{"id":3961,"date":"2008-11-10T10:18:33","date_gmt":"2008-11-10T15:18:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/?p=3961"},"modified":"2008-11-10T10:18:33","modified_gmt":"2008-11-10T15:18:33","slug":"contrarian_take_of_the_day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/archives\/2008\/11\/contrarian_take_of_the_day.html","title":{"rendered":"Contrarian Take Of The Day"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>And take careful note, because it might be the only time I feel like doing this.<\/p>\n<p>It occurred to me that the mayor&#8217;s ability to offer <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nypost.com\/seven\/11092008\/news\/regionalnews\/new_tolls_eyed_for_east_river_bridges_137874.htm\">ridiculously<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/archives\/2008\/11\/16_million_represents_35_percent_of_the_infrastructure_improvements_the_city_implemented_in_connection_with_the_two_new_baseball_stadiums.html\">bold<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nydailynews.com\/ny_local\/2008\/11\/05\/2008-11-05_mayor_michael_bloomberg_new_york_city_ma.html\">politically suicidal<\/a> proposals in the lamest of lame duck years (i.e., the eighth year of an eight-year tenure) is only possible with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/archives\/2008\/10\/you_know_what.html\">a viable threat<\/a> and a City Council that isn&#8217;t suffering from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/archives\/2008\/06\/with_term_limits_comes.html\">senioritis<\/a>. No third term, no departing 35 members, no &#8220;difficult&#8221; belt-tightening, right? And Bloomonster actually might be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/archives\/2008\/10\/clip_this_article_and_put_it_away_for_ten_years_see_if_you_dont_feel_like_a_tragic_hack_idiot_when_you_reread_it.html\">selflessly sacrificing<\/a> his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/archives\/2008\/11\/id_rather_be_a_lamppost_in_new_york_than_a_high-level_official_in_what_could_be_one_of_the_most_transformative_presidencies_in_the_history_of_the_country.html\">place in history<\/a> by falling on the sword to set the city on solid footing for the immediate and long-term future . . .<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.observer.com\/2008\/sheinkopf-skurnik-lets-all-take-deep-breath-about-political-fallout-cuts\">Or not<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>Michael Bloomberg is already coming under criticism from City Council members over the budget cutbacks he proposed.<\/p>\n<p>And according to Democratic consultant Hank Sheinkopf, that criticism will only make Bloomberg\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6stronger. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If they attack him, they strengthen his hand,&#8221; said Sheinkopf.  The presumption among Bloomberg&#8217;s critics &#8220;is that New Yorkers don&#8217;t know the world is collapsing. Trust me, they know. And Bloomberg is going to appear to be the hero if they attack him. \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcI&#8217;m protecting you,&#8217; he&#8217;ll say.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Sheinkopf admitted that it&#8217;s easier for the mayor, rather than a local City Councilman, to explain the need for such drastic budget cuts.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The mayor doesn&#8217;t have the problem. The City Council does. The mayor sets policy. The Council delivers services and they have to explain it at home. Not easy to do.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Sheinkopf said that even they, the put-upon Council members, were unlikely to pay the ultimate price for the strains that the city&#8217;s austerity measures would put on their constituents. &#8220;In 1975, the city went bankrupt. How many people were turned out of office in 1977? None that I remember.&#8221;<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>OK, back to reality . . .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>And take careful note, because it might be the only time I feel like doing this. It occurred to me that the mayor&#8217;s ability to offer ridiculously bold, politically suicidal proposals in the lamest of lame duck years (i.e., the eighth year of an eight-year tenure) is only possible with a viable threat and a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-followed_by_a_perplexed_stroke_of_the_chin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3961"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3962,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3961\/revisions\/3962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}