What was it like in the '50s?
He’s making a ton of mistakes, but I don’t think that’s one of them. His mistakes include: assuming a competitive primary race results in “Balkanized” politics, assuming that things got bad because the Democrats were in charge (the economy and other factors be damned) and everything got better as soon as a Republican became mayor (same), that stop and frisk is a useful policy and was a major component of the drop in crime, and that a Democrat administration could turn back the clock on 30 to 40 years of improvements in the economy as well as social trends and policing. None of it is the faintest bit plausible. But on the other hand, “Gosh, it would be ever so awful if that happened!”
I’m guessing elegant and sophisticated. My nostalgia for a quarter-century before I was born is doomed to imprecision, alas.
(Aside from the theaters themselves, I don’t think the Theater District has much in the way of uniquely New York experiences that don’t involve getting conned. That should change.)
The big attraction in 1950s Times Square was the nightclub “The Latin Quarter”, which was owned by Barbara Walters’ dad. It combined nude showgirls and big name acts. There were also some theaters, some dive hotels, and an automat.
My dad talks about growing up on the Lower East Side in the 50s utterly without nostalgia. He lived in Stuyvesant Town, where all of the playgrounds and courtyards were racially or ethnically segregated. There were the basketball courts for Italian kids, Polish kids, and Jewish kids. Woe betide anyone who tried to play on the wrong court.
It was not the liberal paradise we have now.
e-day’s today. De Blasio leads in the polls by 45%. Any chance Lhota can pull this out?
If he did it might be the biggest shock in the history of modern polling.
De Blasio won. The question is whether or not he’ll set some records in the process. The race for governor in Virginia is closer than people expected, but now that the votes from the northern suburbs are coming in, networks are calling the race for McAuliffe.
Dayum, the Communis’ won.
I don’t think this race got much national attention and I only became aware of it at the last minute, but some other good news in New York: Charles Hynes lost his bid for a seventh term as Brooklyn District Attorney. If you’re wondering why I am glad he lost, you can go to his Wikipedia entry and read the separate subheadings for “Prosecution of politicians, elected judges and political opponents,” “Sex abuse cases in ultra-Orthodox communities,” and “Allegations of misconduct.” Hynes lost to Ken Thompson in the Democratic primaries and then became a Republican so he could challenge Hynes again. With that on his resume I suspect he’ll be a pro-law-and-order Fox News correspondent by February.
This was definitely a bright spot. The nonsense around Hynes has been absolutely monstrous. I don’t live in Brooklyn, but I am grateful that he will be gone.
What The Nation thinks de Blasio should do now.
What will he do now? Anybody have any ideas?
Oh, and, as for the City Council, it not only remains majority-Dem, but:
So I guess de Blasio will be able to do just about anything he wants.
Except, that, apparently, there are some things the Mayor and Council of NYC can’t do without Albany’s permission, and according to this, Governor Andrew Cuomo, although a Dem, opposes increasing city taxes on those making $500,000/year and up to fund pre-K and after-school programs.
Why is that, I wonder?
I hope it starts with making sure Stop and Frisk goes away forever and throwing Ray Kelly out on his ass.
Presidential aspirations?
I agree. De Blasio should go forward full steam with his agenda. Let’s see what happens.
That’s also what the people of New York City think! You might’ve noticed he just got elected mayor with three times as many votes as his opponent.
Of course, as we all know, to vote for a candidate is only to express preference over his opponent and does not necessarily imply support for his platform in all particulars.
But, yeah. YEAH! 
Granted, but then, we’re trying to make sense of something adaher said. De Blasio won the primaries because he made things like income inequality his focus and then he won the general election with the largest margin ever for a non-incumbent. So… yeah, I’m pretty sure people want him to go ahead and do the stuff he campaigned on.
So, will Albany get in his way?