This was very clarifying. It also helps me understand where all of those people who are online screaming about Mamdani robbing pensions came from, and why I shouldn't listen to them.
On those Park Slope homeowners: didn't they vote for Mamdani knowing that they would see their property taxes go up? So shouldn't he have some room to get away with it?
>didn't they vote for Mamdani knowing that they would see their property taxes go up? So shouldn't he have some room to get away with it?
Not only that, but Mamdani's base is disproportionately tenants, not property owners. He should absolutely reform property taxes to be more equitable, and then raise the rate.
"Basically, the city took out a giant loan to meet their pension obligations, and then bizarrely, agreed to make extremely high payments towards that loan until 2032, and then start receiving a portion of those payments back from 2033 on." What was the rationale behind this idea?
The 3 or 4 or 8 billion NYC is now “temporarily” getting from the state is still way less than the state nets from NYC in taxes (about 20 billion). It’s certainly an easy solution but I feel like the city does have a massive amount of leverage there
This is good, but the part about car owners being “incredibly well-organized” is so laughably false. Car owners are incredibly unorganized, which is why nearly every avenue in Manhattan has a protected bike lane.
I have literally never met a fellow native New Yorker who thinks there’s not enough bike lanes. (Ironically, this is the population with probably the lowest rate of drivers licenses in the US.) In fact, most miss the days when you didn’t have to look 4 times before crossing the street because the anti-car zealots at DoT gave an entire lane of traffic on every street for delivery slop.
Who is “they”? There is no organized group of car owners (as there is for anti-car groups, e.g. TransAlt). In the past 25 years the city has built more than 1,500 miles of bike lanes. It is *individual* car owners—a majority of whom happen to be families—who complain, not an organized group of them (which is why it’s typically to no avail).
Yeah their position is fundamentally unpopular and makes no sense outside of their narrow self interest, so instead of sustaining a long term group they launch these concerned citizen coalitions whenever a DoT project removes parking.
It’s true that their position is largely unpopular among transplants. Native New Yorkers—who have family in the city, among whom car ownership is more likely than not—like the convenience of the automobile and resent the ideologically driven push to drive them out (no pun intended).
This was very clarifying. It also helps me understand where all of those people who are online screaming about Mamdani robbing pensions came from, and why I shouldn't listen to them.
On those Park Slope homeowners: didn't they vote for Mamdani knowing that they would see their property taxes go up? So shouldn't he have some room to get away with it?
>didn't they vote for Mamdani knowing that they would see their property taxes go up? So shouldn't he have some room to get away with it?
Not only that, but Mamdani's base is disproportionately tenants, not property owners. He should absolutely reform property taxes to be more equitable, and then raise the rate.
https://progressandpoverty.substack.com/p/mayor-elect-zohran-mamdani-champion
Glad you linked P&P—they are very good on this issue
"Basically, the city took out a giant loan to meet their pension obligations, and then bizarrely, agreed to make extremely high payments towards that loan until 2032, and then start receiving a portion of those payments back from 2033 on." What was the rationale behind this idea?
The 3 or 4 or 8 billion NYC is now “temporarily” getting from the state is still way less than the state nets from NYC in taxes (about 20 billion). It’s certainly an easy solution but I feel like the city does have a massive amount of leverage there
This is good, but the part about car owners being “incredibly well-organized” is so laughably false. Car owners are incredibly unorganized, which is why nearly every avenue in Manhattan has a protected bike lane.
I have literally never met a fellow native New Yorker who thinks there’s not enough bike lanes. (Ironically, this is the population with probably the lowest rate of drivers licenses in the US.) In fact, most miss the days when you didn’t have to look 4 times before crossing the street because the anti-car zealots at DoT gave an entire lane of traffic on every street for delivery slop.
Otherwise, good article.
'Well organized' is probably not the most precise term, but they do make a big stink whenever any parking spaces are lost.
Who is “they”? There is no organized group of car owners (as there is for anti-car groups, e.g. TransAlt). In the past 25 years the city has built more than 1,500 miles of bike lanes. It is *individual* car owners—a majority of whom happen to be families—who complain, not an organized group of them (which is why it’s typically to no avail).
Yeah their position is fundamentally unpopular and makes no sense outside of their narrow self interest, so instead of sustaining a long term group they launch these concerned citizen coalitions whenever a DoT project removes parking.
It’s true that their position is largely unpopular among transplants. Native New Yorkers—who have family in the city, among whom car ownership is more likely than not—like the convenience of the automobile and resent the ideologically driven push to drive them out (no pun intended).