It’s time, Gentlemen, to lay down your swords and end the skirmishes that have divided the city and state despite their shared goals.
Now that Donald Trump has scored his upset victory and surrounded himself with several key advisers whose public agenda threatens New York values, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio must make peace.
New York City, and Queens in particular, can no longer afford to have our vital interests imperiled by two talented men engaged in a power struggle over how the city should be run. The origins of their feud are obscure, but several state lawmakers from Queens have said publicly the warring between the two has hurt this borough.
Case in point: After de Blasio agreed to a property tax program to spur development of affordable housing, Cuomo called the plan “unacceptable,” choking off the building of cheaper rental apartments as the homeless crisis worsened. Now the governor is trying resurrect the mayor’s original plan.
City Hall, desperate to find shelter for the homeless, outraged residents in some Queens neighborhoods by renting motel rooms to house the dispossessed.
Despite the friction between the two, the governor and mayor have adopted the same strategy as the Trump presidency approaches: shield the immigrant population, fight hate crimes, stand up for women’s rights and same-sex marriage and take pride in the ethnic differences that have made both the city and the state a safe haven for millions.
Both men have been eloquent in their vows to defend the inclusive New York way of life.
On Sunday Cuomo visited the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem where he warned that the ugly divisiveness that followed the election has evolved into a national social crisis. He is setting up a police unit to combat the hate crimes that have erupted since the election. As the grandson of immigrants, an emotional Cuomo said he had “a heavy heart.”
De Blasio went to Cooper Union Monday and spoke passionately about how New Yorkers share a common identity, pledging to lead a national movement of resistance to protect New Yorkers from the new administration’s policies.
The governor may have his eye on the White House and de Blasio is already running hard for a second term, buoyed by citywide opposition to the sudden Republican power shift in Washington.
But for all their talk of divisiveness, the governor and mayor must first look to themselves and stop the bickering as the people who elected them face an uncertain future for New York.
