Free Republic

The No. 1 job of a mayor, above everything else, is to keep his or her city functioning. Yet with people dying on the cold streets of New York and trash building up in parts of the city, New York is by no means functioning. Not even close. The snow and frigid temps have tested Gotham’s socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani and, alas, he has not risen to the occasion. Rather, he’s left the city a mess. Everest-size mountains of garbage have popped up. Unremoved snow, ice and road salt have damaged Con Edison electrical equipment, contributing to power outages. Most...

First a foot of snow, then the plowed-in cars, and now frustrated New Yorkers are furious over mountains of trash piling up on city streets, as collection has been reduced by January’s massive winter storm. A reporter from the New York Post took in the “unsavory sights” of the aftermath and documented heaps of garbage bags and cardboard boxes littering the sidewalks as the Department of Sanitation was still playing catch-up in several neighborhoods since the winter onslaught. Garbage is not the only problem, as snowplows have tended to deposit high banks of the white stuff against cars parked along...

James Kpou was clutching his “senior citizen” fare card for this city’s vast network of buses, subways and light rail trains when he heard the announcement this week over the intercom at the 69th Street Transit Center. “Due to a lack of funding, reduced service on all Metro lines begins Aug. 24,” the announcement said. ---SNIP--- Transit agencies also can no longer rely on the billions of dollars of aid they received during the pandemic from the federal government. Philadelphia received $1.5 billion in federal funds, which were spent by June 2024. Meanwhile, fare revenue has climbed back to just...

Our 15-year-old son Noah is a baseball player. Baseball gear today can be quite expensive. A new (and sometimes even used!) quality bat or glove alone can easily cost several hundred dollars. For many years now, we’ve used Christmas and Noah’s birthday to provide him with a new bat or glove based on what he most wants or needs. If it’s not gift-giving time and Noah wants an expensive baseball item, he typically either waits or uses his own money (maybe with a little help from us) to purchase the item. If it’s the latter, Noah will often look for...