- Home
- Editorial
- SPACES
- Global Village
- The Angry Buddhist
- Progress Report
- COLUMNS
- CARTOONS
- Talking Point I
- Talking Point II
- Gallery Seen
- News
- Opinion
- Arts
- Scoopy's
- In Pictures
- Real Estate
- Villager Blog
- Special Sections
- Film Fest
- Sponsored Content
- Why Pink?
- Art Corner
- 80th Anniversay
- Pride
- Meat Market
- Progress
- Union Square
- Volunteers
- Literature
- Downtown Directory
- From the publisher
- Community Listings
- Handicapped & Disabled Services
- Health Services
- Hotels
- Legal & Financial Services
- Neighborhood Associations
- Police
- Political Organizations
- Post Offices
- Public Officials
- Recreation
- After School Programs, Daycare and Nursery Schools
- AIDS Services
- Business Associations
- Cultural Organizations
- Education Colleges & Universities
- Educational Services
- Libraries
- Museums & Attractions
- Jobs
This is actually a great election for Voters. They showed that you can not overturn their will and get away with it. Good for them! It will make politicians think twice before they ever do something like overturning Term Limits.
I already hear Quinn folks saying it was because she was a woman; it was because she's gay. It was none of that! I had been planning for years to vote for Quinn, but after the Term Limits debacle, she lost my vote. And I'm not even in favor of Term Limits. But that's what the people want, and their will – shown at the ballot box – should never be overturned. They have the right to be wrong.
This week the NYC Voters won. Sorry for Quinn, but she, and the politicians that follow her, should learn a big lesson here.
"“This is really one of the major turning points in the Village,” Schwartz told The Villager the day after his victory, “because the Duane / Quinn period that started in 1991 when Duane was first elected is over. The Village Independent Democrats — by my beating their candidate — it marks a real low point in their existence."
Schwartz has a point.
The V.I.D. is a legend in its own mind.
If Arthur Schwartz won, why is he so bitter? How ungrateful. Show some class Arthur
Is he being classless, or is he making a brutally honest (and informed and overdue) comment on the current political landscape in the Village? I hope people will weigh in on this one thoughtfully, as it is a sea change.
My personal feeling? The thing no one seems willing to say out loud. I think Schwartz has a legitimate ax to grind, albeit with a twist. The outgoing cabal engineered Senator Hoylman's ascendancy starting with that Schwartz moment. And in this last two years? A resignation and a quick election? Timed perfectly for getting their preferred candidate into, not just the Council, but by choice not genuinely dictated by the electorate in a normal elective course, into the State Senate. What was different about this than Quinn legislatively eliminating term limits? It was opportunist, there is no argument. It simply happened too fast for the voters of this area to have real say, and a healthy debate. On the positive side, we all feel we have a young, top flight senator, an asset and a gentleman, but let's face it, for the voter, it's sheer luck that Hoylman is the dedicated public servant he is. It could just as easily have been someone else, and we truly had little say. The way it happened will linger, so he very much has something to prove. I believe having Schwartz in that position softens the blow, and offers checks and balances we in the Village would not have otherwise.
On balance, I think the Village just took a deep breath and loosened the grip of much more than just the mayoral vice. He asked out loud where do we go from here locally. For me, that means this community should start planning for the future of our Assembly District, with a progressive and active primary challenger to Glick, someone with her progressive cred, but with a far more imaginative and "early action" proactive bent when it comes to fighting the largest battles. We need a visionary, as the fights to come will be even harder. Hospital, Pier 40, Trinity, NYU, school-space, tidal surges and adequate preparation, aging straight and gay Villagers. We are not out ahead of these dangers.
Few, certainly not me, argue with the consistently good results on progressive issues of Assemblymember Glick, but for me, and I have said it here many times, that is not the problem. The problem is the penchant for recklessly fighting "win completely or lose everything" battles (and late in the game at that) on issues like Saint Vincents, when there is possibility for steering the community toward early compromise. That also means coming up with solutions instead of waiting around for the ill defined "community consensus". People do like their leaders to have ideas. We can't always fight until the end on principle, but lose 100% of the battle, 100% of the hospital, 100% of the level 1 trauma center. The end result? A loss is a loss, and a crushing blow like a hospital where there was statehouse potential for solutions means EVERYONE must be held accountable.
And when the single best idea for Pier 40 by Assemblymember Glick turned out to be helping to SECRETLY write a bill behind the backs of this community, which allows the Hudson River Park Trust the right to sell/transfer air rights reaching into our backyard, she revealed herself as a member in good standing of the outgoing machine. They are gone for a reason. And now she deserves a challenger, who will at the very least, push her to limits we have yet to see.
The saddest part of this election for me? Not a single candidate for any office, had the guts to get into the game on the Pier 40 issue. Which puts Pier 40 right about where Saint Vincent's was when it was already clear that bankruptcy was a foregone conclusion.
Air rights transfers are Glick's equivalent of condos to Rudin, and a promise of a medical drop in center. There is no question in my mind it will not bear fruit enough to save Pier 40, the single largest community asset currently endangered.
Schwartz is a bit old to be wishing retirement on anyone. His role in Closure of St V is a secret.
I'm very sorry that Margaret Chin won, because she favors the big developers. Her win seems inconsistent with the overall direction the voters were taking, it seems to me. I also voted for Yetta Kurland because she fought so hard for St. Vincent's Hospital, and still fights for a new hospital to take its place. Well, the future will be very interesting, and although it will be hard for any of the politicians to live up to their liberal promises because of the movers and shakers in this town, I think we should get some good new changes. Glick has been good about some things and not so good on others; she's not as liberal as she can appear to be in general.
Congratulations to Keen Berger as Female District Leader!
Ms. Berger won because she had NO opponent, no contest. What's to congratulate?
Her male counterpart from V.I.D., current district leader Jonathan Geballe, got trounced by Arthur Schwartz.
Furthermore, Geballe only was a district leader because of a special election this spring, which was closed to voters and opened only to party insiders of the NY Democratic county committee, which VID controls.
If this sounds like Tammany Hall (which the old VID vanquished in the Village 50 years ago), it is.
Furthermore, V.I.D.'s mayoral choice, John Liu, got only 3% in the Village, V.I.D.'s base.
VID is a legend in its own mind. Don't believe the hype.
Quinn lied to 2 days before she organized the vote for NYC Council to approve on the Rudin Plan to build Luxury Apartments, on St Vincent's hospital property. The meeting was with Greenwich Village residents and Norman Siegel, attorney. It was that lie that cost a friendship and support for her to be Mayor. It had nothing to do with her being a female, being a lesbian, or any other group she belongs to. You don't get thousands of dollars in donations from a Real Estate Builder and then exchange a kiss of death from William Rudin at a meeting, and not loose support from the community you are supposed to represent.
When it comes to development Margaret Chin is no different from Christine Quinn's mini-me,Corey Johnson.
Arthur–It's important not to be a sore winner.
The lesson from this election is that our politicians need to take care of their constituents, because if they take their base for granted they will pay the price. Also, any narcissism will be severely punished on election day.
Chris Quinn lost Greenwich Village and Chelsea by 15 points to de Blasio because she assumed her own district would vote for her, in spite of St. Vincent's closing, overturning term limits, her crush on Bloomberg, NYU's plan to bulldoze the village, and many other quality of life issues she neglected to address. In the end even the gay vote wasn't there for her because she wasn't there for them. She narcissistically assumed she could do whatever she pleased and her base would follow. They followed de Blasio instead.
Bill Thompson lost Harlem by 10 points and the total black vote citywide to de Blasio because he spent the last four years between elections actually acting a lot like Bloomberg; becoming an investment banker, summering in the Hamptons and eating at his favorite sushi restaurant on Irving Place. Even though his daughter lives in Stuy Town he could no longer connect with middle class people, and he just assumed his base would be there for him. It is telling that his biggest support was in the white portions of Staten Island, so maybe it's time for him to change parties.
John Liu won the Asian vote in Elmhurst and Chinatown and everywhere else, because he paid attention to his base and was always there for them. Hopefully he will use his skills to broaden his appeal in the future, if so he will be the one to watch next time around.
Anthony Weiner proved that narcissism is not an endearing quality, and being a lying, perverted, unhinged narcissist is even less attractive. He was the biggest loser as he went from the early frontrunner to the punchline of a joke no one is laughing about anymore. He didn't need an election as much as he needed a marriage counselor. Like many I was willing to forgive and support him at first, but his atrocious handling of his personal affairs and his arrogant treatment of the press reminded me more of a Tea Party candidate than the progressive he used to be.
In the end Bill de Blasio was the only one who got it, on stop and frisk, on affordable housing, on our Bloomberg fatigue, and on taxing the rich to fund our schools. Bloomberg thinks the solution to all our problems is more Russian Billionaires, and that higher taxes will just scare them away. As if the rich have ever been scared away by the high price of living that they themselves helped create.
Are the rich really going to leave NYC and the multi-million dollar condo they just bought over a few thousand dollars in extra taxes? Where are they going to go, back to Russia? Or New Jersey? How's the view of Central Park from over there?
Bill De Blasio won because he gives us hope for a fairer city, with his smart interracial family, and with his progressive agenda, which is why he he won on his opponents turf.
Bloomberg's last gasp insult of accusing de Blasio of racism for using his son Dante in the best campaign ad in decades reminded us all why we are tired of the billionaire who thinks he knows better than everyone just because he has more money. Democracy isn't about telling people what to do, it's about honest representation of the people, listening and caring about them, and imposing their will on society and not your own. That's why de Blasio won this round and will be the next Mayor of NYC.
Is it true Quinn is moving to Provincetown to start a bed & breakfast. My friends there hope not. They have more than enough.