The Economist July 10th 2021 United States 27three top concerns, with covid19 and
housing. On the day Mr Adams learnt he
had won, Andrew Cuomo, New York’s go
vernor, declared a “disaster emergency”
statewide around gun violence.
It was a strange campaign. For months
the many candidates met at forums via
Zoom. Andrew Yang, a former Democratic
presidential candidate, led at first, before a
limited knowledge of city affairs caught up
with him. As Mr Adams surged, his rivals
tried to turn his anticrime message
against him. “Eric thinks the solution to
every problem is a badge and gun,” said
Maya Wiley, a progressive candidate who
placed third. He had other liabilities, in
cluding having been a Republican for a
time, and he committed his share of gaffes,
such as telling gentrifiers to “Go back to Io
wa”. His biggest donors are from the real
estate industry, with which he built ties as
borough president, a job that gave him in
fluence over land use. Those relationships
are likely to draw continued scrutiny. But
in the primary even questions over wheth
er he actually lived in New Jersey did not
seem to hurt him.
For years the key to winning City Hall
was to build a coalition outside Manhat
tan, particularly among white voters. That
was how Ed Koch won in the 1970s and
1980s and how Rudy Giuliani won in 1993.
Mr Adams also focused on the outer bor
oughs, but he built a multiracial coalition
of AfricanAmerican, Dominican, Latino
and Jewish New Yorkers. He also enlisted
labour groups and pastors. He courted
workingclass voters with an unpreten
tious style, drawing a contrast with the cur
rent mayor, Bill de Blasio, who gets driven
to the gym. Mr Adams intends to cycle, take
the subway and even do laundry himself.
Saying that “if we don’t educate, we will in
carcerate,” he pledged to increase the num
ber of charter schools, independently op
erated public schools which appeal to par
ents frustrated with the traditional system.
That’s a message that resonated as well
on Wall Street, which, unlike some of his
opponents and Mr de Blasio, Mr Adams did
not demonise. After some politicians at
tacked a plan by Amazon to expand in
Queens, causing the company to back out,
Mr Adams later warned the message was
“New York is no longer open for business.”
As some firms and many workers de
camped during the pandemic for business
friendly states like Florida and Texas, Mr
Adams said, “We are in the business of re
cruiting human beings. That is the job of a
city, and we have been a terrible recruiter
over these last few years.” He plans a re
cruiting effort to attract workers and busi
nesses from around the world.
Assuming he defeats Curtis Sliwa, the
beret wearing, longshot Republican can
didate, Mr Adams will become the city’s
second AfricanAmerican mayor. He will
also have a notoriously hard job, made
harder by the pandemic. Federal recovery
funds have propped the city up, but Bloom-
berg News reports the city expects property
tax revenue to drop $1.6bn, or about 5%,
this coming fiscal year. That would be the
biggest drop in three decades. The value of
office buildings has fallen citywide by 16%.
Tourists, a critical input to New York’s
economy, have yet to return in big num
bers, and only 12% of office workers areback at their Manhattan desks.
Mr Adams has called for budget cuts of
35% at city agencies to rein in spending
(New York City’s budget is nearly $100bn).
He plans to work informally with Mr de
Blasio in order to hit the ground running.
“He is ideologically flexible,” says Robert
Snyder, Manhattan borough historian,
“and he’s very pragmatic.”Afterthe rigidly
progressive Mr de Blasio,NewYork could
use both of these qualities.nH
awaiianscouldbeforgivenfor
bewilderment when they saw u
Haul trucks and cargo vans parked on
their pristine beaches. In April Kaleo
Alau, president of uHaul in Hawaii, told
the local news station that the moving
company had received calls from con
cerned citizens who thought the vehi
cles’ position looked suspicious. “We’re
like, OK, let’s go and check it out, make
sure it’s not stolen,” said Mr Alau. As it
turns out, “it’s just somebody at the
beach!” Hawaii is not the only state
where Americans are resorting to unusu
al forms of transport to get around. The
country is facing a national shortage of
rental cars because of the recession and
disruptions caused by the pandemic.
When lockdowns were imposed last
spring, travel came to a standstill. The
market for carhire at airports disap
peared almost overnight, says Greg Scott,
a spokesman for the American Car Rental
Association (acra), a trade group. acra
members laid off or furloughed around
60,000 employees in 2020, about a third
of the industry’s American workforce.Hertz,a carhirebehemoth,declared
bankruptcy last May. Avis, another in
dustry giant, saw its secondquarter
revenues decline by 67% yearonyear.
Companies sold off their fleets to try to
stop the bleeding. They weren’t sure if or
when demand would recover.
Fast forward, and the summer of 2021
seems to mark a renaissance for the great
American road trip. Americans han
kering for a getaway but unable to travel
abroad have set their sights on Hawaii,
Florida or the national parks. Demand
for rental cars has rocketed. But because
companies have sold off so many vehi
cles, there are few to be found. An Expe
dia search for a hire car in Honolulu next
weekend showed cars costing at least
$350 a day. Twitter is filled with the
fulminations of aggrieved travellers who
wait hours at an airport counter only to
be given a minivan—or nothing at all.
For rentalcar companies, rebuilding
fleets will take time. An international
shortage of semiconductors, which are
used in cars’ electronic systems, has
slowed manufacturing. A lack of new
cars and, perhaps, a hesitancy to return
to public transport have pushed up sec
ondhand car sales by 30% in the past
year. Things aren’t all bad, however.
Barclays, a bank, suggests high prices are
helping firms recoup their losses.
All this explains the curious case of
the uHaul on the beach. But the firm is
not the only alternative to rental cars.
Lyft launched its own carhire service in
2019, though it too admits that the chip
shortage has hurt growth. Some are
turning to ridehailing apps, but prices
per ride have spiked because of a lack of
drivers. Outdoorsy, an rvrental plat
form, has seen bookings for its smaller
offerings—such as Jeeps and trucks—
increase by 10% yearonyear. It seems
that the rental car market would have to
get even tighter for Americans to fall in
love with public transport. TravelreturnsBaby, you can’t drive my car
D ENVER
The pandemic has upended America’s rental-car marketRoom for the whole family