Tag: SmithieForMayor

New York City, before you go to the polls next week, please note

Manhattan, October 20th, 2025.

New York City — (Access Newswire) — To the good people of New York City: 

Do you care if I reduce the burden of high property tax for everyone on Staten Island?  Do you care if I improve city living experience for retirees, women and low income families?  Do you care if I bring dignity and respect to city workers, teachers, NYPD, FDNY, union workers and taxi cab workers by making the city safe, secure and sustainable for all in the age of AI and adaptive technology?

Do you want a Mayor who will fight to improve living standard, slash rent by 30%, help small businesses succeed, tackle crime, tackle homelessness, and bring dignity and respect to union workers, city workers, teachers, taxi cab workers, the NYPD, the FDNY?

Do you care if I reform existing tax structures so we can use tax abatement to drive economic growth, job creation and land development in the borough?  Do you want a Mayor who’d cancel congestion charge – so you don’t have to pay to go to work?

Do you care if I reduce the burden of household poverty, economic inequality, high rent, child poverty, gentrification and rampant displacement that has skyrocketed all over the city right after covid-19?  

Do you care if I work to improve street parking issues in dense residential areas and clear traffic congestion for commuters on the Belt Parkway, Van Wyck expressway, Chinatown, Soho, Little Italy, Delancey street, Harlem river drive, Lexington ave., 2nd ave., Madison ave., Flatbush ave., Atlantic and Pacific streets?

Do you care if I carry out policies that will improve local transport infrastructure by adopting green and environmentally friendly technologies so areas north of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island are better connected by green, quiet and magnet driven street rail cars?

Do you care if I address huge digital divide in schools, improve our education system from ground up – pre-K to high school?  Do you care if I make businesses all over the city adopt a “no cash no retail theft” digital technologies that would enable palm payment, and stop trading in cash for bigger revenue generation and better accountability?

Do you care if I improve sanitation, prepare the city for climate change, storm and waste pollution?  Would you like ti see the end of lead poisoning in buildings, end limited access to quality housing, create a path to overcome redlining, economic injustice, barriers to building wealth, and low rate of employment in Chinatown, Harlem, Bronx and Brooklyn?

Do you care if I tackle obesity by implementing policies that will reduce the amount of sugar and fat contents in the food and drinks we buy at grocery stores all over the city as well as those we feed our kids at school?

Do you care if I set out to reduce your gas and electricity bills, phone bills by building city-owned AI driven data centers all over the city, re-curate our energy grid by pockets of waste to thermal energy plants all over the city?

Do you care if I create new green jobs and in the process revive our city’s productive ID?

If your answer is “yes” to all of these, then you want a Mayor who’d stand up for what you care about the most.  

I implore to invest your vote in a write-in Independent candidate who follows the law, not politics and not party doctrine.  I am a supporter of quality education from the ground up, a friend of small businesses, and believer in better life for the benefit of us all.  I will not only work to rebuild your city, I will put your interest first.

Polls close at 8pm!  Go make your vote count for Abbey Laurel-Smith for Mayor, city of New York, 2025.  

My fear for New York City as a write-in candidate for Mayor.  Part 2

Manhattan, October 10th, 2025.

New York City — (SmithieForMayor) — This is about credit bubble and the responsibility of urban governance as Mayor, city of New York.

Best day of my life was when I got issued my Bodleian library card in Oxford in the nineties. I was so happy to be granted the opportunity to browse through any old manuscript of my choice.  The library card, I see as a credit.  The un-limited access to browse through authentic manuscripts, I see as my credit bubble because all through my days at Oxford, I could just go to the library and browse through any historic manuscript of interest.  

And as a heritage manager, a cloud banker and an artist running for Mayor, city of New York, I feel a strong need to apply what I learned from the administrative style of Edward I, King of England, aka Longshank to what I call the urban governance of New York City, as I plan to create jobs, stimulate the economy, boost business activities, re-purpose the city hall, as well as revive economically depressed communities.

In New York City of today, it is not uncommon to hear people talk about economic bubble, financial bubble, housing and mortgage bubble, but not credit bubble.  Why?  Because New Yorkers’ like everybody only have a one dimensional view of credit.  It is not seen and regarded as a bubble that could be used to lock down on a capital gain.   

Imagine you are retiree and you are one of those lucky ones who manage to get by in New York City. You are less concerned about making payments on whatever sum of you went through on your credit card in the last days of your life.  A relative, your landlord or a neighbor – at the end of it all, will find it necessary to contact your bank or tour credit issuers to notify them of your passing.

If you are working person or a business person, you have many ways of scheduling payments in advance.  But same cannot be said of students or low income families.  To these class of individuals, this is another line of payments added to their student loan, their housing bills, their medical expenses and many other bills that are to be paid weekly, bi-monthly or at the end of every month. 

And with uber high inflation to contend with – as salaries and wages haven’t changed in over a decade.  You now have these class of individuals at the edge of a financial ruin – if they fall back on their bill payments.

Banks are happy to increase your spending power by increasing your credit limit, if you pay part of your bill or have a record of paying a little above the required minimum every now and then.  You might appear to be supportive of your local economy, but what many have overlooked is, you are not only being squeezed out by inflation with the extended credit lines, you are staring down the drain of stagnation during repayment period, or being ruined financially – if unable to make payments.   

In the simplest of term, this is economic hardship.  This is a true picture of a family’s wallet in New York City of today.  It is a perfect picture of what low income families, single parents and retirees go through in our city today.  And congestion charge made it worse.

As an independent candidate for Mayor, I see the effect of this on family budgets as well as on the city – through a decrease in consumer spending.  If elected Mayor in two weeks time, I see an urgent need to declare all the boroughs, except Manhattan, as a qualified opportunity zone.  With the city and the local boroughs as partners, I see a need to grant preferential tax treatment and a deferred interest on capital gains to interested investors for five years.

I see a window to float bonds for programs that align with low income housing tax credit opportunities.  And whilst the FED relieve this economic hardship through social services like SNAP, I will offer New Yorkers’ work credits as money in pocket programs, so the average Joe could enjoy the benefit of investing in their own community.

I am Abbey Laurel-Smith, an Independent “write in” candidate running for Mayor of the City of New York.  As your candidate, I favor the general well being of all New Yorkers.  And as much as I promise to work to improve the living experience for retirees, students, city workers and low income families, I also promise to work hard on bringing back those high earning out-migrators who left the city for neighboring states during the pandemic. 

I put New Yorkers first.  

Join me, vote better live this general election and let’s rebuild your city.

My fear for New York City as a write-in candidate for Mayor.  Part 1

Manhattan, October 10th, 2025.

New York City — (SmithieForMayor) — I am Abbey Laurel-Smith, a Know-Nothing Party candidate running for Mayor, city of New York.  As a registered third party in the city, ours is not just a bigger plan imbued with prosperity New Yorkers’, it is forward looking, pragmatic and full of achievable promises. In short, we plan to ReBuildNewYorkCity.  

And after looking through the programs put forward by other candidates, I feel proud to say my party’s campaign and my candidacy is the only one capable of bringing the city into a digital age, improve services and trade, as well as having a workable plan to revive the city’s productive past.

All in all, I feel happy to lead a party that is set on placing the city a path to prosperity by bringing back those high earners who left the city as a result of the pandemic, whilst at the same time we remain focused on crafting ways and means to improve city living experience for retirees, pensioners, people with disabilities and low income families.  

With public works, communal banking, blockchain and cloud financing and cloud architecture, we plan to make the city ready for the generation behind us. 

But we’ve just been marked off the ballot chit – by the effort of a leading Republican candidate – in a city that’s been a home for my ancestors long before Lord Dunsmore raised the Ethiopian Regiment!

Mad as hell, because New York City as of today, is broken.  It can be rebuilt and made a lot better.  But being made to sit back and watch three major party candidates debate without flair, without creativity, without clarity and the boldness of conscience to do what is right for the greater benefit of all is lacing my trepidation with rage and anger. 

We might end up with the wrong Mayor!

The city is being run as if from paycheck to paycheck.   Yet these three candidates debate like playful actors, clowning around with culturally dressed promises.  What happened to the knowledge and the skill required of a Mayor to set the city straight?   

New Yorkers’ as of today are tired of being fed with over-exaggerated culturally promises. We need somebody to bring cost of living down, generate new revenue for the city without taxing them to hell.  We need a Mayor that will make the city safe, secure and livable, without tapping into old fears and without denigrating other communities.  We need a Mayor that is capable of reviving economically challenged communities, improve livable and affordable housing supply in the city, and above all bring the rusty city back into a digital age.

If others can use their collective power as landlords, asset holders and investors to sway the city to bend to their will, then why not us – poor sods, as a collective of set of fellows?  Why not go against what economists call “rent seekers, speculators and inflated rate experts”.  Why continue with a system where a few landlords and speculators extract value without creating any?   

That is why I ran my campaign on a New York Poor Relief Campaign platform.  Penal or paternal, I chose paternal.  New Yorkers’ need to be taken care of, not punished, and not taxed to hell.   Enough is enough!

The past four years has been full of dead obligations and decisions that are a direct threat to the survival of retirees, current working age New Yorkers’ as well as the coming generation behind us.  I don’t see why we should continue to follow nor elect leaders whose time has passed even before they got into office.  And neither should we overreact by electing a Mayor whose timing for a better oversight of what is needed for the city is way off.

I want to think of my home – New York City, with a smile.  Not with anger, rage and trepidation!  No!

I fear we might end up electing the wrong candidate for Mayor, city of New York.  

If your answer is yes to everything said so far, then you obviously care about who you’d want as your next Mayor for the city of New York. 

Support The Know-Nothing Party of America’s campaign by voting to rebuild your city at the ballot box this November.  We will protect your right by standing up for what you care about the most.

I am Abbey Laurel-Smith, an Independent “write in” candidate running for Mayor of the City of New York.  As your candidate, I favor the general well being of all New Yorkers.  And as much as I promise to work to improve the living experience for retirees, students, city workers and low income families, I also promise to work hard on bringing back those high earning out-migrators who left the city for neighboring states during the pandemic. 

I put New Yorkers first.  

Join me, vote better live this general election and let’s rebuild your city.

Wireless charging by induction for EV’s in New York City.

Manhattan, September 15th, 2025.

New York City — (SmithieForMayor) — We should know by now that wired hook up for charging EV’s are not the best system for a densely populated urban area like New York City.  And if we are as serious as I am about tackling quality of air, fumes and road congestion in the city, then converting our EV’s to a wireless charge by induction system, is the best option for an urban area like ours.  

Charging by magnetic induction instead of a wired hook up is a more effective way to get a huge amount of people – living in multi-storied apartment buildings, to charge.  It is also a good way to get those who park on the street to pull up, pay and charge.  

To make this a reality in the city, first, we need to change our electric grid from AC to DC.  Second, we need to build waste-to-thermal energy plants in a few selected areas all over the city.  Third, re-curate our block of energy grid by turning it into a set of mini-grids, with the aim of directing energy resources to where it is needed the most.  Fourth, replace charging hook-up spots with high energy transfer plates/discs with copper coils.  

Fifth, reconfigure current EV batteries to accommodate a receiver plate/disc with copper coils in the underbelly of the EV so it could be magnetically coupled with the ground plate/disc to enable a direct induction charge for the battery when driven over in any parking spot in the city.  

Sixth, build our own data centers and our own cloud infrastructure to make this cloud compliance for activating better power flow transfer as well as managing power correction. 

This is the best way to serve many EV owners in densely populated apartment blocks as well as those on public parking spaces on the streets.  Another thing is, it is the best option for organizing a quick cook out by the side walk, since future apartments in the city might not come with a fully functioning kitchen.  And since this energy transfer set up is green – with no fumes or flames, all you need do is spread out an aluminum foil on the magnetic plate/disc, activate charge on your phone, and start cooking in the open.  

This is the way of the future.  It is long overdue, it is more than necessary for a city like New York, and doesn’t need to come across as a quick lesson in urban development.    

I proposed this – as a capital commitment, in my previous campaign for Mayor city of New York almost a decade ago, and I am proposing it again as part of my NYC Poor Relief Campaign package to use public and communal projects ReBuildNewYorkCity.  I pray and hope we don’t make the mistake of electing the wrong person for Mayor, but if I am elected Mayor, this winter, this is one of the many capital commitment plans I have in store for the city.  

Approaching this – charging by induction for EV’s in New York City, as a capital commitment will not only create new green jobs for New Yorkers’, it will help equip a lot of young New Yorkers’ with new skills.  Many of which will be technical, administrative as well as logistical.  The city could export these as a development package to nations worldwide, or to other states in the United States as a service.

As Mayor, I need two years to make this happen.

I am Abbey Laurel-Smith, an Independent candidate running for Mayor of the City of New York.  As your candidate, I favor the general well being of all New Yorkers.  And as much as I promise to work to improve the living experience for retirees, students, city workers and low income families, I also promise to work hard on bringing back those high earning out-migrators who left the city for neighboring states during the pandemic. 

I put New Yorkers first.  

Join me, vote better live this general election and let’s rebuild your city.

Tariff and trade war: How to soften its effect on New Yorkers’ in New York City.

Manhattan, August 24th, 2025.

New York City — (SmithieForMayor) — Softening the effect of tariff and trade war on the wallets of families in New York City requires a re-adjustment of our supply chain management and diversification, a review of the way Jones Act should have been and a legal understanding of international trade law.

Reason for taking this step is, no one feels the effect of tariff more than New Yorkers’.  No one feels the bitter end of this trade war more than the city’s small businesses and local exporters of services, distributors of finished goods and hedge fund managers who specialized in treasury bonds.  

As a friend of small businesses and local entrepreneurs, I see this time as a period for the Mayor to reach out and do what was done to make life easier for New Yorkers’ after the American Civil war.  That is, reach out to local businesses for the sole purpose of fostering economic growth, as well as to boost economic resilience through innovation.  Create a direct opening for city’s NYCDEC to help increase in investment and patronage by implementing tariff exclusion on certain goods.  Then make allowances for supply chain diversification and pragmatic management.  

These are the actions I’ll initiate and agrgesively pursue if elected Mayor, city of New York this winter.  I will – from my first week in office, lean hard on using the Mayor’s Office of International Affairs, to help relieve the effect of tariff and trade war on local businesses, local exporters.  

By combining a mixture of business supply chain management strategy with a personal review of Jones Act, with International trade law, I will use the NY Port Authority’s FTZ and the city’s Economic Development Corporation to relieve New Yorkers’ of the burden of high cost of living by investing in waterway logistics.  I will make it mandatory for all businesses to utilize designated FTZ warehouses for cargo handling, product assemblage and distribute to all the five boroughs via the Hudson and the East river.

Getting suppliers of foods, drinks and other products to start moving supplies in to the city via our water ways will not only make our street less congested, it will make all products coming into the city cheaper and directly gained from source.

I will go rogue, review contract and negotiations via executive order, bring in suppliers that are not affected by tariff.  Label their goods – imported or not as waste and damaged, then eliminate port duty on them.  Increase number of local businesses that handles and clear damaged goods at the port authority.  

I will also grant 30% exemption on tax or tariff on metals, glass and other building materials, so developers could build at a much reduced rate.

The goal here is to boost trade and economic activities by encouraging re-exportation of goods to the Free Trade Zone at the Port authority (PANYNJ)  This will encourage international businesses to come into the city, rent properties and land from the city, then set up assembly plants and cargo handling areas.  Create jobs, train new work force and leave the distribution to local suppliers.

If elected Mayor, I will not sit down and watch local businesses drown under the weight of something they did not create nor ask for.

I am Abbey Laurel-Smith, an Independent candidate running for Mayor of the City of New York.  As your candidate, I favor the general well being of all New Yorkers.  And as much as I promise to work to improve the living experience for retirees, students, city workers and low income families, I also promise to work hard on bringing back those high earning out-migrators who left the city for neighboring states during the pandemic. 

I put New Yorkers first.  Join me, vote better live this general election and let’s rebuild your city.

Follow my campaign, donate if you can, and help spread the word about SmithieForMayor NYC 2025.

Retail theft in New York City.

Manhattan, September 25th, 2025.

New York City — (SmithieForMayor) — Retail theft in NYC is an epidemic that is not only costing small businesses a huge amount of income and profit, it is also costing the city a big loss in revenue, and indirectly affecting communities where quality services are needed the most. 

Well known state and city sanctioned deterrences like stronger penalties for repeated offenders or for those who carry out attacks on store security and attendants haven’t worked.  Law enforcement tactics and constantly updated store security strategies like self checkout and data sharing haven’t been as effective as expected either.   

If elected Mayor, city of New York, I don’t want to be seen trodding along the same old path. I dont want to keep up the bad habit of granting commercial security tax and theft credit to affected business, small, medium or large. No. 

I want to eradicate retail theft and I want to deploy technology in the most benefiting way for the general public to achieve this goal.  My plan is to deploy a brand of generative AI – a Palm-to-Screen ID and payment system, that I am in the process of developing for my company, Smithie’s ChowBanQ.

Call it a grab and pay or a point and pay system, it works by activating barcodes to instantly recognize your fingerprints.  No card and no phone pay system needed.  Just pay with your palm and checkout.  But if you decide to grab and run, nobody will block your exit, because the products you stole have generative AI barcodes on them.  

These barcoades will read your finger prints and immediately draw payments from your food stamp, SSA check, SSID check, benefit check, your pay check or your bank account. 

Finger prints are unique to every individual.  It cannot be stolen, copied, forged or disfigured.  And these are the things that makes Palm-Pay better and more secure than facial recognition or eye screening or body scanning. 

My bet is, if elected Mayor this November, stores all over New York City won’t need to lock up toothpastes, batteries, shaving razors and inks for printers anymore by next year.  

Palm-Pay deployment could also boost economic growth for the city and enhance how businesses operate in low income areas of the city – by simply doing away with cash transactions.  No cash, no theft.

It could also enable the development of new working skills for average New Yorkers who will noe be better equiped to run a business on a generative AI platform that is part of a blockchain.  Outside retail stores, generative AI systems could also reshape our service based transactional system. Banks would be more effective at detecting and curbing fraudulent practices easily.

If your answer is yes to everything said so far, then you obviously care about who you’d want as your next Mayor for the city of New York.  You want to do more business in a safe, secure and sustainable city.

Support my campaign by voting to rebuild your city at the ballot box this November, and I will protect your right by standing up for what you care about the most.

I am Abbey Laurel-Smith, an Independent candidate running for Mayor of the City of New York.  As your candidate, I favor the general well being of all New Yorkers.  And as much as I promise to work to improve the living experience for retirees, students, city workers and low income families, I also promise to work hard on bringing back those high earning out-migrators who left the city for neighboring states during the pandemic. 

I put New Yorkers first.  Join me, vote better live this general election and let’s rebuild your city.

Follow my campaign, donate if you can, and help spread the word about SmithieForMayor NYC 2025.

I am your best option candidate for Mayor, city of New York. 

Manhattan, September 30th, 2025.

New York City — (SmithieForMayor) — As we head to the ballot box this November, the biggest mistake New Yorkers’ could make once again is to vote to elect the wrong Mayor, especially one who is less concerned about their immediate needs, would not hesitate to hike prices, and then tax them for fresh air –  the rearest commodity in the city as of today.

Obesity is the biggest drain of much needed resources for the city of New York today.  Hard to walk five steps without seeing someone trying hard not to break the sidewalk.  This heaviness of presence is due to the type of sugar and fat content in things we eat, things we drink and from things we buy off shelves in grocery stores, bars, restaurants, street carts and fast food joints.

As Mayor – if elected this November, I have a radical plan that will drastically reduce the effect of sugar and fat contents in all the things we consume at home, at schools, in office and in our restaurants.

I am Abbey Laurel-Smith, an Independent Candidate, a long time friend of public education. I am a strong supporter of labor and investment in a workforce for tomorrow’s needs. A fervent supporter of local businesses – big or small, they are the backbone of the city’s economy and dynamic strength.  

But running things the old way or the way we are used to doing things is catching up on us.  Demographically we have grown. Our society has changed. We need to make adjustments, adapt and start doing things differently.

In this age of AI and mimetic products, I care very much about workers’ rights. I care about union protection, as much as I care about a universal healthcare and health insurance that every single individual can afford. 

To make life easier and better for all, I will set up the city, city departments, and all small and medium sized businesses, up on a blockchain system – for everything and anything, and for the first time, get them operating in a city controlled cloud environment.  

I believe we need to work more on the future of women’s rights in all areas of life.  And ours being a service based city, I’m of the opinion that we could do more in the areas of research when it comes to healthcare and a healthy life style.  For this, I will make available credits, use grants and tax abatement to lure big research entities into the city, partner with them through city departments, our colleges and city universities.  

The problems of today are far different from those known in the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and even 90’s. To bridge this gap, it is imperative to find innovative ways to re-discover the city’s productive past.

If you agree with any of these, and your answer is yes to everything said so far, then you obviously care about who you’d want as your next Mayor for the city of New York.  

Support my campaign to rebuild your city at the ballot box this November, and I will protect your right by standing up for what you care about the most.

I am your better option for Mayor, city of New York.  

Once again, I am Abbey Laurel-Smith, an Independent candidate running for Mayor of the City of New York.  As your candidate, I favor the general well being of all New Yorkers. And as much as I promise to work to improve the living experience for retirees, students, city workers and low income families, I also promise to work hard on bringing back those high earning out-migrators who left the city for neighboring states during the pandemic. 

I put New Yorkers first.  Join me, vote better live this general election and let’s rebuild your city.

Follow my campaign, donate if you can, and help spread the word about SmithieForMayor NYC 2025.

The Mayor and the housing supply problem in New York City.

Manhattan, September 20th, 2025.

Abbey Laurel-Smith said, “If elected Mayor this winter, first thing I will do will be to bring down rent in the city by slashing 30% off current rent and rates.  Then slap bedroom tax on absentee landlords and home owners – who prefer to keep their other homes empty, rather than rent them out.  My rule will be, if you have a space that is big enough to host a sofa bed and you are not renting it out, then be ready to pay bedroom tax on that unused space.  Next will be food prices, phone bills, energy cost, congestion charge, bus and subway fares.  But for now, let’s keep to the topic, housing.   

One thing New Yorkers’ need to know about housing, rent and rate in New York City is, the power to bring down rent, slash inflated rates and increase the supply of housing rest solely in the hand of the Mayor.  The Mayor, as the city’s chief executive and head of all elected officials, is inherently willed by the city’s charter to set up and pursue policies that would increase the supply of housing, strengthen rent laws, boost tenant protection.

The Mayor can expand assistance for low and moderate income New Yorkers’, make yearly decisions about the control of rent stabilized units, streamline approval process for developers – so construction costs could be reduced.

These aside, the Mayor can also act to reduce construction costs by getting building material suppliers to the city to sign tariff and tax exemption forms S301 and S300 – which will enable them to supply green building materials and tested green technologies to city developers at a much reduced cost. 

The Mayor can also use the power of his office as a magistrate, to encourage transparent pricing and fairer market rates by banning practices that enable landlords to artificially inflate rent rates, as well as crack down on the use of illegal building materials, approve construction of basement and arctic dwelling units.

Same power for overseeing government policies and maintaining law and order could be used to actively encourage the development of underused plot, vacant public land or make it easier to convert commercial buildings to residential, combat harassment and displacement of tenants who complain of poor building conditions, as well as take charge of zoning reforms. 

But if the next Mayor decides to go the same way as the last four Mayors – treating housing as commodity, as well as going along with asset driven elites, then the housing crisis we have today will get worse. 

This is why it is critical to vote in the right Mayor for the city of New York. 

As at now, we don’t have rent to own apartments buildings in any one of the five boroughs.  Not enough of near transit points buildings outside Manhattan – where they are needed the most.  Our water front development is lacking in vigor and not as active as it used to be in thew 1920’s.  Major commercial landmark buildings are sitting empty in Manhattan instead of being converted to multi-use buildings with affordable residential dwellings.  We don’t have affordable rentals for students.  No housing program for teacher, professors and university lecturers  – tenure or not.  

Our low and middle income household has grown out of the number of affordable housing.  We are not building suitable apartments to encourage our young ones to marry and have families.  The few co-op’s we have in the city are being run as if exclusive clubs.  Live/work housing – which used to be the pride of New York City, is fast dwindling in numbers.  Many buildings in the city are not listed nor graded – thus making it easy for developers to drastically alter the face of many neighborhoods. 

To cap it all, housing in New York City of today has grown to be everyone’s’ headache because the main figure at top at the top seems to not want to act right.  

I hereby present myself as a better option for Mayor, city of New York, because I want to tackle theses issues by putting an end to housing as commodity for a few.”

I am Abbey Laurel-Smith, an Independent candidate running for Mayor of the City of New York.  As your candidate, I favor the general well being of all New Yorkers.  And as much as I promise to work to improve the living experience for retirees, students, city workers and low income families, I also promise to work hard on bringing back those high earning out-migrators who left the city for neighboring states during the pandemic. 

I put New Yorkers first.  Join me, vote better live this general election and let’s rebuild your city.

Follow my campaign, donate if you can, and help spread the word about SmithieForMayor NYC 2025.

Congestion charge is an unfair regressive tax levied on New Yorkers’.

Manhattan, July 10th, 2025.

New York City — (SmithieForMayor ) — Congestion charge in New York City is not just unfair on New Yorkers’, it is a regressive tax nobody wants, but afraid to say so. To drivers in the city, it is a tension afflicting burden. A nightmare to those bringing supplies to the city, and an unecessary charge to those driving through or visiting the city.  

It is not only forcing numbers of visitors to Times Square to drop below expected numbers, it is impacting Broadway shows and parking garage businesses in Manhattan, in ways similar to the public drought of the pandemic period.  As for Coffee shops, Deli’s and street food trucks, thay are far from being happy with their main suppliers spreading the cost of congestion charge onto essential commodities.  

No matter what the city say about reinvesting profits generated from this charge as a reason for justifying its existence, matter of fact is, congestion charge is a good example of what we’ve always thought of equality, equity and tax, regressive or not. 

For example, if you are one of those who commute to work in Manhattan via helicopter from the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, New Jersey or Connecticut, to any of the many heliports in Manhattan, then get picked up and driven to your office – anywhere below 60th street, you are far from being touched by the newly enacted congestion charge in Manhattan.  

But like any New Yorker who lives in a congestion affected area, you can always turn around and claim to be affected by this regressive tax in your corporate tax filing at the end of each year.  Vehicle or not, the effect of this charge on basic essentials is enough to back up a claim from the IRS. 

This alone is a direct slap on any type of tax, all types of levy and equality.  

On the equity front, the argument is, New Yorkers’ – especially low income earners, who now have to pay to go to work, pay to seek healthcare or drop kids off schools, are now conditioned – like parolees, to access resources needed to keep their lives going. 

Guess what! I thought we started a revolution over something similar to this!   

This is why I plan to nullify congestion charge if elected Mayor, city of New York, this winter.

As a remedy, I propose an introduction of a levy on movable items.  This will be a mandatory levy for all vehicle owners.  Say, a “chit-in-lieu” for a yearly deposit of $500 – in advance of parking violations in New York City, on movable items like cars, SUVs, vans, busses and trucks of certain size before you put them on the road.  This will be renewable every year.  

Paying into this traffic trust/depository means your tickets and fines comes out of your deposit.  You can always refill the whole depository as soon as your deposit is depleted, or carry over your balance into the next vehicle year, and top it up.  

I am Abbey Laurel-Smith, an Independent candidate running for Mayor of the City of New York.  As your candidate, I favor the general well being of all New Yorkers.  And as much as I promise to work to improve the living experience for retirees, students, city workers and low income families, I also promise to work hard on bringing back those high earning out-migrators who left the city for neighboring states during the pandemic. 

And if elected Mayor, city of New York, I will protect your right by standing up for what you care about the most.

I put New Yorkers first.  

Join me, vote better live this general election and let’s rebuild your city.

Follow my campaign, donate if you can, and help spread the word about SmithieForMayor NYC 2025.

Public Safety as an infrastructure issue in New York City

Manhattan, September 10th, 2025.

New York City – (SmithieForMayor) – Gather a few New Yorkers’ from different backgrounds. Put them in a hall. Ask them about what they think of public safety in the city. And you’ll be shocked to find out that all would naturally think NYPD patrolling the city, keeping lead on criminals, and preventing the homeless from lashing out at pedestrians.  

Touch base on same issue with city workers, healthcare givers, and social service providers.   And you’ll be reminded of the benefits of having a robust and well funded social services.  And, as if that’s not enough, they’ll also waste no time to connect lack of support for people with mental health issues and substance abuse to none other than Geraldo Riviera – a Fox News political commentator, who is forever guilty for – as they see it, Willowbrook shut down that eventually led to budget cuts, severe lack of funding and their inability to provide quality services to those who needed it most.

Engage small business owners in any of the five boroughs of New York City on this same issue of public safety. And they’ll remind you of retail theft, gun violence, and other arrays of petty crimes that impact their daily lives as retail store service and essential commodity providers and shop front owners in their communities. 

Now, go over to a driver, a food vendor, a teacher, hotel worker, the doorman or a pedestrian in Manhattan, and you’ll be shocked to discover there’s more to public safety than all mentioned so far.  And that is because a consideration for the city’s physical environment matters more to these class of people.  It is what determines whether they’ll be able to put food on the table for their families or not. 

No one is wrong here. Public safety just happened to rub off New Yorkers’ differently. 

Take the current physical environment in Manhattan of today as an example. On almost every block, there’s a new development and a redevelopment going on. These developments and the temporary structures they put up or dig up in some places, are a danger to pedestrians.  

To drivers, the driven, and to members of the general public, these are impediments placed in the way of someone going about making a living.

Now, what happens when vehicles slow down and idle in traffic? They foul the air and therefore become the source of a polluted environment. 

Once again, no one is wrong here. Public safety is that kind of issue that affects New Yorkers’ differently. 

Go all over the five boroughs, knock on doors, you’ll realise the mode is similar, but the song is different when you start hearing parents nag about why elected officials allowed developers and landlords to build – for profit, with cheap, harmful paint and non-green materials that has been a major source of death for generations in their community. 

And as if that’s not enough, they’ll follow up with how elected officials have undermined public safety through our combined sewage system. Reason is because they want you to know that New York City is that kind of city where waste and water for household sometimes merge – if there is a heavy rain, flood or rising sea level in some parts of Brooklyn, Queens and lower Manhattan. 

Matter of fact is, this sewage system is not only old, rusty and antiquated, it is so bad, metal coatings and protectors have seen the good time off, and all that is left now are time-worn pipes leaking waste and water into our waterways. 

Still, no one is wrong. Public safety is that kind of issue with a multi-faceted openings and approach. And our relaxed way of enforcing what is in the food and drinks we buy off our grocery stores and what we feed our families and kids at school is another one of these multi-faceted openings. 

All in all, public safety rubs off New Yorkers’ differently.  We’ve got to see it for what it is to be able to deal with it.  Blaming it all on the NYPD and promising to defund the police is useless.

We need to update our aging infrastructures and stop wasting time and money on procedural safeguards that offers the public the right type of protection needed nor solution.

Safety, order and civility is at stake here, if we don’t look at public safety in New York City for what it is and address it on our streets, our neighbohoods, in classrooms, in our hospitals, in our subways, in the sky above us, as well as in our waterways.

I am Abbey Laurel-Smith, an Independent candidate running for Mayor of the City of New York.  As your candidate, I favor the general well being of all New Yorkers.  And as much as I promise to work to improve the living experience for retirees, students, city workers and low income families, I also promise to work hard on bringing back those high earning out-migrators who left the city for neighboring states during the pandemic. 

I put New Yorkers first.  Join me, vote better live this general election and let’s rebuild your city.

Follow my campaign, donate if you can, and help spread the word about SmithieForMayor NYC 2025.