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[quote=Anonymous][quote]Anonymous wrote:
I don't care about Mamdani---I'm not a New Yorker and they can choose whomever they want as mayor. I do live in DC (and have for over 30 years) and I don't want JLG because I dislike her policy positions, particularly on crime. She voted AGAINST making it easier for landlords to get faster evictions of violent tenants who have committed violence against other residents and staff. She is in favor of an asinine idea to close 18th Street in Adams Morgan to traffic. Those of us who remember the old pedestrian mall area of the 1990s around 9th & F (pre-Verizon Center)---know that closing streets to all traffic just results in a hellscape of passed out addicts and their dealers and forces city businesses, who already have standard city challenges of getting deliveries, etc. out of business. Her policy platform is a laundry list of "freebies" designed to tug on progressive heartstrings---free childcare for all, free downpayment assistance, more rent control and absolutely no practicality about how to pay for it (especially since DC already has the largest individual tax burden in the DMV). Her platform tells me that she has no idea (and no interest) in making sure that DC continues to attract and retain businesses. DC for years has funded its over-spending by the real estate taxes generated by the downtown office buildings. Since Covid, those buildings have plummeted in value, resulting in much lower tax revenues. One of her platform goals is to create more grocery stores in Wards 5, 7, and 8---that has been a rallying cry for years but the retailers don't want to be there (and in fact have closed stores) because of the rampant theft. She conveniently ignores that part. Basically I think she's a leftist populist lacking common sense.

Thank you for answering. I think basically my question is, do you also think Mandami is a leftist populist lacking common sense?"[/quote]

I don't know enough about Mandami to voice an opinion on that.  I think any populist position needs to be back up by budget realities and a realization that if your only answer as a state or a city is more taxes, you will quickly find businesses and higher income residents voting with their feet.  That happened in DC all during the 1970s, 1980s and early 90s when Marion Barry used the city coffers as a patronage jobs program and divorced the concept of "job" from the concept of "work".  People were collecting city paychecks and never coming to work. The corruption and graft, which still permeates DC government more than the surrounding jurisdictions, was off the charts.   If you think DCPS is bad now, 30 years ago none of the school buildings had been renovated and schoolbooks sat in warehouses because DCPS was too incompetent to actually get the books to the schools.  The high taxes coupled with the failure to provide basic city services first drove away the white middle class and then the black middle class---that's how Prince George's became the wealthiest majority minority county in the US.  Tony Williams, who has been DC's best mayor by a long shot, set about cleaning up the inefficiencies and bloat in DC government.  That's why you no longer have to wait in line for 4 hours to get your car inspected, which used to be the norm 30 years ago.  The Wharf, the Verizon Center/Penn Quarter area, 14th Street, H Street---all that development (and tax revenue for the City) came about due to his vision.  [/quote]

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