Mayor Bloomberg is off the deep end...

[yourguide]

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:


First, he's trying to abolish term limits so he can run again. He's claiming the economic crisis essentially mandates his business and financial skills are needed.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/ny-nyterm045911273nov04,0,7880564.story


Now, the man has been running this city for 6 years and his business skills apparently have sucked wind as now the city is considering all sorts of tax increases because apparently the city has no money, this includes raised property taxes, eliminating the home owner rebate promised to new homeowners, and a targeted tax increase on the middle class, those making 50K to 90K per year, between $116 to $356 more next year.

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/11/05/2008-11-05_mayor_michael_bloomberg_new_york_city_ma.html


On top of that he's also considering a "bag tax" of a nickel per plastic bag used. We already pay the highest sales tax in the country, and those groceries I need to carry home I have already paid tax on. I cant carry 2 or 3 tote bags with me where ever I go. On top of that we re-use those bags for garbage in the house. Cant really use paper bags for kitchen and bathroom trash. I'm all for the city forcing vendors to use biodegradable plastic but this is just another way for them to collect tax.

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/11/06/2008-11-06_if_i_had_a_nickel_for_every_bag_sez_mayo.html


Finally, although I live in brooklyn it's considered NY city (as is the bronx, queens, and staten island) I pay city taxes and state taxes yet now they are considering putting a toll on all of the east river crossings including the williamsburg, manhattan, brooklyn, & 59th street bridge. Again I already pay city income tax and already pay the highest damn sales tax in the nation. Now, if I'd like to travel home safely late at night (being a woman) I will not only be responsible for likely a $3.50 to Brooklyn but for the cabby's return toll adding an extra $7 on to my $13 cab fare. Supposedly this is to help the MTA (trains buses etc) but they are also looking for a fare hike there as well.

http://wcbstv.com/politics/michael.bloomberg.east.2.859306.html

[nycmjkfan]

1. They've been trying to hike

the East River bridges for years. It won't happen. The traffic around those bidges is usually a nightmare, imagine if they put toll plazas, say at the end of the Brooklyn Bridge, you'd have traffic backed all the way into lower Manhattan.

Besides, many of these measures can't really be pinned on Bloomberg, remember the rest of the economy stinks because of many more reasons.

[thesquanderer]

2. it would probably be the other way around

the trend has been toward one way (double) tolls on the way into the city, and no toll leaving the city. and higher speed ezpass reading doesn't slow traffic as much.

[nycmjkfan]

4. I don't know

Even going in reverse, I hate the combination of lights and traffic heading into the Queensborough and the Williamsburgh. I would shudder to think what would it look like with tolls.

I don't think there is even enough room in those area to place a substantial amount of toll booths to make it feasible.

[yourguide]

6. read the accompanying article...

apparently very little opposition this time around within city government.

[Smarmie Doofus]

3. Grown-ups remember that Abe Beame made the same argument in '73.

>>>First, he's trying to abolish term limits so he can run again. He's claiming the economic crisis essentially mandates his business and financial skills are needed.>>>>

"He knows the buck"..., CPA, Comptroller, yada yada yada. What followed his election was a total fiscal meltdown with the city placed in receivership.

Bloomberg is all smoke and mirrors, cooked books and phony stats.

And *utterly* unscrupulous. ( Changing term limits is "disgusting" by his own account. He said exactly that three years ago.)

If NYers weren't so gullible they'd send Mayor Enron packing, along with the lower echelon pols who've managed to $ign on with him.... in anticipation of good things happening for themselves.... " in the private sector .

Somewhere down the line.

[nycmjkfan]

5. I'd be curious to know

with the economic meltdown, what do you think Bloomberg should have done differently to avoid the cities economic shortfall?

[Smarmie Doofus]

12. Nothing at all... far as I know.

That's my point: his alleged financial genius was utterly useless to the city, which, like the rest of the country, is falling victim to forces beyond the control of even the mightiest Captains of Industry. If Bloomberg's financial expertise were relevant, we presumably wouldn't be caught in the economic tsunami we appear to be caught in.

Makes sense?

Thus it's disingenuous of him to suggest that because he's a billionaire ( in fact the wealthiest private citizen in NYC) he's uniquely suited, in a time of recession, to serve as mayor for a third term.

It's an old trick but it will probably work.

*Politically*.

But it won't do the city any good at all.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

7. He also tried to get through congestion pricing, where they would photograph

every car coming into midtown Manhattan and lower and charge the drivers a fee. The state wouldn't approve it and now he wants to institute another means of recording all of the cars in city. Big Brother.

[nycmjkfan]

8. I don't see a problem with this....

The average New Yorker doesn't drive into the city. Those that do, live outside and further congest the city, why not tax them.

Cities like Boston don't let you park in certain parts of town unless you live there, I would like to see NY do this.

I lived on the Upper Westside of Manhattan and would hate having to move my car for alternate side parking, because many of the spots were taken by people that would drive in from Westchester or New Jersey, park on the street and then take the subway.

[yourguide]

10. I do, living in brooklyn I pay city tax

I should be entitled to use the bridges.

Again, as a woman I need to take taxis home late at night. I shouldnt have to pay this toll every time I need to go home.

[nycmjkfan]

11. I understand...

but for the most part, there are far more people that drive in from the 'burbs than from within the city.
On the flip side, I remember when the yellow cabs went on strike a few years back and they thought people would be in an uproar.....how glorious it was to not have traffic in the city.

[yourguide]

13. Then the city should figure that out before unduly

charging a fee anytime a vehicle enters the city. Perhaps personal cars shouldnt be allowed at all.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

14. That plan still wouldn't have helped you if you lived on the Upper Westside. It was planned to

start at I believe 59th or 60th street and continue down to the financial center. When I lived in Manhattan, I was in the Gramercy Park/Murray Hill area. When I decided to bring in my car from Queens (I kept it where my parents lived), the alternate side of the street parking was a pain.

The congestion pricing plan didn't seem to take into account all of the people who live in the Manhattan below 59th St. who have cars.


My immediate feeling when I heard about it that it had very little to do with collecting revenue and cutting down on the amount of cars. As I said in my first post, he still wants to track every car that enters Manhattan. I find that creepy and big brother-like.

[thesquanderer]

15. different situations

I routinely drive from Westchester to Brooklyn, and the best route is down the FDR. I never get off the parkway into the regular Manhattan streets, but there are two bridges involved, that could get expensive for someone who isn't even trying to go anywhere in Manhattan...

[alcibiades_mystery]

9. You don't have the highest sales tax in the nation

We do. Chicago: 10.25%

Just sayin'...

http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2008/03/chicago-gets-hi.html