New Yorkers, by contrast, “feel safe from extremism” and “feel safe from intolerance,” according to de Blasio, who was succeeded as mayor by Eric Adams in 2022.
He argued that his home city remains an unmatched place for opportunity despite what he characterized as “overly restrictive immigration laws.”
New York, a self-described “sanctuary city,” limits cooperation between local law enforcement and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The debate titled “Is Florida Eating New York’s Lunch?” was organized by Intelligence Squared and will air on public radio May 5.
Salam never seriously challenged de Blasio’s culture war broadsides, which the politician did not fail to miss.
“We’re really losing strivers,” Salam declared.
He claimed that the city’s density, which makes it commercially and culturally vibrant, leaves it vulnerable to even small increases in crime, noise, and congestion. Unlike tightly packed New Yorkers, Floridians “can just hop in their SUVs” to get away from certain nuisances, he said.
De Blasio, born Warren Wilhelm, Jr., began by telling the story of his maternal grandparents, who came to Gotham from southern Italy, and whose name he adopted in 2002.
Salam, for his part, repeatedly stressed his own love of New York City, saying he personally wouldn’t choose to live in Florida.
De Blasio asserted that the city’s improved tourist numbers since the end of COVID showed that it was gaining new strength.
He argued that even its high housing prices signaled the city’s essential vitality: “The rents are high because people want to be here.”
Moderator John Donvan pointed out that the debaters were conflating New York City and New York State.
On Salam’s telling, that strengthened the case that Florida is indeed “eating New York’s lunch.”
The conservative commentator argued that Upstate New York had lost out because of policies that are more to New York City’s liking. He also blamed unaffordable housing in and beyond the city, also citing suburban sprawl and long, tiresome commutes from places like the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania.
“Do some people end up going to suburbs? Sure,” de Blasio said, adding that New York is far from the only place in America where sprawl is a problem.
He argued that Florida’s conservative politics would ultimately make immigrants feel unwelcome.
De Blasio disagreed with Salam’s assertion that New Yorkers’ high taxes deliver relatively poor services.
According to de Blasio, Salam had offended the city’s workforce.
The former mayor also took issue with Salam’s emphasis on school test scores, saying they were “not the only” way to assess educational performance.