How to Fix NYC

Think of New York City as a ballet.

Right now, the City is at an intermission. During intermission, some people get restless and don’t come back for the next act. That is what’s happening now. People are chasseing for the exits and going straight to Florida, Connecticut or elsehwere.

During intermission the audience might be on a break, but behind the curtain, there is frenetic activity. The set is changed. The lighting is anew. The musical score is altered. Change comes to all ballets. Just as it does it all cities.

New York has always been a city set in Allegro: brisk and uptempo, the City that Never Sleeps suddenly slumbered last spring. Since then, it has struggled to find its footing, its plies and arabesques failed to hit their usual mark.

But the show, as they say, must go on.

When the curtain rises on the next act, we have to ensure New York City is more dynamic, more vibrant and more livable than it was before. That means we need to do the hard work — and do it soon. It will be up to the next Mayor, who I firmly believe should be Scott M. Stringer, to lead the City as its next maestro.

With the right person holding the baton, and with the right cast playing their parts, the theater will be standing room only, filled with the world’s most interesting, diverse…and opinionated audience.

And that next act will be spectuacular.