Tuesday, February 11, 2014
The State of Mr. de Blasio's City
We've talked about the new mayor of New York City in class a few times, and this article is a good check-up on him. He seems to have a lot of big ideas for this big city, but a lot of people are wondering if the government in Albany is going to help him pass a lot of this legislation. He seems to be focused on the poor and underprivileged of NYC. He has plans for affordable housing, prekindergarten programs and even a city ID to give undocumented immigrants a chance to access many of the city's resources. Many of the city's residents wanted to know more about the broader picture. Do you think his plans are comprehensive enough?
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Mr. de Blasio is nothing more than a radical progressive. The concept of a “living wage” is an absolute absurdity because it fails to note the fact that these jobs are not meant to be used to support a family: they are meant to be jobs for teenagers or college kids who do not need to support a family. I would also like to point out the absurdity of de Blasio’s statement that his job “was getting all of New York’s “little flowers” to grow ‘to their fullest potential.’ ” It is not the responsibility of the government to ensure this: it is the responsibility of parents and the kids themselves to make smart choices for their children in order to help them meet their potential. De Blasio’s primary responsibility is to protect the residents of New York from criminals who would seek to do them harm.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the U.S Census bureau, 19.9% of the city's population live below the poverty level, so shouldn't Mayor de Blasio be concerned about the poor and underprivileged in his city? Mayor de Blasio has a responsibility to all of his constituents and I'm pretty sure that not all of them would cite protection from crime as being that much more important than everything else. Maybe helping those who are underprivileged would lower the crime rate because fewer people would feel the need to result to theft and other such crimes to get what they feel they need to survive.
DeleteMayor de Blasio seems very ambitious. He clearly has a lot of ideas that he would like to see come to life. However I think he needs to slow down and focus on each idea one at a time. He has listed many things that he would like to get accomplished, yet he still has not gotten good feedback for his prekindergarten program from Albany. De Blasio needs to ensure to the New York residents that he can get things done before he lists all of his ideas, that may not actually happen.
ReplyDeleteMayor de Blasio seems to have many good ideas about how to improve the living conditions for people in New York City, especially the poor. I think these ideas such as higher the minimum wage and prekindergarten programs should be implemented, but it will take some to to get state level approval. While these programs are important, he also needs to take the time to handle all the issues that the city faces and not just focus on a specific one.
ReplyDeleteI think what he is suggesting is wonderful. I think that a living wage is a wonderful idea since the vast majority of fast food workers etc. haven't been high school college kids in 20+ years, instead as of 2013 over half are adults, many of whom have at least high school diplomas, and are trying to raise a family. If they do not have a living wage than the government is forced to take care of them with programs such as welfare, not because they are too lazy to find work but because of the outdated idea that these minimum wage paying jobs are only for kids in school. And of course it is the governments job to provide good schools so that children meet their potential. How is a single mom working a job with a below living wage in the bronx supposed to first, work that job while their child is below kindergarden age, and then how is she to pay for private school, or quit her job and home school, or get the money to move to better district because the government funded schools can't even teach her child to read? I think de Blasio's ideas are wonderful and I hope he succeeds.
ReplyDeleteI love how Mayor de Blasio has huge goals for New York City. In such a large city, it is a good place to set the stage for ideas such as the city ID card. Although his ideas are lofty and may take a great deal of time, any program that benefits the poor, increases the minimum wage, and makes apartments in a huge city more affordable sounds promising to me. I hope the government in Albany and de Blasio start off on the right foot by approving the prekindergarten program, and I hope de Blasio is successful in accomplishing all his goals.
ReplyDeleteI think that Mayor de Blasio has a lot of good ideas that should especially excite residents of New York City. It seems like it will be pretty difficult for a few of these larger ideas, for example raising the minimum wage, to be implemented, but I think that they are good ideas nonetheless. I hope that he sticks by these goals and starts off strong with the tax increase for prekindergarten, because this will show people that he truly means what he says.
ReplyDeleteI like his ambition. He knew what he wanted to do and said it for all to hear. People now have him on record saying what he wanted to change. This will most likely cause him to work harder and produce better results. If he can get all of this done relatively quickly, that would be fantastic. Overall, he has a great attitude.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the ambitious and driven nature of Mayor de Blasio. He came into office with specific goals and plans and now he is laying his ideas out on the table. Whether or not you agree with some of his opinions (like raising the minimum wage) you have to respect his desire to make positive changes and improve the lives of his constituents in NYC.
ReplyDeleteAs the new mayor of New York City, de Blasio has set himself above the others by how he has set his standards of helping many of the communities through the city. His ideas are refreshing and very helpful to how many of the poorer citizens live with ideas like prekindergarten, a higher minimum wage, and the idea of a government-issued ID card for all city residents so that everyone can report crimes or reach out for help. Hopefully de Blasio can shine forth through this tough economic time for many of the major American cities by using his new ideas to restart us back on the right path.
ReplyDeleteThis "living wage" idea is just not a good idea. Yes, there are a majority of people who cannot afford to support a family by working at a fast food restaurant, and helping to support people to an extent isn't terrible, but I think that a line should be drawn as to how much support should be provided. At some point, people will take what they get for granted and they will no longer be responsible for their actions, because if de Blasio was truly about growing the "little flowers" to their full potential, wouldn't they have to do something for themselves eventually? Reaching full potential isn't getting support from the government to survive, it's going out in the world and working to improve your place in society.
ReplyDeleteI don't support the "living wage" proposal de Blasio has introduced. Yes, to a certain extent the government can step in, but it shouldn't be the governments role to step in and intervene with jobs such as fast food employment. Like Andrew said, these jobs weren't intended to be occupied by someone raising a family. It should be the individual's responsibility to dig themselves out of the whole they've created and work hard to improve their life. Too many people will take advantage of this idea and I don't think it's practical.
ReplyDeleteI am a fan of the government supporting the "living wage" proposal. It is obvious that no one grows up wanting to support their family by working the drive-thru at the local McDonalds. The fact of the matter, however, is that fast food restaurants are a corporate giant that employ an exuberant amount of Americans. Sure, you could say that these jobs are meant for college kids or high schoolers without children, but thousands of these fast food employees are Americans put in situations where they have to support their family on this job. I believe that a man or woman working full-time should be granted the ability to support their family, and that the government should intervene here.
ReplyDeleteHis ideas are very ambitious, that's for sure. I think they will have a specific impact on NYC, however I also think that he should be careful. As we have seen in our history, politicians who take on too much at one time sometimes get overwhelmed. If I remember correctly, this was Jimmy Carter's downfall. So though he has great implementing them is another story.
ReplyDeleteI think his ideas are very progressive and (although they might not be initially successful), are a step in the right direction for the people of this very liberal city who, until now, have been conservatively led. I also think Andrew is seriously misinformed and frankly dillusional in thinking that adults who have families do not have jobs that fall under "living wage." I think it'll be really cool to see how this all plays out.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion de Blasio has some very good ideas, especially the one that would raise minimum wage to something that is actually livable. As far as the odds that any of his ideas get turned into laws, it's going to be extremely difficult, especially his idea to raise taxes in order to pay for universal prekindergarten. I think it will be very difficult to convince those in Albany to agree with him.
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