What do NYC residents think of Michael Bloomberg?

[Pointedstick]

I've been wondering this for a long time: what do New Yorkers--and especially New York City residents--think of Michael Bloomberg? I feel like I have sort of a skewed view because he seems to be viewed as a bit of a control-freak wannabe dictator in my social circle.

[dualstow]

I'll have to ask my cousin. He's been there for 35 years and was a city planner for a long time. He's also a gun owner.

[moda0306]

I tend to view a large city, especially one like NYC, as a perfect example of organized coercion.  Gun control and sugar/salt taxes are only more annoying and obvious forms of coercion, but if you think about it, it's one big social engineering platform that's "free enough" in other ways that people value so as to be a center of phenominal productivity. 

[Rest of post deleted by moderator to keep on topic]

[Pointedstick]

[Edited by moderator to keep on topic]

Mostly I was just trying to get the opinions of New York City residents about Bloomberg's mayoralty, and see if his activism/meddling was seen with the negative light that it seems to be more frequently reported with outside of NYC.

[WiseOne]

He's very popular here.  With all due respect those opinions are oversimplified, and probably based on one or two issues like the gun control debate.  You have to admit that if you were in charge of a big city, your opinion on the need for assault rifles and background check-free gun sales might change ever so slightly.

Yes, property taxes have gone up a lot.  The loss of revenues from Wall Street could have had far worse effects, so it's hard to tell if things would have gone any better with a Tea Party mayor at the helm.  Service cuts throwing the city into chaos would not have been a particularly welcome outcome.  I would have liked to see more reductions in bureaucratic red tape, like getting rid of the annual window guard ritual.  And it's about time we got rid of rent control, and quit letting people retire on the public nickel in their 40s.

He's paid a lot of attention to quality of life issues.  This includes things like reducing air pollution by outlawing #6 heating oil and turning half of Broadway into a bike lane and outdoor cafe in the summer.  Not sure how you guys would view the outlawing of trans fats, but I kind of like that.  Public facilities are far more important here than they might be elsewhere, since people here live in something like 10% the space of the average American, and don't "cocoon".

His phone # is listed, and supposedly he'll answer the phone if you call.  Give it a try!

[Benko]

Bloomberg is the prototypical nanny trying to micromanage what people can eat (the soda thing) etc etc. 

I am not an anarchist, but I don't have to decide where to draw the line because he is so far over it whever I put it.  That is why I mentioned it.

[MachineGhost]

I'm sorry. I misread the original question as what do NYC residents think of Michael Bloomberg?

Isn't PS's question like asking why the pot called the kettle black?  We live in an authoritarian/paternalism reality.  Differences are only marginal.

[notsheigetz]

He's very popular here.  With all due respect those opinions are oversimplified, and probably based on one or two issues like the gun control debate. 

Not being New Yorkers our opinions are mostly based on the outrageous things we hear in the news about "Nanny Bloomberg" such as the 16-ounce soda ban, cracking down on hospital painkillers, and the latest story about banning 2-liter soda bottles from being delivered by the pizza man. (I suspect the pizza is next - only salads with approved salad dressings).

[Edited to remove inappropriate content]

Ok. Now I know I can't advocate the lynching of politicians. I'll try to restrain myself in the future.

[melveyr]

Somewhat off topic, but Bloomberg terminals are absolutely amazing. As a finance nerd having access to all of that data at my fingertips through their excel functions is probably the most fun you can have with your clothes on.

Yesterday I had every ticker in the market in column A, and in each row I had these crazily customized metrics so I could look for exactly what I wanted to, like a screener

The fact that he had anything to do with that device gives him a "floor" of respect from me 

[moda0306]

Bloomberg is the prototypical nanny trying to micromanage what people can eat (the soda thing) etc etc. 

I am not an anarchist, but I don't have to decide where to draw the line because he is so far over it whever I put it.  That is why I mentioned it.

If you're not an anarchist, then please feel free to defend imposing your will on others. Extra credit if you can show me a form of government, real or hypothetical, that is not in some way imposing someone's will on another.

Maybe we'll save this for PS's thread on conversion to anarchy.

[WiseOne]

Just realized we haven't heard from Storm lately!  Are there no other NYC'ers here?  Help!!

I'm surprised at the really strong opinions.  I guess I'm kind of closeted in the ivory tower these days, but I don't know anyone who is seriously bothered by the sugary drink rules.  I get why that's an intrusion, but such minor annoyances don't cancel out the positives which aren't nearly as much fun to report.  As I'd said, I'm far more annoyed by things like rent control and the fact that my building is about to be declared historical and it will then be nigh on impossible to do renovations.  And surly MTA employees at subway stations, but that's another story :-)

Thank you BearBones.  What is it about Bloomberg that brings out such vitriole??  And in fact, are these press stories even true?  Check out nyc.gov.  You wont' find much in the way of "nanny state" rulings.

maybe why it is so bothersome is it seems like a perverse combination of the worst sort of pointless/bound to fail government intrusion that pushes the envelope for government intrusion and fiddling while Rome burns...

[WiseOne]

getting rid of the annual window guard ritual

What is this?

we are legally required to notify the city every year if we want window guards installed to prevent kids from falling out.

[Pointedstick]

Yikes, this isn't how I wanted this thread to go at all. I'm not a big fan of Bloomberg's meddling outside of NYC, but certainly I don't believe that anyone should murder him and I think we need to tone down the rhetoric here. It's well known that Bloomberg is reviled in non-NYC Republican and Libertarian circles; that's old news. I was mostly interested in finding out what NYC residents who actually live with his rules thought about him.

[MediumTex]

getting rid of the annual window guard ritual

What is this?

we are legally required to notify the city every year if we want window guards installed to prevent kids from falling out.

Thanks for clarifying that.

I was visualizing a wise-cracking New York version of a Beefeater whose job was to keep an eye on your windows.

[MediumTex]

I just went through this thread and edited posts and deleted others like a Civil War surgeon performing a battlefield amputation.

Say what you like here...within reason. 

Thanks.

[moda0306]

I just went through this thread and edited posts and deleted others like a Civil War surgeon performing a battlefield amputation.

Say what you like here...within reason. 

Thanks.

The analogies never stop.  Even when he's modding. I love it.

[dualstow]

  Are there no other NYC'ers here?  Help!!

Didn't Reub once write, "I live in New York City and am not allowed to defend myself", or am I think of another person or place?

[dualstow]

I'll have to ask my cousin. He's been there for 35 years and was a city planner for a long time. He's also a gun owner.

His reply:

He's a bit of a (nanny), but he's done a lot of good and taken on things no career politician would because they aren't sexy or political suicide.  He takes the subway, albeit with his security detail and is naive about guns.  We've had a lot worse and I think he's done what he has out of a genuine love for the city.

[WiseOne]

That's a perfect summary of Bloomberg.  He started out with a platform of being business friendly, not surprising considering his background.  He has in fact done a lot to spur small businesses to develop here.  A lot of people laid off from Wall Street firms started their own businesses.  Example:  R3 energy is a company that acts as a "performance partner" for coop buildings getting energy audits, to improve their infrastructure on their own or with state grants, in order to reduce costs.  The owners are 3 former stockbrokers.

The nanny thing has developed in the past few years, but nothing has been so terribly obtrusive.  For instance, the ER pain-killer thing is a voluntary guideline - nothing is binding.  And I must say it's a good common sense guideline that most reasonable physicians follow already.

Love that image of the "window guard" btw!  And incidentally, the "landlord" in the case of an owner-occupied coop apartment is guess who.  I think the city subsidizes the guards so the cost is low, but anyway yes it's voluntary.  It's just that you have to specifically check a box that says, no I don't want window guards because I'm a crazy sleazebag who hates children, or whatever. 

Rent control is dependent on the mayor declaring a "housing emergency" every year.  I'm quite amazed that he hasn't simply declined to do so which would completely put an end to it.  And how letting a reasonably wealthy person rent an apartment for 10% of its market value solves housing problems is completely beyond me.

[Reub]

He is the perfect caretaker for a quasi-socialist city. An elitist through and through who changed the local term limits law so that he could serve an extra term for a $1 salary which he doesn't need. He knows what's best for us and does not like to be disagreed with. However, as we will see shortly, the only alternatives (since Rudy Giuliani's not coming back) are worse.

[smurff]

As WiseOne pointed out, unlike other parts of the USA where most of everyday life takes place in the privacy of single- family homes with spacious yards, people in NYC live out their daily lives in public spaces by physical necessity.  From what I have observed this is the biggest difference between NYC and much of the rest of the country--there is still a public sphere where people willingly participate.  As a result there is more respect for anything related to public life--whether public transit, public schools, public hospitals, public parks, and public accommodation--including eateries and bars.  As well as, a willingness to preclude certain types of behaviors that will endanger others--hence strict gun control.

There are people here who hate Bloomberg; others love him, just like any mayor around the world.  I've only lived here through two mayors, and Bloomberg is the better of the two, by a long stretch, IMO.

And as far as the so-called nanny-state stuff--it seems that lots of news reported outside this area is either untrue or missing significant details, intentionally so, I suspect, lest people get any bright ideas in other parts of the plantation.  There is no ban on 16 ounce sodas in NYC, for example.  The Bloomberg Admin. proposed that the largest individual serving size of sugar-sweetened beverage sold at restaurants be 16 ounces. (That's equal to one and a half cans of soda.)  If you just gotta have more than this, you can order a second, or third, or ... however many.  You can order ten and drink all 160 ounces if you want.  But no restaurants like this one, where customers are often seen wheeled out on stretchers, http://www.heartattackgrill.com/
And no suicide by restaurant, as at least a couple of that restaurant's customers have died.

Smoking was banned inside restaurants and bars in nyc--now more people can visit (and the people working there don't have to get sick from smoke).

Trans fats were removed from restaurants, but they are also being removed from most processed foods, for good reason.  Banning them from restaurants prevents the manufacturers, who are losing their markets, from dumping such poison into NYC restaurants--in a city where people often don't have a choice about whether to eat out. BTW, not all NYC studio apartments have a full stove--some only have microwave ovens to heat food.  Counter-height refrigerators (about a cubic foot bigger than the one you had on your dorm room at college) are the only kind that will fit in some NYC apartments.

Talk of sodium salt levels being kept low?  Same problem--when you eat out and have no control over how your food is prepared, it's good to know what the baseline is.  There is a salt shaker on the table for you to add to your taste, but if too much is put in at cooking (BTW, a timeless way to get customers to buy drinks), there's no way to get the excess out. 

A couple of years ago the Bloomberg Admin required chain restaurants to print calorie counts per serving size on their menus.  You'd be shocked at how many calories can fit into a little Taco Bell burrito, compared to one you can make at home.  This kind of information had been kept secret, but now it's possible to know that your favorite sandwich has more calories in it than what an average adult should be eating (around 2000 calories per day, more or less).  Important to know, if you have to eat out.

A lot of the Bloomberg changes don't really have any application outside NYC, and would be useless in other places.  Also, unlike other American cities, NYC has to pay substantial health care costs for public employees and uninsured working poor residents.  Still, for all the trash talking about NYC and its mayor, people regularly drop what they're doing, wherever they are, and move here.

An as for true nanny state shenanigans, corporations have much more control over what you eat than any change Bloomberg proposed.  Bear Bones has already pointed out how common foods taste different today compared to a generation ago. 

[Reub]

NY Times:

Judge Blocks New York City’s Limits on Big Sugary Drinks

"In an unusually critical opinion, Justice Milton A. Tingling Jr. of State Supreme Court in Manhattan called the limits “arbitrary and capricious,”? echoing the complaints of city business owners and consumers who had deemed the rules unworkable and unenforceable, with confusing loopholes and voluminous exemptions.

“I’ve got to defend my children, and yours, and do what’s right to save lives,”? the mayor said. “Obesity kills. There’s no question it kills.”?

Thank you for trying to save us, Mayor Bloomberg!

[smurff]

Ironically, the judge blocked it because it was too lenient!  As in, not all the retail outlets that serve food were covered by the law.  Under the new law, 7-11 convenience stores could still sell 64 oz sugary  double big gulps, whereas the  bodega convenience store across the street was limited to 16 oz sugary drinks.  Lattes and other sugary milk drinks were not covered.  Fruit juices, which can have more sugar per ounce than sodas, were not covered. 

To get past the courts they might wind up taxing all sugary at outrageous rates (as high as 100%,  based on size) instead.

[Reub]

As long as they eventually find a way to save us all from ourselves I will be a happier person!

[dualstow]

Ironically, the judge blocked it because it was too lenient!  As in, not all the retail outlets that serve food were covered by the law.  Under the new law, 7-11 convenience stores could still sell 64 oz sugary  double big gulps, whereas the  bodega convenience store across the street was limited to 16 oz sugary drinks.

I think 7-11 and larger grocery stores are under state laws, while Bloomberg only had jurisdiction over bodegas. Yeah, kind of messed up.