8 ms·

Popular or not, all this has taught me is that NYC, and with that most of America has no vision for any future. If after 10 years and millions in setup just to

by cglan 2y ago

Popular or not, all this has taught me is that NYC, and with that most of America has no vision for any future. If after 10 years and millions in setup just to get congestion pricing in place, it falls thru because of the whims of a governor there’s just no hope for any more difficult capital projects. Realistically, we’re never going to see any ambitious projects in my life time and it’s sad to see

returningfory2 2y ago
The problem is not NYC though. I think if NYC was left to its own devises its government could be much more visionary. The problem is that so much of the control of NYC lies with state-level Democrats who are structurally incentived to prioritize the suburbs over the city because the suburbs are more likely to vote Republican in various races. This is exactly what happened here. Hochul -- working with the federal House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries -- paused congestion pricing to make it easier to win House seats in the suburbs. If they lose support in the city they don't care because the city districts are so safe.
- PaulHoule 2y ago
  I think also you will see Democrats even in blue states back off on any unpopular policies so it can’t be used as ammunition against Biden as they see a Trump victory as that catastrophic.
- noobermin 2y ago
  Just like in 2016, republicans will never choose diet-coke over coke. The appealing to republican voter strategy has never worked when they can just vote for a republican. Not that it matters for the political consultant class, they can get higher fees the more mailers they can send out when they're losing talking about how the republicans are ruining America. Don't take democratic politicians at their word, they only care about keeping their money flowing into their coffers.
  - BeFlatXIII 2y ago
    These aren't core Republicans; they're the rare breed of never-Trumpers. People want to believe they don't exist, and they're mostly right: they pretty much only exist in suburbs surrounding Dem strongholds and in Utah. It may not be a viable national strategy (though they're probably to thank for Biden winning in 2020), but they definitely could flip local & state races, especially if the core Republicans went MAGA during the primary.
- jobs_throwaway 2y ago
  Which is why its time for NYC statehood. The interests aren't aligned. The city fills alls the coffers just to get fucked over again and again by shortsighted, spineless politicians. Why should our greatest city be held back by the backwaters upstate?
- HDThoreaun 2y ago
  The congestion tax is underwater in statewide polls. Its not like she's looking out for some special interest here, her constituents unfortunately just dont want the congestion tax.
  - woodruffw 2y ago
    The fact that the congestion tax is even being polled on upstate is a prime example of a failure in policymaking and proper devolution: suburbanites in Buffalo and Albany are not affected by the tax in any meaningful way, and should not have a disproportionate say in a policy that benefits millions of city residents. (Of course, ironies abound besides this: funding NYC's mass transit is one of the most reliable ways to keep the city's tax revenues up, which prop up all of the financial misadventures and pork that upstate is fond of. Kneecapping the city's revenue streams hurts the suburban lifestyle and its financial assumptions in the long run.)
    - dccoolgai 2y ago
      "suburbanites in Buffalo and Albany are not affected by the tax in any meaningful way, and should not have a disproportionate say in a policy that benefits millions of city residents." But it says in the article itself and pretty much everything about this that "they want to try it in other places next". Are they not supposed to read or react to that part? Can you really blame them for trying to stop this at the point they have the most leverage?
      - afavour 2y ago
        > Can you really blame them for trying to stop this at the point they have the most leverage? Absolutely I can, yes. They can vote against it when it applies where they live, when it doesn’t it shouldn’t be any of their business. But hey, New York politics is extremely dumb.
      - cool_dude85 2y ago
        Sorry. First, congestion tax in Manhattan, one of the most densely populated areas in the US. Up next, congestion tax in downtown Syracuse? Come on.
- StanislavPetrov 2y ago
  Agree completely that the Democrats (and Republicans) at the state level are an absolutely disaster. Albany has been a cesspool of corruption for much longer than any of us have been alive, but NYC is unfortunately just as bad. The City Council, the Mayor's office, NYCHA, the MTA and just about every other large organization that run NYC is just as corrupt as those in Albany. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/70-current-and-former-nycha-employees-charged-bribery-and-extortion-offenses https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/70-current-and-former-n... https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/20/nyregion/adams-fbi-corruption-investigation-aide.html https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/20/nyregion/adams-fbi-corrup... https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2017/08/the-worst-new-york-city-council-members/179801/ https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2017/08/the-worst-ne... https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/new-york-history-political-corruption-albany-sheldon-smith-spitzer-cuomo/732418/ https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/new-york-history-polit... https://www.nytimes.com/news-event/albany-corruption-trials https://www.nytimes.com/news-event/albany-corruption-trials
coliveira 2y ago
Yes, the sad reality is that the US is non-investable, specially for foreigners. Any project can be cancelled at the whim of somebody somewhere in the political structure, and what has been accorded in one administration can be easily canceled in the next. It is nowhere's land when it comes to investing.
- Ekaros 2y ago
  Truly why invest in anything real when everyone in power is there to make stock market go up eternally... Or federal bonds. Which will be flipped over for reasonable profit until they are not anymore, but even that is unlikely to be fully sudden.
- nradov 2y ago
  "U.S. Remains World's Top Destination for Foreign Direct Investment for 12th Consecutive Year" https://www.commerce.gov/news/blog/2024/04/us-remains-worlds-top-destination-foreign-direct-investment-12th-consecutive-year https://www.commerce.gov/news/blog/2024/04/us-remains-worlds...
- mlazos 2y ago
  Man I was just lurking but this take is so wrong I just have to comment. It’s in fact the exact opposite. Every other country in the world is much much worse at this. Look at China! They’re actually destroying companies left and right. You should qualify your statement with “public projects” which do not have any foreign investment. The US is very friendly to foreign private projects, almost too friendly arguably. It also has public reliable information and rules for investing which make price discovery much easier than other foreign markets. It’s probably one of the most lenient and best markets for external investment.
- coryrc 2y ago
  Counterpoint: Chicago parking meters
- cscurmudgeon 2y ago
  US is #1 in foreign investment: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/top-countries-foreign-direct-investment-flows/ https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/top-countries-foreign-di... And no one invests in individual public projects anywhere.
billfor 2y ago
No different than the president issuing executive actions to stop or make a law.
bradleyjg 2y ago
You should have given up on difficult capital projects after seeing the results of the second avenue subway and the oculus. The insanely high cost of building relatively modest things precludes entirely building ambitious things. Not even the federal government has that kind of money.

by cglan 2y ago

returningfory2 2y ago

The problem is not NYC though. I think if NYC was left to its own devises its government could be much more visionary. The problem is that so much of the control of NYC lies with state-level Democrats who are structurally incentived to prioritize the suburbs over the city because the suburbs are more likely to vote Republican in various races. This is exactly what happened here. Hochul -- working with the federal House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries -- paused congestion pricing to make it easier to win House seats in the suburbs. If they lose support in the city they don't care because the city districts are so safe.

PaulHoule 2y ago
I think also you will see Democrats even in blue states back off on any unpopular policies so it can’t be used as ammunition against Biden as they see a Trump victory as that catastrophic.
noobermin 2y ago
Just like in 2016, republicans will never choose diet-coke over coke. The appealing to republican voter strategy has never worked when they can just vote for a republican. Not that it matters for the political consultant class, they can get higher fees the more mailers they can send out when they're losing talking about how the republicans are ruining America. Don't take democratic politicians at their word, they only care about keeping their money flowing into their coffers.
- BeFlatXIII 2y ago
  These aren't core Republicans; they're the rare breed of never-Trumpers. People want to believe they don't exist, and they're mostly right: they pretty much only exist in suburbs surrounding Dem strongholds and in Utah. It may not be a viable national strategy (though they're probably to thank for Biden winning in 2020), but they definitely could flip local & state races, especially if the core Republicans went MAGA during the primary.
jobs_throwaway 2y ago
Which is why its time for NYC statehood. The interests aren't aligned. The city fills alls the coffers just to get fucked over again and again by shortsighted, spineless politicians. Why should our greatest city be held back by the backwaters upstate?
HDThoreaun 2y ago
The congestion tax is underwater in statewide polls. Its not like she's looking out for some special interest here, her constituents unfortunately just dont want the congestion tax.
- woodruffw 2y ago
  The fact that the congestion tax is even being polled on upstate is a prime example of a failure in policymaking and proper devolution: suburbanites in Buffalo and Albany are not affected by the tax in any meaningful way, and should not have a disproportionate say in a policy that benefits millions of city residents. (Of course, ironies abound besides this: funding NYC's mass transit is one of the most reliable ways to keep the city's tax revenues up, which prop up all of the financial misadventures and pork that upstate is fond of. Kneecapping the city's revenue streams hurts the suburban lifestyle and its financial assumptions in the long run.)
  - dccoolgai 2y ago
    "suburbanites in Buffalo and Albany are not affected by the tax in any meaningful way, and should not have a disproportionate say in a policy that benefits millions of city residents." But it says in the article itself and pretty much everything about this that "they want to try it in other places next". Are they not supposed to read or react to that part? Can you really blame them for trying to stop this at the point they have the most leverage?
    - afavour 2y ago
      > Can you really blame them for trying to stop this at the point they have the most leverage? Absolutely I can, yes. They can vote against it when it applies where they live, when it doesn’t it shouldn’t be any of their business. But hey, New York politics is extremely dumb.
    - cool_dude85 2y ago
      Sorry. First, congestion tax in Manhattan, one of the most densely populated areas in the US. Up next, congestion tax in downtown Syracuse? Come on.
StanislavPetrov 2y ago
Agree completely that the Democrats (and Republicans) at the state level are an absolutely disaster. Albany has been a cesspool of corruption for much longer than any of us have been alive, but NYC is unfortunately just as bad. The City Council, the Mayor's office, NYCHA, the MTA and just about every other large organization that run NYC is just as corrupt as those in Albany. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/70-current-and-former-nycha-employees-charged-bribery-and-extortion-offenses https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/70-current-and-former-n... https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/20/nyregion/adams-fbi-corruption-investigation-aide.html https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/20/nyregion/adams-fbi-corrup... https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2017/08/the-worst-new-york-city-council-members/179801/ https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2017/08/the-worst-ne... https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/new-york-history-political-corruption-albany-sheldon-smith-spitzer-cuomo/732418/ https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/new-york-history-polit... https://www.nytimes.com/news-event/albany-corruption-trials https://www.nytimes.com/news-event/albany-corruption-trials

coliveira 2y ago

Yes, the sad reality is that the US is non-investable, specially for foreigners. Any project can be cancelled at the whim of somebody somewhere in the political structure, and what has been accorded in one administration can be easily canceled in the next. It is nowhere's land when it comes to investing.

Ekaros 2y ago
Truly why invest in anything real when everyone in power is there to make stock market go up eternally... Or federal bonds. Which will be flipped over for reasonable profit until they are not anymore, but even that is unlikely to be fully sudden.
nradov 2y ago
"U.S. Remains World's Top Destination for Foreign Direct Investment for 12th Consecutive Year" https://www.commerce.gov/news/blog/2024/04/us-remains-worlds-top-destination-foreign-direct-investment-12th-consecutive-year https://www.commerce.gov/news/blog/2024/04/us-remains-worlds...
mlazos 2y ago
Man I was just lurking but this take is so wrong I just have to comment. It’s in fact the exact opposite. Every other country in the world is much much worse at this. Look at China! They’re actually destroying companies left and right. You should qualify your statement with “public projects” which do not have any foreign investment. The US is very friendly to foreign private projects, almost too friendly arguably. It also has public reliable information and rules for investing which make price discovery much easier than other foreign markets. It’s probably one of the most lenient and best markets for external investment.
coryrc 2y ago
Counterpoint: Chicago parking meters
cscurmudgeon 2y ago
US is #1 in foreign investment: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/top-countries-foreign-direct-investment-flows/ https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/top-countries-foreign-di... And no one invests in individual public projects anywhere.

billfor 2y ago

No different than the president issuing executive actions to stop or make a law.

bradleyjg 2y ago

You should have given up on difficult capital projects after seeing the results of the second avenue subway and the oculus. The insanely high cost of building relatively modest things precludes entirely building ambitious things. Not even the federal government has that kind of money.