To the point about NYC mayoral races often looking very different towards the end of the primary: I recently watched the Anthony Weiner documentary with a friend and one great scene has him being greeted like a rock star at a pride parade after announcing his mayoral run and then it cuts to DeBlasio on an empty street with at most five other people.
The potential NYT endorsement would likely be a game changer that could change this race overnight. The move last year by the NYT to stop all endorsements was crazy. They have real power in NYC races are honestly a welcome voice at the local level.
“Yet, the city that could perhaps most benefit from a leader aligned with the growing abundance movement is on the verge of electing someone wholly opposed to it.”
Is it growing? I’m not being cynical, I just don’t have any idea whether it is. I’d love someone to do a check-in on this periodically.
I recently attended a fundraiser for Myrie. His peeps are keen on having attendees organize more. Lemme know if folks on here would be interested. I can organize and post deets
Myrie seems great. It sounds like Lander is also good, no? NYC has ranked choice voting, so it seems useful to know who are all the candidates that would be clearly better than Cuomo on housing. I know people who like Lander for other reasons and would be very intersted to know if YIMBYs ought to rank him 2, and anyone else that should be 3 or 4.
From the other comments it sounds like people also worry about Myrie on that basis, so yeah I think it would be great for Slow Boring to identify candidates that are pro housing and would fit with a range of other political opinions readers here hold on those kinds of topics.
Myrie is clearly the least bad housing candidate, but he’s far from a good candidate. His housing plan is filled with affordability poison pills; this post admits he’s emphasizing NYCHA expansion with no plan on how to make it not a money pit; and there’s no reason to believe he’s changed his mind on the disastrous 2019 rent control bill.
Combined with his left wing social views, this really seems like an election to sit out.
I am curious to look into Abundance NY, especially since Open NY is an outpost of the DSA and broadly ambivalent about housing.
I'm sorry but this piece is hideously off the mark. Myrie is a died in the wool progressive and is categorically opposed to almost all points of the common sense manifesto.
Most importantly, he would return to the ridiculous, permissive policies of the De Blasio administration, and the still-persistent crime and quality of life problems in the city would explode. He is a dogmatic progressive and all that Ben can muster is a pathetic "well he hasn't fully rejected his previous stances..."
This is a ridiculous puff piece that is way below the standards of SB.
I think this is a really good example of the type of reverse purity thinking that I'm worried could turn up more often in response to the excesses of the left. Myrie is the only candidate in this race with a real plan to build substantially more housing. Some of his public safety policies are literally the opposite of many NYC progressives.
To say "he's a died in the wool progressive that is opposed to almost all points of the common sense manifesto" is just not a statement born out in fact.
It's pretty accurate if you look at things he's said and done during his tenure as State Senator as well as most of his platform outside of housing. It doesn't appear he had any interest in YIMBYism or housing abundance until he started his mayoral run in 2024, instead focusing on tenant protections and rent regulation, which isn't necessarily bad, but those aren't the kinds of things that are going to get more housing built, which is ultimately what would lower rents and give tenants more power.
Even today, looking through his state legislative record, it doesn't appear he's done anything to try to get more housing built in the state. He's in a position of power currently and if he's not using that position to solve this very serious issue in NY, why should we believe he's going to be any different as NYC mayor?
All that said, it would be good to see someone have some electoral success running on YIMBY platform because then that might motivate other candidates to embrace YIMBYism.
This exactly. Ben is comparing an interview about potential positions compared to (at best) Cuomo's record. Why not ask the other campaign as well? It just reads like a PR plant from Myrie aides who want to capture some of the moderate vote.
Myrie is well positioned to actually do something about the public safety and housing issues in NYS, but he has done conspicuously nothing. It's a shame that Ben is covering for him.
This piece's title is an unsubstantiated unendorsement of a candidate whose current platform it doesn't discuss. That alone makes it political hackery unworthy of this site's aims.
Zellnor's platform site discusses more rent control, more money for public schools, and celebrates his role in NYS's disastrous criminal justice reforms of the past decade. Nothing in his platform or - more importantly - his professional record indicates that he would govern as anything other than a doctrinaire progressive.
It's nice that he will tell you what you want to hear in an interview but a well reported piece would actually examine his record instead of making excuses for it.
NYC voter here. Voted for Garcia. Any Democrat who is competent and will deal with crime, disorder, quality of life, and public safety of all kinds gets my vote. I really hate that the only people who are taking those concerns seriously are also people I disagree with on other priorities or who are not great people on a personal level, but I am so angry that this has been gaslit, justified, and the other Democrats (besides Adams who is now compromised) STILL won't truly address it. I'm a middle aged woman who takes public transport for about 95-99% of my transportation and I'm becoming a one issue voter here. As long as it isn't a Republican, who are compromised in their own way, I will vote for someone like Cuomo. This will probably piss off a lot of people, but I don't know what else it takes to get someone in office who takes this seriously.
In theory, effective policing should complement the YIMBY agenda. Dense, walkable cities need more policing than suburbs, by their nature. If cities take away policing resources, then they are pushing families away from cities and into sprawling suburbs. Building more units anywhere will help drive down costs, but the aesthetic most city dwelling YIMBY’s have in mind will require active, effective police.
I went to middle school and high school in Detroit and came to NYC in 1990 to go to college and stay afterwards. I’m aware of what higher crime looks like and I don’t want to go back to it. More importantly, at least back then, I don’t remember seeing people say that it wasn’t happening or that if it was happening, it was fine or that it was worse at some other place or time. I want someone to take it seriously and commit to bringing it lower as we go forward.
So, while politicians indeed have to be solicitous to the concerns of voters, sometimes those concerns aren't wholly rational: prioritizing crime (again, NYC is super safe by US standards!) *over* housing (surely NYC's biggest problem) as a voter doesn't make sense for most residents (nearly 70% rent), even if it *does* make sense from the perspective of a politician.
Yup, I hate being in this position. I didn't want Cuomo to be the only candidate besides Adams who would address those issues, but the other candidates have decided that's how they are running. Agreed about Richie Torres.
I'm a New York State YIMBY. I want to see my state build a lot of housing; I want to see it deploy lots of clean energy. I want NYC to be safe place to bring my family. I believe in the Abundance Agenda.
That said, why should I trust the NYS Democrat party?
In the past ten years, they've closed my local nuclear reactor, leading to both an increase in energy costs and carbon emissions. They've blocked local housing development on nebulous gentrification grounds. They've passed a wild bail reform bill that sparked outrage. Even when we do manage to build public infrastructure (like the 2nd Avenue Subway), we pay an exorbitant price for it compared to other states.
On the flip side, my friends who moved to Texas, North Carolina, and Florida seem to already be living in the abundance paradise Democrats are now hawking. I'd love for the NYC Mayoral race to be the start of an Abundance Democrat movement, but I can't shake the feeling that they're showing up a day late and dollar short.
I like Zellnor! I hope he gains traction and wins.
I'm also not very optimistic. He's polling in the single digit territory and has a long uphill fight. I commend Ben for boosting him here.
However, I suspect that actual pro-growth policies and reform are as popular with rank and file NYS Democrats as pro-choice policies are with Mississippi Republicans. At a certain point, abundance Democrats are chasing the same dream as pro-choice Republicans; they're both wishcasting that their party was something fundamentally better.
However, I think you undersell the degree to which the lies about housing policy are comforting and easy while the truth is hard and inconvenient. Democrats love blaming Wall Street/land lords/capitalism; selling them on market rate housing is like selling an evangelical on birth control.
You really don't have to say much to persuade me that this guy is better than Andrew fucking Cuomo.
I mean -- I'm glad that there are lots of good things to say about Myrie, and I'm glad that he would be not only better but much better.
But on reading your headline, "New York City can do better than Andrew Cuomo," my reaction was to think, "yes, with the disease-ridden carcass of a dead subway rat."
Anyhow -- thanks for letting me know more about Myrie. I wish him the best of luck in the race.
Half my family is still gaga over him because of those damn press conferences. But he was actually terrible on policy during Covid! He ignored people with expertise and the whole nursing home thing was a disaster! I hate-read his whole memoir and came away more convinced than ever by his sorry excuses that he was personally responsible for hundreds if not thousands of deaths in nursing homes. And not to mention he’s a skeevy dude who was rightly drummed out of his last job.
Fortunately, we have RCV. It’s not just Adams vs Cuomo. We can find five better candidates and vote for them all!
Myrie seems good but when I hear him talk he sounds elite and not relatable to people who are not educated in elite high schools and colleges.
He reminds me of dem candidates of years past who suffered the same problems and get beat by guys like Adams and cuomo pretty consistently who whatever else know how to talk to all different types of people.
Why is Garcia not running again?
To the point about NYC mayoral races often looking very different towards the end of the primary: I recently watched the Anthony Weiner documentary with a friend and one great scene has him being greeted like a rock star at a pride parade after announcing his mayoral run and then it cuts to DeBlasio on an empty street with at most five other people.
The potential NYT endorsement would likely be a game changer that could change this race overnight. The move last year by the NYT to stop all endorsements was crazy. They have real power in NYC races are honestly a welcome voice at the local level.
Sounds like my kind of guy. Maybe if he doesn’t win in NYC he should move west and run for mayor of LA.
“Yet, the city that could perhaps most benefit from a leader aligned with the growing abundance movement is on the verge of electing someone wholly opposed to it.”
Is it growing? I’m not being cynical, I just don’t have any idea whether it is. I’d love someone to do a check-in on this periodically.
I recently attended a fundraiser for Myrie. His peeps are keen on having attendees organize more. Lemme know if folks on here would be interested. I can organize and post deets
Just got an email w this link in fact! Lfg! :) https://secure.actblue.com/donate/zeejay
I need more information about Wilson Fisk's housing platform.
Myrie seems great. It sounds like Lander is also good, no? NYC has ranked choice voting, so it seems useful to know who are all the candidates that would be clearly better than Cuomo on housing. I know people who like Lander for other reasons and would be very intersted to know if YIMBYs ought to rank him 2, and anyone else that should be 3 or 4.
From the other comments it sounds like people also worry about Myrie on that basis, so yeah I think it would be great for Slow Boring to identify candidates that are pro housing and would fit with a range of other political opinions readers here hold on those kinds of topics.
Myrie is clearly the least bad housing candidate, but he’s far from a good candidate. His housing plan is filled with affordability poison pills; this post admits he’s emphasizing NYCHA expansion with no plan on how to make it not a money pit; and there’s no reason to believe he’s changed his mind on the disastrous 2019 rent control bill.
Combined with his left wing social views, this really seems like an election to sit out.
I am curious to look into Abundance NY, especially since Open NY is an outpost of the DSA and broadly ambivalent about housing.
I'm sorry but this piece is hideously off the mark. Myrie is a died in the wool progressive and is categorically opposed to almost all points of the common sense manifesto.
Most importantly, he would return to the ridiculous, permissive policies of the De Blasio administration, and the still-persistent crime and quality of life problems in the city would explode. He is a dogmatic progressive and all that Ben can muster is a pathetic "well he hasn't fully rejected his previous stances..."
This is a ridiculous puff piece that is way below the standards of SB.
I think this is a really good example of the type of reverse purity thinking that I'm worried could turn up more often in response to the excesses of the left. Myrie is the only candidate in this race with a real plan to build substantially more housing. Some of his public safety policies are literally the opposite of many NYC progressives.
To say "he's a died in the wool progressive that is opposed to almost all points of the common sense manifesto" is just not a statement born out in fact.
Nitpick: should be "dyed in the wool," unless he expired while wearing a tweed jacket.
Oh man my life's greatest shame! Thank you.
It's pretty accurate if you look at things he's said and done during his tenure as State Senator as well as most of his platform outside of housing. It doesn't appear he had any interest in YIMBYism or housing abundance until he started his mayoral run in 2024, instead focusing on tenant protections and rent regulation, which isn't necessarily bad, but those aren't the kinds of things that are going to get more housing built, which is ultimately what would lower rents and give tenants more power.
Even today, looking through his state legislative record, it doesn't appear he's done anything to try to get more housing built in the state. He's in a position of power currently and if he's not using that position to solve this very serious issue in NY, why should we believe he's going to be any different as NYC mayor?
All that said, it would be good to see someone have some electoral success running on YIMBY platform because then that might motivate other candidates to embrace YIMBYism.
This exactly. Ben is comparing an interview about potential positions compared to (at best) Cuomo's record. Why not ask the other campaign as well? It just reads like a PR plant from Myrie aides who want to capture some of the moderate vote.
Myrie is well positioned to actually do something about the public safety and housing issues in NYS, but he has done conspicuously nothing. It's a shame that Ben is covering for him.
This piece's title is an unsubstantiated unendorsement of a candidate whose current platform it doesn't discuss. That alone makes it political hackery unworthy of this site's aims.
Zellnor's platform site discusses more rent control, more money for public schools, and celebrates his role in NYS's disastrous criminal justice reforms of the past decade. Nothing in his platform or - more importantly - his professional record indicates that he would govern as anything other than a doctrinaire progressive.
It's nice that he will tell you what you want to hear in an interview but a well reported piece would actually examine his record instead of making excuses for it.
NYC voter here. Voted for Garcia. Any Democrat who is competent and will deal with crime, disorder, quality of life, and public safety of all kinds gets my vote. I really hate that the only people who are taking those concerns seriously are also people I disagree with on other priorities or who are not great people on a personal level, but I am so angry that this has been gaslit, justified, and the other Democrats (besides Adams who is now compromised) STILL won't truly address it. I'm a middle aged woman who takes public transport for about 95-99% of my transportation and I'm becoming a one issue voter here. As long as it isn't a Republican, who are compromised in their own way, I will vote for someone like Cuomo. This will probably piss off a lot of people, but I don't know what else it takes to get someone in office who takes this seriously.
In theory, effective policing should complement the YIMBY agenda. Dense, walkable cities need more policing than suburbs, by their nature. If cities take away policing resources, then they are pushing families away from cities and into sprawling suburbs. Building more units anywhere will help drive down costs, but the aesthetic most city dwelling YIMBY’s have in mind will require active, effective police.
New York City is one of the least crime ridden cities in America. Not saying it can’t be pushed lower, but still…
I went to middle school and high school in Detroit and came to NYC in 1990 to go to college and stay afterwards. I’m aware of what higher crime looks like and I don’t want to go back to it. More importantly, at least back then, I don’t remember seeing people say that it wasn’t happening or that if it was happening, it was fine or that it was worse at some other place or time. I want someone to take it seriously and commit to bringing it lower as we go forward.
I'm under no illusions that crime "doesn't get" to New Yorkers. I was specifically responding to this statement of yours:
"If I have to choose between housing and crime I'm going to choose to vote based on crime..."
It's simply factual information that NYC is one of the least dangerous places in the country.
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-09-16/why-is-new-york-city-so-safe-traffic
So, while politicians indeed have to be solicitous to the concerns of voters, sometimes those concerns aren't wholly rational: prioritizing crime (again, NYC is super safe by US standards!) *over* housing (surely NYC's biggest problem) as a voter doesn't make sense for most residents (nearly 70% rent), even if it *does* make sense from the perspective of a politician.
Yup, I hate being in this position. I didn't want Cuomo to be the only candidate besides Adams who would address those issues, but the other candidates have decided that's how they are running. Agreed about Richie Torres.
What is this nonsense, how is SB not supporting Harvey Epstein for mayor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6QF-sRdU9g
It should be noted that Zellnor, at 37 years old, is the canonical age of a Slow Boring commenter. That should qualify him for the endorsement alone!
I'm a New York State YIMBY. I want to see my state build a lot of housing; I want to see it deploy lots of clean energy. I want NYC to be safe place to bring my family. I believe in the Abundance Agenda.
That said, why should I trust the NYS Democrat party?
In the past ten years, they've closed my local nuclear reactor, leading to both an increase in energy costs and carbon emissions. They've blocked local housing development on nebulous gentrification grounds. They've passed a wild bail reform bill that sparked outrage. Even when we do manage to build public infrastructure (like the 2nd Avenue Subway), we pay an exorbitant price for it compared to other states.
On the flip side, my friends who moved to Texas, North Carolina, and Florida seem to already be living in the abundance paradise Democrats are now hawking. I'd love for the NYC Mayoral race to be the start of an Abundance Democrat movement, but I can't shake the feeling that they're showing up a day late and dollar short.
Whoah there, I don’t think the abundance paradise is premised on development of endless suburban sprawl in Texas, NC and Florida
It should comfort you that Zellnor appears to not be winning any popularity contests inside the party’s more dysfunctional spaces.
I like Zellnor! I hope he gains traction and wins.
I'm also not very optimistic. He's polling in the single digit territory and has a long uphill fight. I commend Ben for boosting him here.
However, I suspect that actual pro-growth policies and reform are as popular with rank and file NYS Democrats as pro-choice policies are with Mississippi Republicans. At a certain point, abundance Democrats are chasing the same dream as pro-choice Republicans; they're both wishcasting that their party was something fundamentally better.
I mostly agree!
However, I think you undersell the degree to which the lies about housing policy are comforting and easy while the truth is hard and inconvenient. Democrats love blaming Wall Street/land lords/capitalism; selling them on market rate housing is like selling an evangelical on birth control.
There definitely are some pro abundance Republicans, but I don’t think at this point they control the commanding heights of that party.
You really don't have to say much to persuade me that this guy is better than Andrew fucking Cuomo.
I mean -- I'm glad that there are lots of good things to say about Myrie, and I'm glad that he would be not only better but much better.
But on reading your headline, "New York City can do better than Andrew Cuomo," my reaction was to think, "yes, with the disease-ridden carcass of a dead subway rat."
Anyhow -- thanks for letting me know more about Myrie. I wish him the best of luck in the race.
Andrew Cuomo was must see pandemic TV. That kind of charisma doesn't grow on trees, unless you were living at the Cuomo house!
Half my family is still gaga over him because of those damn press conferences. But he was actually terrible on policy during Covid! He ignored people with expertise and the whole nursing home thing was a disaster! I hate-read his whole memoir and came away more convinced than ever by his sorry excuses that he was personally responsible for hundreds if not thousands of deaths in nursing homes. And not to mention he’s a skeevy dude who was rightly drummed out of his last job.
Fortunately, we have RCV. It’s not just Adams vs Cuomo. We can find five better candidates and vote for them all!
Donald Trump is charismatic. Spare me.
NYC voters, movers and shakers, etc. seem pretty resigned to Cuomo. So that's the impetus behind the title.
"NYC voters, movers and shakers, etc. seem pretty resigned to Cuomo."
Sure, but I feel like that could change with the right exposure to the political virtues of the disease-ridden carcass of a dead subway rat.
Myrie seems good but when I hear him talk he sounds elite and not relatable to people who are not educated in elite high schools and colleges.
He reminds me of dem candidates of years past who suffered the same problems and get beat by guys like Adams and cuomo pretty consistently who whatever else know how to talk to all different types of people.