It turns out New Yorkers have lots of advice for Bill de Blasio.
It’s not only his official team. Others are jumping in. As the Post reports, they include tips on “policing, corrections, parole polices and more”from a panel that seems headed by the Riddler, the Joker and the Penguin.
We’re referring to 50 ex-cons, junkies and vagrants recently convened by a group called Talking Transition. Though not a de Blasio-run organization, the mayor-elect has taken a tour of the Talking Transition “think tent” in Manhattan. And clearly some of the participants in the crime session like what they are hearing from the man who will soon succeed Mike Bloomberg.
“I like the idea of ending stop-and-frisk,” said Mikell Green-Gand, who did time for grand larceny and identity theft.
Then there’s his official 60-person transition team. Not surprisingly, its members are drawn from those segments of the New York community that share de Blasio’s progressive vision. Notably, the group lacks a priest in a city where the majority of citizens are Catholic.
The issue is not simply diversity. For a man who campaigned on the idea of serving the forgotten New York, it’s striking he couldn’t find room for a representative from a church that provides a huge share of the best services to the poor. In any given year, Catholic Charities will serve more than 6.6 million meals, keep 6,000 families from becoming homeless, help 8,000 teenagers and adults get treatment for substance abuse and so on.
By contrast, de Blasio’s transition team did find room for “Sex and the City” actress Cynthia Nixon and Bertha Lewis, formerly CEO of the community activist group ACORN. The mayor-elect says his team reflects “all the strengths of New York City.”
We hope so. He’s going to need it.