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| L-R; Anthony Weiner, Sal Albanese, John Liu, Christine Quinn, Bill Thompson, Erick Salgado, Bill deBlasio |
Primary Day in New York City
Today is primary day in New York City! Voters will head to the polls to decide who will represent the parties, in the general election on November 5th. With several seats up for grabs including City Council, Comptroller, Borough President, Public Advocate, District Attorney, and Mayor, today we will focus on the mayoral race.
Seeking the Democratic Nomination for Mayor of New York City, are nine candidates. In order for one candidate to prevail and march forward to the general election, with no distractions, they must secure at least 40% of the popular vote. Should he or she fail to secure that 40%, an automatic run-off election is triggered, staging the top two candidates against each other. Should no candidate reach the 40% mark this evening, the run-off is scheduled to take place on October 1st.
Listed on the ballot for the Democratic Party in the Mayoral Race are Christine Quinn, Bill deBlasio, Billy Thompson , John Liu, Anthony Weiner, Sal Albanese, Randy Credico, Neil Grimaldi, and Erick Salgado.
There are a lot of issues that the next mayor of New York City must address. However, I've selected my top three - Economy, Ending Stop & Frisk, and NYC Commuting.
Here is where the candidates fall on each issue........
Bill deBlasio
New York City's Economy
Bill deBlasio - Seeing the economy as a body part and each economic down turn that hits this city as a cut that begins to bleed, deBlasio doesn't want to just stop the bleeding with band aid fixes. He wants to figure out how to keep that body part from getting cut in the first place. deBlasio wants to tackle the economy with an early approach - education. My understanding of his plan is that tackling the economy from the education side will lead produce the right kind of trickledown effect. He wants to restore the City University of New York system. This system was revered back in the day as a meal ticket out, through higher education. I've heard stories from friends and family member who went to a CUNY school for free. Some even got refund checks to cover their expenditures. deBlasio also acknowledges that we can't have a one recipe mind frame when it comes to higher education. College is not the only avenue. He wants to focus on career training and technical education, job placement programs for existing workers, and bring back the apprenticeship programs that once produced highly skilled workers within this city. By tackling these avenues of higher education it will aid our current crisis, while working to prevent it in the future. deBlasio also wants to focus of our city's tax abatement construct, and end the tax giveaways that land in the palms of large corporations for projects. These giveaways are unnecessary, because these project will happen regardless of the tax giveaway, so why continue to waste. A perfect example of this giveaway is Goldman Sachs, whose newest headquarter location at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, was built with tax dollars. They didn't need it, and the building would have been built anyway. deBlasio also commits to focus on the usual suspects - small businesses, entrepreneurship and city contracts.
Ending Stop & Frisk
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Bill deBlasio - Seeing the economy as a body part and each economic down turn that hits this city as a cut that begins to bleed, deBlasio doesn't want to just stop the bleeding with band aid fixes. He wants to figure out how to keep that body part from getting cut in the first place. deBlasio wants to tackle the economy with an early approach - education. My understanding of his plan is that tackling the economy from the education side will lead produce the right kind of trickledown effect. He wants to restore the City University of New York system. This system was revered back in the day as a meal ticket out, through higher education. I've heard stories from friends and family member who went to a CUNY school for free. Some even got refund checks to cover their expenditures. deBlasio also acknowledges that we can't have a one recipe mind frame when it comes to higher education. College is not the only avenue. He wants to focus on career training and technical education, job placement programs for existing workers, and bring back the apprenticeship programs that once produced highly skilled workers within this city. By tackling these avenues of higher education it will aid our current crisis, while working to prevent it in the future. deBlasio also wants to focus of our city's tax abatement construct, and end the tax giveaways that land in the palms of large corporations for projects. These giveaways are unnecessary, because these project will happen regardless of the tax giveaway, so why continue to waste. A perfect example of this giveaway is Goldman Sachs, whose newest headquarter location at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, was built with tax dollars. They didn't need it, and the building would have been built anyway. deBlasio also commits to focus on the usual suspects - small businesses, entrepreneurship and city contracts.
Ending Stop & Frisk
Bill deBlasio has strong ties to ending "Stop & Frisk." He actually commissioned the studies on the disparities of the "Stop & Frisk" procedure, which led to the recent court decision in Floyd v. New York. deBlasio even testified at the federal trial. He would also like to appoint an inspector general. Quinn wants to do this as well. deBlasio has committed to signing legislation that end racial profiling and "Stop & Frisk," all together.
Commuting in New York City
Bill deBlasio wants to see more federal involvement in mass transit funding. Wants more select bus service and more Metro North service in the Bronx. deBlasio also wants to see and expansion of the CitiBike bike share program and more bike lanes.
Christine Quinn
New York City's Economy
Christine Quinn has a mixture of ideas for job creation that can actually be executed on right away. Manufacturing and Tech are her star industries to develop. She acknowledges that we are behind in exporting and sees this as a priority for the city's growth. She is also committed to focusing on two areas of the city, the South Bronx and East Harlem, which are in need of an economic boost that will lead to a boost in other areas. She is also the only candidate to give Staten Island some love and is looking to help them become a tourist attraction. She is also trying to make NYC attractive to companies who outsourced to other countries, and now want to come back home.
Ending Stop & Frisk
Christine Quinn makes no mention of "Stop & Frisk" in her "as Mayor" policy proposal. All that is mentioned are things that she's done in the city council regarding "Stop & Frisk." Most of it was oversight of the program (meaning to keep it in place and just cover it up better) and protocols for complaints regarding "Stop & Frisk." Don't expect her to do anything about this policy if elected Mayor.
Commuting in New York City
Christine Quinn screams Bureaucracy, Bureaucracy, Bureaucracy on this issue! She wants the Mayor to have the power to pick the members of the MTA board and who runs NYC Transit. She supports the addition of increasing ferry service and select bus routes. She is also in favor of more bike lanes and expanding the CitiBike bike share program.
• Expand Quality Job Training for Vulnerable Populations
• Attract Companies and Jobs to Every Community
• Increase access to affordable housing, health care and child care that parents must have in order to meet their responsibilities at home and on the job
• Eliminate childhood hunger
Ending Stop & Frisk
Bill Thompson has a "Stop & Frisk" reform plan which requires that each stop be documented with a ticket, to create a record and increase transparency. Officers will provide people with written information on why he or she was stopped: why it's happening, what led to the stop and why the police officer chose to stop the individual. Thompson says he would "state clear criteria" for when cops can "Stop & Frisk." In a speech he offered a scenario of a person leaving a "known drug hangout" with "a bulge in their pocket." Apparently, Mr. Thompson didn't get the memo -- in Floyd v. City of New York, a federal judge ruled that the "Stop & Frisk" practice is unconstitutional.
Commuting in New York City
Thompson wants to restore the "Commuter Tax," raise registration fees based on weight of vehicles. He also proposes to allow commuters to use the metro north and LIRR within the city limits that encompass the subways, for the same fare as the subways. Thompson wants to see CitiBike bike share program expanded, but thinks bike lanes are disruptive.
John Liu's economic plan highlights an approach that could either be genius and true out of the box thinking or an accurate reflection of his lack of experience in executing policy. Liu is a numbers guy and has chosen to tackle the economy from a purely numbers perspective. It's actually somewhat interesting. His plan is solely based on tax reduction, program funding, and partnerships. He mentions a little about infrastructure and job creation, but he lacks the gravitas to really understand how to put everything together and actually execute on it. This can be attributed to his lack of policy experience.
Ending Stop & Frisk
John Liu makes no mention of "Stop & Frisk." This is very alarming because it singles that he doesn't understand the severity of the issue or even worse, doesn't see it as an issue.
John Liu wants to remove bike lanes and put a tolls on all bridges that lead into Manhattan. This would include the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges, Williamsburg Bridge, and the 59th Street Bridge.
Ladies and Gentleman - the Road to City Hall begins now.
These are the candidates and their plans for New York City. Tonights results should be quite interesting. Stay tunned for updates this evening.
In the meantime, share your thoughts on this race.
1. Which candidate would best serve New York City as Mayor?
2. Will we see a run-off election?
3. Who are the top two candidates for a run-off election?
4. What are the top three issues that the next Mayor must address?