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Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of Manhattan.

Enough said.

BTW, why is this segment not available for later listening?

I like the guy and voted for him twice, but I wish he'd put a stop to luxury condo development. We've had enough already! Overall I'd give him high marks but let's put the brakes on selling the entire five boroughs to high-end developers.

Janette Sadik-Khan for mayor? Please. Let's not forget the speeding ticket her SUV driver got on the way to Albany to pitch the congestion pricing plan.

Great accolades for the non-smoking ban and for 311.
I fault him for attempting to impose congestion traffic pricing without any preparation, for example, making sure that people in the suburbs would have a place to park their cars at the station so that they could take the train into Manhattan. Also, the commuter trains would need to have increased numbers of trains for the overload. Furthermore, would suburbanites have been willing to pay an extra $8 to get to dinner before theater during the week? I think not. Had the congestion pricing passed in Albany, utter chaos would have resulted.

Bloomberg backed down to the car alarm manufacturers/car insurance lobby. And what happened to opening up school playgrounds after school?

Tom, have you looked at Brooklyn and Queens lately? As one of Bloomberg's pet developers put it recently, "It's all Manhattan now."

Thankfully, he has largely not resorted to exacerbating the city's innate divisions, especially racial and economic, to build his voter base, as some past mayors have done. The city is now a happier place.

Unfortunately, there was at least one serious exception to this, when he and his head of Economic Development camouflaged their support for development of the far West Side in the guise of environmental justice for the outer boroughs, to get the reactivation and huge expansion of a solid waste Marine Transfer Station in the middle of one of the most densely populated residential areas in the city, at East 91st St in Manhattan. They claimed an impossibility, that there would be no environmental impact for the affected neighborhood.

There were much more suitable, entirely industrial sites available in Manhattan, especially in the area of the Hudson Rail Yards in the East 30s. But their real agenda was to make those sites available for very upscale development, and processing solid waste there might spoil the view.

Bloomberg shepherded NYC through its worst crisis in it's 400 year history, not a small feat.

That said, I agree with all the comments about aiding or allowing Manhattan to be run by the power brokers in finance and real estate. This city is losing all of its uniqueness to banks and chain stores.

Shameless development of highrises at the expense of low and middle income neighborhoods, families and small business owners--shoving poor folk to the poorly served outer extremities of the city so suited, overpaid business people (and rich institutions such as Columbia U.) can claim even more Manhattan acreage for themselves. Bravo Mike!

I question the success of 311 since the single biggest complaint to 311 is about noise and yet the noise abatement initiative was DOA. The city has no plan and no power to deal with the chronic noise pollution in many working class neighborhoods.

311 is a joke in practice but a good idea in theory. It's nothing more than a customer service line - people hired with scripts and no connection to the services they purportedly represent. Otherwise, Mike is a disappointment for selling out the city and for the shameless, fascist way he handled the RNC - it could've been Germany or Italy in the 30s!

Dear Brain:
Mayor Bloomberg has done most part a good job.The only area which area feel Mayor has not done a good job is in two area one in keep the City affordable for the middle class income citzens & Police Department.You know this City will always be expensive but City done a better job in helping out the middle class.Second point is the Police department need do a better job with City minority communities treat them in a more fair matter

Keep up the good job,
Brian

Those who dont live in the city get a skewed perception of Bloomberg, from the media!

Bloomberg epitomizes the strengths and weaknesses of a technocratic administration. His public health initiatives are WONDERFUL, and it's great to have a real doctor/ MPH as Health Commissioner.

His Children First and school initiatives have been awful and punitive. Even well-intentioned ideas lack democratic participation and feedback necessary for proper implementation (not to mention, true public accountability). Meanwhile, I can't believe that we're allowing so many specious incentive-driven initiatives (paying for exams) to go through, when we don't have the proper resources (qualified teachers, actual AP or college preparatory classes in low-income schools) necessary to take advantage of these incentives! His other school policies, like untrained police officers dealing with teenage students who come late to school, have done real damage to both teachers and students.

BR
he might need that cure for lung cancer

I went to a couple of events that Mayor Bloomberg presided over. Although they were crowded events, the Mayor posed for photos with every guest that wanted one. He was very personable, and had a few words for each guest. I left each event wondering why a billionaire would possibly want this job. I think he’s the most successful Mayor since LaGuardia. Although he’s famous for his hot temper, he always seems calm and focused. I live in Jersey, but I’m a fan.

Bloomberg seems to have done a fairl decent job running the city although certainly not as good as he gets credit for. He is certainly less divisive than Guiliani. I am glad however that he failed to force the West SIde Stadium down our throats and he I resent that he is trying to do the same thing with the Atlantic Yards. There is an arrogance to his rule. I hate to listen to his press conferences where his done is entirely condesending. The tone is so dismissve as if he is feeling put upon that he has to explain things to all of us idiots. As far as his succesors I don't see anyone that impresses me. The one thing that Bloomberg's mayorality has pointed up is the party hacks that usually move up inevitably after spending years in various public offices. I'm afraid Christine Quinn falls into that category.

Obama WILL simultaneously ban and liberate smokers everywhere!

Obama WILL personally find a cure for lung cancer and give cigarettes out for free through government sponsored programs!

The police fiasco that was the Iraq protest before the war started,in NYC, which he did not allow until after the war started! but allowed a gathering that was inadequate suited for the amount of people the arrived to protest and had police on horses and nearly stomped innocent people!!!

The 311 system is works to register a complaint but getting a resolution to the issue is a challenge. In my experience it is just a database to collect complaints with no follow up by the NYC agency.

Janette Sadik-Khan for Mayor!!!! I'm half kidding but she would do a wonderful job making NYC a more environmetnally sustainable place.

As for Bloomberg performance? He's done a great job. I think NYC is thriving like it has not since the 1960s, and I suspect it also is a much fairer place for people who are not white.

It's difficult to assess the accomplishments of a mayor under whose tenure the city has been overrun with luxury housing, the bulk of which have been invading low and middle income neighborhoods such as mine. Luxury towers forcing themselves into our neighborhoods are driving out all of us who have a modest income; we have chosen to live in simple, affordable neighborhoods and it's getting increasingly difficult to hang on here. All of us, young entrepreneurs, artists and the like, are not long for this city thanks to this glut of overpriced housing. I find this lack of vision on the mayor's part shameful.

The mayor gets a gold star for the smoking ban.

What I want from a mayor is a chance at urban survival as a middle-class person. Manhattan is just a playground for the uber-rich (45 billionaires live in Manhattan alone) and the poor who commute to Manhattan to work for the rich are barely hanging on in the outer boroughs. The city is still financially hostile to the middle class and that will lead the city to another 70's style collapse in the not too distant future.

Obama WILL elect himself mayor in addition to President, Messiah, and Deputy Deity to God!

Obama WILL pay all expenses for every single person everywhere from his Divine money tree farm.

Obama WILL install a 311 that goes straight to GOD (and if the Big Man's busy, Obama himself will answer the prayer request).

Letitia James for Mayor! Seriously, she rules.

While I don't agree with all of his policies, I will say how much I like that he tries to achieve large-scale, long-term projects. Few people in government think in such a grand and big picture way.

While many of Bloomberg's policies have been successful, I am troubled by the tone-deaf quality of his pronouncements to the working class. Last week when temperatures soared to 100 degrees, he scolded the UFT for wanting to close schools early like some suburban districts, saying "When I went to school there was no air conditioning" Well, just because something happened in the past, that doesn't make it advisable. In one Bronx high school I know of, a teacher fainted and two students had asthma attacks. If someone reported that an official had locked hundreds of cats and dogs in an building that was 100 degrees with no relief, that person would be led out in handcuffs. Why is it okay for NY kids and teachers? Do public school parents love their kids less than the more affluent? Are our teachers superhuman? Would he have his staff work under these conditions?

Bloomberg is the over development mayor.
Doctoroff is Robert Moses with the best spin money can buy!
And I hate to tell you but the BAD GUYS are coming back. Gullianni sent them upstate and they are getting out- see the recent spike in crimes of all types.

please no weiner! what has he don't for the city.

i work in downtown Brooklyn and the difference in the area from the Guliani era in terms of cleanliness and services are astounding.i also support all of the environmental initiatives like hybrid busses and priuses for the transit workers.

BAd planning: A huge amount of rezoning in the name of economic development that seems to produce mostly luxury condos; greatly increasing the amount of residential use without planning for increased public school seats.

Best thing:

Getting rid of smoking in bars, 311

Worst - Inability to follow up on his rhetoric. I work for HPD, and there is a complete disconnect between what this agency does and what the mayor proposed for green standards in PLANYC 2030. On top of that, while the mayor wants to promote taking the stairs rather than elevators, he doesn't seem to think this applies to any New York City government buildings. I couldn't even take the stairs if I wanted, they are fire exits only. I end up having to take the stairs one flight.

Also, he hasn't made any steps to get rid of cars in Central or Propsect Park. He wanted congestion pricing to reduce traffic, but wouldn't even take this easy and most sensible step, despite the 100,000 petitions brought to him by Transportation Alternatives.

not an unconditional apologist for the police department. willing to make unpopular decisions to deal with immediate fiscal problems. (remember no recycling for a year?) puts a high priority on progress, even when he fails. all good things.

The Mayor committment to public health has been amazing. He has promised his terms to "proven best practices" like the smoking ban and the calorie issue. He has made NYC a pioneer in public health. I have hope in Ms. Quinn, as has backed many of the DOHMH's initiatives.

I'm furious with the mayor with his recent response to teachers and students who didn't have air conditioning in the schools. I thought his saying "we didn't have air conditioning in schools when I was growing up -the city can afford either air conditioning or teachers" was the equivalent of "let them eat cake."

I also don't think we should underestimate what happened during the Republican National Covention, and the way it allowed the Bush administration to exploit our grief after 9/11. Bloomberg virtually created a police state and helped get Bush elected.

His best accomplishments 311 and setting the schools back on track to graduate knowledgable students! But he has tried to give Manhattan to the wealthy. I'm sorry he lost on the rail yards - where we still have NOTHING. He is tough on raises so the budget is healthy but his not speaking up about upper management getting raises is indictive of his elistism - and before he leaves office I want him to get a handle on the MTA like he did OTB. I do not like Christine Quinn at all.

I love it when people make fun of labor unions. It's gratifying when Americans forget our revolutionary heritage.

Mixed bag: Mayor Bloomberg.

Bad: Has not helped keep the city affordable -- particularly housing. Has actually made this increasingly a city for the rich.

Good: The Department of Health has taken bold initiatives -- especially around smoking and obesity. Public health may be his lasting legacy.

Biggest gripe!
Lots of new people but no new schools.
The schools are overcrowded
and no new schools are in the works.
Also the hospitals are going away.
Not good planning

@19 - ah, the good old days, when Giuliani was running around the city trying to close down art exhibits he didn't like. Bloomberg is no civil libertarian, but at least he doesn't rise at night to feed on the blood of the living.

chareles baron

he is running the city like a buissness, very calm, i like that he avoids all the fuss guilani created, his biggest flaw ... he is very insensitiv towards the needs of bluecollar working class

he is very uncaring mayor who has somehow convinced people that he really cares.

his main legacy will be ignoring the corruption that has occurred during his watch. atlantic yards is a shameful example of a corrupt process bloomberg has allowed to occur. there is clearly corruption in the buildings department, and all sorts of corruption related to this ridiculous nyc overdevelopment.

I am not for a nanny state but I do like the smoking, trans fat bans. The 311 system is another great accomplishment and the social program that pays low income families or school attendence and medical check ups is great too.
On the down side the mayor is out of touch with all but one future for new york. His future is just for the wealthy. All great propertare gladdly handed over for mega luxury developments.

311 is NOT all good. It is fine for small problems but it has served to keep citizens away from direct contact with the agencies they should be able to contact -such as DOB and the local precinct.

Also the mayor has sold the city out to developers and the construction accidents are due to his too close friendships with these developers

Bloomberg - unchecked development, condominiums replacing aesthetically pleasing buildings, "every construction site has violations," middle class almost entirely vanished from NYC.

He's a business man. He has a demographic. The no-smoking ban was smart.

Oh, and somehow the MTA is able to pass themselves off as "green." I'll blame that on him, too.

Sorry - there's a ? now about Stuyvesant. My parent's rent has skyrocketed in Peter Cooper Village. Tischman Speyer bought that as well.

Backing down to Mr. Softee is a memorable accomplishment. I'm so happy to hear that melody at 10PM endlessly loop, even with the windows closed. It reminds me how children need iced cream right before bed.

Mr. Softee must be part of the Secret Government he has so much power.

When Mayor Bloomberg band smoking in Bars & Restuarants, he had the support of the A.H.A. the American Cancer Society and Professional Organizations representing Pulmonary physicians. The press only covered the point of view of the bone heads that spend their days solving the worlds problems from their bar stools.
Mayor Bloomber stands up to the gun shops and the labor unions. Name a politician that has a track record in both of those areas.

hey bloomie,
did u know the NYPD still used 1970's dos based airline reservation software & equipment to run the department. strange for a city run by techno millionaire.

The best thing Bloomberg has done is appoint Janette Sadik-Khan as head of the DoT!

The buck stops at his desk and he takes credit for his accomplishments and takes the heat for what goes wrong! A freshing change!

His greatest accomplishment? He's not Rudy. What more could anyone ask for?

for me it's not so much his "accomplishments", rather his attitude and forward thinking (public health, sustainability). legislators are for the legwork and accomplishing initatives, the executive is to lead by example and set out goals.

He's still from Boston and I just don't trust people from there hanging around down here. Also, I'll echo the RNC debacle.

The best thing is definitely the smoking ban - and that he was willing to do things because he thought they were right - not because they were the popular choice - Bloomberg rocks and i would definitely have voted for him for more terms in office

I hate it when people say 'funnily enough'!

He has thrown the poor and middle class to the real estate wolves.

he city’s business elite has tilted the political structure toward an agenda that puts real estate development ahead of human needs. The result is a new Gilded Age in America’s first city, overseen by the nation’s first billionaire mayor. - from Kim Moody's book

I think the 311 system is a great innovation as well as his health initiatives. Anti Smoking and Trans fats.

Bloomberg has done nothing to protect working class, lower-economic class and middle-economic class housing. The so-called middle class housing is a joke. He went along with Tishmen-Spierers to buy Sty-Peter Cooper village and now we see they are pushing as many vulnerable people out as possible. In short, Bloomberg is overseeing the homogenization of the city: white and affluent. It's economic cleansing.

Bloomberg's legacy:

I don't smell like an ashtray when I get home from a night out.

I think the mayor has done some good things. 311 is a wonderful improvement.

However, I am VERY upset with the mayor on 2 important issues, and these overshadow any other accomplishments:

1) Mayoral control of the schools. This, which had promise, was totally flubbed. The DOE's obsession with high stakes testing, the current admissions fiasco (and the hubris of no apology regarding same), the attempt to eviscerate the spirit behind the campaign for fiscal equity--all of these and more are terrible betrayals of our families.

2) Unbridled, Undemocratic Real Estate Development. Atlantic Yards is a travesty.

My 2 favorite Bloomberg accomplishments:

The development of 311 and the appointment of Ray Kelly as police commish...

I really took a liking to bloomberg after he tried to put "instant run off voting" as a ballot initiative...

How about following the brooklyn portion of marathon route for a sunday; especially because 4th avenue is a defacto highway..

best: no smoking restaurants, requirements for chain restaurants menus to have calories listed ( is that credit to city ? )

His accomplishments? Selling out the city to highest developer and displacing all the working class people. See Kim Moody's From Welfare State to Real Estate

Even though many departments run smoothly, I'm sorry but Mayor Bloomberg's illegal detention of innocent people during the Republican Convention makes it impossible to give him a good grade.

http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/942

http://www.democracynow.org/2004/9/8/rnc_aftermath_a_look_at_undercover

Construction site deaths and injuries also are a big blot on his record.

Similarly, against the general well-being of the city, Mayor Bloomberg has helped big real estate (donors? friends?) evade affordable housing provisions.
http://www.jfrej.org/JFREJAffordableHousing.htm

I believe the Mayor even said he doesn't mind if NYC is gentrified to the point of being all rich and all white.

He's a terrible Mayor!

1. He allowed the transit strike to happen and did nothing to stop it.

2. He has pushed construction and building in the city to the point where cranes are falling left and right. He accomplished this by having only a handful of building inspectors who are on the take.

3. He allowed the police to go for years with inadaquate pay!

4. He proposed a lousy congestion pricing scheme which was just another way to gauge people for more money.

5. He championed a fare increase for the MTA

6. Paterson said he's a liar and untrustworthy and has to get his way.

How is that enough there were more but I'm tired of typing.

His support of WNYC is great, but his support for the hideous RNC convention here in '04 is unforgiveable - he actually gave them money. The police brutality and suppression of dissent (including spying on vegans and the like) was flat-out wrong.

He's got to get a bounce here for his appearance and support of WNYC today.