It isn’t often one gets a chance to go out in a blaze of righteous glory, be it while shuffling off this mortal coil, one’s time in a particular employment situation, or even as an elected official.
Not in a flashy, ‘take that’ show of bluster and spite. I’m not talking about that at all. Too many people love those flaming bridges smoking behind them as they go and then wonder why they can’t get hired again, or why the new gig they thought they had locked on is suddenly not such a lock.
No. I’m talking about a chance to do the right thing in the face of tremendous pressure to slip quietly away, which would also be the safe thing.
It’s kind of funny this has come up, because I had just read details about the murder of St Thomas Becket, that ‘troublesome priest,’ whose feast day was yesterday.
29th December is the feast of St Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was murdered on that day in 1170 CE in Canterbury Cathedral by four knights of Henry Il’s court.
BL Add MS 38116; ‘The Huth Psalter’; 1280 CE-1300 CE; England,N.;f.13r @BLMedieval pic.twitter.com/9NTTPDEMw3
— Ennius (@red_loeb) December 28, 2025
I had not realized the extent of the depravity Henry’s knights indulged in as they carried out what they believed was their mission to rid the king of this particular pest – this extraordinary man of courage and the Lord’s grace.
‘…The clergy in attendance on him, conscious of the attempt about to be made, wished to bolt the doors. But the saint caused them to be again opened, saying, The Church of God is not be made a castle of, and for the cause of God’s Church I am willing to die. He then said to his murderers, I charge you in the Name of the Almighty God to hurt none of my people. With these words he fell on his knees, and commended himself to God, to the Blessed Virgin Mary, to St. Denis, and to the other holy Patrons of the Church of Canterbury. He presently offered his sacred head for the stroke of death, and received it from the swords of those wicked men with the same constancy with which he had withstood the commands of the unrighteous king. The murderers pulled out his brains and strewed them all about the floor of the church….’
It also explained why portraits of the saint will always have a sword about his head. Never hovering above it, always kind of implying the blade is through, but never depicted so graphically as that.
That’s the extreme version of standing for what was right I had fresh in my brain when a New York Sun email asked the question:
Will Mayor Adams Veto Property Grab by Nonprofits, Community Groups?
Hmm. A moral and courage conundrum for the Dapper Dan mayor, not to mention…what on earth were they talking about?
It turns out it’s something called the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA). The New York City Council has been kicking the concept around for more than five years, but officially for a year and a half, since May 2024. COPA has been yugely controversial since its first inception, probably because it stomps all over personal property rights in a city that is already well known as a hellhole for landlords and owners.
Not only stripping more basic property rights from property owners in favor of not-for-profit organizations and ‘the community interests’ (whatever they determine those to be), but boiling down to such egregious requirements that a simple question of ‘is this even legal in America’ could be raised, it is that bad.
Let’s see if I can give you a sense of what the Council members were planning to add to the city’s already dystopian housing regulatory setup.
The New York City Council is preparing to end the year by adopting the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act. COPA would represent an unprecedented use of the body’s legislative power to bestow an “interest” in private property on a favored class of not-for-profits. It would enable those organizations to bid on and purchase certain multifamily dwellings before an owner is permitted to offer his property for sale to the general public.
While the bill has sparked significant opposition on policy grounds, it also raises profound legal questions about the extent of the city council’s authority, and its ability to intrude on fundamental private-property rights.
COPA would basically allow the city to declare itself an owner of a property with the primary interest BEFORE it is going to be listed for sale.
…Like all conveyances of property interests, a right of first refusal arises out of a contract between parties. A contract, of course, is a voluntary agreement between parties who have reached terms. COPA would destroy these essential legal principles. The bill would grant qualified entities a “right of first offer to purchase,” meaning a right to bid on certain multi-family dwellings (four or more units) “before the property becomes available for sale in the public market.”
Whenever the owner of a “covered property” wishes to sell it, the owner would be required to inform the city prior to placing the property on the market. The owner would then be subject to a 25-day window during which only qualified not-for-profits would have the right to submit a “statement of interest” in acquiring the property. Where a qualified entity submits such a statement, the owner would be required to provide the not-for-profit an 80-day window in which to make an offer. During this time, the owner would be prohibited from selling to any other party.
If a not-for-profit makes an offer, the owner can reject it. However, even if he does, COPA would grant a right of first refusal to the not-for-profit. Consequently, any time the owner elects to sell to a third party, he would have to offer the not-for-profit the chance to match any offer he receives, with a requirement to sell to it if the not-for-profit matches.
The bill, therefore, entails an extraordinary claim of municipal power. COPA would give the city, which does not own the properties it covers, the prerogative of a private owner, letting it bestow a property interest on a select group of entities that the city deems worthy of holding such rights. In effect, the bill would force the owners of every covered property to enter involuntarily into contracts with entities to whom the city has transferred the most fundamental element of a property owner’s “bundle of rights”—the right to freely dispose of his land.
Perhaps you now understand my Havana allusion. Why even pretend you ‘own’ a property at all when the city has, for all intents and purposes, completely usurped your owneship prerogatives and rights?
Welcome to the Big, Wormy Communist Apple.
The City Council’s far-left majority is pushing the Big Apple into a “communist dystopia” with Stalinesque legislation designed to control how private property is sold — and penalizing owners $30,000 if they resist.
The “Community Opportunity for Purchase Act,” or COPA, forces sellers to let “community land trusts” and other nonprofits providing affordable housing make first offers to buy residential buildings with at least three units once they’re on the market – and then match competing private-sector offers.
I will say one has to assume it was the Communist Mamdani’s victory over all challengers in November which gave the New York City council majority socialists the faux-courage they needed to finally act, because they passed this un-American abomination two days ago.
YOICKS
🚨IT HAS BEGUN: NYC just passed the COPA law, and it’s chilling. The city now gives government approved nonprofits first dibs when property owners try to sell, kneecapping private buyers and stripping owners of real control over their own property.
This is the government… pic.twitter.com/lSpFPs8nrp— A Man Of Memes (@RickyDoggin) December 28, 2025
…This is the government inserting itself into who can buy, who can sell, and at what cost. They can call it “ tenant protection” if they want …but it’s forced market manipulation and a massive step toward state control of private property. – David J Harris Jr.
Ooooh, they are setting things up so sweet for the incoming boy-king.
NYC just passed the COPA law, and it’s chilling. The city now gives government approved nonprofits first dibs when property owners try to sell, kneecapping private buyers and stripping owners of real control over their own property. This is the government inserting itself into… pic.twitter.com/JP6tZCvA3E
— TheLizVariant (@TheLizVariant) December 27, 2025
Is there no hope? Is there no man of courage? Is the situation beyond all redemption?
And the cry from the six rational people left in the boroughs goes out –
WILL NO ONE RID US OF THIS TROUBLESOME COPA?!
It turns out there are two days, and but one man left who can save Gotham from Heaven…or Havana.
TICK TICK TICK
Mayor Eric Adams has fewer than 48 hours to veto far-reaching housing legislation that opponents say will hand over private multi-unit properties to government-approved buyers before permitting owners to take it to the open market, stifling competition and property values.
For sure, as enacted, it’s going to be a nightmare from start to finish for every property-owning taxpayer in the city.
…He [head of the tax incentives and affordable housing unit at Rosenberg and Estis, Daniel Bernstein] added that the law creates a lot of uncertainty for sellers whose failure to comply with the rules could subject them to litigation and financial penalties.
“As written, COPA doesn’t remove the cloud of a potential litigation that could be brought by a qualified entity who alleges that the process wasn’t followed, and it might end up disputed. So, while there is a process that is to be followed, uncertainty about that process, lack of clarity as to when it’s truly resolved so that an owner can sell without concern,” Mr. Bernstein said.
Does Adams, who boldly stood up for his New York Jewish citizens so beautifully after the Oct 7 horror, have ‘the right thing’ in him one more time?
…A spokesman for the mayor’s office, Daniel Marans, was vague about the mayor’s plans, but told The New York Sun that Mr. Adams will announce where he stands on COPA and a host of other bills “passed at the last minute” before the December 31, 11:59 p.m. deadline.
If Mr. Adams does veto the legislation, the city council will need to come up with a two-thirds majority to override it in the next 30 days. With a change of council composition, that may not be possible, though incoming Mayor Zohran Mamdani has expressed support for the act.
Does Eric Adams love his city more than going quietly into that good night?
Is he willing to face the progressive depravity?
TICK TICK TICK
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