Saturday is the last day for New Yorkers to give Bill de Blasio, the mayor-elect, a piece of their mind under the big white "Talking Transition" tent on Canal Street and Avenue of the Americas. Since the Nov. 5 election, inside that tent, in mobile tents that roamed the boroughs and online at talkingtransitionnyc.com, thousands have offered suggestions on stickers and postcards; sent emails; taped videos; and attended forums on topics like "food justice," affordable housing and immigrant integration.
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The pick-your-brain exercise culminates on Saturday afternoon with what organizers call "a facilitated town hall-style discussion" of whatever people think should be "the highest priorities for the new mayor." These priorities will then be delivered to the new administration.
Mr. de Blasio had nothing to do with Talking Transition; it's a private project of the Open Society Foundations, run by George Soros, and nine other groups. But he and the leaders of his transition team have dropped by the tent, and Mr. de Blasio, who could hardly have done otherwise, welcomed the effort. "They'll become part of our agenda if we find that they're helpful ideas," he said, trying to sound receptive and noncommittal.
Talking Transition has tried to tap a hunger for civic participation that many New Yorkers profess to feel. Not that they necessarily act on it; in a city of more than eight million, only about a million people voted in the mayoral election, apparently a record low. Openness and inclusion were central themes of Mr. de Blasio's campaign, but since the election his public schedule has been light.
That will change quickly once the city has Mayor de Blasio to cheer, cajole, gripe about and kick around. He will have a $70 billion budget to grapple with, 300,000 employees to lead and 8.3 million fellow New Yorkers to listen to. Mr. de Blasio's campaign set high expectations for engaging those who felt left out of the discussion during the Bloomberg years. Now, thanks to Talking Transition, these expectations are even higher, which is where they should be.
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