Idea 44 was so good that it got adopted. Now expensive and divisive run off elections have been replaced by ranked choice voting. It's still a fairly new idea but we’ve seen it in action in elections in our city and in places as far flung as Al

Episode 13 – A Wee Bit of Help For Small Business

Oct 6th, 2022 33m 31s

New York is a city of tall buildings and marquee companies. But the capital of big corporate is actually a town where most businesses are small. In fact, the anchor of our economy is the neighborhood store. In today's episode Anthony suggests o

Episode 12 – Gimmie Shelter…That’s Affordable

Sep 29th, 2022 41m 21s

Everyone can agree that New York is an expensive place to live, but what to do about it? There seems to be a structural imbalance between supply and demand. So what can the government do? What are the arrows in our civic quiver? Anthony takes a

Episode 11 – Assigning Accountability for our Schools

Sep 22nd, 2022 38m 43s

Some of the Keys have been adopted and some have been overtaken by time, but Idea #84 is as fresh and vital as ever – getting Albany out of our schools. We all know who is in charge of the school. It’s the principal, of course. But who oversees

Episode 10.1 – A Calm Consideration of Police Body Cameras

Sep 15th, 2022 26m 1s

If you skipped most of the cacophony of the first take, Anthony tries to make amends with a conversation with a man who has quite nearly written the book about the implementation, adoption, and future of the policies around police body cameras.

Episode 10.0 – A Mud Fight over Police Body Cameras

Sep 8th, 2022 46m 28s

After a few years of the biggest experiment in the use of police body worn cameras, Anthony looks at how this idea is working on 24,000 officers and wonders if he got it right in with Idea #74. But issues of over surveillance, storage costs and

Episode 9 – How Much More Should a $70 Million Apartment Cost?

Sep 1st, 2022 28m 3s

This episode may not appeal to the oligarchs, princes and masters of the universe who shop for New York apartments in the $50 million range. But Anthony has an idea for the rest of us this week. We love when the big spenders come to town but a

Episode 8 – Ending Child Hunger in a Snap

Aug 25th, 2022 26m 43s

Anthony continues his search for that mythical creature – the idea we can all agree upon. On this week’s Keys to the City, it’s in sight – ending the moral blight of children in our city going hungry. He sees a policy fix and consensus in the m

Episode 7 – An Alternate Idea About Alternate Side.

Aug 22nd, 2022 33m 30s

Is there any ritual more New York than the morning dance of alternate side parking? But does it make sense? Anthony looks at the zero-sum game of who gets to park where, when and for how long. Idea 111 is on the agenda in this week’s episode as

Episode 6 – When a Sin Tax Goes Bad

Aug 11th, 2022 38m 58s

We learned that prohibition didn’t work as planned but the idea of taxing behavior that we want to discourage is an accepted thing. But when New York City decided to raise the tax on cigarettes by 1875% in 2002, revenue didn’t rise, it cratered

Episode 5 – Throwing the Whole Toolbox at Addiction

Aug 4th, 2022 36m 5s

What if there is a problem with such a wide “blast radius” that no one idea will tame it? In this episode, Anthony takes a look at the impact of addiction on our streets, our taxes, our criminal justice system and, yes, even our humanity. For a

Episode 4 – Time to Tame the Scaffold Jungle.

Jul 28th, 2022 21m 59s

There are many things that you only see on the streets of New York City, but one thing we need less of are the over 9000 scaffolds or sheds that create dark, messy canyons have spread because of old laws passed by a defunct board and are suppor

Episode 3 – Parallel Parking For Fire Engines, C'mon!

Jul 21st, 2022 16m 56s

Anthony dives into the shallow end of the pool for this episode about one of his pet peeves. Idea 101 asks a simple question, “Why can’t we park closer to the pump?”. In New York City, the 30 feet in front of a fire hydrant is a no parking zone

Episode 2 – Every Year, Cut What Doesn’t Work

Jul 14th, 2022 24m 3s

Does anyone like government programs that don’t work or waste money? But rarely does anything get done to change them. This episode focuses on Idea 41. Anthony proposes requiring every city agency to rank all its programs in order of most succe

Episode 1 – Stop, Frisk then Show us The Data

Jul 6th, 2022 23m 29s

The podcast kicks off with the hot issue of the moment, crime. Idea 76 from Anthony’s books of ideas suggests making the controversial – but necessary – police tactic of stop, question, and frisk, much more transparent by making the data public

Episode 0 – Coming Soon – Keys to The City with Anthony Weiner

Jun 27th, 2022 2m 39s

Welcome to Keys to the City hosted by Anthony Weiner. A podcast about the problems facing New York City and the enduring power of ideas. From existential threats to pet peeves, each week together we’ll resist the temptation to curse the darknes

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