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Today is Election Day: 5 reasons why New Yorkers should vote
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Do you love New York City or hate it? Do you love Michael Bloomberg or William J. Thompson Jr., or hate one or both of them? Or maybe, do you just feel cynical and disenchanted? No matter how you answered, if you live in this city, you owe it to yourself and your fellow New Yorkers to vote today. Here’s why:
1. New York City is facing hard times. The decisions our mayor will make—even in the next year or two—will have big and long-term effects on the city and you. Housing, education, subways and buses, garbage collection, policing, pollution… the mayor exerts a huge influence over most aspects of our lives. When you vote for the office of mayor or other city offices, you're voting on the future quality of your own life.
2. Michael Bloomberg has now served two terms (8 years) as mayor of New York. That’s ample time to establish a record on every issue that touches your world. Are you happy with the housing situation in this city? Are you pleased with the employment situation, the urban development or gentrification in your neighborhood, the noise levels, the pollution, the crime rates, the public schools? If so, it makes sense to insure that New York City will continue in its present direction by voting Bloomberg back for a third term. If not, only you can enable another candidate—William J. Thompson Jr.—to take the helm.
3. Today’s mayoral election is more than just a vote for mayor, it’s a essentially a second referendum on whether we want to allow a New York City mayor to have a third term. Despite the fact that New Yorkers voted “no” on the original referendum on a mayoral third term, the City Council—after much politicking by Bloomberg—voted to extend term limits, allowing Bloomberg to run once again. Now is your change to let the City Council and all of New York know whether you approve of their decision.
4. Even the issues that you may think don’t affect you, actually do. Take public education as an example. Whether or not you have children in the New York public schools, the quality of the schools still affects your life and will for many years to come.
Here’s how. Children who are getting a good education tend to be more well behaved now and they are likely to become productive adults, filling important jobs our society needs in the future. The ten-year-old who lives down the hall from you today may be your doctor by the time you reach retirement age. Kids who drop out of school now (or graduate with a low-quality education) are at risk to become law-breakers and the chronically unemployed of tomorrow. A good public education system improves life for everyone, not just those with children. Most other public services work the same way.
5. Even if you dislike both of the candidates for mayor or believe they are essentially “Tweedledum and Tweedledee,” it’s still important to vote. That’s because political leaders look at voting turnout numbers. The lower the total turnout numbers, the more they will feel they can do what they want because "nobody cares." Don’t give them that dangerous message by staying home today.
Remember, no matter how long you’ve lived in New York, or how soon you expect to leave, New York is your city now. Claim it as your own. Vote today!
Click here to find out where to vote.
Click here for the: 2009 General Election VOTER GUIDE
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Cowed by the cash: did the New York media jump on the Bloomberg bandwagon?
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