Mamdani: "Government efficiency — these are words that somehow have been understood as if they are Republican priorities, when in fact they're the priorities of anyone who believes in the public sector. Any yet, Elon Musk took that language and used it to cut as many jobs that were as critical as possible for so many of the neediest people across the country and across the world. Ours is going to be a focus on actually delivering efficiency. Not as a byword for cutting services, but actually a sincere commitment to efficiency. And we firmly believe not only in closing the last chapter of city government, but in starting the new one. The proposals that COGE will be looking at will be ones that we view as critical to unlocking the full potential of city government.”
Today we announced the most ambitious housing plan in our City's modern history: Block by Block.
We're building 200,000 new affordable homes. We're overhauling code enforcement. We're cracking down on bad landlords. We're creating tens of thousands of good-paying jobs. We're building new paths to homeownership. We're investing $5.6 billion in NYCHA — the largest City capital investment in recent history.
New York is facing a historic housing crisis. We're pursuing a historic solution.
All hands on deck. All-of-the-above. All for New York City.
Read more: https://t.co/mXQygXU3mE
We are with you in Seattle, Zohran! Amazon tried to buy our election to stop a millionaire payroll tax that funds social housing; we drew attention to their arrogant belief that they could fool our voters
We won in a landslide, and they have paid tens of millions into the fund.
Amazon is worth $2 trillion. But it didn't deign to pay the millions of dollars it racked up in unpaid fines as its’ trucks illegally polluted our air and forced New Yorkers to breathe in their exhaust.
We collected every dollar they owe the people of this city — and will continue to hold them accountable. In New York, corporations are held to the same standard as everyone else.
No company — no matter how large or powerful — is above the law.
BREAKING: The Seattle Social Housing Developer has announced its first acquisition, a 150-unit apartment building near Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle, for the cost of $60.9 million. It plans to convert half the units to be affordable for low and middle-income tenants.
Tonight we denied a 15-year Democratic incumbent the party endorsement. We were told this was nearly impossible.
The grassroots begs to differ.
Voters are ready for change--housing that is affordable, transit that is fast & frequent, childcare that is free, & taxing the rich!
Tonight we denied a 15-year Democratic incumbent the party endorsement. We were told this was nearly impossible.
The grassroots begs to differ.
Voters are ready for change--housing that is affordable, transit that is fast & frequent, childcare that is free, & taxing the rich!
"In general, my bias is to go big"
"taller, denser, faster" is the new tagline for the proposed changes
She's combining phases 3 and 4 of the comp plan, so instead of late 2028, the legislation could be enacted June 2027
A big thanks to @geekwire for publishing this: I argue that Washington taxes are low, not going up that fast, and that the millionaire tax is fine economically.
I also argue the discussion should rely more on evidence, less on vibes.
https://t.co/WpISzexB3L
A big thanks to @geekwire for publishing this: I argue that Washington taxes are low, not going up that fast, and that the millionaire tax is fine economically.
I also argue the discussion should rely more on evidence, less on vibes.
https://t.co/WpISzexB3L
John Curley of @KIRONewsradio is taking aim at Seattle's $1.3 billion child care and education levy, asking what the result would be if it went before voters ... which it did last November, to the tune of nearly 80 percent approval.
I don't think this is a remotely accurate observation @dkthomp - The point of his article is that an empirical analysis shows the standard model leads to the wrong conclusion, which has happened repeatedly in recent decades.
And as his editor notes, the writer is an economist.
I'm glad that the author of "Rent Control Is Fine, Actually" calls themself Unlearning Economics, bc it's good to just state things clearly, such as the open animosity that many left economic populists have for the field of economics and economists themselves.
Economists aren't gods, and economics isn't a divine truth, but economists are good--better than most--at something critical for making public policy: They're good at identifying tradeoffs. "Rents are too high, so freeze them" is compelling politics. But in the absence of other pro-supply policies, if you make it illegal to increase rents, landlords will stop upgrading units and convert them to condos, which reduces the supply of units for rent, reduces mobility, and drives up rents for everybody else.
The left econ populists have some clear, and clearly stated, policy ideas:
- Rents are too high, so freeze them.
- Electricity is expensive, so stop rate increases.
- Homes are too expensive, so ban institutional investors.
- Power prices are rising, so ban data center construction.
... All these policies feel like solutions because they're brisk, they name enemies, and they take on the most visible source of frustration. But they are much better as villain-naming exercises than they are as a complete public policy. On their own, each creates other problems: less housing built, less clean electricity built, abdicating energy policy by encouraging AI firms to build data centers abroad in unsavory countries with more emissions, etc.
I can't think of a single economic populist idea that wouldn't be helped with a little dose of economics, which is why it's troubling when I see the left participating in, and even celebrating, the great unlearning of economics.