BUCK ENNIS
POLITICS
SLIWA’S ECCENTRIC CASE FOR MAYOR
Here’s a look at the unorthodox platform—from cryptocurrency to crime—of a uniquely New York character BY BRIAN PASCUS
C
urtis Sliwa's run for mayor comes as no surprise. The fixture of the city’s AM radio circuit and icon of vigilante justice is using his platform as a candidate to wage an unorthodox crusade that mixes the serious with the silly and leaves the man who wears the most famous red beret in town with no shortage of headlines. Sliwa spent one afternoon at Gracie Mansion mocking Mayor Bill de Blasio by holding a 10-pound meatball to call attention to the mayor’s perceived blind spots. And he rode the city’s subway system for 24 hours to draw attention to what he claims is a rise in crimes committed on mass transit. (The Metropolitan Transportation Authority reports that from January through September, major felonies in the subway system were down 13.8% year over year.)
As he wages an underdog battle against Democratic nominee Eric Adams, whose $9 million in private donations dwarf Sliwa's $994,000, the WABC talk-show host has announced policies that have turned heads, raised eyebrows and left
“EVERY TIME I SPEAK TO BUSINESSPEOPLE, THEY SWALLOW THEIR THROAT” more than a few people in stunned silence. “Every time I speak to businesspeople,” said Sliwa, the 67-year-old founder of the Guardian Angels public safety group and Republican nominee for mayor, “they swallow
their throat.” If members of the business community are gulping, they have their reasons. The Upper West Side resident views a return-to-work policy as pointless. He proposes paying city workers with cryptocurrency. He wants to revoke Madison Square Garden’s property tax carve-out and experiment with universal basic income to the tune of $1,100 a month for two years. Sliwa, moreover, is pessimistic about New York’s chances of recovering from the Covid-19 crisis. He argues that lockdowns and remote work have changed the way employees conduct business and have altered the construction of the city’s tax base, putting a traditional economic recovery out of reach. “It’s going to happen, but nowhere near the expectations See SLIWA on page 22 OCTOBER 25, 2021 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 3
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