Sunday afternoon: I am riding the subway back to my apartment. The subway is filled with people---all very busy. Suddenly I ask myself: What if I saw someone wearing a button saying "No Third Term for Mike Bloomberg". What would I do, or think?
"Well, it would certainly be odd, sort of out of place", I tell myself. And that's the point. Although this mayoral election is of incredible importance to the citizens of the city, although the mayor has simply by his own force of will, demanded to run for a third term, its hard to discern any feeling in the air that there is somethng wrong with this. Or worse, people seem to be living in a blissful ignorance that simply avoids the issue altogether. I meet young actors and artists in Williamsburg. "Well, I have only been in the city a few years, I really havn't followed city politics much" is one of the responses I have gotten. On the upper west side, a seasoned rent stablized sixty-something says "I am aginst it", when I remind him the Mayor is running for a third term, but when I bring up a few specific objections to the Mayor's policies, policies which might effect his life in the next few years, he seems in the dark. So I find myself in New York, which is supposed to be one of the most sophistocated cities in the world, surrounded by people, people whom I consider very friendly and idealistic, who simply have not involved themselves in the possible reelection of Mayor Bloomberg and its ramifications.
What is to be done? Well, every time I meet a friend or acquaintance on the street, I try to bring the issue up, and mention (sometimes with some trepidation) that I am doing some volunteer work for the mayor's possible opponents. Mostly this meets with approval, still, most people I speak to need information---many don't recognize the names of Tony Avella or William Thompson, the two declared Democratic party candidates when I mention them, or what exactly they are offering that is different from the current Mayor. Last Sunday when I was out registering voters, the anti-Bloomberg sentiment was quiet, but present. Still, there is an sense of laissez-faire, an attitude of "well, it won't effect my life that much anyway". How can this be changed?