Dying Democratic Cities
Saks Fifth Avenue in 2020 NYC.
Want to move to one of America’s big urban cities? Ever imagine having a penthouse apartment close to or even in downtown so that you could walk to the theater? Well, the options are endless, and the cost is plummeting. It’s a buyer’s market! Just take a look:
- New York: When Half of NYC’s Tax Base Leaves and Never Comes Back
- Chicago: Threat Of More Looting Leads To Concerns Of Downtown Chicago Exodus
- Portland: Multiple Portland companies to move out because of riots
- Seattle: Seattle Defunded Police. Now Businesses Are Leaving, and Rioters Still Aim Explosives at Cops
- San Francisco: Mass exodus: Twice as many homes for sale compared to last year as people flee city
None of these trends are new. American cities have been generally suffering since the end of World War II, though for the past few decades they have seen a partial renewal that did not bring them back to the halcyon days of the past but at least made them look vibrant and alive.
The last few months however have seen a perfect storm of circumstances that have led to a major crash, destroying all the gains made in the recent past.
First there was the decision by the local governors and mayors of these cities, all of whom are Democrats, to shut the cities down in their panicked response to COVID-19. Suddenly all businesses were closed, and even when the lockdowns were eased by these Democrats, they were eased in a very limited manner. Restaurants no longer could make money with the mandated limited capacity. All entertainment venues — theaters, sports events, movies, concerts, museums — were outlawed.
Essentially, many of the very things that attract people to cities no longer existed.
Next came the riots, looting, and protests initially sparked by the death of George Floyd, but now continuing with little rhyme or reason. Instead, the riots seem aimed at destroying the cities themselves. No businesses can be allowed to open, or operate peaceably. Just take a look at this video of Fifth Avenue in mid-town Manhattan, once the mecca of high class shopping. Every single business is boarded up and closed. More important, there are no shoppers. The streets are empty.
And amazingly, this video of New York reflects the result of relatively mild rioting, when compared with what we have seen in Chicago, Seattle, and Portland.
Making these riots, looting, and protests even worse however has been the responses of these same local Democratic mayors and governors. Rather than clamp down on this destruction, they have — at best — turned a blind eye to it. More often these Democratic Party politicians have actually celebrated these violent protests, calling them “mostly peaceful” and justified.
Worse, the ruling Democrats in several of these cities have compounded the problem by simultaneously calling for the elimination or significant reduction in their police forces. Even as the local police have struggled to contain the riots, their political leaders, once again all Democrats, have withdrawn their support.
The result? Businesses and citizens are now fleeing these hellholes in record numbers. As noted in the New York article above:
It’s snapshot simple. The wealthy and the companies they work for pay most of the taxes. The poor consume most of the taxes through social programs. COVID is driving the wealthy and their offices out of the city. No one will be left to pay for the poor, who are stuck here, and the city will collapse in the transition. A classic failed state scenario.
Democratic Party controlled Detroit.
At the heart of this disaster however sit the people in charge. In Chicago Democrats have pretty much ruled unopposed for more than a half century. It is the same in Portland, New York, San Francisco, and Seattle. Nor are these American cities unique. Across the nation urban cities have been failing for decades, and in almost every case those cities have been ruled unopposed by Democratic Party machines for those same decades.
While we must grant that much of the 2020 urban exodus is related to the realization by big businesses — because of the Wuhan panic shutdowns — that they don’t need people to come into an office, that working from home in this digital age works and can save a business millions in office rent, we must also recognize that much of it is because people and businesses do not wish to live and work in a pigsty where you can be attacked at will merely because you are successful, and where the Democratic Party politicians in charge won’t do anything to fix the situation, and are even taking actions to worsen it.
An election is coming in November. Unfortunately, in many of these cities the politicians will not be up for re-election. Instead, the focus will mostly be on the presidential and congressional elections. The voters will have to decide whether they wish to retain Donald Trump as president while deciding which party they wish to control Congress.
It is very clear now that a vote for the Democrats in any form will be an endorsement by the voters of the failed governmental policies of the Democratic Party, nationwide. However, should the voters choose to go for the Republicans in a landslide, they will be making a clear statement that these failed and sometimes insane policies must end. This is not to say that the Republicans will be our savior, only that the time has come to tell the Democrats that they have been a unmitigated failure, and must be fired.
The video below, created for Kimberly Klacik, the Republican candidate running for the seat of late Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland) in Baltimore, illustrates this point perfectly, and in stark reality.
As she bluntly notes while showing endless blocks of abandoned buildings, “Baltimore has been run by the Democratic Party for 53 years.” The result, like in all the other Democratic Party strongholds above, has been “crumbling infrastructure, abandoned buildings, poverty, and crime.”
At what point will the voters finally recognize this? At what point will they tell the Democratic Party machine, interested only in power and squelching any opposition to its rule, that Americans will no longer tolerate such behavior.
I pray that point will finally arrive in November 2020. Because if it does not, then we can only expect worse for ourselves, a disaster that we shall richly deserve because we did not act to fight it, when we could.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
I think this is a bit different today, this appears to be next level.
It appears that these players, like DeBlasio, a self professed “Progressive”, is using this “Opportunity” to drive real estate prices down in order to either purchase buildings at a heavy discount or repossess them for non payment of taxes and house the homeless. Essentially creating a permanent city / state supported underclass housing supply.
And with this comes a segment of the population that lives in this situation and not contributing to its support and they and others like them eternally vote to keep it as it has been crafted by these “Progressives” (Read: Marxists).
If the city council and the mayor remain in this permanent Leftist orientation and the population votes to keep it then you have this new parasitic model firmly anchored and then when a Democrat president is installed the federal tap root into the endless cash flow of the government is grown.
And that my friends is it.
here is a bet for everyone to consider:
Where does anyone think Bill DeBlasio will land after his stint as the mayor of NYC?
In politics as a candidate? I think not, he has proven his worth as a politician, and that is a zero.
Where might Bill DeBlasio be intending to land after destroying NYC? An executive within BLACK LIVES MATTER?
He certainly has proven his worth their and he is also an established and trained Marxist. Why is he so enthusiastic in his painting BLM in front of the presidents building? IMO its a job interview.
And remember, BLM has extorted many millions maybe even billions out of the many newly “Woke” U.S. corporations.
Where else would someone like Bill DeBlasio be of any use? Answer: Nowhere, other than a Marxist organization. Rudy became a security consultant after his time as mayor, and that was a natural fit. And so DeBlasio will go where he is a natural fit.
I know I’m racist and all, but I’d buy Kimberly dinner.
Bob, I think you may have sugar coated this. The dems are springing, those arrested, from jail or dropping charges. They want the riots, IMHO.
A friend just sold his house 90 minutes from Chicago. The market is hot where his house was.
I fully expect China to come in with Money to “bailout” New York and these other cities . Different Chinese Cities “read the ccp” have been sponsoring New Years Eve In time square, New York for many years now. Here is one example
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chongqing-china-opens-times-square-new-years-eve-celebration-300576279.html
Here is the Chinese Ambassador last year sounds a lot different almost 9 months later
http://adam.curry.com/enc/1577997378.983_nyetimessquarechiners-2-ambassadorwelcomeschinavision2020.mp3
I had the chance to go down to the Pearl District in Portland today, just a few blocks for the Federal Courthouse, as we emptied out and terminated the lease on our office. I took a walk around at lunch, and a longer tour of a wider area as I left. The main business and shopping district was pristine, the streets and sidewalks and storefronts were cleaner than I’d ever seen. But at most half the businesses were open, and maybe every tenth space was now empty and for lease. Once you got off the primary streets, things went downhill fast. The frontage road off the freeway, which had been pretty nasty before with homeless tents and shanties, was a sea of garbage, and every building facing that direction was boarded up and covered in graffiti. Once you got within a few blocks of Pioneer square which has been riot central, the mess was indescribable. Every building was boarded up at ground level and covered in graffiti, and there was wreckage strewn everywhere. And this is after they supposedly cleaned things up last week. My understanding is that it’s similar over on the other side of the river where they’ve moved the protests and riots these last few days, the nice areas are fine, the marginal areas have become moderately nasty, and the actual protest zone is a wreck.
John, You’re not racist for wanting to take an attractive black woman to dinner – the loonie left will call you (and i) sexist for adopting traditional sex roles, but who cares. You and she would be having a nice evening together. She’s living proof of Trump’s appeal to black voters in 2016, “Vote for me, what have you got to lose except for the people who have failed you”. Good luck to her and her colleagues!
PS: The Republicans are so racist and sexist, they nominated a black woman
PPS: With the nomination of Kamala Harris, we’re hearing plenty about Geraldine Ferraro, but there is a strange silence about the other woman nominated for the Vice Presidency – She Who Must Not Be Named, The Witch of Wasilla, Sarah Palin.
Great article.
The only quibble I’d make is that the whole work-from-home thing isn’t necessarily going to be wholly company-imposed In the long-run, at least as far as the impact on blue cities is concerned. The office has long been a feature that has chained people to big cities. They don’t love the Big Blue City, but that’s where the work is. Work-from-home is, for them, even more a liberation than it is for the companies paying rent for office space.
That’s my experience, at least. I live in NYC and I’m going down South to look for a home next month. The decision to have us all work from home temporarily was my employer’s. The decision to make that my new normal is mine. Because it’s the equivalent of giving myself a massive pay raise. Oh, and by the way, I get to offset that reduced access to overpriced concerts and theater with a host of other things (access to beaches, fishing, even being able to grill on my own property) that I don’t get in NYC.
The scariest headline blue mayors and governors ever read should have been “Work-from-home Doesn’t Seem to Hurt Productivity”. Because that spelled the end of our collective illusion that so many middle class workers were tied to the city. It should have been, for them, the stuff of nightmares. Before that, we had to accept their sociopathy and misrule as a cost of doing business. Now, it’s a dispensable cost.
HI, IM JOE BIDEN, BEEN IN D.C. FOR NEARLY 50 YEARS
‘HI, I’m Joe Biden, I have been a law maker in Washington D.C. for nearly 50 years now, in government and at the levers of power and control, and I am asking you to vote for me so I can change things’. Why does that sentence not make sense?
So, Mr. Biden, you have been in Washington D.C. for nearly 50 years and have helped to deliver us all to this point of racial tension and chaos, looting and “defund the police” and your party supports every and all un and anti American Leftist agenda that is being proposed and you are going to lead the country to “The Light” and to a new future? Really?
You are an old white say anything to get elected white bread beady eyed cracker Democrat, and you are going to lead the country “Into The Light”?
How dumb do the Democrats, and Joe Biden assume the American people are?
(Image result for joe biden with son and obama)
These two Democrat political players, one a smooth talking philosophical Marxist, and the other a used car salesman at best (Sorry used car salesmen, I do not mean to disparage you), say anything do anything to get elected and do NOTHING. And this one son of political privilege and personal financial enrichment through political favoritism and political self dealing are laughing at you America. Laughing right in your face America, “what a bunch of scared fearful dummies”. (The Chinese and the Russians love this and want no part of a second Trump administration)
That is what is in their hearts I confidently suspect. And Joe Biden, and you see him with your own eyes, is going to lead the country “Into the light” and a brighter future? Really? I think not.
To David Eastman:
Thanks for the on-the-ground reporting.
Where are you moving your office to?
The real “test” of whether or not American cities empty out, as Robert is suggesting, lies with the young, prosperous “creative class” that Prof. Richard Florida has done so much to publicize.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_class
If these high-skilled, highly paid knowledge workers should decide that urban environments are no longer able to support their preferred bohemian lifestyles, *then* we may see a real exodus from the cities. At the moment — however paradoxically — it is this same creative demographic that tends to reflexively support the ideology / agenda of Antifa and Black Lives Matter. Likewise, they (and the take the knee corporations that employ them) are part of the core constituency of the Democratic machines that run these cities.
If and when this left-leaning demographic determines that cities are no longer livable, we will see these places empty out, but we are dealing with deeply-held ideology in this case as well as the simple economics of housing costs. Moreover, all things being equal, this cohort would be very sympathetic to the kind of “permanent city / state supported underclass housing supply” that Contour is talking about. Lower rents *and* a virtue-signaling woke lifestyle. Who could argue with that?
For older people of means on the left, this would also be seen as a very “positive” development — cf, what Victor Davis Hanson describes as the appeal of the “romantic poor” — so long, of course, as they can personally avoid any direct contact with the inevitable downside of such social engineering.
Depending on the outcome of the November election, I suppose that we will see whether or not this outward flow form the cities is indeed a real trend. If the Democrats should prevail, my guess is that it will accelerate, but with the understanding that this exodus will be characterized by the leftists as a great “achievement” and not something to be concerned about.
Milt:
What does this kind of perverted Leftist Democrat government always turn into? And its all without any self reflective thoughts about what exactly they are talking about and proposing.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/politics/ct-chicago-police-lightfoot-home-protests-20200820-s563zjj4uzc2rcbprrruzalwaq-story.html
It always becomes their security and their Rights, and not ever about your, mine or our security and Rights. In other words they throw the Constitution out the window and embrace despotism as a natural function of their thought process.
Take note America, and remember to comment in November.
I thought Hollywood had taken over Detroit and was turning it into the set for the next post apocalyptic movie.
As for Kimberly Klacik,
Normal republican,”Cute, I wonder if I could go out with her?”
Joe Biden, “Hmmm, Wonder what her hair smells like?”
Here is just one more glaring example of, good for thee, but not for me:
https://www.nationalreview.com/news/california-governor-newsom-didnt-take-promised-pay-cut-after-cutting-state-workers-pay/
Its just the way that it is.
Two policy changes would solve this problem right quick:
No welfare benefits for anyone who does not live in one of several “welfare zones”. These shall be located in the western desert next to Indian reservations, or on other remote, worthless land like the Hanford Site.
Institute an internal passport system like the Russian propiska or the Chinese hukou. If the cops catch you loitering in a city where you do not own a home and cannot prove that you have a job, they’ll give you a job breaking rocks in a forced-labor camp.
Some of this would violate the 14th Amendment, but the courts have ruled that politicians with (D)’s after their names can do anything they want.
pzatchok nailed it on the head. The United States has turned into the very dystopia that Hollywood has warned us about. It happened in the same way as Hollywood warned: Democrats attempted to create a utopian society, complete with everyone being so virtuous that no police are needed.
As the city of Detroit showed us, Democrats have no idea how to run a society. Their ideas are horrific and should be avoided. Unfortunately, they are very convincing, telling the masses that they will be Robin Hood and steal from the rich to give to them, just so long as they vote Democrat.
This is what “free stuff” looks like.
If the rest of the Republican Party have the “testicular fortitude” (OK Bob?) to put forth similar commercials as Kim, the result would be a landslide.
The question is are they bold enough to tell it like it is and as bluntly?
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
“Past Tense, Part I & 2”
Welcome to the 21st Century, Doctor.
https://youtu.be/ZOjG8Ditub8
4:55
JEWS, JESUS AND BEING A DEMOCRAT
From what I can gather there are a majority of American Jews that are and vote overwhelmingly Democrat no matter what. And the Democrat party and its leadership without doubt now stands firmly against the very existence of the state of Israel. How does an American Jew think in such terms? Do you not understand your own history?
And we see here a Catholic Nun who does not have an opinion on the subject of abortion. Really? But you will speak at the DNC convention and two of the main planks in the DNC’s platform are 1. Destroy Israel, and 2. free and universal and free abortion.
https://www.ibtimes.com/sister-simone-campbell-refuses-share-abortion-stance-after-dnc-appearance-3032483
And by the way that policy has cost the black community in America at least 20 million in their population. A bit counter intuitive for a party that is so BLACK LIVES MATTER oriented, no? Just think about that for one second.
Both examples of “Political Correctness” gone off the cliff, and an example of the abandonment of the core beliefs of two religions in pursuit of political power. If you say you are something and of a particular belief and you openly identify as such then you must to some great degree believe in the tenets of that belief system. If not then what really are you? Just a posing fraud? A human bumper sticker?
This is the Democrat party of today. You want to call it “Progressive”? You go right ahead, but I can not detect any progress. Just remember the label “Progressive” in real terms in todays politics means Leftist and Socialist. That is what you now essentially are whether want to embrace your new designation or not. You and your alleged religious beliefs are fraudulent, you are a meaningless human bumper sticker. No more, no less.
This is a short email but it gets right to the point, and if I insulted you and your alleged religion, then that is what I intended and what you needed. No apologies offered or intended.
This is not about Trump, this is about YOU.
Q:
Why are there no more “crazy” mass shootings?
No more Islamic suicide actors?
Where did they all go?
BLACK LIVES MATTER TO DEMOCRATS? (THATS NOT WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY)
The numbers are in, and who is suffering the most from the insanity of the Liberal / Leftist Democrats and their “Progressive” “More equal” agenda?
Our fellow Americans who just happen to be black. If anyone is interested in being rational and objective and turning way from these Socialist political agendas that pose as social reform and being compassionate because there was a perceived disparity between the black or minority population in America and how they are disproportionately arrested and incarcerated. People who demonstrate that they are dangerous and violent need to be identified, arrested and separated from the general public, NO MATTER THE COLOR OF THEIR SKIN!
All this kind of purely pandering “Progressive” Democrat political agenda produces is violence that threatens everyone, and specifically the black population, as the gangs in the street via for control of their now police free territory. Compliments of the Democrat “Progressive” agenda. You are in fact the worst enemy of the black population that you say that you are so concerned about.
I think even the staunchest Liberal / “Progressive” Democrat who thinks in such “Progressive” terms must face the reality of what their current insane, but of course well meaning, Leftist agendas have in fact produced. And philosophical Marxists like, Bill DeBlasio and, Lori Lightfoot, both mayors of Democrat run major cities in America that are currently descending into chaos and violence are unable to see any of this. In their opinion they are doing the best work of their lives.
And I understand that many among you are genuine and well meaning and believe that you are effecting real change, but the numbers are in. Your good intentions are a threat.
The sane, hard working, tax paying, family loving part of the black community will soon rightly be demanding that more police with better training and rational bail reforms be put in place and an end be put to this insanity that is driven by the current desperate presidential election season. Which IMO will result in the exact opposite result then what was politically intended. How many in the black population will vote FOR sanity and their protection instead of supporting a “Good intention” that is by the evidence is killing them?
Don’t like it? Too bad, deal with the reality of what you have wrought, the numbers are the numbers. This is one of those look in the mirror moments.
*A surge of gun violence in New York City is targeting mostly black people, according to New York City Police Department data.
*Shooting incidents involving black victims were up 177% in June from the same time period in 2019, NYPD data show.
*No other racial group was victimized by shootings at anywhere close to the same rate, the data show.
*New York City officials voted to subtract nearly $1 billion from the NYPD’s funding in late June.
https://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/NYC-Shooting-Victims-2-768×448.jpg
FINALLY!
Finally, consequences for the prolonged and uncontested for the last 80 or so days, ANTIFA is dealt with properly in Portland.
https://youtu.be/z6PBB-SKPqo 1:09 min.
What does this say?
Even the “Progressive” Democrat mayor of Portland has had enough and has ordered the police to deal with the lawlessness, looting, burning, murder and rioting in the streets by what appears to be his fellow ANTIFA “Progressives” and Leftists. As they with apparent coordination continue to destroy the city that he has pledged to protect. A total conscious surrender of fiduciary responsibility by an empowered politician, a form of treason in my opinion. And the same agenda is going on right in front of everyone’s eyes in Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago and New York. All run by “Progressive” Democrat mayors.
The text of the First Amendment:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people PEACEABLY to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”.
Enough is enough, and this is the path back to sanity. Proper policing in extreme conditions after the police all over the country have been essentially castrated and made moot by their empowered political leadership, which happen to have a particular un and anti broken American belief system.
The people of America must now deal with this situation at the ballot box.
THE MOST PROFOUND VIDEO A DEMOCRAT COULD WATCH
A deaf baby hears his / her mom for the first time.
https://youtu.be/-_Q5kO4YXFs 1:06 Min.
There is another message here Democrats who are now Leftists, can you guess what it is?
WHAT EXACTLY IS “SOCIAL JUSTICE”?
“Social Justice”, this is a relatively new term for most all unindoctrinated every day Americans.
“Social Justice” is an ideal concept based in Subjectivity. And, yes, its a “hot” term of the Left leaning among us with an accent on “Social” as in Socialist. What exactly does it mean and what exactly does it intend?
Social Justice: Def: “Social justice is a concept of fair and just relations between the individual and society, as measured by the distribution of wealth, opportunities for personal activity, and social privileges. In Western as well as in older Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals fulfill their societal roles and receive what was their due from society. In the current global grassroots movements for social justice, the emphasis has been on the breaking of barriers for social mobility, the creation of safety nets and economic justice.”
To my thinking when I hear the term “Social Justice” my mind goes to the primary absolutely definable word, Justice.
Justice: Def: “The maintenance or administration of what is just especially by the impartial adjustment of conflicting claims or the assignment of merited rewards or punishments”.
And I associate that word “Justice” with the proper execution of the law primarily in America. And justice in America is based in Objectivity and not Subjectivity. “Social Justice” is Subjective. And Subjective judgment is based in a personal and possibly / probably biased perspective and emotion and not necessarily based in fact, evidence and reason.
So when the word “Social” is placed before the Objective word “Justice” the intent is to manipulate the meaning of the primary word and make the new term Subjective. And law, rational, just and fair law is not based in Subjective or personal beliefs or opinions, it is based in facts, evidence and established Juris Prudence (The theory or philosophy of law).
So the term Social Justice is just another mind game / word / term manipulation of the Left and the Leftists among us who are engaged in a constant drive to destroy our Western, Judeo / Christian values and Constitutionally based society and culture. To be replaced with this Subjective and punitive based Leftist radical opinion of what THEY think their interpretation of THEIR law should look like and mean.
In other words these Leftists propose for you what it is that the Left constantly rails against, Fascism and Hitlarian philosophy and oppression. Their interpretation of what “Justice” SHOULD look like in their Subjective opinion. YIKES!
This is how the Left fights the political warfare that we are constantly engaged in, through chaos and double speak and social disruption through the indoctrination of the young, naive and emotional among us. And you see it being played out right before your eyes in the now insane Leftist sympathizing media. Soak it in America and remember to comment on it all in the coming elections.
America, your good life and freedoms are NOT for one second set upon this foundation that the Left proposes. Your good life and freedoms are set upon our Constitution, rational juris prudence and Capitalism, which are all based in objectivity and are unassailable by outside forces.
America and Americans, now you know what “Social Justice” actually is and what it intends, what do you intend to do about it?