I'm not a fan of aggressive government intrusion to "balance" things out, but Bloomberg took this city way too far in one direction and now it's push-back time, understandably. 200,000 units of affordable housing is the goal with De Blasio. I hope he considers saving the affordable housing that exists, but is lessening, in PCVST. Much cheaper to save what's there, than to build from scratch. (Though there is no job creation in doing that, of course.)
Generally speaking, the natural order of things in an economic system like ours is rich and poor. It takes, as you call it, "aggressive government intrusion" and an organized work force to create and maintain a vibrant middle class. We don't have either any more. Nowadays, Citigroup advises its investors to design their portfolios around income inequality and has an index of companies that serve either rich or poor while mostly avoiding those that serve the vanishing middle.
ReplyDeleteAt least we have a candidate for mayor who's 1) addressing the problem 2) looking to tip the scale back in the direction that it used to be.
After Bloomberg we need a little "left leaning" because the Republicans are turning us into a third world country of haves and have nots. This is not the America our Founding Fathers envisioned. We don't have to become a Marxist state, but we have to regain some of our old values that run contra to the oligarchy and plutocracy that is currently in control or I fear that something bigger and uglier may result and it won't be the America that we always knew and loved. Remember that the fascism of WWII came about because of the Great Divide between rich and poor and the cursed anti-semitism always rears its ugly head in such times. We must not let that happen.
ReplyDeleteAt this point, I would vote for Karl Marx himself if it would rid us of this filth called Bloomberg/CW/CR/TS, etc.
ReplyDeleteAt least he's pledged to appoint RGB members that are tenant-friendly, unlike the bunch of landlords and brokers that "served" under Bloomberg.
ReplyDeleteHe's gone on record saying that regulated rents should be frozen. I hope he keeps his word, we renewed for only one year this time, anticipating a break next year, finally.