Thought for Food

In which I go all leftist on you

In the past 30 years, the leadership of New York City has systematically destroyed the urban working class and endangered the health of the city by

• zoning for high-price condos instead of manufacturing and light industrial (leading to the loss of 1 million jobs)
• neglecting public housing
• removing the health care and child care programs that a generation ago mitigated the impact of being a member of the working poor
• prioritizing the financial services industry over all others.

The powers that be (influenced by the right wing’s ideological victory with the election of Reagan) chose to transform  a once vital, adaptable, and most importantly, diverse economy into a playground for the materially and intellectually wealthy. 

We are suffering for it today.

But there is great opportunity.  The contraction of the financial services industry (and the collapse of a major revenue stream), in combination with a ground floor of expensive electricity costs (a built-in incentive for energy-efficiency), means that the city and state have a lot to gain from a major investment in a green services industry.  Its leaders — namely Paterson and Bloomberg — recognize this, but as usual, they’re limited by their own political imaginations, the middling support of their constituents, and lack of funding.  Obama’s stimulus package has the potential to build our workforce and infrastructure capacity, prime the pump for private investment, and finally launch this new economy. 

I’m not angry anymore, or hopeless.  I don’t tune out; my party-girl days are but a memory.  I’m fully present, energetic, and grateful to be alive and kickin’ because I truly believe this is the moment.  The new green deal is comin’ down the line.

Let’s give “the greatest generation” some competition.