Is Bill de Blasio The Future of Progressive Politics In The Democratic Party?

[cali]

He's a no bones about it Progressive and he's saying the things that Progressives should say. He also has the history to back those words up. If he becomes mayor, he could lead the way for a progressive/liberal resurgence.

Bill de Blasio’s Vision

When it came to the most important speech of his campaign for mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio’s timing couldn’t have been worse. On May 30th, at the New School, the candidate sketched a powerful picture of the issue that he wanted to put at the center of the race: the city’s “inequality crisis.” “Right now, as we’re gathered this morning, one New Yorker is rushing past an attended desk in the lobby of a majestic skyscraper,” de Blasio began. “A few miles away, a single mother is also rushing, holding her two young children by the hands as they hurry down the steps of the subway entrance…” The first New Yorker is thinking about how to profit from the bull market in stocks; the second is trying to figure out how to pay her grocery bill.

De Blasio described New York’s rising inequality in terms that were not only personal but also analytical: the number of luxury apartments being built, soaring C.E.O. pay, declining middle-class incomes (the city’s middle class isn’t just shrinking, he said; it’s “in danger of disappearing”), and the stark fact that almost half the city’s residents live in poverty, or very nearly in it. He mentioned a New Yorker infographic showing the neighborhood-by-neighborhood income extremes that commuters pass through as they ride the 2 train.

De Blasio had some answers, too—the most ambitious proposals of any candidate in the race. These included an income-tax increase for New Yorkers making more than five hundred thousand dollars a year, which would pay for universal pre-K education and after-school programs for kids in middle school; two hundred thousand new units of affordable housing (currently, people can remain on the waiting list for public housing in New York for years); and tax incentives that are directed away from big development projects and toward small neighborhood businesses and industries. He also talked about preparing the city’s students for technology jobs and ending the police department’s stop-and-frisk program—a practice that, as a judge ruled Monday, has violated New Yorkers’ constitutional rights.

It was a far-reaching speech, making its case in both economic and moral terms, describing a city—or, in de Blasio’s somewhat predictable phrase, “two cities”—that just about every resident with some level of awareness is familiar with, likely takes for granted, and perhaps tunes out. De Blasio was trying to move inequality out of the realm of loud street noise—to make New Yorkers think about it, and not as an unpleasant fact of metropolitan life but as an immense problem that must be addressed.

<snip>

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2013/08/bill-de-blasio-speech-new-york-mayor-inequality.html

[NYC_SKP]

1. Recommended. Also, link to the subway/income infographic.

http://www.newyorker.com/sandbox/business/subway.html

[Douglas Carpenter]

2. I posted this salon article about three weeks back - now he is leading in the polls

salon.com: Forget Weiner: There’s a real progressive for NYC Mayor By Joan Walsh

Bill de Blasio tells Salon he'll break from Bloomberg, end racial profiling and tax the rich to fund preschool


Bill de Blasio (Credit: Reuters/Keith Bedford)

The day the latest Anthony Weiner scandal surfaced, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg vetoed anti-racial profiling legislation, a young woman was murdered in the East Harlem housing project where mayoral candidates had stayed two nights earlier, and Bill de Blasio held a press conference to talk about his work to block the closing of two New York hospitals – which wound up dominated by questions about Weiner.

That’s mostly been the story of de Blasio’s campaign since Weiner jumped into the mayor’s race in May and immediately became City Council President Christine Quinn’s top rival. While the exhibitionist former congressman still has progressive fans from his days shouting about health care reform on Fox and MSNBC, de Blasio is the genuine progressive in the race, with bold stands on police controversies and economic inequality that set him apart. Still, he’s been stuck in the middle of the pack in the polls, behind Weiner, Quinn and former comptroller Bill Thompson, who lost to Bloomberg in 2009.

New York magazine, in a largely admiring profile of de Blasio, called his campaign “easily the most intellectually coherent and focused when it comes to inequality… but his wonky ideas are also in danger of getting lost in Weinermania” – and that was before the latest revelations of Weiner’s sexting habits after he left Congress.

Yet de Blasio, New York’s Public Advocate, may be the beneficiary of Weiner’s latest troubles: In the Wall Street Journal/Marist College poll released Thursday – the first poll taken after the new sexting news — Weiner had dropped far behind Quinn, and de Blasio had climbed into a tie with Thompson at 14 percent. He was in second place among voters who said they were likely to vote in the city’s Democratic primary — significant, because unless a candidate gets more than 40 percent of the primary vote, the top two vote-getters will compete in a run-off — though polling experts say surveys consistently undercount the African American Thompson’s support, which is how he came close to upsetting Bloomberg in 2009.

New York, the laboratory for the New Deal, hasn’t had a Democratic mayor in 24 years, since Rudy Giuliani displaced David Dinkins in a city riven by racial tension and fear of crime. De Blasio got his start working for Dinkins and has been a voice for a renewed New York liberalism ever since, serving on the City Council before becoming Public Advocate. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife Chirlane McCray, who is African American, and their two children Dante and Chiara, who attend public schools.

read the rest of the article including an interview:

http://www.salon.com/2013/07/26/forget_weiner_theres_a_real_progressive_for_nyc_mayor/

[democrank]

3. What a breath of fresh air.

K & R

[La Lioness Priyanka]

4. yes, he's fucking awesome for a politician

[cali]

5. Jeffrey Sachs Endorsement:

Throughout American history, when Washington has stumbled, New York has led with progressive reforms. It goes with the territory. Teddy Roosevelt ushered in major progressive era reforms first as police commissioner and NY governor. Franklin Roosevelt ushered in the New Deal first as governor of NY. In an economy rife with inequality and inaction in D.C., NY's vocation of reform is again at hand. The progressive mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio is a very strong candidate to lead the city and the new reform agenda.

He gets it. In a city with more millionaires and billionaires than any other place on the planet; with a surging stock market; with high-end restaurants bursting with activity; and with tourists by the millions from around the world, the city has the ways, means, and need to address its poor and working class. De Blasio has made a basic proposal: the rich should pay just a tiny bit more in taxes, a surcharge of 0.4 of 1 percent on incomes above $500,000 to ensure a decent start for every kid in the city.

This is smart and it is right. Universal preschool support should be national policy, indeed a global policy. Giving our children the best early start is not only common decency and common sense; it's backed by years of rigorous studies showing (not surprisingly) that investing in young children is society's best investment of all. If New York City starts it, it might well become global soon enough. De Blasio will be a strong force to make it happen.

The fact of the matter is that New York City can put all of the pieces together to be not only the world's most global and dynamic city, which it already is, but also America's new leading beacon of reform and social justice, its natural calling and historic role. De Blasio not only has staked out the most progressive platform but has consistently led the fight for progressive reforms in recent years, most recently to ensure NYC workers are entitled to paid sick leave, a nearly universal right in high-income countries that shockingly hasn't yet become a right in America. Now NYC has set the pace, notably despite the lobbying of the business community.

<snip>

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-sachs/bill-de-blasio-for-mayor_b_3749042.html

[NCarolinawoman]

8. Proud to say, I had a great uncle who who knew TR in NYC and volunteered for him.

One might say, he was kind of a "Deaniac" for TR.

Interesting thing was that my great uncle (my paternal grandmother's older brother) was also a businessman on Wall Street. Yet he saw all the corruption and shenanigans going on. Grew to hate it and that's how he became a strong Teddy Roosevelt supporter.

Thanks for all this good information.

[cali]

9. thanks for that interesting story.

glad you shared it!

[Jefferson23]

6. Support Bill de Blasio for Mayor to Ensure NO New Yorker is Left Behind

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio is running for mayor of New York City and is asking for your support to help him bring real progressive change to City Hall. From his early days as a City Hall volunteer to his time on his local school board Bill has spent his life fighting to ensure every New Yorker – in every neighborhood throughout our five boroughs – gets a fair shot.

If you believe New Yorkers deserve Universal Pre-K, Paid Sick Leave, Living Wages, and a Strong Community, then now is the time to stand with Bill de Blasio.

Sign up today. Help elect a mayor who is committed to giving every New Yorker a fair shot. Join New Yorkers for Bill de Blasio today.

http://www.change.org/petitions/support-bill-de-blasio-for-mayor-to-ensure-no-new-yorker-is-left-behind

[theaocp]

12. I heard he might leave ONE NYer behind

... Ray Kelly. Talk about progressive!!!

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/politics/2013/07/8532295/de-blasio-runs-against-ray-kelly-would-consider-kellys-top-deputy-r

[Jefferson23]

13. And?

I have no interest in Bratton and would not like to see him involved..although I do not
live in NYC.

If Banks was aware of the issues, and did not appreciate the manner stop and frisk was implemented
that may be one reason he would be considered. Stop and Frisk will not be abandoned, completely.

You might want to read about the recent court ruling, in case you haven't already.

[theaocp]

15. I support OPENLY getting rid of Ray Kelly.

I would hope de Blasio would have a better commish. Anything else?

[Jefferson23]

18. Oh, ok. yes of course he needs to go. I must have misunderstood your post.

Kelly is awful..dreadful, actually.

[Tx4obama]

7. Haven't heard much up until now about either Blasio or Quinn...

Bill de Blasio: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_de_blasio

Christine Quinn: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Quinn

A great article below that came up in the Blasio search results that is interesting...

Family in the Spotlight
De Blasio's Wife, Children Provide Multiracial Backdrop to Likely Mayoral Bid

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323820104578215653710530398.html

[TomClash]

10. I have known Bill for many, many years

Humble, progressive, honest and smart. We would be fortunate to elect him Mayor.

[hrmjustin]

11. For me it is between Thompson or De Blasio.

[hfojvt]

14. interesting

but he has to win a primary first.

[cali]

16. sure, but he stands a good chance of that

I'll predict right here that he'll win the primary and the election.

[cali]

17. He's been endorsed by an impressive bunch of people and organizations

from Sachs and Soros to a rare endorsement from The Nation, State Senator Bill Perkins who represents Harlem, Harry Belafonte, cynthia Nixon, Howard Dean and many more.