Tag Archives: Mayor Bill DeBlasio

Ruining A City Already In Peril

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On Tuesday, The New York Post reported that New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has created the first legal ‘shooting gallery’ for drug addicts in the city.

The article reports:

With just four weeks left in office, Mayor Bill de Blasio launched the country’s first legal shooting galleries Tuesday morning, calling them safe havens for addicts — shortly before five people overdosed at just one of the clinics on opening day.

“Overdose Prevention Centers are a safe and effective way to address the opioid crisis. I’m proud to show cities in this country that after decades of failure, a smarter approach is possible,” de Blasio said in a statement.

The nonprofit-run centers, New York Harm Reduction Educators on E. 126th Street in Harlem and Washington Heights’ CORNER Project on W. 180th Street, opened Tuesday.

There were five overdoses at the East Harlem site that saw 85 users inject drugs laced with fentanyl including heroin on Tuesday. 

This is not the way to deal with the drug problem. Also, this is a big change to make four weeks before leaving office.

The article concludes:

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), whose district includes Staten Island and parts of southern Brooklyn, called on the Department of Justice to block the sites, noting that under former President Trump the DOJ said such sites would violate the federal Controlled Substances Act.

Malliotakis wrote US Attorney General Merrick Garland Tuesday urging him to “take swift action to enforce federal law.”

The congresswoman cited a Jan. 2021 Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that determined it was a federal crime for a supervised injection site run by a Philadelphia nonprofit to allow consumption of illegal drug use at its location.

“Instead of focusing on the root cause of the drug epidemic, Mayor de Blasio is enabling drug cartels that continue to break our laws, smuggle illegal drugs over our border, and prey on our children,” Malliotakis said.

“Crime and fentanyl use are at record highs because of open borders, botched bail reform, and anti-police policies that keep releasing criminal drug dealers back onto our streets. Opening taxpayer-funded heroin shooting galleries is not a proper solution. These centers not only encourage drug use but they will further deteriorate our quality of life,” she said.

De Blasio has largely turned a blind eye to daytime drug sprees in major city hubs like the Garment District and the Triangle Plaza Hub in the Bronx.

It might be a good idea to acknowledge that a good deal of our drug problem in America is related to two things–an open southern border and the Chinese manufacturing and selling of fentanyl. Until we are willing to address those two issues, we will continue to have an addiction problem in America. Setting up ‘safe’ places to take illegal drugs does nothing to combat either problem. There is no law regulating illegal drugs or controlling what is in them. There is no guarantee that an illegally purchased drug will not contain a fatal does of fentanyl.

Letting Even Non-citizens Vote

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Just the News is reporting today that New York City lawmakers are set to vote on a measure that would amend the city’s charter and allow green card holders and those with work authorizations visas to vote in citywide elections.

The article reports:

Mayor-elect Eric Adams, a Democrat, supported the idea and campaigned on it during his election earlier this year.

“We cannot be a beacon to the world and continue to attract the global talent, energy and entrepreneurship that has allowed our city to thrive for centuries if we do not give immigrants a vote in how this city is run and what are priorities are for the future,” he said while on the campaign trail.

However, Mayor Bill de Blasio, also a Democrat, feels differently.

“I don’t believe it is legal. Our law department is very clear on this,” he said during an interview on “The Brian Lehrer Show.” Adding that the second issue with the proposal is that it undermines efforts to get immigrants to become citizens.

“I think there’s a real set of mixed feelings it generates in me about what’s the right way to approach this issue,” he also said.

The bill stipulates that residents must be living in the city for at least 30 days prior to an election and will apply exclusively to municipal elections, not any state or federal ballot questions.

Anyone willing to make a wager as to how long it will be before the thousands of illegal immigrants streaming into our country will be given some sort of status that allows them to vote in local elections. Even if they can’t vote in federal elections, the true power is in local elections–the local candidates who win their primary elections are the ‘farm team’ for Congress and the Presidency. Laws like this will dramatically change our country from a Constitutional Republic to a place where people who may not understand either our history or how our government is supposed to work are in charge.

Policies Have Consequences

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New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio recently announced that he would end the Gifted & Talented (G&T) program in the New York City Schools. BizPac Review posted an article yesterday detailing the consequences of that decision.

The article reports:

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio may have inadvertently started a religious revival in the Big Apple after announcing the elimination of the Gifted & Talented (G&T) program for the city’s schools.

The Diocese of Brooklyn, which serves 1.2 million Catholics in Brooklyn and Queens, cited that their Catholic elementary schools’ enrollment grew by 2.4 percent for the current school year, according to a report by the New York Post.

The increased interest in religious education comes after more than a decade of decline in enrollment for parochial schools in New York.

But this year the tables are turned as public schools in the city have been plagued by low attendance and steep declines in enrollment with nearly 18 percent of New York City school children failing to show up on the first day of instruction. A risqué drag queen performance at a 2017 New York City elementary school talent show probably didn’t help enrollment numbers either.

“The families that came to us last year stayed with us,” Dr. Thomas Chadzutko, superintendent of the Diocese of Brooklyn’s schools explained. “This is a positive time for Catholic education within the diocese […] It is an alternative for families.”

Many parents do not believe that drag queen performances in elementary schools are appropriate. Unfortunately, that is not the only inappropriate thing going on in some of our schools. Parents are beginning to realize that in recent years our public schools have forgotten their mission to teach children how to read, write and do mathematics. Somehow the schools have instead adopted the idea of undermining the values many of the parents are trying to teach their children. The past year or so of remote learning educated parents about what their children were being taught. As parents wake up, we are seeing more children going to religious schools, private schools, or being homeschooled. Parents should be applauded for the actions they are taking to protect their children and making sure that their children will have the chance to excel in the things they do well.

And So It Begins

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The New York Post is reporting today that Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced that New York City is mandating proof of COVID-19 vaccination to enter certain indoor businesses — including all indoor restaurants, entertainment venues and gyms.

The article reports:

The program, which de Blasio dubbed the “Key to NYC Pass,” makes New York the first major US city to create such a mandate and, according to the mayor, marks a significant escalation of the city’s efforts to curb the recent uptick in COVID-19 cases driven by the Delta variant, and will launch on Aug. 16.

“It will require vaccination for workers and customers in indoor dining, in indoor fitness facilities, indoor entertainment facilities,” he said. “The only way to patronize these businesses indoors is if you’re vaccinated.”

“If you want to participate in society fully, you’ve got to get vaccinated,” de Blasio added.

Enforcement will begin on Sept. 13, following a public service announcement campaign, de Blasio said. Entry will be denied to anyone without a shot.

“If we’re going to stop the Delta variant, the time is now,” said the mayor. “This is going to make clear, you want to enjoy everything great in this summer of New York City? Go get vaccinated.”

The article concludes:

And on Monday, the mayor hinted at the Big Apple moving toward a “reality” in which those who do not get vaccinated are barred from certain settings.

“More and more, there’s going to be a reality where, if you’re vaccinated, a world of opportunity opens up to you. If you’re not vaccinated, there’s going to be more and more things you can’t do,” de Blasio said during his virtual press briefing, when he announced that the city will only hire vaccinated workers and advised all New Yorkers to wear masks in indoor, public settings.

“I say that to say, go get vaccinated, so you can fully participate in the life of this city, because that’s where things are going.”

First of all, is this Constitutional? Secondly, why is there so much emphasis on vaccines rather than treatments? This is very odd.

Pettiness On Parade

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The cancel culture’s attack on President Trump has soared to new heights since he left office. We have reached the point where in some circles it is probably a crime to mention his name in any positive way. This is not only ridiculous, it is not helpful in building unity in America. Half of the country (at least) voted for President Trump. Those in the media might do well to remember that.

Hot Air posted an article today that illustrates how ridiculous things have gotten.

The article reports:

We learned last month that New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was cooking up a plan to cancel all of the Trump organization’s contracts with the city. Those contracts involve the operation of a golf course, the carousel in Central Park and two skating rinks. The contracts were set to expire in April anyway, but apparently, the city’s showboating mayor couldn’t wait that long. It was just announced that de Blasio wants the Trump-owned operations shut down and moved out by February 26. (In one week.) That means that operations will end tomorrow to give them time to pack everything up. So any children showing up to go skating this week will find the rinks closed for business.

First we keep the children out of school, then we deny them outdoor recreation, and then we wonder why they might be depressed.

The article continues:

This pathetic move by de Blasio is being done for partisan political reasons and he’s not even trying to hide it. One of his spokespeople said three weeks ago that “Trump has been impeached from operating the ice rink.”

Like a bad dart player who always misses the bullseye, Bill de Blasio has misfired yet again and hit the wrong target. He’s not doing all that much “punishing” of the Trump organization because they were going to be out in less than ten weeks anyway. But in his haste to generate another headline as a hero of the #RESISTANCE, the Mayor shut down the skating operations without having anyone lined up to take over and run them. So the rest of the skating season in Central Park has been “canceled” rather than Donald Trump.

As we discussed here when Bill’s plan was originally announced, Hizzoner has probably set the city up for some legal and financial problems while simultaneously icing out anyone who enjoys skating. Eric Trump had already made it clear that he would be going to court if de Blasio made good on his threat and terminated the contract early.

The Mayor claims that the contracts contain a provision allowing for early cancellation if the contractor is found to be engaged in “illegal activity.” The entire basis for his claim of illegal activity is the January 6 riot on Capitol Hill. But Donald Trump hasn’t been convicted of any crime related to that, nor even charged in a court of law. (Impeachment doesn’t count and he wasn’t convicted in that “court” either.) On top of that, Trump doesn’t personally operate the division of the company that runs the skating rinks. His son does.

The article notes that if Eric Trump sues the city and wins, the taxpayers will be on the hook for the damages. New York City has paid a high price for electing Mayor de Blasio, and it appears that the price is about to go higher.

 

Is This Really A Good Idea?

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Yesterday The New York Post posted an article about a recent statement by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio about one of the things that will happen if Joe Biden is elected President.

The article reports:

Mayor Bill de Blasio is hoping a federal stimulus package akin to FDR’s New Deal will help curtail crime in the Big Apple, he said Monday.

Speaking to NY1’s Errol Louis, Hizzoner said if Joe Biden is elected president, New Yorkers should expect a stimulus deal that will help get the city “back on its feet” and combat a spike in murders, shootings and burglaries.

“If Joe Biden’s elected president, the most likely time for a major stimulus is February, and I’m thinking along the lines of the New Deal, and he’s obviously talking about emulating FDR,” the mayor said.

“The second we have that, New York City’s in a position to address a whole host of issues, avert layoffs, but also to do a lot of positive things,” he added.

The mayor also said a coronavirus vaccine that is expected in a matter of months will help reboot the city’s economy — and drive crime down.

Let me do a little translating here. What the Mayor is looking for is a stimulus package that will undo the bad fiscal management that has plagued New York City for some time. One of the reasons the stimulus package has not passed is that the Democrats in the House of Representatives want to use the stimulus to bail out Democrat-controlled cities that have huge budget deficits. The Republicans in the Senate want to use the stimulus bill to help businesses and their employees get back on their feet. It should be noted that in a well run city, getting businesses and employees back on their feet will increase tax revenue; and if the city is run well, help deal with any budget deficit. We have a number of cities in America that need to get their spending under control. A federal bailout will not help curb their excessive spending and should not happen.

Leadership Matters

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Yesterday The City Journal posted an article which contained the following statement from New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio:

the “way our legal system is structured to favor private property” provokes his “anger, which is visceral.” The mayor elaborated on this point, insisting that “people all over this city, of every background, would like to have the city government be able to determine which building goes where, how high it will be, who gets to live in it, what the rent will be.”

Wow. Private property is one of the foundations of our Representative Republic.

In December 2010, I posted an article showing the relationship between private property ownership and the lack of poverty in a country. The article was based on a Townhall article by John Stossel.

The article stated:

”To get an address, somebody’s got to recognize that that’s where you live. That means … you’ve a got mailing address. … When you make a deal with someone, you can be identified. But until property is defined by law, people can’t … specialize and create wealth. The day they get title (is) the day that the businesses in their homes, the sewing machines, the cotton gins, the car repair shop finally gets recognized. They can start expanding.”

“That’s the road to prosperity. But first they need to be recognized by someone in local authority who says, “This is yours.” They need the rule of law. But many places in the developing world barely have law. So enterprising people take a risk. They work a deal with the guy on the first floor, and they build their house on the second floor.”

What Mayor DeBlasio is suggesting is communism or socialism. Historically, neither has been proven to work.

The article in The City Journal concludes:

De Blasio insists that New Yorkers fervently want to have a powerful government that gets involved in the minutest details of how they organize their lives. Based on their voting behavior, he may be right. But New Yorkers are also obstreperous, entrepreneurial, and small-d democratic; they typically reserve a Bronx cheer for authorities who dare to tell them what to do. De Blasio has now come out explicitly as a central planner whose politics sound frankly Bolshevik. We’ve been warned.

Benjamin Franklin replied when asked what the Constitutional Convention had created, “A republic, madam, if you can keep it.” Obviously, not everyone wants to keep it.