The Issue: Mayor Bloomberg’s warning that New York faces similar financial problems as Detroit.
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Mayor Bloomberg’s candor on the fiscal calamity that potentially awaits our city should definitely be taken seriously by whomever will be our next mayor (“It Can Happen Here,” PostOpinion, Aug. 7).
However, he unwittingly admits he failed in his 12 years as mayor to act as a decisive fiduciary, since these entitlement expenses exploded under his watch.
If he’d managed his own business the way he managed New York City’s, he would have been a very poor man.
Steven Goldstein
Brooklyn
Bloomberg warns voters that unless they elect a mayor who will hold the line and not capitulate when negotiating new contracts with the municipal unions — with demands including retroactive raises — NYC could become another Detroit.
I feel confident the mayor must realize that Joe Lhota is the best-prepared candidate of any party to do what has to be done to keep that from happening.
If, after the primary, Bloomberg were to endorse Lhota, he will have taken the first step in saving NYC from a Detroit-like situation.
Gail Hilson
Southampton
Bloomberg warns that we can turn into Detroit, but for the last 12 years he put us on that road.
Our property tax and water rates have been going up every year.
We’ve been losing freedom of choice in our everyday lives, regarding salt, trans-fats, smoking and more.
Remember when he wanted to close firehouses and put a hiring freeze on certain departments?
He has spent billions on CityTime, bike and bus lanes, bike racks and useless parks.
Some unions ask for the sky, but don’t blame the working folks. He hasn’t addressed expired contracts.
Domenico Farinaccio
Staten Island
The only reason the city is faced with a $7 billion retroactive pay bill for city workers is because he has refused to sit down and negotiate fair contracts.
It’s disingenuous for the mayor to refuse to sit down for more than five years in some cases, and then say the city can’t afford retroactive raises.
The fault lies with him. Maybe his time would have been better spent settling contracts rather than banning 32-ounce sodas, smoking and trans-fats. Good riddance.
Robert K. Greco
Staten Island
I applaud the mayor’s candor. It must have been difficult for him to admit that, after 12 years in office, his leadership has put our city on a course that could result in a Detroit-like financial catastrophe.
When the financial disaster hit several years ago, it was the working and middle classes that most suffered. Municipalities couldn’t afford raises and often laid off workers, while those responsible escaped unscathed.
Remember Occupy Wall Street?
Now that Wall Street is booming again, there has been no change for those who suffered over the past few years and longer.
Once again, the mayor blames greedy unions for our problems.
Now that he has owned up to his failed economic policies, it’s time for him to do the same about his educational policies.
Charles Friedman
Manhattan
Any discussion of runaway pension costs begins with the well-publicized reports of the high percentages of police and firemen retiring on three-quarter tax-free disability pensions.
The Post has reported that more than seven in 10 retirees in each group retire on disability pensions bloated with overtime in the last year of employment.
The yearly “Christmas bonus” given to tens of thousands who have retired has added greatly to the cost of pensions. Then there’s the billion-dollar-plus MTA tax-disability pension scandal that is currently being investigated.
It is long past time to slow the excesses of abusive pension perks.
What do the mayoral candidates have to say about that?
Manny Martin
Manhattan