Opinion | Things Have Gotten Pretty Weird With New York’s Mayor

How do you see the 2025 election playing out?

Mara: Twenty-eight percent. Wow, that’s abysmal. I still wonder how much this has to do with a general post-pandemic malaise. I tend to agree that it’s hard to see a strong challenge from the left, but I wouldn’t rule anything out this early. I’m not sure how much racial grievance Brad Lander would inspire, given his strong record on social justice issues, which dates back over a decade to his role alongside Jumaane Williams in pushing to end Bloomberg’s stop-and-frisk program. That said, the only challenger who would obviously pose serious problems for Adams is State Attorney General Letitia James, who is said to have her eyes on higher offices.

Are there any moderate Republicans left, David?

David: They’re in hiding, or toiling in Trump’s underground sugar caves. But it feels like a lot of city residents are hiding, too. Take away the holiday tourists and Midtown Manhattan feels sleepy compared to the old days. Downtown, too. As much as I like getting a seat on the subway, it makes me nervous to always get one, which never used to happen. So many people are working from home, or not working, or not in the city anymore. There are many vacant storefronts around town, and empty building floors and presumably lost jobs. It feels like the postwar office culture that created modern New York City is at an inflection point. Some of that is because of overblown fears about crime, but as you have also written, it’s also about high housing costs that are driving people away and an economy that has lost a lot of entry points. Do you think the city is changing in a profound way, or this is just a brief anomaly that will pass?

Mara: Whew, I worry about all this, too. I do think New York can no longer rely on the commuter economy and will have to become more creative about getting people back to its business centers, especially in Midtown. Building more affordable housing there to replace the unused office towers (is there a bingo card for “housing”?) is one way to go about this. But we’ll likely need to get creative, too, using our assets to draw pedestrians back to public spaces. That could mean more events and festivals, but also transforming more public spaces into attractive pedestrian plazas, or bringing art from some of the city’s world-renowned museums into the street. I continue to think the subway musicians deserve a bigger spotlight.

I think you’ve lived in New York longer than I’ve been alive, David. Is the city in trouble? Or is it simply changing as it always has?

David: New York is too smart, too vibrant, too creative and ultimately too vital to ever really be in inescapable trouble. When that came close to happening in the 1970s, a bunch of brave and brilliant people rescued the city, and smaller, less-heralded rescues have happened many times since then. What I do worry about is the declining quality of the city’s civic and political leadership, caused in part by the polarization of the country and the deep economic and class divisions that keep so many New Yorkers from contacting and understanding each other. Most city residents have no idea what life is like in neighborhoods like Soundview, Maspeth, Hollis, Corona or St. George, and have little interest in knowing. Politicians speak only to tiny fractions of the electorate. Until we find a unifying figure who can speak with understanding to this vast city, we may continue to stumble through a series of crises. But I still wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.