Does the Middle Class Lose Under NYC Speaker CoJo?
The NYC Speaker was chosen and it’s Corey Johnson. I thought Donovan Richards would have made an excellent NYC Council Speaker. I’ve watched Richards for a few years and he always responds and acts the way that a public official should. Donovan Richards is the chair of the NYC Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises. Even when people are upset or in disagreement, Richards makes sure that they are heard and he is respectful for all sides. I have been impressed with his quick-thinking and the way he easily negotiates for NYC residents.
I guess Donovan Richards got a deal because he folded to Johnson. Robert Comegy had to get something in this deal, as well because he folded pretty easily too. How did these men fold so easily? Why didn’t they back Jumaane Williams who held on to the end. I don’t always agree with Jumaane Williams, but he took a stand and could have used some backing. Even if they weren’t Jumaane supporters, they KNEW he was running for speaker for the right reason. In 2014, we watched Eric Garner die and nothing changed. Melissa Mark-Viverto was afraid of offending people or not being on their good side, so very little got done with ‘Right to Know.’
So how did Johnson win? It’s pretty disturbing to see that money seems to have been a huge factor. “Council Member Johnson’s lobbying largesse far outpaces the rest of the members, with $126,300 in political contributions, of which $84,875 went to other current or incoming members. Johnson, who has been aggressively campaigning for the Council’s top spot long before others jumped into the fray, also gave to local Democratic clubs and Democratic county organizations. He made the maximum allowable contribution of $2,750 to 26 candidates (including Council Member Elizabeth Crowley, who was unsuccessful in her reelection bid).” (SOURCE) So Corey Johnson’s special interests will win over NYC families time and time again because he had more money to give out to council members than the other politicians did. NYC Council has already done special interests with Melissa Mark-Viverito (Melissa Mark Viverito couldn’t even follow Councilman Mark Treyger’s money because Treyger gave it to his friend and it wasn’t traceable).
After Corey Johnson won, he made a new twitter account – NYCSpeakerCoJo. Seriously? This is NYC – not Hollywood where people have to use cutesy names. Why couldn’t he use his old account or just be NYCSpeaker or just NYCCouncilSpeaker? In NYC, people are professional not into the nonsense nicknames. Sadly, Johnson doesn’t know how to use social media as his old account (@CoreyinNYC) is retweeting the new account.
NYC expect:
- More selfies of the speaker than ever before. ( couldn’t have guessed it would begin today, but it did. Why is this train empty near Johnson, but filled everywhere else? And why do we need all these pictures of him on the subway? DO SOMETHING THAT HELPS NY’ERS ON THE SUBWAY, THEN TAKE A PICTURE. Then there is this, this and this too just in case you didn’t get enough.
- More people will be hired because if Johnson hires more people, it will look like more is being done. I contacted the NYC Council office and the staff is unresponsive to residents.
- More taxes – Mr. CoJo doesn’t own property in NYC so it doesn’t matter who has to pay more tax. Cojo has sat in office and allowed NYC residents to pay twice that of the Mayor and said nothing about it. I’m not even sure Corey Johnson has ever been to Bay Ridge.
- More tax breaks for friends of Johnson and none for you! Isn’t it cute that Johnson lived at his friend’s home while the friend got a tax break? (here too)
- The Real Estate Industry backed Johnson with money –here and here. This means more deals for them – none for us.
- While Johnson has introduced a lot of legislation, I couldn’t find anything that would help middle class NY’ers overall. Johnson’s legislation is just little things for poor, disadvantaged NY’ers, the LGBTQ Community or administrative paperwork items – nothing groundbreaking or amazing.
Kings County Politics believes Seddio, Eric Adams and a few councilmen like Mark Treyger won with CoJo (the article link has been significantly changed since it was originally posted). That just means more fake picture taking moments for Brooklyn. That’s not good for middle class New York.
Maybe CoJo will surprise NYC, but it doesn’t look good for middle class families in NYC.
Hugs,
marlene
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