Podcast: Bill de Blasio's Bronx Tale

Mayor Bill de Blasio’s State of the City address last week certainly lacked the gravitas and excitement of a major policy speech from one of the most visible politicians in the country.

But as Michael Johnson, Gerson Borrero and I sifted through the speech’s platitudes and victory laps on this week’s episode of The Slant podcast, there were several interesting policy proposals to consider – such as building a streetcar line from Astoria to Sunset Park and a retirement savings program for private sector workers.

We assess the legitimacy and feasibility of these policy ideas, and parse the optics of the mayor delivering his speech in the Bronx while two police officers were shot in the same borough: Should de Blasio have interrupted his speech? And where was NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton?

Later, during our “Bochinche & Buzz” segment, Gerson shares an amusing anecdote on an interaction with Judy Rapfogel, the top aide to recently convicted ex-Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Gerson also gives us his take on the Manhattan Democratic Party’s selection of Alice Cancel as the main candidate to fill Silver’s vacant seat.

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