We Need More Cowbell

A perfect example of the public advocate approach to governing — swoop in at the last moment and delay everything with flashy demands designed to extract additional concessions:

For years, the plan to redevelop the Domino Sugar refinery in Williamsburg was viewed in the neighborhood with dread, roundly derided as a line of bulky new buildings that would clog the Brooklyn waterfront.

But when a new developer took over the property two years ago, he completely redesigned the buildings, expanded the park space, added office space for tech firms and kept the previous owner’s promise that 660 of the 2,300 apartments, an unusually large proportion by New York standards, would be set aside for low- and middle-income tenants.

With these moves — and smaller ones like adding tables for domino games — the developer, Jed Walentas, won over virtually all of the neighborhood groups and elected officials.

But despite all that, Mr. Walentas’s $1.5 billion proposal is now in jeopardy with the new mayor, Bill de Blasio.

The mayor’s administration is insisting that the developer add even more space for affordable housing and, as a result, fewer market-rate apartments, in exchange for the zoning changes that Mr. Walentas needs to build his towers with spectacular views of Midtown Manhattan.

Also enjoyable — the “we have made it very clear” trope that is emerging from this administration:

The issues came to a head on Monday and Wednesday, when Mr. Walentas met with Carl Weisbrod, the new city planning commissioner, and Alicia Glen, the deputy mayor for housing and economic development.

“The administration has been very clear: When the city creates significant additional value for developers through the zoning process, the public should receive its fair share of affordable housing,” Ms. Glen said on Thursday.

It’s easy to say “we have been very clear,” but being clear is not the same as being effective — you can be “clear” on a lot of things without ever getting your way . . .

Location Scout: Domino Sugar Factory.

And Now You Know How Astronauts Crap

When you get a reputation for bartering support it just makes everyone paranoid:

Last fall, the library went so far as to hire an outside lobbying firm, the Parkside Group, to help promote its plan. Mr. Marx has acknowledged that he spoke informally last month with City Hall about another topic: how the library and its 88 branches could help the city realize one of Mr. de Blasio’s favorite initiatives, the introduction of prekindergarten classes to the public school system.

Theodore Grunewald, vice president of the Committee to Save the New York Public Library, said he hopes the library’s gesture “doesn’t privilege N.Y.P.L.’s access to the administration over the community groups that are opposed to the Central Library Plan.”

Unapologetically Late

Google what it means to be consistently late and you’ll turn up many theories, most of which circle back to generally terrible qualities in a leader — chronically late people are egocentric, looking for attention, lacking self-discipline, etc. So make of it what you will when you hear the mayor say he seriously doesn’t give a fuck how late he is:

The mayor said the media seems riveted on inside baseball. So we asked, is his lateness to so many events important to the public? His answer was basically, not really. “Sometimes things are not going happen at exactly the time they’re scheduled because there are things we still have to do or issues come up.”

Or, the dog ate the homework:

“Again 6 snow storms in 7 weeks deeply affected our schedule,” he said.

And this was in an interview where he was supposedly reaching out to a friendly audience — he’s used this “we’ll start when we’re ready” line before, and the idea that he can’t possibly admit that it’s either inexcusable or inconsiderate or even that he’s going to try to fix it either speaks to inept messaging or — more scary — the idea that he really doesn’t feel like anyone else’s time is that important. And for a guy who campaigned against a caricature of 12 years of supposedly imperious leadership, you’d think he’d know better than that.

There’s Nothing Inequality Can’t Do

If only we had another 9/11:

Invoking Mr. de Blasio’s key campaign theme, the report suggested ways in which he could use storm recovery to “reduce inequality,” including by directing more aid to renters and low-income homeowners and ensuring that repairs to public housing leave the buildings in better shape than before the storm. Mr. de Blasio, who expressed similar goals during the campaign, said on Monday that he still agreed with that approach.

“I think it’s about taking a moment of crisis, trying to find the transformative possibilities within it, taking the resources that are coming in, and not just spending them in a sort of narrow, siloed way, but saying, what is the most we can get out of these resources that will leave people in better shape,” Mr. de Blasio said.

Oh, and you can also use a natural disaster to sanctimoniously tweak the press:

Mr. de Blasio said that he understood frustrations with the slow pace of help, and that his administration was fully reviewing all Hurricane Sandy-related programs. But he offered few specifics or immediate plans.

The topic of the hurricane did, however, enable him to take a shot at the press corps for their attention to less weighty matters.

“Today we’re talking about preparing our city against further natural disasters — we’re talking about trying to help thousands on thousands of people back on their feet,” he said.

“On Friday we were talking about saving community health care and hopefully resetting a dynamic where we’ve lost over a dozen hospitals over the last 12 years. These are issues that fundamentally affect people’s lives, and I think that’s where the public debate should reside. And I think too much of the time the debate veers away into, you know, sideshows.”

The Ostentatiously Incurious Public Advocate Mayor Is Simply Not Interested In The Construct Of A Robust Press Corps

Professor de Blasio continues to hone his own progressive brand of smug arrogance. And I say that with absolute respect:

Mayor de Blasio, in his first media grilling since he was caught silently sitting shotgun while his NYPD detail flouted traffic rules, insisted his security team did nothing wrong.

[. . .]

“The NYPD provides security and they do it in a very professional manner, and I will not get into a discussion of their security protocols,” he said. “That’s just a red line from my point of view because that to me is a very slippery slope. I wish we were living in an environment where I didn’t need security, I really do. But that’s not the world we live in.”

He refused to say why his team felt the need to go so fast.

“They may act in a way that isn’t immediately understandable to me, but they’re trained to handle things in a certain way,” de Blasio said.

When a reporter said people thought he was violating the same laws he was trying to enforce, he warned her not to attempt to speak for New Yorkers.

“I’m not interested in the construct of what you as an individual think many New Yorkers think,” he said in a disdainful tone, before adding, “I say that with absolute respect.”

“I talk to New Yorkers all the time. My colleagues talk to New Yorkers all the time. Let’s not get into this concept of any one of us will speak for all the people,” he said.

And he sounded outright annoyed when explaining that — despite his detail’s behavior — he expected everyone to follow the rules of the road.