Would de Blasio refuse infrastructure money to defy Trump?

Mayor Bill de Blasio called for “ubiquitous” resistance against the Trump administration and even floated the idea of refusing federal infrastructure money, according to notes from a closed-door mayors’ meeting.

“I am not sure that we should engage the Trump administration. I am not sure that we should not,” he said at the Conference of Mayors in New Orleans in August, as reported by Politico. “But we must be ubiquitous. That is our job.”

His comments didn’t exactly go down well in the room. “It’s fair to say that there was eye-rolling,” one source told the outlet.

Refusing federal money might not go down well with the real estate industry either. Several developers support the mayor and his push to increase residential construction, but others have balked at his progressive rhetoric.

The Trump administration promised to launch a $1 billion infrastructure investment program, but that hasn’t happened yet. Bloomberg reported earlier this month that a plan could be unveiled in January. [Politico] — Konrad Putzier