Tag: politics

  • Better Late Than Never: Time for the Public Advocate to Convene COPIC

    Better Late Than Never: Time for the Public Advocate to Convene COPIC

    This article was originally published on Gotham Gazette on July 18, 2022 Now that New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams’ long-shot campaign for New York Governor is over, he presumably has more time to focus on performing the functions that the New York City Charter assigns to his elected office. One function he has yet to…

  • An Early Test of The Adams Administration’s Values and Tech Prowess

    An Early Test of The Adams Administration’s Values and Tech Prowess

    This article was originally published on Gotham Gazette on April 11, 2022 In 2019, New Yorkers voted overwhelmingly in favor of establishing a Civic Engagement Commission that would modernize how the city and its residents worked together to identify and solve problems at the most local levels. That commission hasn’t been earning itself many headlines, but the…

  • New Yorkers Must Break Free From Our Stockholm Syndrome

    New Yorkers Must Break Free From Our Stockholm Syndrome

    This article was originally published on Gotham Gazette on June 16, 2020 When it became clear to Jan-Erik Olsson that he wouldn’t be able to flee the bank he was attempting to rob, he decided to take hostages. For six days in August of 1973, the four hostages and their captor got to know each other, and…

  • 5 Solutions the Public Advocate Should Deliver for New York City

    5 Solutions the Public Advocate Should Deliver for New York City

    This article was originally published on Gotham Gazette on May 8, 2019 The New York City Public Advocate is a poorly defined position that, over its 30 years of existence, has often been used to advance the political interests and status of career politicians. I’m running for Public Advocate because I want to do something very different…

  • Moving Toward a Metro-Regional Approach to Planning and Advocacy

    Moving Toward a Metro-Regional Approach to Planning and Advocacy

    This article was originally published on Gotham Gazette on December 8, 2018 New York City and its neighbors have a problem. Unlike Los Angeles, Chicago, and the other major U.S. metropolitan areas that fit neatly within the standard city, county, and state political boundaries, our metropolitan area of over 22 million people does not. We’re…

  • Anatomy of an Open Source Political Campaign  at Open Camps Conference, 2018, New York City

    Anatomy of an Open Source Political Campaign at Open Camps Conference, 2018, New York City

    I presented the following slides at the Open Camps Conference in New York City. PDF Download

  • As City and State Politics Fail Us, Time to Rethink New York Metropolitan Area

    As City and State Politics Fail Us, Time to Rethink New York Metropolitan Area

    This article originally appeared on Gotham Gazette on September 25, 2018 New York City is the world’s most popular city. We do lots of things exceptionally well here. But one thing we don’t do well is democracy. Voting rates within New York City are at historic lows, and corruption in Albany is at historic highs. Our politics…

  • Making the Libertarian Party Viable in New York City

    Making the Libertarian Party Viable in New York City

    This article originally appeared on Gotham Gazette on June 29th, 2018. New Yorkers are constantly complaining about the two-party political system. Democratic domination of New York City politics means Democratic primary elections are more impactful than general elections. Republican domination of the national political system means New Yorkers’ progressive cultural values are rarely reflected in…

  • Debrief: My 2017 Campaign for NYC Public Advocate

    Debrief: My 2017 Campaign for NYC Public Advocate

    Every vote has been counted, and 74% of NYC voters want Democrat Letitia James to continue as Public Advocate. I congratulated her on her success and will happily work with her to make NYC’s government more open, transparent and participatory. I hope she’ll take me up on my offer. Those experienced in third-party NYC politics…

  • “Big City” Libertarianism

    “Big City” Libertarianism

    The Libertarian Party (LP) is the third largest political party in the United States, with a membership that’s twice as large as the Green Party and twenty times as large as the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). Unlike the Greens and DSA, which draw a significant support from urban areas, the LP is significantly more…