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A Letter to the NYC Mayor
To the Honorable Eric Adams, Mayor of New York City
Mr. Mayor,
My apologies for sending this to you so late, but congratulations on becoming Mayor of New York. This is quite an accomplishment and I commend you. I sincerely hope that you are more successful than your predecessor, although I think you and I would both agree that he set established the world’s lowest bar for mayors. Just getting through your first term without killing a groundhog will probably do it.
Being Mayor of New York is one of the most important jobs in the world. It is not at all an exaggeration to say that an important factor in the health of the United States is the health of New York City. I recognize that importance and I pray for your city. I wish you all the best as you tackle its myriad problems.
That being said, you’re an idiot. And I don’t mean that in a simple, innocent, Dostoevskian way. I mean you’re a dunderhead. Your remarks about Kansas at the news conference this week weren’t just mean-spirited, they were ignorant of a place that I’m reasonably sure you’ve never been to and nearly as ignorant of the place you currently represent.
I will be the first to admit that Kansas doesn’t have a brand like New York City. We don’t have the cultural or entertainment possibilities that New York provides. I’ve lived in a west coast metropolitan area that is nearly the equal of New York in its brand and I know it’s a heady experience and one that I miss occasionally.
But only occasionally. There is beauty here and cultural activities that are pretty wonderful if you are willing to look beneath the surface. The people here are decent and caring once you get to know them. And pretty well-educated since there isn’t a lot going on to interrupt reading time. At my age, such characteristics carry a lot of value. Others would disagree, but that’s the beauty of living in the United States. There’s always an opportunity to grow where you’re planted and this is a good place to grow.
Let’s take a moment to talk about New York’s brand. Not just the part of the brand you like to talk about, but some of the seamier aspects of it. Last week, an EMT officer got stabbed and killed in broad daylight in Queens. The crime rate is worse in New York than it is here, but that’s not my point. We have our share of violent nut jobs as well. The ugly part of this story, and one that’s not getting discussed nearly enough, is that he stabbed this woman in BROAD DAYLIGHT. On a busy street. With pedestrians nearby. No one helped her as the guy spent several seconds stabbing her over and over. No one helped her after the dude ran off and left her to bleed out. This isn’t an isolated incident in New York. It’s part of your “brand,” the part that says we aren’t going to help out someone that desperately needs our help.
It could happen here, too. Some people are obsessed with their own self-interest and refuse to act. But part of OUR brand is that we do try to help. I can guarantee that such an event would be much less likely here. Sometimes that can come across as meddlesome. I would much rather deal with the problem of meddling than the problem of indifference.
And I know that my view of our respective brands is based on stereotypes that probably aren’t true. I know only a few New Yorkers (although I’m confident I know more New Yorkers than you know Kansans) and they seem like decent, caring folks. Perhaps that’s why they live in Kansas now, or perhaps, like myself, circumstance brought them here to enrich our state.
I’m aware of my ignorance and am working to correct it. You, sir, are clearly not aware of yours.
Which is why you are an idiot.
Best wishes,
Dave
Published in General
a) The proper stance of an intellectual is to ask “What’s wrong with Kansas?” and gush about what’s right with New York.
b) Now, I love New York, but a lot of that has to do with studying what it was, and noting the remnants and evidence of its previous incarnations. When its economy was more diverse. When its ports were busy with cargo and passengers. When retail was locally based and fiercely competitive, when a dozen newspapers clamored for your attention, when Times Square was a great blaring expanse of light and neon spectacles to draw the people into the movie houses.
All that history is part of the brand, seed corn long eaten. It’s still a fascinating place, but it seems to be run by people who think they are the natural inheritors of the people who made it what it was, when they’re really remoras on a superannuated whale.
c) Innumerable civilized pleasures, if you can afford them. Not a lot of personal space, but a great public space to explore and enjoy. I’m not sure what the NYC brand is these days – Fun City? Epicenter of Culture? Skyscrapers the locals ignore because they don’t want to look up and seem like rubes? A great place to visit and probably not get hit on the head? Come and intuit the wealth and power and influence in buildings you can never enter! Okay.
d) I think a lot of our national problems stem from the fact that our ruling class does not have to mow the lawn, or lives in places where there are no lawns at all, just rolling communal expanses that somehow look nice thanks to someone else doing something. Kansas has people fretting about the dry spots, cursing when the oil spills as they add it to the mower, taking pride in an edged lawn that stands up straight against the border of the sidewalk, muttering when the school kids leave trash as they wait for the bus. Caring for your part of the common fabric.
But alas, that doesn’t translate into a brand.
Good letter, but I think you misaddressed it. I don’t think the Honorable Eric Adams has an account on Ricochet. I could be mistaken, though.
My husband’s and my favorite movie is Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948). The opening scenes showing life in Manhattan are so funny:
Open HD | Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House | Warner Archive – YouTube
He doesn’t? My mistake. I guess he’s even less of an intellectual than I thought.
Mr. Lileks, thanks for expositing further on the subject. I liked your thoughts.
Every so often, the legislature around here forks over some of the public’s money for an advertising campaign trying to create some sort of brand that will attract visitors. I understand why, but I wish they’d stop. We don’t have much to offer around here in terms of tourist attractions and what we do have to offer can’t be adequately portrayed in a 30 second spot. I’m comfortable with what we are and I think most Kansans are, but I won’t tolerate some clown for an east coast mayor running us down. He’s got enough of his own problems to keep him busy.