The New York Post editorial board ripped Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., after she complained that New York City was too expensive for "working-class people."
The board agreed that the lawmaker was right but pointed the blame at her for pushing the very policies that have made the city too expensive.
The editorial, published Tuesday, began by stating, "For once, AOC is right: ‘They can’t afford to live here anymore,’ she said Monday of working-class Gothamites. The thing is, it’s the policies that she and her progressive allies want more of that have made the city so expensive."
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Ocasio-Cortez made her comments during a town hall meeting this week, arguing that it wasn’t the rich who were feeling the heat of the expense but working-class people.
"The people who are moving out of the city are not by and large the wealthiest people. They’re the working class. They can’t afford to live here anymore," she said, while making a pitch to tax the city’s rich more.
The editorial ripped AOC’s sympathy for the working class, blaming her and her political allies for pushing policies that have caused the current crisis, like pushing for allowing immigrants into the country that have inundated New York in particular.
"Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who represents parts of the Bronx and Queens, is, after all, a Democratic Socialist. Look at what occasioned the digital town hall where she spoke: recently announced cuts across city agencies. Why are these needed? To pay for the migrants AOC and her ilk demand we admit in infinite numbers, and house and feed forever at a cost of more than $12 billion through fiscal 2025," the editorial stated.
It then mentioned progressives’ housing policies: "What about housing? A recent survey shows a third of New Yorkers are paying over half their income for rent. Lefties used that fact to call for even more rent control — which in fact is a huge reason city housing is so limited."
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The Post also noted how these lawmakers have "done so much to reduce the amount of housing, from blocking renewal of the 421a tax break for developers (responsible for the vast majority of new affordable housing in the past two decades) to 2019’s Tenant Protection Act, which has taken 43,000 units off the market because it doesn’t let landlords cover the costs of bringing old apartments up to code."
As a result, "the city’s on track to see only 11,000 new units built this year, half the number from 2022."
The board also ripped Ocasio-Cortez’s climate change agenda, claiming that it is "already sending power prices for New Yorkers skyward."
It also skewered progressives’ "criminal justice ‘reforms,'" noting they’ve resulted in "billions of dollars stolen by shoplifting thugs from retailers big and small."
Criticizing her solution to these issues, the outlet continued, "AOC offered her usual prescription on this issue: Tax the rich! But they’re fleeing the state and city in droves, also thanks to our progressive overlords."
"AOC and her fellow leftists simply don’t care what their ideas actually mean for the people whose interests they claim to represent. And if progressive ideology continues to rule New York, it’ll get ever more unaffordable — and the exodus will accelerate," the editorial concluded.
Ocasio-Cortez's office did not immediately respond to request for comment.
