Editor's Message
One Giant Step Forward...
What a difference a day makes. Tuesday, November 4, 2008 brought the election of the nation’s first African-American president, a milestone by any standard. Yet just one day earlier, New York City’s democracy took a giant step backward. With a stroke of the pen, Mayor Bloomberg enabled himself and nearly three-quarters of the City Council to do an end run around the twice-expressed will of city voters and run for a third term. A poll found that 90% of New Yorkers preferred to make that decision in another referendum. It was an unusually crass, Tammany-like effort on the mayor’s part. But even more surprising is that 22 Council members overlooked their own self-interest and voted against it.
The last time such a self-interested proposition arose was in November of 2006, when the Council decided to raise its base salaries by no less than 25%, from 90k to 112,500 (by getting paid for chairing committees, members were already making over 100k; they can also hold outside jobs). That vote was 41-5. One might say that after first sweetening the pot, many council members are now helping themselves to an extra serving. In any case, what they all now owe their employers—i.e. the taxpayers—is some hard work on their behalf. Because of the financial sector meltdown, there will be tough times ahead. Yet Mayor Bloomberg has rather nonchalantly declared that “It is easier to govern in difficult times than in flush times.” In his lexicon, “govern” means “chop the hell out of the city budget.” It’s up to the City Council to make sure that any and all cuts are necessary and fair.
In the meantime, let us salute those Council members who voted both against the 25% raise and for term limits. There are only three: Michael McMahon of Staten Island, who was just elected to Congress; Hiram Monserrate of Queens, who was just elected to the State Senate; and Tony Avella of Queens, who’s running for mayor in 2009. They deserve a medal—but in the spirit of austerity, let’s make it a ribbon.
RECOMMENDED ARTICLES

Exhibiting Nature’s Nation
By Alan C. BraddockJUNE 2019 | Critics Page
Featuring more than 100 works of art from 70 museums, Natures Nation explores three centuries of creative activity by diverse makers in a range of media.

Living Through History: ABSCONDED #EjectionDay2020
By Noa WeissDEC 20-JAN 21 | Dance
As the slow crawl of ballot counting across America began on November 3, Dragonfly/Robin Laverne Wilson performed her own crawl through the streets of New York. Dressed as a statue of fugitive slave Ona Maria Judge Staines, the artist summons the power of a living monument.
12. (Chelsea, Fifth Avenue)
By Raphael RubinsteinJUL-AUG 2020 | The Miraculous
Its the summer of 2016. A gallery on West 20th Street offers its space for a month to a political action committee started by two artists. The show features art works that will be diffused as billboards and advertisements to engage voters in the November election.

Notes from a Sunken Third Place
By Jasmine WahiDEC 20-JAN 21 | Editor's Message
For this issue, I sought the company of colleagues/friends with whom Ive had numerous discussions on what is holding this nation backnot just in the Trump era, but as a whole. It is no secret that we are also at the cusp of a new digital era that reinforces binary thinking.