Kathy Hochul's Attempt to Destroy the Suburbs

One of the longstanding hatreds of the Socialist Left is against America's suburbs where the middle class has prospered. To the nihilistic Socialist mind, "bourgeois" suburban Americans with their green lawns, mature leafy trees, well-kept homes, open playgrounds, and good schools are all part of an exploitative "racist" plot. If everyone cannot have a nice suburban home, then no one should have one. They must all be destroyed.

The policy long promoted by the Socialist Left to "end the suburbs" was to outlaw single family zoning and dump large multifamily and welfare housing complexes into the suburbs - to "share" social dysfunction by bringing crime, drugs and poverty to those neighborhoods.

Now Kathy Hochul - the "accidental" Governor who long served as disgraced ex-Governor Andrew Cuomo's loyal lieutenant and political enabler - has actually embraced this insane "destroy the suburbs" policy. She wrote a statewide abolition of single family housing zoning into the proposed 2022 NYS budget. Towns and villages would be powerless to stop multifamily development in what are now single family housing areas.

It is a cynical ploy by Hochul to appeal to the socialist wing of the Democratic Party and try to outflank her two Democratic primary opponents, NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and US Congressman Tom Suozzi.

Hochul was an utterly mediocre upstate "moderate" Democrat, before succeeding Cuomo last August. She was pro-gun and pro-crony capitalist. She and her casino lobbyist husband were multi-millionaires who themselves lived in a safe, leafy suburb.

But power is a seductive mistress, and Hochul has quickly become drunk on that power. If the Democrat's primary voters want envy, resentment and socialism, then Hochul will give it to them.

The end of single family housing would be a disaster for New York, the "final straw" that will drive millions more to abandon New York for more welcoming states like Florida and North Carolina. Who is going to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in a new home, if the neighbor can build a multi-family slum next door.

Rep Tom Suozzi denounced Hochul for running roughshod "over local governments..." and promoting a policy to "end single family housing in New York state."

The Leader calls upon all NYS Senators and Assemblymen to stop these proposals before they become law. No person of good will should sign onto a destructive and resentful campaign to "destroy the suburbs."