.
The new Small Business Recovery
Plan includes $800 million
for small business grants
— not loans — and $200 million
in small business tax credits,
especially for those small businesses
who may have slipped
through the cracks for PPP
loans and other federal COVID
aid programs. The goal here is
to ensure no small business gets
left behind in this recovery.
Meanwhile, I’m also thinking
about what else our neighborhood
can use, and what will
help increase foot traffi c and
drive up business among our
local merchants as we dig out
of the pandemic. In the coming
weeks, I will be gathering with
local business and community
leaders to specifi cally address
how we can use this moment to
make commercial corridors like
86th Street a place that not only
supports successful big chain
operations, but feeds into the
larger local ecosystem and gives
a much-needed boost to the hyperlocal
economy that makes
our neighborhoods so special.
We must do everything we
can to make our neighborhood
a place where small businesses
can thrive, no matter what.
Councilman Justin Brannan
represents the neighborhoods of
Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst
and Bath Beach.