February 5, 2008 is Primary day in New York City/State.
Possibly oh so much more. Will a woman become the democratic Presidential ‘08 nominee? or will a woman, public advocate Betsy Gotbaum become a Mayor?
As the Mayor of New York City campaigns all over the nation, myspace and otherwise, claiming his right to participate on the periphery of the Presidential ‘08 campaign, some ask, is this the same strategy he used to gain election in his first term of Mayor of New York City?
That Mayoral success was achieved due to an overpopulated Democratic campaign field land mined with agenda confusion. The Mayor stood out on the periphery and demagnetized Democratic voters to the white washed Yard Sign marked “Republican.” That was small town politics. This is the national forum. Its not the same and his tested approach has already received a few fails.
Still, perhaps a few, who get the Google Alerts for Mayor Bloomberg, will notice. New Yorkers reading their local paper will be warted to death about it and feel its being forced on them. Some like me will say, ho hum and read again about the billionaire who might be the next NYC mayor, Catsimatidis and wonder if we can just call him Cat. Well Cat sure sounds like a contender to me, someone who says they are actually running.
Ok. Look I am an idealist. I voted for Mayor Bloomberg the first term because he was not in the system. I quickly learned to regret that cross-wired decision. When the vote was too close to call, I did not like how he handled vote resolution. There was this ego, emperor type thing going on with him. And this thing has plagued all his efforts. The Republican Convention fiasco. The parks fiasco. The school board fiasco. The police department’s multiple fiascoes. The fire department’s multiple fiascoes. The smoking ban of some bars fiasco. The subway fiasco. The library fiasco. The impending real estate inflation fiasco. His saturated focus on a conversational effort has no effect. At best it is seen as a a mild irritant on the road to Presidential ‘08. He talks at them and not to them; thereby excluding them from “his” debate.
“Washington doesn’t have a plan” to address crumbling U.S. infrastructure” — Bloomberg.
huh?
I thought the governing role of infrastructure belonged to the state and city? Isn’t this part of their responsibility to make sure there is a dialogue? A dialogue that takes place at a table, desk or the terminal?
(I don’t like Schwarzenegger, I don’t like his ID program. The seemingly harmless and petulant statement of Conservative and Opposition Leader David Cameron to Prime Minister Gordon Brown, “I do not want my identity reduced to some metallic strip!” becomes a mantra to Americans on their native soil. Go figure the Terminator is the the last one to say, go Native.)
“a challenge to candidates to move beyond photo-ops, to reject stage-managed town hall meetings, and to talk about how we’re going to use real accountability to solve real problems and take real questions from our constituents and give them real answers.”– Bloomberg.
Isn’t that what he is doing? I don’t get it. hmm That’s what immigrants say too when asked about his run. They say I don’t get what he is saying.
First off, I think its nice that he donated 10s of millions to patch up the New York City budget he could or would not be able to fix. I am sure he gave immediate gratification to the poor of New York City.
If the people of New York City changed their behavior while using the City to express Cooperation and Consideration it would go a long way to alleviating Complaint and Achieve Change.
These donations, along with the unnecessary expenditures he created, strongly highlight his inability to build an infrastructure for New York City. An infrastructure that costs so little but does so much. Its so simple and its so powerful. Ask the people, hire the people, organize the people. Get the people of New York City working real time and in reality to make their city better. Make it a pride thing that everyone wants to do. And pay the ones who say they are in need. The honor system. Invest in the people not the IT tangle. A City is its People and the trust therein. Its People being the people that are born here, the people who have lived here all their life. What did the mayor do with these people? He chased them all away and harbored immigrants, as much as 60% in Queens, that would do as he said. He didn’t want a City with its own inherent diversity. He wanted a Company that he was CEO of. And its all so apparent in the brand NYC Company that he created.
Mr. Bloomberg and his “right” democrats don’t like the Presidential ‘08 term “change” because they like to complain. Mr. Bloomberg wasted $157 million on a system that was based on complaints. I always cross out the word “complaint” and replace it with “change.” To say that someone is complaining is an insult to the People of this City. Complain might be a cultural thing, but the City is a diverse thing, so really what are you pushing?
I don’t like the way Mr. Bloomberg treats his women employees in the City (Betsy Gotbaum) or in his company, Bloomberg. Both places sound like disgusting places to work for. I would never apply for a job at such places, that’s for sure. See the Voice here and also “Shut Your Mouth.”
“At a news briefing at City Hall, a reporter began a question by saying, “The public advocate and council members are complaining” about the new system and are suggesting that Alvarez & Marsal, the consulting firm that devised it, be fired. Mr. Bloomberg shot back, “You’re quoting people who have no experience in doing anything so I don’t quite know how to answer it.”
Mr. Bloomberg took yet another swipe at the City Council and at Betsy Gotbaum, the public advocate whose office he once moved to diminish, saying, “If those people who haven’t done anything in terms of management think that they know what to do, they should apply for jobs and we’ll be happy to do it.” — New York Times 2/8/2007
“Greatest expansion since John Lindsay”
Mayor Koch 19% over two terms
Bloomberg’s stimulus package:
$298 million for parks, up 27%
(these have been losses and incomplete projects)
$157 million for IT, tripled, 311 and tech systems
( these are losses through their ineffectiveness and inefficiences and are incomplete)
$16 billion for schools. catalyst for 40% increase teacher’s salaries
(so they say. What were the costs for Alvarez & Marsal and other non-bid contractors? ‘Parents Give Bloomberg and Klein an “F”‘)
city workers decreased by 1%, surge in 2004 of 10,000 workers, total 367,643
(Why?)
