Mayor Bill de Blasio is in a 2020 state of mind.
De Blasio, ahead of a presidential campaign trip to South Carolina this weekend, named just one issue when asked by WNYC radio host Brian Lehrer what his “top priorities” are for the end of the legislative session in Albany.
“I’d says rent, rent, rent,” the mayor answered Friday just hours before his trip down south.
“Number one is to strengthen rent control, get rid of vacancy decontrol, get rid of the vacancy bonus,” de Blasio said.
He never listed number two.
Instead Lehrer had to prod.
“Any one other item that you would add for Albany? The governor listed ten end of session priorities,” Lehrer noted.
The mayor answered that he’s “going to Albany soon” to advocate for legalized marijuana.
He said he only supports legalization “that really empowers community-based businesses, particularly communities of color that suffered for so long because of draconian laws that sent people to prison for low-level drug offenses.”
De Blasio didn’t list a myriad of other policy proposals that affect his constituents from driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants to reform of the admissions policy for the city’s elite public high schools.
“The mayor’s priorities lie in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, rather than in Albany, where the interests of eight million New Yorkers are at stake,” said Bronx Councilman Ritchie Torres.
Other city-related issues include ending the non-medical exemption for measles vaccinations, state oversight of religious schools, automatic voter registration, legalizing surrogacy, and increasing transparency of police disciplinary records.
“Hard to know what the issues are when you never come to work and leave town every chance you get,” quipped political strategist Bradley Tusk who was a campaign manager for former Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
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