NYC Magazine » Michael Bloomberg

Fashion Week To Move?

Yelena Mandenberg — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 18:50:38 +0000

It has been rumored that organizers of New York fashion week are going to announce that next year, Fashion Week will be moving from Bryant Park (where Fashion Week has been held for the last 15 years) to Lincoln Center.

Apparently, park management has been complaining for years about the invitation-only shows had grown too large and were restricting access to the park. Although Fashion Week was welcomed in 1993, when it started, there have been many clashes between Fashion Week organizers and the park’s management company.

The problems escalated in 2006 when the Bryant Park Corporation announced it would no longer allow ...continue reading

Bloomberg, De Blasio, and Liu Sworn Into Office

Igor Derysh — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 14:00:04 +0000

Winners of their respective elections were sworn into office earlier this week as the office holders brought a little bit of reform and a lot of the same old, same old.

Mayor Mike Bloomberg celebrated his third mayoral inauguration, the first mayor to do so since Ed Koch did it in the 1980s.

Bloomberg mentioned that he understood how some people felt about him overturning the term limits law but claimed that he sees the additional term as a special opportunity to finish what he started.

Regardless of what you think of Mayor Mike, the multimillionaire ...continue reading

NYC Murder Rate at Record Low

Igor Derysh — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 22:30:51 +0000

Say what you will about New York City turning into a police state (and I’ve said plenty) but it does work. According to the New York Times, New York City is on pace to have its lowest murder rate on record.

The Times reports that by December 27, the city had 461 murders, 35 less than the city had in 2007 when the city had less than 500 murders for the first time.

Pretty good considering as recently as 1990 the city saw more than 2,200 murders in one year.

At the same time, the city’s current deficit will undoubtedly lead to thousands of ...continue reading

New York News Week in Review: Dec. 18

Igor Derysh — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 22:30:06 +0000

Here are a few stories that you might have missed this week:

-New York City’s outer boroughs will be getting a new area code with the amount of numbers expected to run out by 2012. People who are currently in the 718 or 347 area codes will keep their current codes.

-Several education groups have sued Governor David Paterson for the release of money to schools that he has postponed until it becomes financially feasible for the state to pay the aid. Paterson called the move necessary because the State Legislature did not cut enough of the state’s deficit to prevent a large ...continue reading

Bloomberg Titled “Worst Individual Polluter” in Office

Yelena Mandenberg — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 21:50:25 +0000

New York is a relatively green place and most New Yorker’s carbon footprints are tiny. However, our Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, who has received a ton of praise for his environmental agenda, might be the worst individual polluter to hold public office, according to the New York Times.

Times columnist Jim Dwyer attacks Bloomberg for his usage of his fleet of personal aircraft, including a helicopter and two Falcon 900 jets. Bloomberg uses these often, to go to Washington DC, weekend vacations to Bermuda, as well as lengthier voyages, like his upcoming trip to Copenhagen, where ironically, he will be discussing climate change. ...continue reading

Bloomberg Vetoes Parking Grace Period Bill

Igor Derysh — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 03:29:37 +0000

Despite the fact that the New York City Council passed a bill that would allow a mere five minute grace period for people whose parking meter time has expired, the mayor has rebuffed an almost unanimous vote by representatives by vetoing the bill.

The bill would have given drivers a five minute grace period during alternate side parking and after their Muni-Meter time has expired. The bill would not have even applied to coin operated parking meters.

Alas, the mayor has once again gone against the will of the people (on a seemingly minor issue) and has denied the bill’s passage in yet ...continue reading

Mayor Bloomberg Decides To Drop Initiative To Make City Greener

Yelena Mandenberg — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 06:14:43 +0000

Recently, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been pushing building owners (whose building are at least 50,000 square feet) to undergo audits to determine where they could cut greenhouse emissions, and pay for the renovations to make those improvements. However, after receiving intense opposition from building owners, the Mayor has left it up to the owners to decide whether or not they would like to go through with the audits.

The reason that building owners do not want to go through with these audits is because they say that the repairs would be way too costly. About 22,000 buildings would have been affected.

If this ...continue reading

CUNY Ceremony Disrupted By Trustee Shouting Match

Yelena Mandenberg — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 23:02:30 +0000

Today was a special day for CUNY, when Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other officials came to the Borough of Manhattan Community College to celebrate the rebuilding of their Fiterman Hall, which was badly damaged on September 11, 2001.

However, during the first part, City Councilman Charles Barron and CUNY Trustee Jeffery Wiesenfeld has a shouting match, yelling “You shut up!” “You’re a disgrace!” and “You’re a sickening racist!”

The word is that Councilman Barron had to sit in the audience and felt disrespected that he wasn’t originally seated at the front with the other officials. He was also upset that Mayor Bloomberg did ...continue reading

Judges Use Tax Dollars for Personal Items

Igor Derysh — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 00:31:18 +0000

A New York Post investigation has found that New York judges have been using taxpayer funds to pay for personal things like iPods, portraits, and trips.

Although judges get $10,000 expense allowances (double what they had gotten until this year), they also receive reimbursements for “work-related expenses.” The total of these reimbursements? More than $12.5 million per year.

The investigation found that judges have a tendency of playing it fast and loose with these reimbursements, asking the state to foot the bill for an iPod Touch, a self portrait, and “meditation retreats.”

The Post story details ...continue reading

Students’ Standardized Test Scores Will Factor Into Teachers’ Tenure According to Mayor

Yelena Mandenberg — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 04:18:16 +0000

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced in a statement on Wednesday that, starting immediately, New York City public schools would begin to use test scores to gauge which teachers should or should not receive tenure.

This move has been bitterly opposed by the teachers union, which claims that this is putting too much weight on standardized exams, such as the citywides, and regents exams.

Although most do agree that standardized tests are not a good measure of students’ capabilities, the state government still puts a ton of stock in them. Standardized tests are used to decide teacher and principal bonus pay, assign A through ...continue reading