Not long ago, a confidant of Mayor Bloomberg’s cornered me with a blunt question: “Can you figure out what his third term is about?”
I paused before offering the only thing I could think of: “Bike lanes?”
“Thank you very much,” the frustrated Bloomy backer answered. “That’s exactly my point.”
Jerry Seinfeld made a successful TV show about nothing, but governing has to be about something. A year into his third term, even strong supporters wonder if Bloomberg has a clear focus.
It must be more than sailing through ribbon cuttings and gimmicks like splashing white paint on rooftops and streets to call yourself “green.” Trips and speeches around the country definitely do not qualify.
What would qualify is a push that ties together the loose ends of the first two terms and secures the city’s progress and his legacy. So far, there is no vision or energy for that closing argument.
But nature abhors a vacuum, so failures are defining City Hall. The snow disaster, the $80 million CityTime ripoff and citizen reports that the Bloomies are fudging data to defend unpopular policies help explain the mayor’s 37 percent approval rating.
He said recently he hoped to be considered “the greatest mayor ever,” but time is running out to make the kind of gains that could stand history’s test.
Take education, his No. 1 priority. Clearly there has been progress, but there also is wide uncertainty about real student achievement because of the test-score debacle. Nearly all the “gains” of his second term vanished when standards were raised.
A teacher bonus program, heralded as a merit-pay breakthrough, was quietly scrapped last week after it poured more than $100 million into educrats’ pockets without proof it boosted students. The reliability of school report cards is also in doubt.
Bloomberg got a fresh chancellor for the stretch run, but the untested Cathie Black, facing spending cuts and rising standards, must beat low expectations to earn her keep.
A half-done image also haunts the mayor’s fiscal stewardship. He enjoyed soaring revenue growth, because of the economy and tax hikes, but spent it all, and then some.
Now there is reason to hope that is where he intends to focus. His State of the City Address was noteworthy because of his vow to defuse the ticking pension bomb.
“I will not sign a contract with salary increases unless they are accompanied by reforms in benefit packages,” he said.
Bloomberg made similar vows in the past, saying he would not grant raises unless unions paid for them with concessions. He blinked and got only token givebacks in exchange for pay hikes that often topped 4 percent a year, and a whopping total of 43 percent for teachers.
Yet this time he has little choice. Pension costs are astronomical — nearly $8 billion this year, up from $1.5 billion when he took office. If he doesn’t do something, they will swamp him and the next mayor.
While Bloomberg is not solely to blame — Albany promiscuously sweetens the pot every year — he never went to war over the issue.
His best chance is to join with Gov. Cuomo, who is pushing reforms on the state. If they work together, they could make a difference.
The cost of capital projects is another danger zone, and this one is largely Bloomberg’s doing. When he took office, debt service cost $3 billion a year. It’s now $5.4 billion, even with low interest rates, and could hit $7 billion in three years. The city now carries a record $69.5 billion in debt.
Although the mayor ordered three cuts to the capital budget since 2008, actual spending continues to rise, according to a Citizens Budget Commission report that faults his “failure to impose fiscal austerity on the infrastructure agenda.”
This is not how it was supposed to be in Year 10. When he moved to change the term-limits law, Bloomberg pitched himself as the man to guide Gotham through the fiscal storm. “We may well be on the verge of a meltdown,” he said in 2008.
Fortunately, meltdown fears have passed. But it would be a major mark against him, and tragic for New York, if the man who claimed to know the buck sails off into the sunset on a tide of red ink.
Having his Meatball and eating it, too
That was quite a mob takedown. “Meatball” and “Mush” and “Johnny Pizza” and “Jello” all got rousted. And don’t forget KSM and his crew.
OK, that last part was a trick. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is in the news again because Attorney General Eric Holder can’t help himself.
In Brooklyn to announce 127 gangster arrests, Holder veered off message when asked about plans for the 9/11 plotters.
“We are still in the administration trying to work through how we will bring to justice those people who perpetrated those heinous acts on September 11,” Holder said. “Nothing is off the table as of yet.”
Nothing off the table? Then Holder is off the wall.
Way back in November 2009, the AG announced plans to bring the murderous terrorists back to New York and try them in civilian courts with full constitutional protections. After an uproar here and in Congress, President Obama seemingly pulled the plug.
But Holder won’t let go. He’s refused to say what will happen to KSM and, each time he’s asked, says a decision is “near” or “close” or “weeks” away. Tomorrow never comes.
He has an even weaker hand now that Congress passed, and Obama signed, an order blocking the Pentagon from bringing any Gitmo detainees to US soil.
Finally, Obama reportedly wants to try some of the detainees in military commissions. That’s what prompted the questions to Holder about the most famous terrorist in custody.
By his answer, it is clear Holder insists on seeing KSM as just another criminal defendant, like “Meatball” and his friends. He’s not.
If a civilian trial is still possible, claims of an Obama course correction remain premature.
Not-so-hot topic
We need to learn to love global warming. Just imagine how much snow we’d get without it!
Diplomatic Hu-pocrisy
Here’s my scorecard for China President Hu’s visit to the White House: We don’t torture or have political prisoners, but we celebrate, toast and reward countries that do. We accept that China helps North Korean and Iranian despots, but can’t accept that Israel feels threatened by rogue regimes. We demand that China open its markets for trade, but we can’t strike trade deals with key allies because Democratic labor unions don’t want the competition.
No news taxes
Each day I scan the news in fear of finding that Gov. Cuomo is backing down on his pledge to balance the budget without tax hikes. So far, I haven’t found any. Good for him, great for New York.