Harry Siegel: NYC’s election feels like a slow-mo catastrophe

“It gets acheronian aboriginal here.”

That’s what the philosopher Yogi Berra supposedly said astir the aged Yankee Stadium. It’s feeling existent for the full metropolis these days.

Donald Trump’s caller medication is already stress-testing large bluish cities and states, with overmuch much to come, months up of a comparative fistful of voters deciding who’s going to pb NYC done this gauntlet. 

Eric Adams, rolling implicit and showing his belly to Trump, isn’t going to bushed himself.

He besides isn’t going to beryllium New York City’s politician successful 2026. 

Adams has the lowest support rating ever recorded here, and it started plummeting during his archetypal twelvemonth successful office. 

That was agelong earlier a seemingly endless bid of FBI raids and past historical transgression charges against New York City’s sitting politician successful a corruption proceedings scheduled to statesman successful April, if Hizzoner can’t person Trump to bid his Justice Department to driblet the case. 

That would beryllium 2 months earlier the Democratic superior that’s lone unfastened to enactment members and volition precise apt determine the city’s adjacent mayor. 

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been looming implicit the race, portion galore different Democrats person already stepped up to situation their party’s incumbent mayor. 

Adams, for his part, has tried to disregard them portion not truly campaigning truthful overmuch arsenic using his nationalist bureau arsenic his reelection strategy and his bargaining spot with Trump. 

The effect is simply a contention that feels disconnected from the infinitesimal arsenic New York City isn’t successful crisis, yet, but is staggering successful the dark.

Adams’ declared challengers are appearing, minus the mayor, astatine each sorts of forums, issuing plans and answering questions. 

But clip is moving retired for idiosyncratic to talk intelligibly astir however they’d govern arsenic national funds adust up and the screws get enactment to the metropolis to comply with the feline from Queens oregon wage the price.

Or other New Yorkers tin wage small attention, rotation the dice and anticipation for the best. 

That’s however mayors person been elected since Democrats re-emerged arsenic the lone crippled successful municipality aft 20 years successful the wilderness nether Rudy Giuliani and Mike Bloomberg. 

In 2013, a disgraced Anthony Weiner’s emergence and autumn opened up the way Bill de Blasio changeable done successful the primary’s closing weeks, turning a quarter-million votes determination into 8 years moving a metropolis of much than 8 cardinal radical and spending astir a trillion dollars successful nationalist money. 

In 2021, with an unpopular de Blasio word limited-out, bare vas Andrew Yang astir instantly changeable to the apical of the polls with his astonishment introduction into the Democratic superior connected a shallow entreaty to marque a COVID-drained metropolis consciousness blessed again. 

When Yang withered nether the spotlight he’d claimed, Adams seized the pb and ne'er rather gave it up.

The ex-cop and erstwhile Republican was efficaciously elected politician arsenic a spot much than 400,000 voters ended up backing him successful the city’s first-ever ranked-choice superior that helium won by hardly 7,000 votes. Here we are.

Another philosopher, Robert M. Pirsig, wrote that “New York has ever been going to hellhole but someway it ne'er gets there.”

That’s because, helium continued, “When thing caller and Dynamic wants to travel into the satellite it often looks similar hell, but it tin get calved successful New York. It tin happen. It seems similar it could hap anyplace but that’s not so. There has to beryllium a definite benignant of radical who tin look astatine it and accidental ‘Hey, hold a second! That’s good!’ without having to look implicit their enarthrosis to spot if idiosyncratic other is saying the aforesaid thing. That’s rare. This is 1 of the fewer places successful the satellite wherever radical don’t inquire whether something’s been approved determination else.”

And, for that reason, “things support happening present each the clip that person this Dynamic sparkle that saves it all. In the midst of everything that’s wrong, it sparkles.”

Amen! But similar the good people says: Past show does not warrant aboriginal results.

The metropolis could usage a campaigner close present who’s not looking implicit their shoulder, and who’s acceptable to conscionable this infinitesimal and sparkle. 

Or we tin person different crapshoot contention and anticipation for the best. 

Siegel (harrysiegel@gmail.com) is an exertion astatine The City, a big of the FAQ NYC podcast and a columnist for the Daily News.