MI senior fellow and City Journal contributing editor Heather Mac Donald is a trenchant observer of urban politics and policy. At the February 5th Young Leaders Circle, Mac Donald spoke on what Mayor Bill de Blasio referred to as Gotham’s “tale of two cities,” dissecting the foundations of his agenda—particularly concerning his efforts to alleviate poverty.

In her talk, Mac Donald expanded upon her recent New York Post article, “De Blasio’s Welfare Agenda,” where she writes that the new mayor’s rhetoric on welfare is eerily reminiscent of that of Mayor John Lindsay, under whom crime rates soared and the number of people on the welfare rolls almost quadrupled to 16 percent of the city’s population. Over the next several years, we can expect that many cities will look to New York as they develop and implement policies to ameliorate poverty and encourage upward mobility, making de Blasio’s agenda consequential not only for Gotham, but for urban America at large.

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