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New York, 9:45 PM
Wed Nov 25
42 posts in the last 24 hours
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11/04/09
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As a political issue, term limits have historically been sought by conservatives and libertarians as a political ploy to break up what they see as entrenched Democratic constituencies (the Kennedys). The last notable time that term limits came to the fore as an issue was when Gingrich's "Contract With America" gang tried to get them imposed in Congress.
In New York City they were sought as part of the Conservative tilt that brought Giuliani to power. They were later confirmed, with the support of the mayor, in 1996. You are right, however, in saying that NYC term limits were sought through popular referendum, but that has not generally been the case, historically. #michaelbloomberg
11/05/09
Now, if a term limit were, in and of itself, an anti-democratic policy (as, say, abolishing womens' voting rights would be), I would see your point. But again, you haven't really demonstrated why it's anti-democratic. The fact that republicans/conservatives have, historically speaking, been the ones to float the idea doesn't prove that point.
11/04/09
Hate Bloomberg or not, he has aided the arts, developed neighborhoods, while they are expensive, they are safe! I live in one of them, one that Bloomberg has dedicated most of his years in developing, expanding parks, bringing in schools and police presence and well my neighbors thank him. Yes, NYC is expensive, tell me something I dont know, but at least we get services for what we pay for. #michaelbloomberg
11/04/09
That said, having lived in this city for 90% of my life, I can safely say he's best mayor we've had in my lifetime.
Gone is the nasty, shouting tone of our politics that seemed to dominate in the Koch and Giuliani era. Greenspace, closing down chunks of Broadway. 311. I could go on. These are things Bloomberg could accomplish precisely because he is an autocrat.
You really are deluding yourself if you think that Thompson would have been an effective mayor. Until the Dems clean up the party in this town, any Democratic mayor who gets elected is going to be so mortgaged to the Unions and other special interests, that they will be completely unable to function.
That is a fact. #michaelbloomberg
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And also this: [www.zanyholidays.com]
11/04/09
To the barricades, comrades! #michaelbloomberg
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Bloomberg is an arrogant ass, and Thompson embodies the citywide Democratic party's unique tendency to squander its numerical advantage by failing to field a candidate with more charm, fight, and appeal than a garden slug. They should have gone with Anthony Weiner. Maybe in 2013?
In that I was able to express a protest vote against the further stratification and Sex-in-the-Citification of NYC and my (perhaps futile) support for a lively, diverse, and middle-class friendly urban fabric, I don't regret my vote for Billy Talen for a damned minute.
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@The Real JR: Props to you and the rest of the other 8964 like-minded NYers who voted green. And yes, my only ballot booth quandary was arguing which third-party candidate to vote for—Talen or, as you mention, this guy: #michaelbloomberg
11/04/09
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But go ahead. Superimpose on the above any map of NYC income by assembly district—or for that matter, ethnoracial composition—and the correlation is nearly exact. The Bronx (sans Riverdale), Central Brooklyn, Jamaica, and upper Manhattan are true blue while the Upper East Side, Eastern Queens, the fancy parts of Brooklyn, and Staten Island are deep, blood-of-the-proletarians red. #michaelbloomberg
11/04/09
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And the Rockaways, to wit, dramatize what I'm talking about—the suburby-beachy nilla end went for Bloomberg, and the projecty-minorityish end went for Thompson.
So yeah: the point here is basically that I just get inordinate enjoyment from nerding-out about maps. #michaelbloomberg
11/04/09
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When I left my apartment to go and vote, I found a Bloomberg campaign mailer sitting on my doormat (probably around the 100th I've received). That's what finally pushed me over the edge, so I went and voted for Thompson. #michaelbloomberg
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4/5 of Bloomberg's winning margin consisted of homeless paid by his campaign. QED. If you won't say it, I will.
11/04/09
[ppdonline.org]
Go to any other city in the country: Baltimore. St. Louis. Detroit. You know what the big differences are between those cities and New York? Michael Bloomberg and a shitload of uber-wealthy taxpayers. Careful how eager you are to cast them out; all that low-cost housing you keep advocating isn't exactly going to "cultivate the tax base." It'll put a financial stranglehold on your city and make it a lawless shithole. (Again.) #michaelbloomberg
11/04/09
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Bloomberg's a success because he ISN'T AN IDEALIST. He doesn't attempt to change the rules of life in a capitalist society - he plays to win. The strategy? Attract big corporations and rich assholes to your city. Use their taxes to crowd out the unpleasant detritus of society. Rinse and repeat until your city's on the hill and the shit rolls down - upstate, into Philly, into Newark, etc.
It's a ghettoization process. Society is politically structured to reward politicians who engage in it. Bloomberg is not a criminal for winning a national game to accumulate wealthy citizens that was in place long before he took office. #michaelbloomberg
11/04/09
I just wanted to point out that the two seemingly ardent Bloomberg supporters on this site (you and that cassandra person? Any more, feel free to jump out here) have both used phrasology that implies that mostly minority working class or poor populations are, effectively, scary trash that need to be disposed of. #michaelbloomberg
11/04/09
I don't know that, ideologically, I'm an "ardent supporter" of the man. But he's pragmatic, at least! Sorry; the problems of the worse-off amongst the working class are unsolvable. Their misery is only destined to increase (at the very least in nominal terms) over time. Resources aren't growing, but humanity is.
Maybe one day we'll become a collectivist nation of mutual restraint and limited consumption! And yeah, when that happens, Bloomberg will be way out of step. #michaelbloomberg
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So yeah. I feel you. New York's problems seem finnicky when compared to anywhere else—and yes, I come from Detroit. But you gotta balance the pragmatic with the aspirational. New York could be so much better if the city's political class ever got its shit together. And Bloomberg generally means well. Hooray for the High Line and the Second Ave. subway—life continues to get better for the rich. But what about the decrepitude of outer-borough parks, the stalled proposals for streetcar lines in Brooklyn and Queens, the trigger-happy NYPD, the still generally dysfunctional D.o.E., and the development debacles at the WTC, Atlantic Yards, Williamsburg rezoning, the West Side, Coney Island &c. &c. &c? We can see that Bloomberg's leadership has definitely left room for improvement.
NYC won't perish in flames of class-war in a third Bloomberg term. But it would be nice if he would take seriously the idea of perhaps not fucking over the city's working and middle classes. #michaelbloomberg
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If it was Weiner vs Bloomberg, this would have been a different election, but Thompson was and is not ready to be the mayor of this city. #michaelbloomberg
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