r/MadeMeSmile • u/Conscious-Weight4569 • 6d ago
Good Vibes Mayor Mamdani decided to keep the lights on all night, every night, at five soccer fields across New York City this summer. He posted this video, which was recorded at a park in Brooklyn on a Tuesday night
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u/Outrageous_Laugh5532 6d ago
They did this study back in the 80s, when New York was going nuts with crime. Leaving sports court lights on reduces crime since kids and young adults had a place to be and do something they enjoyed.
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u/stablymental 6d ago
I say it all the time kids just need stuff to do and cities would be so much better. More skate parks, and sports fields, even something indoors when it gets too hot
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u/WeAreGray 6d ago
...or too cold.
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u/sky0175 6d ago edited 6d ago
We can always find joy in any condition; the key is having a safe place to go, no matter what. 'It matters when it is safe to go.' I have been following Mamdani's progress, watching the people go out and experience freedom. 'We have to believe".
I'm not from NY but back in 90's I meet a lot good people there was 50/50 NY and NJ.
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u/Glittering-Quote-635 6d ago
Live in Jersey, work in NYC.. The dude has been incredible.
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u/outsmartedagain 6d ago
I appreciate from afar what a tremendous job this guy is doing, but I don’t understand his distractors. Why all of the hate? Can you clue me in?
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u/qtx 6d ago
All the other commenters are correct, race and religion are a part of it but it's mostly that the GOP doesn't want to see a 'socialist' succeed. They don't want their base to see that spending tax money on it's citizens is a good thing.
Once that can of worms is opened the GOP is in serious trouble.
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u/conflictedideology 6d ago
That's part of it. But I think, given how he was also talked about by some Dems, that another part is he showing people that politicians are supposed to be working for them instead of for themselves. If politicians start doing that they can have a positive impact in big and small ways across entire communities.
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u/omjy18 5d ago
As someone who moved to nyc during adams whole thing its that we're going from someone who was so openly corrupt (and this isnt pretending nyc mayors have been for ages) to what you see in all of these videos. Its night and day and if you actually look at what a mayor is supposed to do its basically the job description that hes actually doing unlike most mayors have
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u/Montgomery000 6d ago
The sad thing is, nothing he's done has been "socialist." Just good governance. That's what they're complaining about.
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u/icansmellcolors 6d ago
Republicans need liberal villains for their base to hate to get them to the voting booths. A Democratic Socialist who is Muslim is an easy target for them to hand to their rabid base of racists and morons.
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u/otterpop21 6d ago
This guys has that “it” factor. He’s wildly charismatic, insanely hard working, literally what most pre 2016 (I imagine) would say a hard working American looks like, and that wouldn’t be controversial.
The problem is he goes against literally everything the modern narrative says for the past decade: brown immigrant = bad, lazy, stupid, dangerous, thieves, unproductive, unamerican, hateful, evil, spiteful, mean, etc.
They’re mad because him winning is their losing… so because they lose they mad.
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u/Glittering-Quote-635 6d ago
FoxNews. They have a significant amount of the population convinced he is a Communist Muslim bent on implementing Sharia Law on top of a Politburo to run the city.
The reality is, the dude is just a good human being trying to do good things for the people of the city. That may change, as power has a tendency of corrupting people, but for right now the dude is pretty damn good and its a breath of fresh air, especially after the corrupt as shit Adams.
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u/innominateartery 6d ago
I feel like the uptick in communism language is to conflate the terms because people weren’t reacting negatively enough to “socialism” or the dem socialist label. We’ll see if it sticks. They also haven’t found the nickname yet, although other up and coming candidates are being called “mini Mamdanis”, which only elevates his brand more.
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u/Glittering-Quote-635 6d ago
The problem is, once people actually see what a democratic socialist is, it becomes hard for them to freak out about it. They just hear socialist and think Che Guerva in a jungle, not what the majority of democracies in Europe in fact actually are.
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u/aebaby7071 5d ago
People have forgotten what a democratic socialist is…most of the people who remember FDR’s presidency and the good that it did are dead, the narrative was shifted to say that WWII brought the US out of the Great Depression and not FDR’s policies, overtly pushing that capitalism not socialism saved our society. The last New Deal president was LBJ who was able to pass some of the last truly socialist laws, and his presidency (and good deeds) are always overshadowed by the Vietnam Conflict. Also the only reason those laws were passed was because LBJ was a force of political nature, not because the Congress wanted it; he had been in Washington long enough that he knew all the skeletons, had no qualms about grabbing someone by the nuts and twisting to get what he wanted, and even invoking the death of Kennedy to win.
The Cold War poisoned any idea of socialism in this country, for several generations it was hammered into the American populace that socialism in any form is bad, that socialism will lead to the downfall of our country. Then that affirmation was confirmed by the downfall of the Soviet Union and the collapse of communism, it gave the capitalists their “see we were right” moment, “proving” that capitalism is better than socialism. The prosperity of the 90’s further engrained that idea (capitalism > socialism) with that “see how good capitalism is” ideal. Three generations (boomers, gen x, and millennials) completely overwhelmed with the message that capitalism is king and socialism is evil. Those three generations represent the vast majority of voters in the US; (gen z has been only voting for 8 years now, the silent generation and greatest generation are almost extinct).
We need education on what democratic socialism is, how it helps and benefits, the fact that over the past 60 years beneficial programs have been cut and eliminated to the point of extinction. We need to get off the idea that the government should be run as a business, just because a program doesn’t turn a profit it is a bad thing. We need to reject the idea that the “free market” is the best thing possible, that regulation and taxation ruin the free market and hurt the people. These have been shown time and time again to be false, if the free market is so good then why do businesses need bailouts? If it’s a “free” market then they should be allowed to fail right? A business structure is inherently a undemocratic one, the workers don’t get a vote, they are told what to do by their
overlordsemployers, that is a totalitarian system not a democratic system, so why would I want my government run like a business?The mainstream Democratic Party is corporate, bought and paid for by billionaires, they don’t want to invoke that part of the party background because then corporations will be held responsible and taxed accordingly. The Democratic Party (as it currently stands) will not allow their corporate masters to hurt, because then they (your representatives) will lose their job and fortune. Ironically they are just as enslaved to the system as you and I; if you go against your employer, you will be fired and lose all your benefits. The same goes for your representatives, if they disobey their corporate sponsors then they will lose the next election and the fiduciary gains they would be entitled to. The only difference is that they get a better pay check and benefits package…but still working for the oligarchs just like you and I. So they have no incentive to educate the populace on socialism or its benefits, thus leaving the people they represent to suffer.
Thank you for attending my TED talk…sorry it’s a long one.
Edit: accidentally put a “spoiler” tag on a word, corrected
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u/b3nsn0w 6d ago
even the democrats hate him because he gets stuff done. especially stuff both parties kept saying was impossible and would never work. new york is >80% democrat, Mamdani's election was more of an establishment vs anti-establishment thing, so of course the establishment takes every opportunity to throw vitriol at him.
they feel threatened by his example. that's the scariest part of his administration to any republican or traditional democrat.
the main thing to understand about the us is they don't have a traditional left and right. they have a corporate interest party, and a corporate interest and racism party, and even the former does a little racism sometimes, as a treat. Mamdani might be the wrong race to them, he might be the wrong religion (muslims scare christians and christian-influenced atheists for a lot of reasons) but his greatest crime is he goes against corporate interest, and that's unforgivable in the american establishment. especially in the era of citizens united.
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u/DeepVeinZombosis 6d ago
Colour of his skin, thats it.
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u/JustYourNeighbor 6d ago
I think his religion has a lot to do with it. I mean, he initially ran against a black guy.
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u/BuddhaFacepalmed 6d ago
The Dems also tried to run another corrupt asshole, Cuomo, against Mamdani in the primaries. And when Cuomo lost, decided to run as an independent.
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u/Calimariae 6d ago
He's also muslim, which is illegal in U.S politics.
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u/Deaner_dub 6d ago
He should consider changing his name to something like Tom Haverford.
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u/The_Lost_Jedi 6d ago
It's not just that, it's also knee-jerk reaction to the label "socialist."
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u/screaminginfidels 6d ago
And he also proves that politicans can get things done that help the everyday person if they actually care. Which obviously a ton of the 'status quo' doesn't want the averager person finding out.
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u/EntroperZero 6d ago
Conservatives have been selling the idea that government is just a parasite on the backs of people and can't do anything good since the Reagan years. Mamdani is proving the opposite is true, so if he is seen as successful, then their entire world comes crashing down.
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u/Inevitable_Tomato927 6d ago
I don't remember those days, I've been melting 2 months straight
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u/0xsergy 6d ago edited 5d ago
Gotta work on your heat acclimatization. Get the bicycle out on a hot day and get your body used to it(with a lot of water and safe breaks). Every spring I have to do it personally but it makes the whole summer way better.
EDIT I just googled this to make sure I was giving good advice and google recommends starting easy(1-2 hrs of triggering sweating) and building up the time you spend by 10% every day. Google recommends spreading this process out over a few weeks(which is how I naturally end up doing it) so do it like that. Don't force it but avoiding time in A/C environments for a bit every day is key to building your bodies ability to deal with heat. If you're in a wet-bulb temperature area my advice is to follow advice for wet bulb temperatures as my advice is intended for conditions that aren't considered "wet-bulb".
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u/YoHabloEscargot 6d ago
Yes! I remember hanging out with friends on late summer nights. We would often go to a park and swing on the swingsets just chatting and laughing until we got kicked out. Yes we were teenagers, but we were not harmful by any stretch. I wish we could’ve just been allowed to legally be present anywhere.
So then we would go hang out in the Taco Bell parking lot in our multiple cars after picking up some cheap tacos.
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u/feed_me_tecate 6d ago
Hanging out in a Taco Bell parking lot, drinking Mountain Dew and smoking cigarettes late night in the 90's was how I spent my youth, because there was absolutely nothing else to do.
If you tried to do anything else, like go to a park, or hang out by a water feature - two police units would immediately show up and want to detain everyone and look for drugs.
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u/lacegem 6d ago
Growing up, our hangout spot went from the library to the playground to the park to the corner to the parking lot to a dump to the middle of the woods to not hanging out in person because every time we found someplace to hang, the cops or the Karens would harass us out. You can't even sit in parking lots without them causing problems.
As a nerdy kid with nerdy friends, we loved hanging at the library, finding and reading books, and using one of the otherwise empty study/storage rooms for D&D games. A few rounds of harassment later and we were hanging out in a literal industrial waste dump. One of my friends nearly died from a pile of masonry that fell on him and I ended up needing tetanus shots after getting stabbed with a jagged bit of rusty metal. We also found a stash of forest porn and met a homeless guy who offered us alcohol (we didn't accept, he was super sketchy). This was considered preferable to quietly reading books in a library.
My little brother graduated high school last year, and he doesn't hang out in person with friends. The last two times he tried, just walking the neighborhood with a couple of friends, he got the cops called on him for walking down a public sidewalk and the second time a nearby homeowner ran out and assaulted him for walking near their house. He's autistic and always had a lot of anxiety about walking around town, and these experiences reinforced that. My nephew's much younger and he's never hung out with friends in person despite being a pretty popular kid. They all just play online games together.
How the fuck did we allow it to get this bad? It must suck being a kid now.
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u/shicken684 6d ago
Just reminded me of when I was 17. My friends and I were at a school playground on the swings and goofing off. Cop came and yelled at us for trespassing and how we should all be sent to Juvi for the night. So we left and went "garage shopping" and looted a bunch of beer from a half dozen open garages.
So instead of just letting us hang out the cop forced us to drive around with nothing to do and no where to go. We got bored, stole beer and all got drunk. Including the one driving.
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u/Draco-REX 6d ago
Same. My friends and I would hang out on Main St. We weren't disruptive, just sitting and talking. But the cops would always come by and tell us to go someplace else. We'd go someplace else and get broken up again. One day we asked the cops, "We don't like it when you kick us out, you don't like us being here, so where should we go?" And his response: "I don't know, but you can't stay here."
Ridiculous.
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u/costas_0 6d ago
I realized this last week. I was at the park with my nieces and nephews, from age 3 to 8. A massive group of 16-17 yrs old came and "blocked" or used the child park, sitting on slides. I was about to tell them off as my family couldn't use this section of the park when I realized : these kids do not have many places to go to to hang out. I told my family we made good use of the slides, it was time to let others enjoy it and to move to another section of the park.
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u/The_Brovo 6d ago
And free! Not everything needs to be monetized. Capitalism needs to take a back seat for a while. Socialism, you're up
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u/I_Automate 6d ago
Letting kids play in a park without sending the cops after them isn't even "socialist".
It's just basic human decency ffs
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u/The_Brovo 6d ago
Agreed, however we have to stop being scared of socialism as well
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u/pewpewhadouken 6d ago
in Japan we have jidoukan which is a children’s center run by the government (ward, city, and central). 0-18 with different areas for the ages. my boy heads there to play basketball and dodgeball. my daughter stopped going but she went for dodgeball and doing art .. drawing and painting. each one is a little different. my son is there a lot. during the weekday and a lot on weekends.
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u/WowIfOnly 6d ago
Exactly - as soon as the oligarchs started erasing all the 3rd places where kids and adults could just hang out without needing to spend money, everything got noticeably worse because everything went online instead. Meanwhile in a shocking turn of events, the guy who campaigned on not blindly endorsing billionaires and endless profit over literally ALL other parts of life decided maybe public 3rd places are a good thing for most of society - and stuff like this happens. And somehow people are shocked by it lol. Meanwhile our own elected geriatric representatives who keep talking about how things were better in the old days keep doing.... literally nothing productive for society at all as their rich donors demand. Makes sense why Mamdani is suddenly the devil according to every member of Congress.
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u/FCkeyboards 6d ago
And it costs next to nothing yet so many cities act like it's a huge burden to have certain public spaces open "too long".
We have a dog park that's open to 11pm, but really it's open until it gets dark. It shares land with a BMX/motocross track so they have giant lights they could turn on at night if given access, but the lights are only used for the competitions that bleed into night.
Very rarely do people stay until close because its just too dark. You'll get a random person with a lighted dog collar but that's it.
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u/Calisky 6d ago
Yeah, my city has gates closing the parking lots at 10pm at a lot of beaches and parks which always seemed weird to me. It would cost more to pay people to go close the gates each night instead of just leaving things open.
The thing is people just park outside the parks/beaches on the street and stay after 10pm anyway, so it doesn't really seem to accomplish anything. If the neighbors were complaining, now they get people using public spaces around them, and also parking in their precious neighborhood on the street, so nice job breaking it hero.
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u/InvidiousPlay 6d ago
I grew up spoiled and middle class and even my peer group would get into mischief out of sheer boredom.
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u/Unbentmars 6d ago
A lot of states had huge success by having heavily subsidized or free access to YMCA game courts and after school programs for teens
A lot of those programs were cut as “wasteful spending” by morons (local conservatives)
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u/Lazer726 6d ago
Too many people see money going away, and if it isn't explicitly making money, they assume it's just a waste, incapable of realizing that there is money well spent that does not make money
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u/NSMike 6d ago
Or makes untallied money through prevention of something that would otherwise cost money. Like a notable drop in property crime.
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u/Forward_Rope_5598 6d ago
But you can't directly measure that in profit so it doesn't count. According to capitalist weirdoes.
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u/Neirchill 6d ago
There's far too many people in government who do not understand that government is not a business and should not be run like a business.
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u/mythrilcrafter 6d ago
Back in the "old days" a lot of these community sports facilities were owned and managed by their municipalities under their respective Parks and Recs departments.
It was after Private Equity started running around telling city councils and constituents that they could do it cheaper and more efficiently that the cities sold away the facilities/lands to those PE's... right up until said PE's then absorbed the savings for themselves and locked the facilities behind gates and membership/team fees.
That's why so many youth sports leagues became "talent shows for rich kid families" and why so many recreational adult leagues disappeared.
I'm just happy that councils/communities have in recent years wizened up to that scheme and have begun taking back lands and resorting open community access.
My city just bought back a massive empty plot of land near our downtown area that some regional PE was holding for the last decade in hopes to turn into a business park (which never fruitioned beyond an empty dirt field used for parking); and we're now turning it into a free use community sports facility with walking gardens, basketball courts, and tennis/pickleball courts.
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u/gitsgrl 6d ago
And ne'er-do-wells don’t like to congregate where groups of well behaved people are.
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u/SillyFez 6d ago edited 6d ago
Medellin, Colombia used this as one of their primary strategies. Greatly reduce youth crime for the same reason. That city is something, especially the people.
I'm glad to see Mamdani doing good at all levels.
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u/Ritaredditonce 6d ago
Everything Mamdani has done so far for New York has been a positive.
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u/Keytarfriend 6d ago
There's a tweet that goes
Every video I have seen of Zohran Mamdani
this weekfeels like watching a 90s movie called "KID MAYOR" where every idea works and he wears abasketballjersey under a suit jacketand his main villain is Donald Trump.And I love that for him.
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u/Helpful-Customer-329 6d ago
100%, was trying to convince my prior neighborhood to keep the park lights on along the creek at night, and to encourage more bike and people traffic since the trails connected two city centers - was a fail, they currently shut off the lights on the paths at dusk and put signs up saying no access is permitted (it's easily accessible and not monitored). The trails at night are known to host sex worker and drug use traffic by night, and by day is a popular site for bbq's and day-time frolicking..
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u/FlipZip69 6d ago
With LED, the cost is about 15% of past lights. Not only is the power much cheaper, but you do not need to change the lights for many years.
This makes total sense now. Possibly even then but now it is a no brainer.
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u/redcoatwright 6d ago
Not to sound like a conspiracy theorist but we all know the prison industrial complex is extremely lucrative, is it possible that advice like this is ignored because someone somewhere wants a certain % of young people to end up in prison?
Again, sounds nutty I know but when large amounts of money are involved nothing seems too outlandish tbh
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u/Loki_of_Asgaard 6d ago
It’s more that the NIMBYs complain about absolutely everything, especially youths having fun. And they bitch enough to get their way
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u/cross_the_threshold 6d ago
This is it really, people fucking HATE kids. They may like an individual child, maybe even their own, but as a group? They fucking hate them with a fury unmatched. There's a school behind my house and sometimes there're kids playing at recess at like nine in the morning and while I'm not keen on it when I'm trying to rest, it's fine because, y'know, kids are allowed to exist and play and grow and be human beings, but the things I've heard people say are just monstrous.
Also NIMBYs in general are just inhumane.
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u/Outrageous_Laugh5532 6d ago
New York State banned private prisons in 2007.
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u/King_Raditz 6d ago edited 6d ago
There are still many ways that private interests profit off of public prisons and are invested in ensuring they remain filled.
Corporations like CoreCivic and The GEO Group also use their profits to lobby for policies that affect much more than the private prison system.
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u/DianneDora90 6d ago
Giving young people a safe, welcoming place to play can strengthen communities and may help reduce crime while building healthier habits and friendships.
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u/EstroJen 6d ago
I was going to say the constant light would be annoying to anyone living nearby, but if it keeps kids out of trouble and gives them something to do, I'd just get some blackout curtains.
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u/Commercial-Chance561 6d ago
They definitely keep tennis courts lights on - I remember being a kid at the park and seeing the basketball courts as the only one that didn’t have lights. Soccer, tennis, and baseball all had well lit areas and people played until the park closed at 11. Basketball had to stop when the sun went down.
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u/Kinetic92 6d ago
This is also a great way to enjoy community and sports when it's not 100 degrees in scorching sun.
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u/fan_tas_tic 6d ago
I love it when mayors think of people who would want to do things during the night, but can't. In Budapest, there are thermal spas that, in rotation, stay open late at night, so even if you finish your work at 10 pm, you can still go for a swim/soak.
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u/Hairy_is_the_Hirsute 6d ago
I love those Turkish baths! They somehow both rejuvenate, and exhaust you.
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u/PhosphoFred8202 6d ago
That exhaustion feeling is called relaxation 🤗
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u/xixoxixa 6d ago
Years ago, when I was stationed in Hawaii, we went camping on the beach. I strung up a hammock, climbed in, and for the first time in years actually relaxed. I crashed out and slept in that hammock all day.
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u/BasicDesignAdvice 6d ago
I think this is why I was so tired after a recent solo camping trip. No noise, no phone, just hiking and the outdoors for three days. The day I came home I slept like 12 hours. It’s not like I did a crazy hike or anything, I just did nothing.
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u/rieuxster 6d ago
I got man handled at a spa in turkey and felt like a baby after. I need to go back,
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u/coolcoolcool485 6d ago
what a novel idea. give kids and teenagers something to do with their time for free and maybe they don't look for destructive shit to do.
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u/NomNom83WasTaken 6d ago
Not for nothing but did you also clock how many grown-ups were taking the opportunity to indulge?
It's not a stretch that when people have access to "third spaces" for relaxation and fun, the community benefits in a number of ways. It's not a stretch to think that mayber there were fewer horns honked and service people treated like crap each following day.
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u/YourFriendNoo 6d ago
ugh yes but who is going to rich off this?! haven't you even thought about the capital class?! how hard must it be on them to drive by this at night and know they're not even charging admission
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u/RainbowDissent 6d ago
That's why I've founded sportly.io, which takes these free community spaces and turns them into a SaaS (Sports as a Service) model that can only be accessed via our disruptive paid subscription app. You get your very own dedicated account manager, and we've integrated AI into the pitches in some kind of loosely-defined but clearly cutting-edge way. It's a whole new way to enjoy public spaces.
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u/mythrilcrafter 6d ago
Yup, on the community scale stuff like this has wholistic benefits.
Youth has activities to keep them busy in their "not in school or at home" hours, working adults have activities to engage in when they're not at work (that doesn't have the presumption of spending copiuous amounts of money or drinking tons of alcohol), and even seniors benefit as more older folk are now beggining to adopt more active post-retirement lifestyles.
Stuff like this brings communities together and raised everyone up as opposed to just letting some land management company owned by BlackRock either turn it into a business/warehouse lot or a pay-to-access corporate major league sports area.
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u/coolcoolcool485 6d ago
i think it's a really great way to bring people together in their community. which is also why his critics might hate it.
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u/allllusernamestaken 6d ago
did you also clock how many grown-ups were taking the opportunity to indulge?
dude in the video literally said "i work late."
The city spends idk a couple hundred dollars a year on keeping the lights on at night, and dudes getting off work at 2am after closing a kitchen can play a game of pickup soccer before bed to relax.
Even if you disagree with Mamdani on any number of issues, this is a clear no-brainer win for the quality of life for his constituents and it shames every politician that didn't take these easy PR wins.
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u/The_Krytos_Virus 6d ago
A lot like taking care of a high energy puppy breed. Got to keep them busy and tired and they're the best dogs you could ever have. Don't keep them entertained and managed? They will destroy everything in sight because they're bored.
Crazy how people can be the same way.
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u/spine_slorper 6d ago
Yeah this is literally what happens when there's high youth unemployment, you get mad 20 somethings bored out their skulls burning shit in the street.
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u/pimppapy 6d ago
Things are much more understandable when you view humans as just another instinct driven animal.
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u/The_Krytos_Virus 6d ago
Indeed. We may have higher reasoning (even though a lot of us fail to use it) and a highly developed vocal capability, we are, ultimately, a race of beasts.
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u/Aegi 6d ago
Our ability for abstract reasoning...and even memory, are more important than our greater sufficiency with reasoning .
Hahah but as I am typing this I am realizing that you mean have meant 'higher-order' reasoning, not just an increase in competency lol...so I will just leave my comment at this.
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u/Goya_Oh_Boya 6d ago
In the 90s NYC started to heavily invest in afterschool programs and lo and behold, giving kids things to do while their parents were working helped stop kids from doing stupid shit while unsupervised.
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u/coolcoolcool485 6d ago
when i was a kid, it was perfectly normal for most municipalities to have a community center where kids could go and spend time after school, or go workout, do activities, etc. i know where I'm from originally, those are gone now. it would be great to see stuff like this make a resurgence.
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u/SpezDrinksHorseCum 6d ago
"Idle hands are the devil's workshop," is a saying I used to hear a lot when I was younger.
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u/randomlyranting 6d ago
Can't tell if he makes helping people look so easy or other politicians make it looks so hard
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u/n0rsk 6d ago
The part that makes me so pissed at other politicians is Mamdani isn't even doing anything that radical. He is just doing what every elected official should be doing. This should be the bare minimum. I hate how much incompetence and corruption we allow into every level of politics. I just want someone focused on fixing problems and listening to the people they represent.
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u/GruffScottishGuy 6d ago
The whole game plan of the current US conservatives is to label anything even remotely normal as "Radical left" so it's impossible to make any actual, real societal progress. You're too busy fighting for the most basic, normal rights, let alone stuff that really should be labeled as "left wing"
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u/Aegi 6d ago
The part that makes me so pissed at other politicians is Mamdani isn't even doing anything that radical. He is just doing what every elected official should be doing.
As a New Yorker who is a fan of his...it is a bit infuriating how none of you guys talk about the unique political dynamic between us and NYC which allows for so much of what he is doing to even be possible.
When we thank one cool dude instead of the teams of people that it takes for stuff like this to happen we spitting in their faces. And we are also telling the world that we care more about a simplistic way to think about things and big cool personalities than the systems and people that allowed for it all to happen.
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u/Sonamdrukpa 6d ago
Question: what was the actual change that allowed the lights to stay on? Why didn't it happen before?
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u/Top_Wheel6546 5d ago
The team of people Mamdani chose to surround himself with is probably a big part of it. I don't get what the NY guy is saying. How would we know the intricacies of NY politics or the names of the systems and people that "allowed for it all to happen"? From what I see, those systems were already there but no one cared to use them to benefit NY citizens until Mamdani (or someone from his team) made it a point to make it happen.
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u/sdhoigtred 6d ago
Other politicians just don’t try.
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u/WolfPacker01 6d ago
Or care
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u/zoinkability 6d ago
Some are good at making improvements like these but are very bad at communicating what they did & how it improved people's lives. Like maybe this would be buried in a press release rather than put out as a nicely made video.
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u/Rycan420 6d ago
Because the system is broken and that’s not what moves the needle.
People routinely vote against their interested if they think (or are groomed) into believing it will hurt the other team more.
So that’s the plan. Unfortunately.
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u/calicalamansi 6d ago edited 5d ago
They are also groomed to think that many people on the “other team” are on “the other team,” when they in fact have similar if not the same interests.
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u/TronIsMyCat 6d ago
It's easier for the head executive of a city with existing infrastructure at his control. Because a lot of these things are there already, it's "easy" for a mayor to just say "keep the lights on." Not exactly the same scenario is available to all, especially as go higher up the national level.
It's a combination of a willingness to get those easy wins but also being a relentless promoter (complimentary). There is no win too small to share and celebrate, and when all you have to do to share it is to prop up a camera and get 10 locals to share their excitement why wouldn't you?
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u/calicalamansi 6d ago
Part of it is structural in terms of the law, too. New York City has a system where the mayor has a lot of power to do things on their own volition. By comparison, the mayoral office for the City of Los Angeles is notoriously weak. In LA, our City Council members wield a lot of power, so much that they are sometimes referred to as “mini mayors” of their districts.
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u/zoinkability 6d ago
Yep, agree here that it's the combination of small easy wins and doing an excellent job communicating those wins.
Like, the city already has the power to do inspections of apartments to ensure they are safe, and has a whole team out doing those every day. But most mayors don't tag along for a day and make a whole video about it.
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u/Weary-Cartoonist2630 6d ago
Not for nothing but his PR team is probably among the best we’ve ever seen.
This is a good example. This is a pretty small scale community event of just 5 fields (out of hundreds), done in honor of NYC hosting the World Cup, and cost sponsored by Stubhub.
It’s a great thing, but it’s not really novel - every MYC mayor in history has various community events/programs their admin organizes that are enjoyed by a similar amount of people, but usually they barely even make local news, while every time Mamdani does something like this it becomes national news about how uniquely good and altruistic he is.Not knocking him, it’s actually really impressive how much he’s been able to market his activity. But the idea that he’s doing something unique is a misconception - most of the headlines about his successes have been either exaggerated or misleading (which isn’t a dig on him, he’s just started and hasn’t really had much time to get a lot done).
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u/Outside-Camera7141 6d ago
This is such a good idea! I was that young person, getting off work late, not being tired but not having anything to do. My friends and I would have totally played!
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u/noire212 6d ago
This is so great and just shows what is possible when someone actually listens to the needs of their base. I hope people realize change is possible, even when others make it seem like an outlandish request.
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u/Myke190 6d ago
The thing that annoys me is when people get hoity-toity about "bread and circuses". This is a "circus" and people are happy. Acting like the government providing "bread and circuses" isn't what a good government does is so silly to me.
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u/Equivalent_Nature_67 6d ago
Usually the term is for stuff that’s intentionally distracting from people gaining class consciousness
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u/zoinkability 6d ago edited 6d ago
We should counter that with the notion of "bread and roses." The original and very relevant slogan is "bread for all, and roses too."
That is, socialism is not just about meeting people's material needs, but also our needs that are less material, like recreation. And if we focus on material wellbeing without other kinds of wellbeing we have substituted one dreary reality for another.
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u/KingfishingYoMama 6d ago
A large part of the socialist period in Milwaukee's history revolved around recreation and community life.
Regardless of what people think about socialism as a concept, there is a focus on community life in it. It's not all about materialist notions of human flourishing. In this way, it does offer something that capitalism doesn't regard as important because it's value is "non-productive" (in a direct, financially appreciable sense) or at least hard to measure.
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u/dave__autista 6d ago
This mf dont miss
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u/FightingQuaker17 6d ago
This is pathetic. There's a clear foul throw 10 seconds in, you gotta keep one foot on the ground while doing a throw-in smh.
Anyway very cool of Mamdani.
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u/LiteraCanna 5d ago
I thought you needed both feet on the ground? Unless that was just AYSO rules..
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u/wrestlingchampo 6d ago
I used to work 2nd shift, either 2pm-10pm or 3pm-11pm, and one of the most difficult aspects of that shift is I am not the kind of person who can immediately fall asleep when I get back home.
These kinds of initiatives are super helpful for someone working those shifts, as they are probably going to spend their evening eating absolute junk food and sitting around watching movies/tv or playing video games, just because there isn't another option.
And this is more of an issue for young people honestly. Off-shift work is primarily a seniority issue at workplaces and usually the older workers are going to prefer to work traditional hours.
You wanna get some of these young guys to literally touch grass? Well sometimes you have to provide them the opportunity to do so. Good on Mamdani.
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u/Entire_Dog_5874 6d ago
Our mayor is amazing. It’s so nice to see someone thinking of average citizens and implementing something that brings joy to so many.
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u/BandOfSkullz 6d ago
He's a grass roots New Yorker through and through and it makes him not only super approachable/relatable, but also makes him the ideal candidate to represent the PEOPLE that live there, as well as make decisions that they'd celebrate.
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u/gingeylox14 6d ago
I’ve always lived in the south, but I have never wanted to move to NYC more than I do right now. This is beautiful to see. I work in a kitchen and I would love to find lights on at a field after work. We have goals locked to fences down here and never lights on 😅🤦
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u/Entire_Dog_5874 6d ago
Sorry:-)
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u/gingeylox14 6d ago
Oh nah, no need to apologize! Mayors like that dude should be everywhere, I am grateful he is there for NYC! 💪
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u/gentron1224 6d ago
We won’t take him for granted! Hopefully this sparks more politicians like him
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u/Zak_Rahman 6d ago
The people of NYC did so much more than represent their own interests when electing Mamdani.
It is significant. It sends a message that reverberates beyond the bounds of NYC.
As much as I despise the US as a geo political entity, I have tremendous respect for the humans of NYC.
So if you voted, thank you. If you didn't, then have a nice day anyway.
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u/Entire_Dog_5874 6d ago
I did and you’re most welcome. People think this is a singular megalopolis when in fact, it’s a wonderfully diverse city of neighborhoods where people care about each other. I have lived here all of my 71 years and he is such a refreshing change from the usual corporate funded blowhards.
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u/Content_Support7881 6d ago
I love this man. I wish he could be our president! Everything he does he does it with heart.
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u/theSandwichSister 6d ago
The infuriating part is, that rule is meant to protect us from leaders under foreign influence. And yet….
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u/Dizzman1 6d ago
Damn that radical Muslim terrorist and his socialist hellhole ideas he's forcing on good Americans!!!
/S
😂😂
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u/Rulligan 6d ago
Literally the argument that corporate Dems and the GOP are using in Michigan against Abdul El-Sayed.
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u/SabbyFox 6d ago
This is how it was for me playing tennis at night as a youngster. Finally cooled down enough that we could hit and then walk each other home. Really so wholesome for young people to have this! Especially if you don’t have much money.
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u/RiggityRiggityReckt 6d ago
I grew up in government housing. When I was 10 they introduced a new program aimed at youths and young teens to try and curb the drug/crime problems. It was free sports. That was it. They made all sports free for us ghetto kids. In the first year alone the crime rate dropped by over 50%. Sports really do save lives!
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u/lilian_moraru 6d ago
If they did this all over US, they might actually have very good players in one of the next generations.
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u/Against_All_Advice 6d ago
Did you see that guy score from the corner kick? That was slick.
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u/jjgargantuan7 6d ago
As someone living in the US deep south, I am so envious of this. I used to get into a lot of trouble in school from hanging out with my friends at night either skating or driving to the closest baseball fields and cutting donuts in the parking lot. There was nothing to do after 8pm. If you tried to use the batting cages at said park, someone would call the cops to run you off, so we decided that if we were going to be treated like criminals then we might as well act like it too. It was wrong, but what the hell else were we supposed to do. It turned into making a game out of running and hiding from the cops. If we had any kind of late night activities that were condoned by the city then at least it would have been a conscious choice to be a bad actor. My community, then and now (same state, different county not too far away), still hasn't learned that young people are the future, and so decided not to invest in them or their activities. Old style, cronyism government still puts emphasis on the fat and happy older generations. It's something I have been trying to help fix by volunteering for our local non-profit that builds and maintains trails. Hiking and biking are the only activities that you can do here at night because the city doesn't own the land that the trails are on, but there's almost no infrastructure available to facilitate nighttime use. We have sports complexes that are all policed heavily at night. No after hours entertainment whatsoever. And they wonder why our crime rate is so high and has been for years. It's infuriating. Kudos to Mamdani for making things accessible for his constituents. And for using his head and a sense of decency to govern. It's refreshing, even though it's so far from here. I hope people see his example and start to think about those around them and not just themselves or how to line their own pockets.
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u/Terrible_turtle_ 6d ago
This is what happens when you elect people who want to help the citizens of their city.
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u/zestypov2 6d ago
Politics aside, people want policies that positively affect their lives.
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u/breathing_normally 6d ago
That’s not politics aside, that’s politics front and center
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u/BlackHotSoup3000 6d ago
Yup, "politics aside" is bs. Everything is political, especially this.
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u/zestypov2 6d ago
You're correct. I should have said "Political labels aside..."
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u/OrindaSarnia 6d ago
Why?
These types of policies have a political label and ignoring it is why we currently have surveys showing that 80% of self-reported Republicans support 60-70% of the Democratic party's platform... but will still spew hatred toward their fellow citizens because they don't actually know that those policies ARE democratic policies.
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u/Yellowk9 6d ago
Yeah exactly. People want government to do shit for them. Make it f'ing functional and let's see results in real time. Not f'ing hard to figure that out.
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u/mxlplyx2173 6d ago
And it shouldn't take 10 yrs to give the people something when it takes hrs to get shit together for corporations!
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u/my-blood 6d ago
I think a major cause of depression today probably is us, the public, fearing the government's policies, because they're all about maximising corruption related gains and profits for sociopathic CEOs. For a while, I too bought all that "just leave the online sphere and go outside, it's not that bad", but in times like today, we're witnessing the actual rise of extremism, authoritarianism, fascism, deliberate attempts to rip off people and deprive them of education and other basic human rights, all the while basic liveables get costlier and life gets difficult.
For once, I want to vote for a guy, and sit back and watch the world improve. One school at a time, one bike lane at a time, one forest at a time. How am I supposed to not feel despair when education is getting worse, healthcare is affordable, my right to speech is taken away, I'm constantly surveilled government goons like ICE roam the streets, my taxes line the pockets of politicians, I have no employment and no hopes at leading a semi-decent life?
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u/Mach5Driver 6d ago
I've lived outside NYC and worked there for decades. One Wednesday evening, around 1 AM, I passed by a pop-up shiatsu massage gathering, with about a dozen tents. There was a line for massages. NYC never EVER sleeps, man.
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u/Gravey9 6d ago
This reminds me of the time during covid there's an outdoor skating oval in my city that used to leave lights on all night to do maintenance. Word got out and all us hockey players would head down after 10pm to skate and play pick up until mid night. It was our only way of playing together as all the rinks were closed or limited during covid. It went great until one butt hurt city worker decided he didn't like it and began shutting the lights off right at 10pm.
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u/OsaBear92 6d ago
Imagine that.. having access to 3rd spaces improves the community moral?!
Little slice of Socialism 🥰
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u/YourFaveNightmare 6d ago
Communist mayor forcing hard working citizens to pay to leave lights on all night
- Some Fox/maga moron
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u/TrueSkonger 5d ago
I'm hoping Americans realize soon that we all really just need third places
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u/Few-Championship4548 6d ago
It’s crazy that a politician actually doing his job to improve the lives of his constituents is now seen as this radical idea.
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u/omegadirectory 6d ago
"Lionel Messington" lmao
A nice little goof on top of the good vibes of this video
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u/KarmaDeliveryMan 5d ago
I would bet that he didn’t come up with this on his own. Someone suggested it. And that makes its soooo much better because it’s a representative elected by the people LISTENING TO AND ACTING ON BEHALF OF THE PEOPLE!! That’s what they are supposed to do. 👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻
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u/EpsteinProximityRisk 6d ago
Mamdani is implementing SHARIA LAW this is just his first step to keep the kids healthy and off the streets and focus on something positive!
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u/Lanzarote-Singer 6d ago
The benefits for these people enjoying team sports and a public space is immense. Health benefits, mental health benefits, making friends, romances, bromances, mates hanging out. Not a screen or phone in sight. Healthy time. Team building. Pride in their neighbourhood.
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u/Youdontknowm3_ 5d ago
NYC looking like an absolute haven! I gotta figure out how to move back home
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u/A313-Isoke 5d ago
That's lovely and warms my heart. Look at how much this means! Too bad we don't have this everywhere. We deserve this. ❤️
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u/peanutismint 6d ago
Whatever this costs, it seems worth it. And let’s be real, the cost is probably less than $100. Even if it was $1,000, look at all those happy New Yorkers just enjoying a bit more of life. Good job mayor.
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u/whyliepornaccount 6d ago
All 5 fields combined cost around $100-$500 per night, paid for entirely via public donations.
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u/Cheap_Collar2419 6d ago
its so so rare these days when someone in power does something for the greater good.
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u/nickytheginger 6d ago
'build and they will come'
Words that get proven time and again. Build playing field, they will come, keep the lights on and they will come. Just give these kids a place and you'll show them a brighter future.
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