Mayor Bill de Blasio’s State of the City Address on Thursday centered on his blueprint to “save our city.”
Huh? This is how he kicks off his seventh year in office?
As City Councilman Joe Borelli (R-SI) later quipped, “He has been mayor for six of his eight years. Who does he think it needs saving from?”
It was just jaw-dropping: “Many New Yorkers fear that the city they love is slipping away,” he said. “We need a plan to save our city because that’s where we are right now. We’re at a point where we have to be saved. This city and everything it stands for must be saved.”
And: “We have to save ourselves from an existential threat facing New York City.”
This is the sort of language that a public advocate or other official hoping to become mayor might use: Attack the incompetents who’ve been running things, who’ve failed miserably to protect the public, etc.
Yes, you could argue that de Blasio hasn’t actually been running things (or paying much attention to the city at all), since he took off most of last year to focus on his hopeless presidential run. But running the city was still his job, so this speech is a confession of his own incompetence.
And there, we can agree with him.
The mayor may not be directly responsible for the state’s lunatic criminal-justice reforms, which are driving up the city’s crime rates in ways not seen for a quarter-century. But he didn’t lift a finger to stop the Legislature from making that mistake — nor has he done anything to reverse it in the 10 months since the law was passed.
And he is directly to blame for the rising tide of school violence, and for a chancellor who ignores that problem to instead sow racial division.
And to blame for a street-homelessness crisis that never ends, despite his endless series of plans to address it, and his more than doubling of spending on homeless services.
And for an endless string of new burdens on small businesses — even as he now declares them under siege.
De Blasio knows the city needs saving. For a start, he should let someone else try.