How’s this for buyer’s remorse?
After spending $110 million to get elected for a third term, Mayor Bloomberg yesterday turned to fellow elected officials at another in the countless groundbreaking ceremonies he’s attended and said with a smile, “I can’t wait for the last one. You have no idea.”
The mayor’s quip came as the group left a podium to pose for the traditional photo of officials shoveling a symbolic pile of dirt — in this case, to mark a deal for a new industrial complex on the Brooklyn waterfront.
Not part of his public remarks, the quip was loud enough for reporters to hear. When asked what he meant, the mayor laughingly replied, “I like groundbreakings. I’ve just always thought that you could do something better with the dirt on your shovel on your last groundbreaking.”
His spokesman said the joke was intended as a jab at the press corps the mayor finds so pesky.
“Standing with a shovel full of dirt in his hands and a few feet from reporters — has he ever been tempted [to throw it]? You bet. Obviously, he was joking about actually doing it,” spokesman Marc La Vorgna said.
Bloomberg, who had the City Council change the law to allow him to run a third time, has had a tumultuous term. After eight years of steady popularity, he has seen his poll numbers plummet, faced opposition getting his agenda through Albany, and taken heat over a bungled snowstorm response.
The mayor was speaking yesterday at a ceremony over a deal to turn a long-vacant former US Navy warehouse into a manufacturing complex.
The plan would bring 1,700 jobs to the area.
Developer Salmar Properties paid the city $10 million to buy the 1.1-million square-foot building, which will undergo a $35 million renovation at Salmar’s expense.
The building was constructed in 1916 and vacated by the Department of Navy in 2000.
“The city’s industrial sector has had its challenges in the recent past but … I think it’s clear that industry’s future is bright in New York City,” Bloomberg said.
“While people across the country are always talking about creating jobs, we are doing it.”