Bill de Blasio

Trump is from New York City, but you can’t tell from his policies

Bill de Blasio is boycotting a planned meeting with President Donald Trump because despite Trump's New York City roots, his administration isn't pursuing an urban agenda.

Andrew Cline/Shutterstock

President Donald Trump is the first commander in chief from New York since Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Raised in Queens, the Manhattan-based real estate mogul had significant ties to the local media and once defended his “New York values” on the campaign trail. But, despite his city roots, the Trump administration so far has not instituted many urban-friendly policies.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who Trump once called “the worst mayor in the history of New York City,” was supposed to be among a group of more than 100 mayors visiting the White House on Wednesday to discuss infrastructure. Hours before the meeting, de Blasio announced on Twitter that he would not attend, due to the U.S. Justice Department’s “racist assault on our immigrant communities.”

As de Blasio would have been rubbing elbows with the mayors of Pascagoula, Mississippi, Dubuque, Iowa, and Hope Township, New Jersey (population 1,952), this gathering was likely to be less intimate than his last meeting with Trump in November 2016 when the mayor visited the president-elect in Trump Tower.

But de Blasio’s decision not to visit the White House also reflects the divergent priorities of the two administrations. As a candidate, Trump said that in “our inner cities, African-Americans, Hispanics, are living in hell, because it's so dangerous.” Trump said he meant this as a form of outreach to urban and nonwhite voters, an argument that they had nothing to lose by giving him a try. (Trump’s critics countered that it was just another way of appealing to the biases of many white voters.) One year into his presidency, Trump has not done much since taking office to fix problems in cities or help his hometown. In some cases, his policies have hurt urban areas. Here are some examples from major policy areas:

Immigration

De Blasio’s statement was likely responding to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ threat to subpoena sanctuary cities, such as New York. The Trump administration has taken a hard line toward undocumented immigrants, most notably by ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which will expire in March.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement under the Trump administration has also expanded enforcement. Earlier this month, federal immigration agents raided nearly 100 7-Eleven stores around the country targeting undocumented workers, including 16 in the New York City area. ICE also detained a prominent immigrant rights activist this month in Manhattan, which resulted in a chaotic protest and the arrests of two New York City Council members.

Housing

Urban housing and anti-poverty activists have criticized the Trump administration for appointing unqualified loyalists to key housing policy positions. At the beginning of his term, the president tapped Ben Carson, a conservative pundit and retired pediatric neurosurgeon with no previous experience in housing, urban policy or government, to be secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The administration later appointed Lynne Patton, a former event planner who worked on the Trump campaign and helped plan Eric Trump’s wedding, to be the regional administrator of HUD for New York and New Jersey in June.

Earlier this month, HUD extended the deadline for the Obama-era Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule, which would require communities to review patterns of housing segregation and come up with plans to address segregation, contingent upon receiving block grants and housing aid. Housing advocates fear that delaying the implementation of the rule until 2020 could derail the examinations that are already underway, resulting in cities prioritizing other issues. New York City is scheduled to begin its review this year.

Infrastructure

The Trump administration also seems to have abandoned the federal government’s Obama-era commitment to provide half the funding for the Gateway rail tunnel underneath the Hudson River. In December, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie reached a tentative funding deal, but it was dismissed by the federal government.

Earlier this week, a Politico New York article revealed the Trump administration’s principles for an infrastructure plan, reflecting the idea that local governments should fund greater portions of infrastructure projects. If a new tunnel is not built, experts have warned of an economic “apocalypse” that will occur if the current one fails.

Taxes

The new federal tax law, signed by Trump in December, also threatens funding for New York City’s beleaguered subway system, as the federal government may cut programs that the MTA relies on in order to pay for its $1.5 trillion tax cut. The tax overhaul also capped the state and local income and property tax deduction at $10,000, which could harm New York City residents who pay high property taxes.

The environment

The Environmental Protection Agency has relaxed pollution standards under the Trump administration, which could be harmful to New York City. In late October, state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced that he was suing the EPA for failing to curb smog pollution entering New York from upwind states. Schneiderman is also leading 15 state attorneys general in a lawsuit against the EPA for flouting Clean Air Act regulations. New York City announced this month that it was suing five oil companies over their role in climate change.

The lack of regard between Trump and his hometown appears to be mutual. On Jan. 21, 2017, the day after his inauguration, approximately 400,000 people marched in New York City to protest Trump’s new administration. Trump’s subsequent visits to his hometown since becoming president have also been met with protests. This past Saturday, around 200,000 people marched down Sixth Avenue to lament the first anniversary of the president’s inauguration.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.