What policy would the Mayor of New York follow if he were only concerned with maximizing the value of taxable property? One staff member in the Mayor's office explained: "The Mayor would probably find that he would have to abolish rent control to encourage new private investment in the housing market. This investment would be primarily in luxury apartments in Manhattan for affluent singles, eventually displacing many poor and moderate income families, mainly from Harlem. We are now effectively paying $50,000 an apartment in development subsidies and foregone taxes to provide public housing in parts of Manhattan. If this same land were used for luxury housing, the increased tax yield would permit a vastly enlarged public housing program in other lower-cost areas."
The aide stressed that he was not advocating this policy because of the consequences it would have on furthering racial and economic segregation. Again, the City is faced with an optimal economic policy conflicting with desirable social ends.
The Mayor can't increase property tax rates knowing that the burden falls on the poor, and he can't significantly increase the property tax base knowing that it means dislocation and increased segregation. A pluralistic city is not necessarily an economically efficient one, but many will agree with John Lindsay that the price of this efficiency is worth paying.
That the cities cannot by themselves afford the price of a viable urban community has been a recurrent theme in the Lindsay camp, both in the primary last June and in the campaign leading to Lindsay's election.
In a pre-primary policy speech, Fioravante Perrotta, Lindsay's unsuccessful running mate for Controller, put it this way: "Let me begin by stating one principle all three of us share. The solution to the fiscal crisis of our cities cannot be found within the cities themselves.... There must be real help from the Federal government." Left unstated, but taken for granted, was that State help would also be needed.
EVERY December prior to the enactment of the New York State budget, John Lindsay has trekked to Albany to bang his head on the legislative wall. This past year he pleaded for help with his expected "gap in the budget" of over $500 million. Governor Rockefeller, "although expressing sympathy for New York City's fiscal problems," said he could not help Mr. Lindsay, for he too had a gap in his budget-$700 million.
New Yorkers were worried because they were not in a mood to pay higher taxes to help close the "gaps" of their Mayor and Governor. And the Mayor and the Governor were worried about raising taxes because they were planning to run for re-election.
So they decided to "pass the buck" to their neighbor down the street who had recently moved to the White House. The New York Times reported that a plea was made to the new Administration "to set everything straight by taking over full financial responsibility for welfare, setting aside a portion of Federal tax revenues to be given to cities and states on an unrestricted basis to help them pay for schools, police and fire protection, garbage collection and other services." The story was simple: Here comes John. Here comes Nelson. See Dick run.
On paper, it would appear that the President did not run very far, and even faced up to the problem. By August he had proposed a revenue sharing plan "asking that a set amount of Federal revenues be returned annually to the states to be used as the states and their local governments see fit-without Federal strings."
In reality, the Nixon Administration "boldly" recognized the problem, turned swiftly in the right direction, made a great fanfare, and then moved an inch.
In its first full year under this program, New York State would receive $117 million out of a $1 billion pot. New York City would then receive approximately $50 million of this, amounting to less than one per cent of its present budget.
In five years Nixon's plan would increase the central pot to $5 billion, resulting in New York City receiving about $250 million. But if the City's budget grows at the same pace that it has been growing for the last decade, from $2.2 billion to $6.6 billion, this still will not amount to more than two per cent of the City's budget.
Revenue sharing is Richard Nixon's version of tossing pennies in a fountain and making a wish... that John Lindsay and his urban problems go away.
Fortunately for urban America, John V. Lindsay won't go away... at least voluntarily. Now that he has been re-elected without Republican ties, the cities are his only constituency. We can be sure that he will persist in reminding the Administration of its urban obligations. But if the Administration is unresponsive, and if New York City's fiscal problems are as acute as they seem, Lindsay's victory will only be a "thumb-in-a-bursting-dike" holding action for New York.
I have visions of John Lindsay, downtrodden and in rags, standing before the main gate of the Pentagon accosting the President as he enters and leaves: "Pardon me, Sir. Could you spare a little change... just a billion or two. My city is starving."