Is it possible to save New York?
This pressing question arises thanks to Mayor Adams.
His recent warning that the influx of asylum-seeking migrants “will destroy New York City” brings the situation to a critical point.
Adams may be late to recognize this issue, as it should have been apparent from the moment President Biden opened the southern border and the first wave of illegal immigrants arrived in Manhattan.
Why did it take him so long to sound the alarm, especially when we have already received 110,000 migrants, with 60,000 living at taxpayers’ expense?
Adams’ inconsistency is part of the answer. He has been on both sides of the migrant debate.
Initially, he welcomed them to his sanctuary city and even assisted in arranging transportation for some with the Democratic mayor of El Paso, Texas. However, he criticized the Republican governor of Texas for sending bus caravans to cities with black mayors, including New York.
A Failed Suburban Warfare
Adams attempted to export buses full of migrants to the suburbs, but most of them were turned away. Leaders in the suburbs are not willing to accept New York’s disaster.
City Hall’s role seems to revolve around opening more than 200 sites to accommodate the increasing number of arrivals. This comes at an exorbitant cost, including taking over entire hotels and outfitting other large buildings. The expenses for food, healthcare, transportation, and education are estimated to reach a staggering $12 billion over three years.
Last Saturday, the mayor announced cuts to other agencies, requiring them to reduce spending by 5% in order to offset the rising costs associated with the migrants.
Despite his failures, Adams is not wrong in raising the alarm about the situation. Those who care about New York should be grateful for his candor, even if it is somewhat belated. Accusations from the left that he is fear-mongering are technically correct but miss the point. Fear is the appropriate reaction to a problem of this magnitude.
The soaring costs will inevitably lead to tax hikes, providing further fuel for the exodus of fed-up New Yorkers seeking lower-cost, safer, and more stable destinations.
While it might be tempting to give up on Adams, he still has over two years left in his term to steer the ship in the right direction. Furthermore, no credible alternative has emerged with a viable plan.
Any potential saviors would need to have a comprehensive plan to address all the other issues plaguing the city because it was on the brink of collapse even before the arrival of the first migrant buses.
Crime, public disorder, failing schools, high taxes, inadequate transportation, cost of living, utilities, and infrastructure are all major problems that need to be addressed.
However, two essential ingredients that were present in the past are now missing. Firstly, a viable two-party system is absent, and secondly, there is a lack of decisive swing voters in the center.
Republican Lee Zeldin’s unsuccessful campaign for governor last year resulted in the GOP gaining enough seats to secure a slim majority in the House. However, he only received 30% of the vote in the five boroughs of New York City, highlighting Republicans’ lack of influence in day-to-day governance.
Democrats currently hold all statewide elective offices and control the leadership of all major cities. They also have veto-proof majorities in the City Council and Legislature. New York has become such a one-party powerhouse that the Manhattan district attorney and the state attorney general have entered national politics by filing controversial charges against Donald Trump.
Most significantly, the council and both chambers in Albany are not only controlled by Democrats, but also by the party’s radical left wing. Moderate Democrats, including Adams and Governor Hochul, have had to align with the radical agenda in order to maintain their political survival. Consequently, the political center has shifted significantly left in the last two decades.
Ed Koch, a Democrat, successfully led the city, but he was known to be “a liberal with sanity.” Meanwhile, Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg, both Republicans, also transformed New York despite the overwhelming number of registered Democrats. It is doubtful that either Giuliani or Bloomberg would be elected in today’s political climate.
Ineffective Leaders
The imbalanced political landscape restricts Adams and Hochul’s policy options, and they have struggled to set the agenda consistently.
They have also failed to leverage their power effectively, such as drawing attention from the Democratic White House regarding the migrant crisis.
If a Republican president had harmed New York by opening the border and remained silent as millions crossed, Adams and Hochul would have vehemently criticized the president and rallied voters to punish the president’s party.
However, they have remained loyal to their own party’s president, merely complaining that Washington is not providing enough funds to cover the crisis it created. Neither of them demands that Biden secure the border.
Even worse, both the mayor and the governor have supported the idea of granting rapid work permits to migrants and assisting them in finding permanent housing – initiatives that would only make New York an even more attractive destination for illegal immigrants and worsen the problems Adams and Hochul claim to want to solve.
Times like these provide overwhelming evidence that we are being governed by amateurs and raise serious doubts about whether New York can be saved.
To be clear, the city will outlast Adams and Hochul because most people have no other options or cannot afford to leave. However, the politicians’ track record thus far indicates that decline will be their enduring legacy.
The Spin in The NY Times
When you hear someone spout nonsense, be patient. They likely get their misinformation from The New York Times.
Consider two recent front-page headlines. The first reads, “G.O.P. Blueprint for ’25: Gutting Climate Progress.” This headline implies that all Republicans want to harm the environment.
The second headline states, “Appeals Court Rules White House Overstepped 1st Amendment on Social Media.” The term “overstepped” is a reserved way to say that the White House violated the First Amendment by pressuring social media platforms to curb free speech, specifically regarding COVID dissent.
Is this fair and balanced reporting? Fuhgeddaboutit!
Funny Menendez Money
Reader Joe Alloy suspects something fishy is going on. He notes that the new wife of New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez cashed in $400,000 worth of gold bars only three years after facing foreclosure. It seems that Menendez, who earns $174,000 per year, did not consult the Biden family on how to launder the money. But fear not, fellow Americans, the FBI is on the case.
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