Poll Shows New Yorkers Are Deeply Conflicted Over Bloomberg’s Legacy

[alp227]

Source: New York Times

They stirred resistance at every turn, prompting predictions of economic doom, touching off years of lawsuits and spawning a cottage industry of jokes on late-night television.

But Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s crusades to restrict smoking, encourage biking, expose calorie counts and sideline automobiles are now overwhelmingly embraced by New York City residents, according to a New York Times poll, making his experiments in behavioral modification an unexpectedly popular hallmark of his legacy.

In a stinging assessment of the mayor’s priorities and effectiveness, however, two-thirds of New Yorkers say they believe that the quality of the city’s long-troubled school system has stayed the same or become worse since he took office in 2002, despite his vigorous pledges to improve it.

Most New Yorkers say Mr. Bloomberg’s policies have favored the rich over the middle class and the poor. And 70 percent say that as mayor, he has paid too much attention to Manhattan, rather than its surrounding, less well-off boroughs.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/18/nyregion/what-new-yorkers-think-of-mayor-bloomberg.html?pagewanted=all

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And Bloomberg continues his power-hungry streak by proposing fingerprinting public housing residents.

[hrmjustin]

1. I never voted for him and I will not miss him.

[branford]

2. He was much more modest and reasonable early in his administration.

As time went on, particularly in his unprecedented third term, something snapped. He went from mild technocrat to dictatorial autocrat for reasons that I certainly cannot explain.

At this point, I definitely will not miss him.

[alp227]

3. Bloomberg used to be a Democrat but became a Republican in 2001 to run for mayor.

In 2007, he became an independent. I guess there's a correlation between his party registration and increased a-hole attitude!

[branford]

4. Possibly, but I believe there's more to it.

Regardless of his D>R>I journey, his politics were usually consistent. The party labels were merely a convenience. He was socially very liberal, and financially moderate to conservative. Quite a typical rich, white, Jewish financier in NYC. Hardly unique and fit right into NYC politics.

Bloomberg was also popular early-on, and easily won re-election. I never understood why he spent so much of his own money to basically buy his third term (and barely win), particularly given the morass of the economy. He was already a self-made billionaire. Maybe he was bored and running America's largest city kept him busy.

His focus on pet issues like salt intake, soda sizes, outdoor smoking, etc., became obsessive and all-consuming. I think he began to feel a sort of condescending paternalism to us poor plebs in NYC who did not behave in an "appropriate" and "healthy" manner like him. The push-back from these policies began to make him angry, mean and entirely unlikeable, even to old supporters. He continued to try to run the City like a CEO or stern father figure, rather than an elected representative. There was more push-back and the cycle of irritability and condescension continued.

Now, most New Yorkers cannot wait for him to be gone. However, if Carlos Danger is ever elected, we might just miss Old Mike.

[obama2terms]

6. Hahaha

You're right! He gets on my nerves too because he just seems too controlling. The soda size thing, stop and frisk etc. just NO.

[blkmusclmachine]

5. Bloomberg proposes fingerprinting public housing residents.

Eye scans, piss in a cup, fingerprinting, cameras everywhere.

Just Another Day In The Burgeoning Police State.

Freedom Is Slavery! Slavery Is Freedom!