10 Factors That Will Determine the Future of Progressive Urban Politics

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/10-factors-will-determine-future-progressive-urban-politics



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What will determine if the de Blasio approach succeeds at winning progressive policies to benefit America's cities? Here are 10 factors that will matter.

1. Whether more big cities come on board: De Blasio's just getting started, but of the 33 mayors who signed the commitment letter in August, only 11 represent cities among the largest 50 in the country. To have political sway, the urban movement will have enlist more of the big cities, and more little ones, too—especially urban areas in red states.

2. Whether the policy wish-list becomes more urban: Nothing about pre-K or a higher minimum wage is particularly urban in nature; that doesn't make them bad ideas—they're great ideas—but the whole point of an urban agenda is that cities offer, and need, something unique. A true urban agenda will eventually address cities' transportation, infrastructure and public safety needs.

3. Whether it stays progressive: Broadband and UPK are good places to start precisely because they are relatively uncontroversial. Not only are they elegant ideas that make a difference in people's lives, they have elements that ought to appeal to folks in the center and even on the center-right. Real change may require picking additional targets that—like the prospect of hiking the minimum wage—face deeper opposition: criminal justice reform, immigration-rule changes and re-orienting federal transportation aid to favor mass transit over highways.

4. Whether de Blasio wins re-election: The mayor won't face voters again until 2017, but we'll know better by the DNC (wherever it is) whether he's likely to face a tough fight or enjoy a relatively smooth walk to second term. Progressives in the city and elsewhere seem to recognize that a lot is riding on whether de Blasio can defy the stereotype and prove that cities can be competently governed from the left. So far, unlike in the Dinkins years when Rudy Giuliani could be heard doing pushups to get ready for their electoral rematch, no obvious challenger to de Blasio has emerged. After a rocky first six months, the mayor has recently showed a steadier hand on day-to-day management. Notably, he went from being Andrew Cuomo's punching bag to becoming the governor's ambassador to the left, a valuable perch to occupy. Still, de Blasio's cakewalk against Joe Lhota last November shouldn't be taken as proof that a more competent campaign to unseat, with more money, might not capitalize on something like, say, the broiling resentment of the police unions.