Panicky New Yorkers are rallying to defeat Mayoral candidate Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani. After seeing the quality of life in New York nosedive over the past dozen years, those of us who live in the Big Apple fear that Mamdani will bring our great city to its knees. It has happened before, and it could happen again.
Mayor Mike Bloomberg, whose term ended in 2013, left New York in great shape; the city was prosperous, tech firms were setting up offices in Manhattan and the other boroughs, the streets were clean and you could walk your dog after dark without looking over your shoulder. It wasn’t magic; Bloomberg hired smart, competent non-corrupt people to run City Hall, and they followed intelligent programs to help our city move forward.
These days, we have sleezy people in charge (with the exception of NY police Commissioner Jessica Tisch) and left-wing ideologues like Alvin Bragg making up rules that favor criminals over citizens. Under Bragg’s guidance, people are allowed to defecate on the sidewalks, walk into convenience stores and leave with bags of stolen goods, and ride our city’s buses and subways without paying, leading to monster losses for public transit.
This is not an exaggeration. Just days into his term as Manhattan District Attorney, Bragg put out a memo listing crimes he would not prosecute, which included fare-beating, resisting arrest, and burglaries of non-residential spaces. Here’s the memo.
The cost of living in NYC has soared, mostly because of ridiculous regulations and out-of-control taxes; Mamdani is cleverly zeroing in on that issue, but is proposing solutions like rent control which any literate person knows has never worked. I recently wrote a piece about how left-wing programs in blue cities have driven up the cost of living; under Mamdani, it will only get worse. Here’s that piece.
Bill de Blasio, a ghastly mayor who hated the wealthy people who pay NYC’s taxes, was elected by about 9% of the city’s residents; New Yorkers simply did not turn out to vote, and, living then in a successful city, could not imagine what damage the left-wing mayor might do.
Now we know, and there are several groups trying to prevent another de Blasio disaster. One of the most energized is the SaveNYC campaign, founded by former Lt. Governor Betsy McCaughey and former Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. They are vowing to stop Mamdani by “increasing voter turnout to 50%, making the math difficult for Mamdani to win”. The group wrote in a recent open letter: “The more voters SaveNYC mobilizes to vote this November, the harder it is for Mamdani to win a plurality, even in a crowded field.”
The group is planning to pursue an “aggressive door-knocking campaign”, a “truth-telling social media campaign” and a “grassroots movement” to try to stop Mamdani.
Good for them. With the Republican party in NYC all but defunct, it is incredibly important to support people stepping up and trying to help our city.
Betsy, whom many know as a terrific NY Post columnist, sent out a letter seeking funds to help with the effort. Here is that appeal.
Her group has not endorsed and alternative candidate; they are simply hoping that one of the other contestants will prevail as voters learn more about Mamdani and the damage he could do. I heartily encourage one and all to support their efforts, as I have done.
