Our New York City

Mayor Bloomberg gave his State of the City address yesterday, gearing up for his reelection run in 2005. He credited New Yorkers for bearing with the tax burdens and outlined his plans for the next year, offering, as the Daily News puts it, "tax rebates to homeowners, a promise not to close senior centers, better schools and a grab bag of economic development projects." City Controller William Thompson tells the Times that the speech was a "five borough" speech, versus the Mayor's past efforts that seemed to only concentrate on Manahattan:

Ladies and Gentlemen, today, I want to speak to you about Our New York. The New York of Queens - where we are today in the bustling Silvercup Studios. Silvercup Studios is the home of “Hollywood East.”

This is the New York of Staten Island - where we’re taking a stand for neighborhood quality of life.

Of Brooklyn - where a remarkable Renaissance continues to flourish.

I want to speak about the New York of the Bronx, where new stores and businesses are thriving.

And of Manhattan, which tourists have rediscovered, and are packing our hotels, museums, and restaurants in record numbers.

This is the New York of eight million citizens, three million immigrants, 1.1 million school children and seventeen hundred beautiful parks.

Also of note is that to most reporters, Mayor Bloomberg seemed "a man transformed, man transformed, his jokes funnier, his message urgent, his tongue largely untied," "shedding his monotone...a new, more confident Bloomberg." Seems like two and half years into the job and Mayor B's becoming a...politician.

Transcript of the Mayor's speech. And from the "Here's $400 - Vote For Me" files, the Mayor proposes a $400 rebate to NYC homeowners .