The Democratic candidate who wants to reform New York

Being mayor of New York is not easy. Bill de Blasio, the outgoing mayor, was once much loved by progressives. However, his peculiar political talents – a propensity for self-celebration and a smug contempt for the problems of the city – coupled with constant squabbles with the governor made De Blasio ineffective and widely detested. He’ll soon limp out of the Gracie Mansion town hall, leaving his successor with some pretty daunting problems. Economic growth is being throttled by local regulations and insufficient housing construction. There has been a dramatic increase in shootings and murders. If it weren’t for a timely federal bailout, the city would have faced heavy budget cuts.

The man New Yorkers will choose to pick up the pieces is most likely Eric Adams, a former black vegan police captain from Brooklyn. In a crowded competition Adams took a narrow victory in the Democratic primary thanks to the support of a broad coalition of non-white and non-Manhattan people. As in the case of President Joe Biden, it was the workers, the elderly and minorities who supported him. He promises to be the mayor of the Bronx and Brooklyn, not the Upper West Side.

Adams cuts
His victory in the primary and the almost certain triumph in the November elections represent a kind of counterbalance to the progressive fervor that has taken over America’s biggest cities since protests for racial justice began more than a year ago. It is a growing movement that in a sense despises the sectors that generate urban prosperity. He finds specialized schools for gifted children oppressive. He sees in the pathologies of the real estate markets the signal of little, and not excessive, interference from the government. He argues that “decreasing funding for the police” is the solution to tackling the rise in crime. Its most enthusiastic supporters are apparently citizens comfortably isolated from both violence and want.

Adams is not their incarnation. A former policeman, he does not want to reduce funding or abolish police departments. Instead, he wants to reform them. Even before applying for the job, he had argued for the need to be able to more easily dismiss policemen guilty of violence against citizens. However, it resists the paternalistic attitude adopted by some progressives, who consider the increase in violent crimes of which especially the poor are victims an acceptable price to pay in view of greater social justice.

Instead of raising the city budget by 25 percent in real terms, as De Blasio did, Adams plans to scissor through the city’s extensive bureaucracy. He said he wanted to repeat Michael Bloomberg’s $ 1.5 billion spending cut during his tenure.

The problem of the most expensive cities is largely a reflection of the housing shortage, and to this no “rent stabilization” program, however elaborate it may be, can answer. From 2010 to 2019, only one housing unit was built for every five new jobs created in New York. Adams is right to say that in the city it is urgent to approve a new master plan and that the burden of change should be placed not only on the poorest neighborhoods but also on richer ones such as the elegant West village, with its absurd low prices.

It is folly to place too much faith in anyone who aims to rule America’s largest city. Even De Blasio once met with some enthusiasm. Bloomberg’s admirable technocratic impulses have entangled him in endless debates over soda taxes.

Unfortunately, even the judgment on Adams has some weaknesses. Rumors that he lives half the time in New Jersey have not subsided even after he allowed the media to take a guided tour of his spartan home in the city. Furthermore, his incorrect tax returns do not inspire confidence in a man who is about to take over a $ 100 billion plus business. As a professional politician, he owes many favors to many people. It is worrying that in the election campaign he defined an alliance between two of his opponents in the primary as an attempt to suppress black votes in the city: a low, false and incendiary blow.

Getting New York back on track will require constant and competent leadership, not unnecessary displays of populism. Gotham City has endured enough of it already.

(Translation by Giusy Muzzopappa)