This is true and is an example of an inconvenient truth.
But it’s also important to note that Mamdani didnt cancel the project because it was the predecessor. That’s often all too common in political leadership positions and is why it can be so bloody impossible to get long term benefits/plans to be executed.
Spite, ego, politicking all makes for terrible leadership but it’s often what seems to be celebrated. Good on Mamdani for seeing something worth having and not needing to be the author of it just for optics
Is horrible when one Mayor big project is something like bike lanes and then next mayor for an opposing party came and stop all construction of expansion, or worse even destroy what had been done, so it’s opponent doesn’t get any additional credit
It’s so much worse as you scale up projects too. When neighbouring cities or regions need to work together it often only takes one douche canoe to torpedo the whole thing. Especially infrastructure projects and the like
Mamdani is also the beneficiary of a $1.3bn windfall due to an accountancy error last year, so he has a one-time slush fund to play with, and the rest of the policies are paid for by deferring things like reducing classroom sizes to some nebulous point in the future and by one-time grants from Albany designed to shore up his standing.
He’s not god, he’s just the wizard behind the curtain like all the others.
This is true and is an example of an inconvenient truth.
But it’s also important to note that Mamdani didnt cancel the project because it was the predecessor. That’s often all too common in political leadership positions and is why it can be so bloody impossible to get long term benefits/plans to be executed.
Spite, ego, politicking all makes for terrible leadership but it’s often what seems to be celebrated. Good on Mamdani for seeing something worth having and not needing to be the author of it just for optics
Is horrible when one Mayor big project is something like bike lanes and then next mayor for an opposing party came and stop all construction of expansion, or worse even destroy what had been done, so it’s opponent doesn’t get any additional credit
It’s so much worse as you scale up projects too. When neighbouring cities or regions need to work together it often only takes one douche canoe to torpedo the whole thing. Especially infrastructure projects and the like
Great example: San Mateo and BART. Check out a map. They refuse to allow a station that would let BART make a giant loop around the Bay.
Mamdani is also the beneficiary of a $1.3bn windfall due to an accountancy error last year, so he has a one-time slush fund to play with, and the rest of the policies are paid for by deferring things like reducing classroom sizes to some nebulous point in the future and by one-time grants from Albany designed to shore up his standing.
He’s not god, he’s just the wizard behind the curtain like all the others.