Bill de Blasio’s state of the city address didn’t drop any novel ideas on NYCHA, homelessness, education, jobs or other big-ticket items. The mayor instead focused new energy on making the city’s democracy stronger.
It’s an annual rite of mid-winter: The mayor of New York City travels to the state capitol to give his take on the governor’s proposed budget, and state legislators pelt the mayor with questions about whatever is on their minds. Bill de Blasio’s fifth trip to Albany involved some familiar themes and faces, but a slightly different feel.
The election? Well, duh! The 2020 Census? Wait, huh?
After a 2017 New York City election season devoid of suspense, Elizabeth Crowley was on the on the wrong side of the only real drama on election night.
While there’s a lot of discussion about where new jails might go, the heavier lift might be figuring out how to release enough violent-felony defendants to allow the city to move detainees off the island.
A writer currently incarcerated on the island writes that re-establishing similarly flawed facilities elsewhere will displace the problems on Rikers, but won’t dispense with them.
Through human tragedy and political crisis, the mayor has delivered on specific reform promises and kept crime low. But he has fallen short of the sweeping change advocates hoped he would engineer.
Albanese described a plan that revolved around thinning out the population on the island and then closing the facilities there that displayed the worst conditions.
What makes less sense: the city paying to provide security at ritzy private schools, or lawmakers from six hours away having a say over the MTA?
There will be questions about this topic during the mayoral race. The bigger questions will be answered down the line.
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