Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic Socialist mayor of New York City who promised to raise property taxes so he could redistribute the wealth to the lower classes, just found out the hard way about a truism in politics: You can campaign in poetry, but you have to govern in prose.
It should have been a cinch for Mamdani to raise New Yorkers’ property taxes, given his amazing victory. But a funny thing happened on the way to the bank: the people of NYC rose up in all their righteous fury and said NO! The New York Times yesterday reported, on the front page, that Mamani “appeared to have overestimated his power and underestimated the severe antipathy New Yorkers have toward a property tax system that often disproportionately affects middle-class homeowners.” As a result, “the mayor seems to have all but given up on the idea.” Everybody--“from Mr. Mamdani’s left-leaning allies to centrist Democrats representing Black homeowners--said in no uncertain terms that raising property taxes was a nonstarter.”
The backlash was especially severe from the Black community, which voted overwhelmingly for Mamdani. That the new mayor didn’t see this coming represents his first major stumble since getting elected in November, and is likely to have national repercussions.
What went down in the Big Apple is exactly what we need here in Oakland. The difference between the two cities, at least so far, is that in Oakland there has been no significant resistance to the City Council’s addiction to raising property taxes (including parcel taxes) on homeowners. It’s odd, because here, as in New York, “middle class homeowners” are the majority of those with homes. Yet they’ve been hit hard in recent years by parcel taxes, which have increased far faster than inflation, and which remain progressives’ favorite way of raising money to fund their socialist schemes.
A spokesperson for NYC City Council Speaker Julie Menin said she “was clear from the outset that raising property taxes isn’t an option. Doing so would exacerbate the affordability crisis for renters, small businesses, homeowners and communities across the city.” Can you imagine Kevin Jenkins saying anything like that? I can’t. He’s scared to death of offending his SEIU masters and the Black poverty pimps that push him around. Oakland is likely to pass an unprecedented $192/year parcel tax in June, at the very time when every other city in America is easing up on homeowners.
Oakland is out of step with everyone else. This is not a cause to celebrate; it’s something to be deeply ashamed of. It’s almost as if Oakland voters are determined to be different even when that difference hurts them and everyone else; it’s being different for its own sake, like a 12-year old child who goes Goth because she knows it drives her parents crazy. It can be almost cute, if you know it’s only a phase that will last for a year or so. But it’s tragic when it becomes a self-harming lifestyle, as wokeness has in Oakland. When our mayor and city council are much further to the left than even Zohran Mamdani, you know we’re in trouble.
Have a wonderful, amazing weekend! Back on Monday.
Steve Heimoff