Two mayoral candidates in New York City went viral after displaying a profound ignorance of the skyrocketing housing costs in the city they want to run.
The candidates were asked in an interview with The New York Times’s editorial board to estimate the average home price in Brooklyn and they failed spectacularly.
Shaun Donovan guessed that the average home or apartment would cost “around $100,000.”
Critics noted that he had previously worked as the Housing and Urban Development secretary and budget director under former President Obama, and should be much more knowledgable about average home prices.
Investment banker and former Citigroup executive Ray McGuire didn’t fare much better. He guessed “somewhere in the $80,000 to $90,000 range, if not higher.”
Both of those guesses are a fraction of the answer, which is about $900,000.
While they failed in answering that elementary question about the city they want to run, they were very successful in firing up their critics on social media.
“I don’t know how *anyone* could think this, let alone people running for mayor of New York City,” replied journalist McKay Coppins.
“How can you fix the city’s housing crisis if you’re this oblivious?” responded one resident.
“Just like fully living on another planet and running for mayor,” responded transgender rights activist Chase Strangio.
“I mean, the other night I paid $16 in Brooklyn for a pre-mixed cocktail that tasted like cough syrup so I’m pretty sure $100K won’t even buy you a parking spot,” quipped editor Lydia Polgreen.
“Man if you can’t estimate within 800,000 DOLLARS the median sale price of a home in your town, not only should you be disqualified from running that town, i’m not entirely convinced you should even be allowed to reside in it,” replied writer Albert Burneko.
Donovan later claimed that he misunderstood the question and was guessing the average assessed value of a home in Brooklyn.
Entrepreneur and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang, who touts himself as the “math guy,” thought about the question a while and hit the average exactly when he guessed.
Here’s more about the NYC mayoral race:
Andrew Yang leading polls in New York City mayor’s race
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