Michael R. Bloomberg stood tall on the steps of City Hall yesterday and kicked off his final four years as mayor of New York City.
What will Term Three bring?
“Conventional wisdom holds that by a third term, mayors run out of energy and ideas,” he acknowledged. “But we have proved the conventional wisdom wrong time and again, and I promise you, we will do it once more.”
Here’s hoping — though his relatively brief address was heavy on platitudes and quite light on the prodigious challenges lying ahead.
The mayor’s top task is plain as day: to preserve the city’s quality of life and vital services despite a daunting state and city fiscal squeeze — without the additional economic damage another round of municipal tax hikes, or another borrowing binge, would bring.
That’s how he got through the post-9/11 economic crisis — and it was wrong then, too.
Here’s a taste of what’s to come: The city is looking at budget gaps over the next three years of $4.1 billion, $4.9 billion and $5.5 billion, respectively. And Albany, which has its own $9 billion hole next fiscal year, doubtless will try to plug it in part at the city’s expense.
Indeed, the extraordinary recklessness with which Albany has conducted its affairs over the past two-plus years seems likely to continue — and that will make matters even worse for City Hall.
Mike will no longer be able to say, as he often has, that “we must do more with less.” It’s time to prioritize.
By our lights, tops on the list must be public safety. After all, maintaining order — so that all else can function — is the primary duty of government.
Still, as a matter of simple equity, Bloomberg needs to force upon the public-employee unions economic sacrifices that at least approximate the pain being absorbed by the private sector.
Certainly, special-interest sacred cows (schools, health care, assorted entitlements) can’t be spared. They account for such a large chunk of city spending that a balanced budget simply cannot be achieved without cutting their funds, too.
There wasn’t a hint of any of that in yesterday’s speech. Again, there wasn’t much more than a hint of anything substantive in it.
Mike reaffirmed his commitment to visionary schemes — “greening” the city, “immigration reform,” etc., etc. — no doubt with an eye on his legacy.
But a positive place in history can best be achieved by keeping the city physically safe, fiscally sound and programmatically focused on the delivery of essential services.
If Mayor Mike keeps his eye on the ball, he’ll get there.