Cogito Ergo Non Serviam

Mayor de Blasio's Successful First 100 Days

Ever since FDR took the oath of office in 1933, politicians in the executive part of national or local government have been judged by their first 100 days in office. FDR managed to pass 15 major pieces of legislation at the nadir of the Great Depression, and thus, the precedent was set. New York's Mayor Bill de Blasio has been in office 100 days now, and while he hasn't been an FDR, he has accomplished a surprising amount.

During the campaign, Mr. de Blasio made a few very concrete promises. He vowed to create universal pre-kindergarten programs as well as expand after-school programs. He promised to build more affordable housing in the crazed New York real estate market. He said he would expand paid sick leave for those who work in the city. And he promised to end the New York Police Department's stupid stop-and-frisk policy. Despite predictions of doom and gloom, he has already managed three of the four.

The education changes were the most surprising. The mayor's original plan had been to set up those programs and pay for them with an extra tax on those earning more than $250,000 a year. Since the state government has the power to tax rather than the city, that meant he needed to get Albany to approve the tax. That didn't happen thanks to upstate Republicans and Governor Cuomo's desire to win re-election. Instead, the city got an extra $300 million from the state to get started. Establishing the programs was much more important than the funding mechanism. This counts as a big win.

More affordable housing was never a 100-day promise. New York City's construction industry just doesn't move that fast, and given the winter's harshness, nobody was going to pour much concrete before May. While it is too early to say he has failed to keep this promise, even he can't pretend to have even started. Were this a college course, the grade here would be an incomplete.

Next was extending paid sick leave. It was the first bill he signed into law back on March 20. The bill, along with previous legislation, brought five days' sick leave to 500,000 workers. Not only did he sign it, the law took effect on April 1. This box is certainly checked.

Finally, there is stop and frisk. The NYPD under the Bloomberg administration decided it would be a good idea to stop and frisk people at random to make sure they were obeying the law. Random in practice meant young non-white men. When about 1% of the stops uncovered anything illegal (possession of marijuana was a typical charge) 99 people were bothered by the police for no reason. This is exactly how one loses hearts and minds. The police continue with some other aggressive tactics, but stop and frisk is over. Furthermore, current Police Commissioner Bratton has stated publicly that stop and frisk was bad for moral and, consequently, made it difficult to reinstate it.

There is still a lot that can go wrong, and surprises are the usual undoing of big city mayors. Mr. de Blasio has a lot of labor contracts to negotiate soon, and there will be snow and garbage removal issues, street repair problems, and education issues to address. Still, he's built up some momentum, and has yet to put a foot terribly wrong. That bodes well for his political future, and for the future of New York City.

© Copyright 2014 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.



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