Robert Donachie, DCNF

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio once argued for a planned economy, claiming that the legal protection of private property is what is causing serious inequality in the city.

“What’s been hardest is the way our legal system is structured to favor private property. I think people all over this city, of every background, would like to have the city government be able to determine which building goes where, how high it will be, who gets to live in it, what the rent will be,” de Blasio told New York Magazine in September 2017.

“I think there’s a socialistic impulse, which I hear every day, in every kind of community, that they would like things to be planned in accordance to their needs,” de Blasio said. “And I would, too.”

De Blasio went on to say that it is unfortunate the law stands in the way of “hundreds of years of history” of Americans having the right to private property.

“Unfortunately, what stands in the way of that is hundreds of years of history that have elevated property rights and wealth to the point that that’s the reality that calls the tune on a lot of development,” de Blasio said.

The solution to fixing housing and other perceived ills in the city, according to de Blasio, is to rid itself of exclusionary private property rights.

“Look, if I had my druthers, the city government would determine every single plot of land, how development would proceed. And there would be very stringent requirements around income levels and rents. That’s a world I’d love to see, and I think what we have, in this city at least, are people who would love to have the New Deal back, on one level,” de Blasio told New York Magazine.

“They’d love to have a very, very powerful government, including a federal government, involved in directly addressing their day-to-day reality.”

De Blasio promised Monday at his second swearing-in as New York City mayor to usher the city into a “new progressive era” that will spread beyond the city’s “borders.”

“Something big is happening in New York City,” de Blasio told a crowd of hundreds gathered in front of City Hall Monday. The 56-year-old Democratic mayor announced a commitment to bring about “a new progressive era in this city’s history,” one that will be “felt beyond our borders.”

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