New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is leading the Big Apple into shambles as the state's governor begs people to stay, a state assemblyman told FOX Business Network's "Varney & Co." Monday.
Mike LiPetri, a Republican assemblyman, slammed the Democrat mayor for his coronavirus checkpoints, which could result in fines up to $10,000 for visitors, amid rising homelessness and violence in the city.
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“This is utter nonsense," LiPetri told host Stuart Varney. "I mean 20,000 deaths from COVID are from New York City alone over these past few months, but de Blasio’s just trying to make it look like he’s flexing some kind of political muscle, but in reality, this man is spineless.”
In this Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020, file photo, Mayor Bill de Blasio, left, is shown with Dr. Oxiris Barbot, then-commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)
He continued: “The city’s burning, police are defunded, tourism has vanished, Broadway is shuttered, and residents are fleeing in droves, but Bill de Blasio wants to create these checkpoints to ‘inform’ tourists coming in. This is utter nonsense."
Varney, the FOX Business Network host, said he doesn’t think New York City will get back to normal for “many years": “It’s way out there in the future before we get back to anything resembling normal."
"New York is in a financial crisis," LiPetri said. "Governor [Andrew] Cuomo is literally begging people to come to New York City and stay and live in New York City, but nobody wants to because of this homelessness, because of this crime, because of these shootings."
De Blasio on Monday doubled down on his stance, saying he is not begging people to come to the city.
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“What many people forget is that this city is the main economic driver of New York state, and it's looking right now at a $9.6 billion shortfall that will have catastrophic effects on New York state as a whole," LiPetri said.
"If we don’t change something soon, we’re going to be in dire straits."
The New York assemblyman said it’s “history repeating itself,” pointing to the 1970s and '80s, noting, “New York City was the slums and until you saw Mayor Guiliani come and actually lift this city up and clean it up."
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"But now since Mayor Bill de Blasio’s taken over, it is in shambles," he said. "You have this radical left replacing it with all these socialist mentalities and theories, that in effect, don’t actually come to fruition when put in practice, and you’re seeing those effects take place today.”
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