Carpe Diem NYC

Great must-read article by NYC reporter, and past Mr NYC interviewee, Ross Barkan about the policies the candidates for mayor are proposing vs. the needs of the city.

They are proposing a variety of different policies like guarenteed income, a city-wide health insurance program, and various housing proposals. But none of them are particularly sweeping and grand. For many, it's just about getting NYC back to some semblance of 2019 normality, not a 2022 bright shiny future. 

And a grand and sweeping new vision is what this city needs right now -- the next mayor needs to seize the day, seize the moment, carpe diem etc. so that NYC can remain a great and sustainable city. 

Ross brilliantly compares and contrasts the big social and infrustructure policy achievements of the 1930s to 1960s with the infrastructure and social welfare demands on the city today, noting two big things: as great as social welfare and building policies of that era were, they were warped and unevenly distributed by racism. At the same time, so much of the city's fate is in the hands of the state and federal government. Back then, NYC had a willing partner in Albany and DC. These days, it's a much more complex, fraught, and unpredictable relationship.

Ross makes the point, and it's both extremely important and obvious, that housing is THE issue for the next mayor. He even proposes some solutions like, for example, the city buying out broke and overleveraged landlords. None of the candidates for mayor has a housing vision that's truly bold and innovative. And, in so many ways, everything else is secondary -- if you literally can't live in NYC, nothing else matters.

I hope that all of the candidates for mayor read this article and start thinking hard about what kind of mayor they want to be -- and what kind of city they really want NYC to be.