Mayor Bloomberg is planning a graceful exit from City Hall in 2014 and doesn’t intend to meddle in the next administration even if it tries to undo some of his signature reforms.
“If the public wants bad government, the public has a right to bad government,” the mayor declared when asked what would happen if his successor attempted to overhaul his education policies. “The public should stand up.”
All four of the leading Democratic mayoral candidates have announced they intend to make some changes to the school system if they get into office.
But Bloomberg indicated he’s not going to be second-guessing the next mayor.
“You can’t run it from the grave,” he said. “That’s an old saying, and I think it’s true. It’s like when people create wills — they’re going to force their kids to live in a given style. You can’t do that. All we can do is having made a difference in education.”
The same goes for the NYPD’s controversial stop-and-frisk program, which one candidate — Comptroller John Liu — has pledged to scuttle if he becomes mayor.
“It worries me in the sense that I’m going to be walking the streets,” said Bloomberg.
At the same time, he added: “You can’t think you have the only answer. If somebody’s got a different idea and it works, fine.”
The mayor spoke to The Post Friday in a rare year-end chat as he munched on two peanut-butter-filled cracker sandwiches and sipped from a container of coffee in the City Hall “bullpen,” where he and his top administrators labor away in an open labyrinth of desks, chairs and computers.
He listed some of the priority projects for his final year, but also touched on topics ranging from his own future to the reasons American businesses flock to China.
A self-described workaholic, Bloomberg made it clear that he’ll be looking for new challenges when his mayoral career ends.
“I’d weigh 300 pounds if I sit there with nothing to do other than nibble,” he confessed.
“I would not be a good teacher, writer, analyst, reporter, consultant. Those are not things I do. I’m a doer. I run things. Make decisions.”
His own foundation — one of the wealthiest in the nation — won’t take up too much of his time, by Bloomberg’s reckoning.
“It’s funny,” he mused. “[Bill] Gates — whom I’ve gotten to know, we do a lot of things together with him — reads every single paper ever written. Like in AIDS, he reads every piece of research. With me, I look at statistics. What kind of resources, could some money make a difference? And then say to Patti [Harris, the head of his foundation], we should go do this. Figure out how to do it.”
An appointed position, perhaps in the Obama administration, seems unlikely. Functioning as a Republican in Congress would also be tough, given his record.
“Typically, administrations want to control the people,” observed Bloomberg. “And incidentally, getting through Congress. Pro-choice, pro-gay rights. Stop me when you’re bored. Anti-gun, pro-immigration . . . There’s always somebody in the Senate that wants to hold you up.”
So what’s he going to do? “I really don’t know,” he said.
Not surprisingly, the mayor’s priority list for 2013 included midtown rezoning; outer-borough taxis; post-Sandy planning; the Cornell-Technion technology campus; a “long-term” strategy against illegal guns; and a new soccer facility.
Also in the mix was an unexpected plug for the long-vacant Kingsbridge Armory, which was on the verge of becoming a $300 million shopping center before a dispute erupted over whether businesses there would have to pay a “living wage.” A new plan would turn the enormous facility into an ice-hockey center.
“I’d hate to leave office and leave Kingsbridge in the status it was,” Bloomberg said.
Mayoral candidates hoping to score Bloomberg’s endorsement better plan on waiting a while.
“Haven’t even thought about it,” the mayor said, pointing out that he’s still got a lot to accomplish and is no rush to enter the fray. “I need cooperation from the public advocate, from the speaker of the City Council. It would be great if [former Comptroller] Bill Thompson would be helpful. It would be great if all the Republicans were helpful. So I need everybody.”
China entered the discussion when the mayor noted that the gains made here in education aren’t keeping pace with the demands of industry.
“People keep saying you take stuff overseas for lower price, lower wages,” he said. “Yeah, if you’re making a million T-shirts you probably do. Anything else, you go there because that’s where the skills are. You just can’t find the skills here . . . That’s the dirty little secret no one’s willing to talk about.”
Most mayors in their final year would be considered lame ducks.
Bloomberg offered some cautionary words to those in government who think he might ripe for the plucking.
“Keep in mind I’m going to be around,” he said. “And I’m not your average retired elected official. Nobody thinks I’m going to stop doing things and being involved . . . I don’t think anybody thinks I’m going to disappear into the woodwork.”