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☆ Opinion | To Win in North Carolina, Democrats Need to Get Out of Town
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-25 | by ( Mara Gay | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Of all the battleground states, few have proved as elusive to Democrats running for president over the past decade as North Carolina. Mr. Trump notched his narrowest margin of victory in North Carolina in 2020, and this year, local Democrats believe they can win. Republicans in the state are steeping in extremism and last year overrode Mr. Cooper’s veto to enact a 12-week abortion ban. But the extremism doesn’t stop with Mr. Robinson. Though she is running for a job that would supervise public schools in the state, her platform promotes her experience home-schooling her children.

Persons: Barack Obama, Trump, Roy Cooper, Cooper’s, Mark Robinson, ”, Robinson, “, Michele Morrow, Biden Organizations: Democratic, Gov, Republicans, Republican, CNN, Nazi Locations: North Carolina, L.G.B.T.Q

The Republican National Convention has spent the week trying to rewrite the history of Trump’s first term. In this audio essay, the editorial board member Mara Gay recounts for listeners some of the most troubling and undemocratic moments of Trump’s first term and makes the case for why the country can’t afford another four years with him as president. (A full transcript of this audio essay will be available within 24 hours of publication in the audio player above.)

Persons: Mara Gay Organizations: Republican National Convention

☆ Opinion | The New N.Y.P.D. Motto Is Missing Some Important Words
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-09 | by ( Mara Gay | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Patrol cars used by the New York Police Department will soon bear a new motto, news that made me raise an eyebrow. Three important words — “Courtesy, Professionalism, Respect” — have been on the side of patrol cars since 1996, when this New York City kid was just 9 years old. And the N.Y.P.D.’s decision to drop the old motto — born in an era when the department was at least attempting to solicit the good will of a skeptical public — feels notable. It reminded me of a weird episode at the Police Department earlier this year when the department and several members of the top brass began using their official N.Y.P.D. social media accounts to attack a city councilwoman, a political activist and journalists.

Persons: Rudy Giuliani, Gothamist, —, John Chell, Harry Siegel, Harry ‘, ’ Siegel, ”, Chell, Eric Adams Organizations: New York Police Department, Police Department, Daily News Locations: York City

☆ Opinion | The Talented Democrats Who Aren’t Running for President
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-09 | by ( Mara Gay | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

At one table, a member of the United Auto Workers, the state’s powerful automotive union, told me that voting for President Biden was a duty he planned to perform. Then Representative Jasmine Crockett of Texas grabbed the microphone. “The Republicans remain steadfast as it relates to Roe v. Wade. We need that type of resolve!” Ms. Crockett boomed to the mostly Black crowd. Jim Crow life was better for y’all Black folk.’”

Persons: Harris, Biden, Jasmine Crockett, Roe, Wade, Crockett, Jim Crow Organizations: Biden, Democratic, United Auto Workers, Texas Locations: Detroit, Michigan

☆ Opinion | Gov. Hochul’s Unwarranted Retreat on Congestion Pricing
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-04 | by ( Mara Gay | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Americans didn’t need a reason to feel more cynical about politics. But New York Gov. She said she had become concerned that the program could hurt Manhattan’s economic recovery from the pandemic. But Hochul is the one who has been issuing glowing news releases about how New York State has already achieved “full economic recovery,” including Manhattan, and any economic effects of the pricing plan are nothing new, having been hashed out for years. The more likely reason, as Politico reported, is that Democratic officials, including the House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, are worried that starting the program now could hurt Democratic chances in competitive House races this November.

Persons: Kathy Hochul, Hakeem Jeffries Organizations: New, New York Gov, New York State, Politico, Democratic Locations: New York, Manhattan

On the Miami River recently, a parade of gleaming white pleasure boats cruised through the city. Half-naked revelers basked on their decks, swaying to Taylor Swift anthems and waving bottles of champagne as they floated by. A few yards away, in the windowless conference room of an aging Hyatt hotel, a group of Florida Democrats was far more sober. The state may be known for careless hedonism and family pleasures, but Democrats will be spending the summer working on a very serious and nearly desperate plan to rescue the Florida Democratic Party. Nikki Fried, the last Democrat elected to statewide office in Florida — over half a decade ago, as agriculture commissioner — dug her heels into the carpeted floor.

Persons: Taylor Swift, Nikki Fried, —, “ It’s, Fried Organizations: Hyatt, Florida Democrats, Florida Democratic Party, Democrat, Democratic Party Locations: Miami, Florida, Florida —

☆ Opinion | Conversations and insights about the moment.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-24 | by ( Mara Gay | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Those images showed officers clad in tactical gear entering Hamilton Hall, the Columbia University building that pro-Palestinian activists had been illegally occupying. But we don’t really know, because the department wouldn’t allow journalists on campus, barricading them blocks away. WKCR, the Columbia student radio station, reported that student journalists were threatened with arrest if they left the Journalism School building to cover the raid. City officials said Wednesday that 109 people were arrested at Columbia and 173 people at City College, farther uptown in Manhattan. Had Adams and the Police Department allowed journalists to do their jobs, these claims could have been independently vetted.

Persons: Eric Adams, Adams, ”, Joe, Edward Caban Organizations: New York Police Department, Columbia University, Hamilton Hall, Columbia, Journalism School, City College, Police Department Locations: Hamilton, Manhattan, Gaza

☆ Opinion | How Progressives Won Over the Democratic Center
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-23 | by ( Mara Gay | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

That certainly seemed to be the view of Democratic leaders, who seemed intent on making “the squad,” as the progressive caucus is known, a group of permanent outsiders. Five years later, Ms. Pelosi has stepped down from the leadership position she long held. The House progressive caucus has grown to nearly 100 members and has become a significant force within the party. Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the new minority leader, isn’t a member of the progressive caucus. (He left the caucus when he became leader of the House Democrats.)

Persons: Alexandria Ocasio, Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, ” Nancy Pelosi, Maureen Dowd, ” Ms, Pelosi, “, Trump, Steny Hoyer, Hakeem Jeffries, isn’t Organizations: Alexandria, Democrats, America, Democratic Party, Democratic, House Democrats Locations: New York

☆ Opinion | As Nevada’s Middle-Class Dream Is Tested, So Is Biden’s Message
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-06 | by ( Mara Gay | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

To many Americans, Las Vegas is a burst of glittering hotels and seedy wedding chapels, a mirage-like city rising improbably from the Mojave Desert. The Americans who live in Las Vegas know the city as a destination for the middle class: Valets and cocktail waitresses become homeowners. Lately though, Las Vegas — like much of the United States — has become more expensive. People from California and other expensive states are moving to Nevada, driving up home prices even further. Though they have dipped slightly over the past year, rents in Las Vegas are still roughly 35 percent higher than in December 2019, before the pandemic, according to data from Zillow.

Persons: United States —, Carl Singleton, Singleton Organizations: Immigrants, Workers, Las, United, Mint, Hotel Locations: Vegas, Las Vegas, United States, California, Nevada, Zillow, Louisiana

☆ Opinion | New York’s Era of Overspending Ends With a Shudder
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-24 | by ( Mara Gay | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

After years of heady spending, the budget cuts announced by Mayor Eric Adams last week hit New York City like a punch to the gut: Most libraries would be closed on Sundays. So would efforts to improve New York’s notoriously dirty streets and keep rats at bay. The brutal cuts come as Mr. Adams scrambles to fill a $7 billion budget deficit in the next year. The Citizens Budget Commission, a nonpartisan watchdog group, estimates that the budget gap could be significantly higher, closer to $10.6 billion. At the same time, thousands of migrants began arriving at the city’s doorstep in need of shelter.

Persons: Eric Adams, Adams, Bill de Blasio, Michael Bloomberg, Bloomberg, de Blasio Organizations: Budget Commission, Wall Locations: York City, city’s, City, Federal

☆ Opinion | New York City Is Getting Tired of Mayor Adams’s Scandals
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-03 | by ( Mara Gay | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The city, home to large Jewish and Muslim communities, is reeling from the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza. That’s the very issue that led Mr. Adams to visit the nation’s capital on Thursday to seek federal help. Thanks to the city’s continuing housing crisis, more than 119,320 students enrolled in New York’s public schools are homeless, according to new data released this week. Mr. Adams is working on all of these issues. Eric Ulrich, Mr. Adams’s former building commissioner and a former campaign adviser, was indicted on bribery charges in September.

Persons: Adams, Suggs, Eric Ulrich, Mr, Alvin Bragg, — Organizations: New Locations: Israel, Gaza, Palestinian American, Manhattan

☆ Opinion | A Dispatch From the Muslim Girl Scouts of Astoria
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-28 | by ( Mara Gay | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +7 min

At a meeting of the Muslim Girl Scouts of Astoria last week, a young woman bounded into the room, asking whether her fellow scouts had secured tickets to an Olivia Rodrigo concert. “It’s no conflict at all,” Ms. Rayan told me of Islam and the Girl Scouts. “You want a strong Muslim American girl.”At the Girl Scouts meeting, Amira and her friends discussed their plans to protest the war in Gaza. In 1948, Ms. Rayan told me, her grandfather lost his home and land in Jaffa to the state of Israel. Ms. Rayan said those killed in her family included six cousins and their children, who were as young as 2.

Persons: Amira Ismail, Amira, ’ ” Amira, ‘ That’s, ”, “, ” Amira, Eid, Dianne Morales, Abier Rayan, Olivia Rodrigo, Taylor Swift, Ms, Rayan, There’s, “ I’m, John Lewis, Amira waded Organizations: City Hall, Palestinian, United, New, Muslim Girl Scouts, Scout, Girl Scouts, Gaza Health Ministry, Hamas, Yorkers, Brooklyn Locations: New York, Queens, New York City, Palestinian American, United States, Israel, America’s, Astoria, Gaza, Egypt, Jaffa, Gaza City, Brooklyn

☆ Opinion | America Already Knows How to Make Childbirth Safer
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( Mara Gay | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The Supreme Court decision overturning abortion rights may lead to still more maternal deaths, by further limiting access to reproductive care in the United States. The concern is particularly acute in states like Mississippi, which have among the highest rates of maternal deaths in the country and have enacted near total bans on abortion. Yet the United States seems to have accepted these deaths, failing to widely carry out measures that have been shown to stop them. In 2006, its Department of Health began investigating maternal deaths, which were on the rise in the state. The same year, it began a public-private partnership with Stanford University, known as the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative, aimed at reducing the deaths.

Persons: Covid Organizations: of Health, Stanford University Locations: United States, Mississippi, California

Derek Arthur andAmerica has an uneasy relationship with water. More than half of Americans don’t know how to swim or how to swim well. Eleven people in the United States die every day from drowning. In this audio essay, editorial board writer Mara Gay argues that many of these deaths are preventable and proposes a simple solution that could change how the country thinks about swimming. (A full transcript of this audio essay will be available midday on the Times website.)

Persons: Derek Arthur, Mara Gay Organizations: Times Locations: America, United States

☆ Opinion | Mayor Adams and New York’s Immigration Crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-07 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

We’re doing everything we can, and we’ve figured out how to do plenty of things that seemed impossible, too. Camille Joseph VarlackIngrid P. Lewis-MartinSheena WrightNew YorkThe writers are, respectively, chief of staff to Mayor Eric Adams, chief adviser and first deputy mayor. To the Editor:Kudos to Mara Gay. Indeed, this city should be welcoming immigrants and asylum seekers with every resource we have. Not only is it the right thing to do, but history and current economists tell us it will profit the city immensely.

Persons: we’ve, Gay, Camille Joseph Varlack Ingrid P, Lewis, Martin Sheena Wright, Eric Adams, Mara Gay Locations: York

☆ Opinion | Mayor Adams Turns His Back on Immigrants and New York’s Legacy
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-03 | by ( Mara Gay | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

He tried to undo a 1981 court decree that requires the city to provide shelter to anyone who needs it. Such services could help migrants acclimate to life in New York City and could ease complaints from neighbors of the hotels the city is using to house many migrants. The Adams administration has been warehousing asylum seekers instead of putting the country’s largest municipal government to work helping them build new lives, in New York or wherever else they may want to go. Ron DeSantis of Florida, the presidential candidate who used asylum seekers for political sport, flying them to the resort island of Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts at taxpayer expense just to own the libs. Kathy Hochul of New York needs to step in and demonstrate the concern lacking from City Hall.

Persons: —, Adams, Greg Abbott, Ron DeSantis, Kathy Hochul Locations: New York City, New York, Texas, Florida, Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, . New York, City, York

☆ Opinion | More Public Pools Could Save Thousands of Lives
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( Mara Gay | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

But the transformative move would be to build far more public pools across the United States. Too few public poolsThere are more than 10 million private swimming pools in the United States, according to a C.D.C. By many available measures, public pools can be the safest places to swim. Yet the United States hasn’t made a serious investment in public pools since the Great Depression, when scores of grand public pools were erected in many parts of the country under President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal programs, according to Jeff Wiltse, the author of “Contested Waters,” a book about the history of swimming pools. In the 1960s, many towns across the South filled or destroyed their public pools rather than allow Black Americans to swim in them.

Persons: United States hasn’t, Franklin Roosevelt’s, Jeff Wiltse, “, ” Organizations: Congress, Franklin Roosevelt’s New Locations: United States, Northern, America

☆ Opinion | Better Government in New York Depends on Higher Voter Turnout
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-02 | by ( Mara Gay | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Mr. Adams, who is not the first New York politician to lose it with a voter, is up for re-election in 2025. “You have a government that is walled off from the concerns of the people,” Susan Lerner, the executive director of the good government group Common Cause New York, told me. Increasing turnout in primaries may be one of the best ways to get better, more responsive government. One promising bill passed by both legislative chambers in June would shift many local elections to even-numbered years. Some incumbents in New York, unsurprisingly, seem to enjoy things just as they are, and have opposed the shift to even years.

Persons: Mr, Adams, that’s, ”, ” Susan Lerner, Hochul, isn’t, “, ” Ms, Lerner Organizations: New, City Council, Board Locations: New York, Albany, New York City

☆ Opinion | On the Smoke Crisis, New York City’s Mayor Chokes
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( Mara Gay | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

He could have coordinated with the governor to use the subway system announcements to communicate about the smoke with residents. The mayor could have worked quickly to distribute high-quality N95 masks — and critically, information — to New Yorkers, especially in the city’s most vulnerable communities. The city’s Fire Department, which reports to the mayor, finally said on Twitter Thursday it would have masks available at certain locations. The city could have opened designated clean air centers, deploying air purifiers to school gyms or libraries, offering vulnerable New Yorkers a similar refuge during the smoke crisis. He could have led by example by clearly directing city workers to do the same, if their job allowed.

Persons: Adams, Kathy Hochul Organizations: Yorkers, Gov, Fire Department, Twitter, of Education Locations: New Yorkers

☆ Opinion | New York Politicians Are Turning Away From the Housing Crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-04 | by ( Mara Gay | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

New York needs that plan, known as the Housing Compact, and hopefully Ms. Hochul can resurrect it over the coming year. In the coming days though, Ms. Hochul, Mr. Heastie and Ms. Stewart-Cousins can at least agree to policies that the governor has called “low-hanging fruit,” some of which could be achieved by executive order. Albany can also remove caps on the size of new residential buildings in New York City, paving the way for the higher density projects the city badly needs. New York City’s municipal government can do this, but it needs Mr. Adams’s help. At the Department of Homeless Services, more and better-trained workers are needed to help shelter residents apply for city housing vouchers, an onerous process that should be streamlined.

Persons: isn’t, Carl Heastie, Andrea Stewart, Cousins, Kathy Hochul, Hochul, Heastie, Stewart, Adams, Adams’s, Dave Giffen Organizations: Gov, City Hall, Legal, Department of Homeless Services, Coalition, Homeless Locations: Albany, New York, New York City

☆ Opinion | The Wrong Way to Cut New York City’s Budget
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Mara Gay | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

After a decade-long spending spree and a devastating pandemic, New York City is now staring at three years of huge budget deficits, beginning with at least $4.2 billion in the year that starts in July of next year. Mayor Eric Adams, rightly, is trying to wring some savings from the city’s $106 billion budget. But rather than cut, New York City should increase its outreach and pay providers what they are owed. Frank Dwyer, a spokesman for the Department of Correction, said in a statement that the agency would provide the social services previously performed by contractors. But that could be difficult at the city’s jail complexes, which continue to suffer from violence and inmate deaths.

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