Bloomberg: What the hell is his problem?

no pity for brooklyn heights ford explorers

"seriously increase the amount of housing in the nyc area"

Clearly not as big a priority as "plow 79th Street first, where Bloomberg lives."

I don't think you've ever given a moment's thought to what it might actually take to govern a city

^Kool-Aid drinker who accepts that a city must be minimally governed for the workers so the millionaires and tourists can be prioritized.

you can't afford to live in the posh parts of nyc

I'm talking about "middle-class" Kensington.

Spectrum otm

you can't afford to live in the posh parts of nyc because it's become increasingly appealing to live here.

lmao

must be bcz the city is in really bad financial shape

I know a guy who pays $200 a month in kensington (w/ roommates, but still.) sucks that hipsters are gonna price you out of brooklyn, cause yeah, even the lower half of the borough is ridiculously overpriced for the most part. but again, until it's unaffordable to live in queens, the bronx and the path-y parts of jersey, it's hard to accept the argument "I can't afford to live here." there are literally millions of lower-income people who manage to pay their rent.

I mean here in Brooklyn, where all my friends are (in other neighborhoods).

anyway:

http://www.salon.com/news/michael_bloomberg/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2010/12/28/bloomberg_christie_snow

haa did christie even have a reputation for effectiveness, i thought he just ate sandwiches and yelled at people

he is also #1 SPRINGSTEEN FAN 4EVA

I want springsteen to write a song about the arc tunnel

http://www.r8ny.com/blog/larry_littlefield

this guy has a good blog and the best take on the situation I've read. nate silver's is okay but also kinda ridiculous.

silver obvs enjoyed putting his together v much

srsly

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/30/nyregion/30ride.html?_r=1

I don't think you've ever given a moment's thought to what it might actually take to govern a city

"Kool-Aid drinker who accepts that a city must be minimally governed for the workers so the millionaires and tourists can be prioritized."

Um, maybe more like guy whose family lived in NYC for a couple of generations and experienced what it was like for "the workers" in prior decades (dad lost public school teaching job, aunt got mugged several times, etc.)

Yeah it sucks that NYC is so expensive now and I don't like banks and starbucks on every corner and russian tourists knocking me over because I stand in between them and century 21 either, but there are tradeoffs and cities need some kind of tax base. Bloomberg has been much better at prioritizing affordable housing policy than Giuliani was, fwiw. I know he's cozy with the finance industry but you also can't blame him for macroeconomic trends, the return of the rich to cities, etc.

can I blame him for making a mealymouthed "It Gets Better" video 2 days after cutting the hell out of homeless youth programs?

http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2011/01/michael-bloomberg-it-gets-better.html

joshrobin Josh Robin
Whoa. Bloomy tries to end snow presser with "I think we've had enough." Ignores shouted questions.
19 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply

joshrobin Josh Robin
Mayor still won't say where he was 12/25 -- "I have a right to a private life."
24 minutes ago

joshrobin Josh Robin
Still dunno where mayor was last time, but ahead of an expected 1-3-incher, he's holding a presser this pm. ny1 taking live.
2 hours ago

this guy

he's a 1-3 incher alright

boom

dr morbius, the man with a phd in mayoral dick jokes

hi5s

apology from a flunky!

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-01-10/bloomberg-aide-apologizes-for-mistakes-in-blizzard.html

lol you still aren't over this? cars couldn't drive for 2 days, boo hoo, end of the world

I don't own a car, so wtf u talkin bout

right me neither, which is why roads not getting plowed didn't really ruin my day

could you get out of your 'hood by train? I couldn't, for 2 days.

yeah the 7 was running. but the subway problems weren't Bloomberg's fault.

:p

WALKING to the subway (or the supermarket) might've been helped by plowing too.

ime plowing just built up huge snow barriers at the crosswalks, was easier to get around before the plows. and I mean regardless, it would take an army to clear the sidewalks for all of NYC after the blizzard.

I mean admittedly I have a distorted POV where anything that makes it harder to drive a private vehicle is basically good for NYC.

Morbs, the MTA is actually not under Bloomberg's control. I mean that's one area where you really can't lay the blame at his feet.

mostly just surprised that morbs is willing to let his pure hatred for bloomberg overwhelm the fact that this was a ny post-esque 'controversy' - gee, a giant blizzard slightly inconveniences the privileged minority of new yorkers who think that getting their driveway plowed should be the one and only city priority. and many of whom, by choosing to drive during the storm, helped make things worse. this is not quite hurricane katrina.

iatee i feel like as a total n00b you should know the thing that pisses people off so bad abt the snowocalypse is its indicative of bloombergs distain for all people who are not bloomberg - and you know it is the citys job to remove the snow - pretending that its no big deal that it didnt get moved for three days isnt gonna change the fact that it was a major dereliction of duty

yeah except I see little evidence that it happened because he had disdain for people (which is why I would have done it fwiw) and significant evidence that it happened because there was a much bigger than anticipated blizzard that surprised everybody including weather forecasters

and icy maybe it's easier to take when you're not a n00b but people in this city have such an epic sense of self-entitlement...only place in america where 'my driveway didn't get plowed!' has merit as a national news story. average new yorker is incredibly shitty at taking the smallest inconvenience and I find this more disgusting on a day-to-day basis than I find the bumbling wannabe technocrat mayor.

how fucking long have you lived here?

(my God, the length of my ILX shitlist these days)

a much bigger than anticipated blizzard

last February's was bigger btw

haha the ultimate ny dick measuring contest xp

I need to get the hell out of here and leave the place to the likes of you and the revered tourists who are going to Spiderman

otm

i was in New York just before Christmas for the first time in many months and i was impressed by how shitty everything still is - the appearance of the subway stations, the broken moving sidewalks in JFK, just everything. people like to talk about how different NYC is from the bad old days of the 70s and early 80s, but that old broken badness never really went away, it just got a few coats of expensive veneer painted over it, so the upper crust never had to really notice

also, is NYC really the greenest city in America???? that is a sad comment if so! tell it to bed-stuy!

greenest in that it produces by far the least emissions per capita, not cause it's clean or particularly healthy to live in

ahhhhh i see

the number of parks within walking distance of any random spot you might choose, for instance, is like :(

really iatee, I'm relieved to know that the old rapid snow-cleanup schedule was a gratuitous indulgence on behalf of the arrogant.

yeahhhh queens is esp grim on that measure xp

yeah except I see little evidence that it happened because he had disdain for people (which is why I would have done it fwiw) and significant evidence that it happened because there was a much bigger than anticipated blizzard that surprised everybody including weather forecasters

― iatee, Tuesday, January 11, 2011 5:02 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this is absolutely wrong btw

the forecasts were for like a foot + of snow - every other time that amount has been predicted a snow emergency it declared before hand and the streets are cleared - this time bloomberg who will literally not say where he was because he was in bermuda did not do that and the result was a a shut down city for three days and trash piled up for a week - yr idea that demanding the city do its job is some sort of entitlement is plainly inane

and just review the timeline of the media trying to pry an apology out of this fucker if you dont think hes disdainful of the v people he governs

basically iatee's POV is that for paying taxes we are entitled to a good screwing.

stop complaining and put on yr boots its not the billionaires fault ok