New York may look like it’s booming, but the city’s finances are skating on thin ice, according to a report.The Fiscal Times put out a list of America’s large cities ranked by their fiscal stability — and New York came in ahead of only troubled Chicago.The Big Apple finished 115th on the list — even though revenue grew from $60 billion in 2009 to $81 billion in 2015 — because so much of its growth is dependent on a surging stock market and skyrocketing real-estate prices.Because the city has been spending so much, including on pensions, and has so much debt, a downturn could be disastrous.“A bear market could place the city in jeopardy,” the report said.The top city in the US was Irvine, Calif.
It seems unlikely — but the idea’s been floating around for several days now, and so far she’s not rejecting it. For what it’s worth, Secretary Clinton, we’d love to see you run for mayor. New York City needs you.Yes, we were highly critical of Hillary Clinton in the runup to Election Day. But that was the race for the White House, where she offered a program far to the left of the nation’s center.Not so in New York, where she’d be dead-center in the city’s Democratic majority. Progressive, but not obsessed with proving it — nor with trying to use the mayoralty to become a national leader. Passionate for social justice, but not an ideologue who’ll stick by homeless or affordable-housing policies that are clearly failing.Above all else, she’d actually focus on doing the job. Clinton is a famously diligent worker — one who shows up on time and puts in the hours. And New York needs a mayor who’ll run herd on city government.The incumbent has handed the work of running the city off to one or two deputies, while he spends his time on politics and p.r. stunts. And it shows — in the details those overworked deputies let slip, like that Rivington Street nursing-home flip, and in the crises that go too long unacknowledged, from the Bronx outbreak of Legionnaire’s disease to the surge in street homelessness.Clinton is a fighter and a problem-solver. For eight years, she was a fine senator for this state, working relentlessly on 9/11 recovery and also for constituents in areas far from the media spotlight.Sure, she’d need to become a city resident, and spend months building ties to Gotham’s neighborhoods. But she’s hardly a stranger to the city, nor it to her.Nor does any local Democrat seem both willing and able to seriously challenge Mayor de Blasio for reelection — yet he needs to be challenged, indeed needs to be replaced.Plus, her national stature would bring serious benefits: She’d be a lot harder for Gov. Cuomo to bully than the current mayor — and tougher for Washington to ignore.Nor would she need to sell herself to the city’s special interests to win the job — another huge improvement over the incumbent.What’s in it for her? Well, her presidential run shows her appetite for continued public service. And while Gracie Mansion isn’t the White House, it’s no consolation prize: New York’s mayor is famously “the second-toughest job in America” — and you traditionally have your own foreign policy, too.While it’s not the glass ceiling she hoped to break, New York has never had a woman mayor. Isn’t it past time for that to change?
Run, Hillary, run — for mayor.Local Democratic activists said they would rally to Clinton’s side if she decided to take on Mayor de Blasio in a primary this year.“If Hillary entered the race, she would be the best candidate. I would support her because we need a change in New York City,” said Gregory Floyd, president of Teamsters Local 237.Floyd, who represents school safety officers and Housing Authority workers, has clashed repeatedly with City Hall over policy.“Hillary would be a better mayor than de Blasio. Every week we hear about investigations about fund-raising and city property being given away to real estate developers,” he said.Clinton captured 79 percent of the vote in the five boroughs during her failed November presidential run.The Rev. Patrick Young, pastor of First Baptist Church in East Elmhurst, Queens, said Clinton could make history by shattering the mayoral glass ceiling in Gotham.“Hillary would have been the first female president. She would be the first woman mayor in the history of New York City,” he said.“She would be better at working with people and engaging people. She would be a breath of fresh air. We have a cloud over our leadership right now.”The Rev. Johnny Green, pastor of Harlem’s Mount Neboh Baptist Church, said Clinton would have his vote.“Hillary over de Blasio. Anybody against de Blasio. De Blasio is a repeat offender when it comes to stupidity,” Green said.One de Blasio critic claimed de Blasio would be toast if Clinton runs.“I’m not sure she would have an opponent. De Blasio would have to drop out if she ran,” said former Mike Bloomberg campaign manager Bradley Tusk, who is hunting for a viable foe against the mayor.The Clinton-for-mayor rumors lit up social media.“Ummm, this may be the BEST news of 2017 yet!!! I’m fine with a pantsuit city,” Ladychampagneb posted on Instagram.Clinton allies are pushing talk of her possibly running for mayor to “torture” de Blasio for waiting so long to back Clinton in the presidential race, according to one Democratic Party official.“Trust me. People don’t forget,” said a Clinton Democratic National Committee delegate from New York.A source said Clinton did not discourage her backers from discussing a City Hall bid.“She wants to remain relevant,” the source said.
New York may look like it’s booming, but the city’s finances are skating on thin ice, according to a report.The Fiscal Times put out a list of America’s large cities ranked by their fiscal stability — and New York came in ahead of only troubled Chicago.The Big Apple finished 115th on the list — even though revenue grew from $60 billion in 2009 to $81 billion in 2015 — because so much of its growth is dependent on a surging stock market and skyrocketing real-estate prices.Because the city has been spending so much, including on pensions, and has so much debt, a downturn could be disastrous.“A bear market could place the city in jeopardy,” the report said.The top city in the US was Irvine, Calif.
