On "ill-informed" elected officials, including the mayor's dissing deputy

When a deposition from deputy Mayor Alicia Glen regarding housing policy surfaced recently in Politico, with her calling Council Members “often extremely confused and ill-informed and not that smart” regarding housing policy, she was forced to apologize.

in fairness, "ill-informed" (to take the least pejorative) could apply (at various times) to any number of elected officials, including Glen's boss, BDB.
Here's example re #AtlanticYards @pacificparkbk https://t.co/lQpCFD0sup https://t.co/WrBueisUTJ

— Norman Oder (@AYReport) February 6, 2018

Sure, it *can* be complicated. But also Council & Mayor can be in lockstep for political reasons, *both* failing to be informed. Consider chorus of praise for "100% affordable" #535Carlton @pacificparkbk https://t.co/k9zq4E6pkJ
Then reality: empty units https://t.co/HaOpTKIaGJ

— Norman Oder (@AYReport) February 6, 2018

By the way, Glen herself has participated in that praise, unwisely calling Atlantic Yards affordable housing "a better bargain for the taxpayers and the public" compared to the predecessor administration.

Despite Glen's lack of self-candor, it was an example of what commentator Michael Kinsley once called a gaffe: “when a politician tells the truth--or more precisely, when he or she accidentally reveals something truthful.”

Different kinds of smart?

OK, it was also incomplete, unwise, and snooty.

You know what is not that smart? Calling people you depend on "not that smart," and not realizing that there are different kinds of smart. https://t.co/WOtJ6IXj0z

— Nicole Gelinas (@nicolegelinas) February 6, 2018

Still, it's remarkable how pervasive are "ill-informed and not that smart” perspectives toward not-so-affordable below-market housing, at least as long as elected officials want to stay on the good side of the mayor (and maybe a powerful developer).