New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is off to a rough start as mayor.
"De Blasio is out of touch with New York," so read a headline with The New York Post.
Last month, de Blasio revoked the city's offer for free classrooms to one of Harlem's most successful charter schools, arguing it would displace crucial programs for displaced students. This move made him at odds with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and de Blasio's long-time political rival and the school's founder, Eva Moskowitz.
This week, a new poll marked his job approval at just 45%, which dropped considerably since the beginning of his term.
His disapproval ratings are also growing, currently at 34%.
"Apart from the polls, virtually every major de Blasio campaign platform plank - a millionaires' tax; a scaling back of charter schools; a rescue for Brooklyn's Long Island College Hospital and the banishment of carriage horses from Central Park - has either been defeated outright or is on long-term hold," as reported by The New York Post.
Moskowitz, in response to the mayor's obstinance to charter schools, vowed in early March to do "whatever it takes to salvage the education of nearly 200 Harlem kids whose high-performing charter school was booted from its public space" by the mayor, as reported in The New York Daily News.
"We have a mayor in the City of New York who says he's a progressive on the one hand, but wants to deny poor kids an opportunity, a shot of life," Moskowitz said on MSNBC's Morning Joe.
"I was never expecting in my wildest dreams that the mayor of the city of New York - a so-called progressive- would throw children in the streets," she added.
Charter school advocates, like Moskowitz, excoriated de Blasio for pulling $200 million in capital funding for three charter schools, which had been approved by his predecessor, Michael Bloomberg.
"Instead of shutting down an extremely high-performing school, I'd think the mayor would want to focus on solving the education crisis," Moskowitz said.
A charter school is defined as "a school which receives public funding but operates independently. Charter schools operate under private management systems. They promote small class sizes, often academically outperform public schools in the area and encourage more innovative approaches to teaching."
"It is true that wealthy and public-spirited New Yorkers, out of loyalty to the city and its future generations, give a lot of money, care and time" to charters," wrote The Wall Street Journal's Peggy Noonan.
"They do it because they care about children who would otherwise be locked into a public-school system that doesn't work. It is not the job of nice liberals to make excuses for pols who take a good thing from kids just to satisfy a political agenda," added noon.
In a rebuke to the mayor, Governor Andrew Cuomo, who is also a Democrat, held a rally in Albany, which underscored his support for charter schools. The governor spoke to almost 7,000 parents, students and teachers.
"You are not alone. We will save charter schools," Governor Andrew Cuomo told the crowd.
Two years ago, I covered the brewing charter schools' controversy in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Canarsie. I know first-hand how heated and emotional the issue of co-location can be for parents and teachers. Race and privilege were common motifs brought up during school board meetings, which led to frequent demonstrations.
"Save our schools" wailed angry parents and teachers.
"Why does the Department of Education (DOE) want to put a charter school here? Our children deserve a neighborhood school where they can flourish!" read one flyer at a demonstration.
"This move by the DOE is all about profit and business by Mayor Bloomberg," argued Community Education Council President James Dandridge back in April, 2012.
Dandrige said that the DOE is not always correct in its assessment of schools being "underutilized," stating that bringing in charter schools to occupy unused space in already existing schools would lead to further problems.
De Blasio took office in January 1 to largely became an antidote to his predecessor, Mayor Bloomberg, who he often criticized for presiding over New York he deemed "a tale of two cities." De Blasio also roundly criticized Bloomberg's advocacy for the stop-and-frisk program.
The charter school controversy is not the only imbroglio facing the mayor.
Last week, "de Blasio blamed 'miscommunication' for his administration's latest spat with the governor over a deal that would allow the state to subsidize rents for homeless families to transition out of the city's crammed shelter system," as reported in The New York Observer.
"You know, we talked about that priority several times in the last month publicly. But more importantly, there's been a lot of communication with Albany about it. I think there's also been some miscommunication and we want to resolve it," the mayor answered
Governor Andrew Cuomo's administration said last week "that city officials had run out of time to reach an agreement that would allow state funds to be used to fund housing subsidies for the homeless as part of the state budget deal that is due next week," according to news reports.
De Blasio's handling of the snowstorms last month and decision to keep city public schools open also received ridicule.
"I understand the desire to keep schools open. The only thing that trumps that is safety. Having students, parents and staff traveling in these conditions was unwarranted. It was a mistake to open schools," said Michael Mulgrew, the Union President of the United Federation of Teachers.
Also, de Blasio was accused of hypocrisy in mid-February when his SUV repeatedly violated traffic rules two days after he ordered a crackdown on reckless driving.
"If Mr. de Blasio were still the righteous public advocate, he would be calling this mayor out for endangering citizens and treating himself above the law. The rules haven't changed now that Mr. de Blasio has a bigger job," wrote New York Times editorialist Lawrence Downes.
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