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Gothamist must put our cynical hat on, after hearing that Mayor Bloomberg is siding with the hotel workers union who are opposed to the conversion of the Plaza into mostly condo, but also a tiny hotel and retail stores. While there are 900 jobs at stake, Gothamist wonders if this is an effort of the Mayor to be on the side of the blue collar workers. His rhetoric for supporting the Jets' West Side Stadium heavily emphasizes the construction jobs that would be created and now this.
Could election-year politics be playing a role or is Gothamist just being to cynical?
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A cynical Gothamist is a good thing. Questioning politicians is always a good thing.
Cynical? More like a hater. All you do is criticize Bloomberg. You are no different than Bloomberg before he became Mayor. He didn't just sit around and complain. Like it for not he DID something about it. You think it's easy running a city of 8 million? Can fix the homeless situation? Can you lower unemployment rate and increase city revenue without raising taxes? Can you fix the education system what was run by crooks? He cannot be bought and he owes nothing to anyone. Can you explain to me why you still hate the Mayor?
actually, i think gothamist has proclaimed love for the mayor on several occasions.
"You think it's easy running a city of 8 million?"
Yeap! Especially when hundreds, possibly thousands of people work under you. He’s a nice guy and all, but is he an effective mayor? That remains to be seen.
I disagree with a lot of the things he supports. Like a Wal-Mart near Queens Center??? Is he insane???
And what about his stance on Gay Marriage??
He says he SUPPORTS it, and then files a lawsuit AGAINST it?
He says he’s a Republican, but he acts like a Democrat with allegiance issues.
Oh yeah, if the Plaza is loosing money, why not make it into something that can? Yeah lots of jobs are on the line but what’s the point employing them in a money loosing operation? Hopefully something can be worked out between the workers and management so they can be part of it as well.
Too cynical? No such thing in NYC.
And, if anything, you guys have been kind of easy on ol' Mike (Millions for Jets, not once cent for cops) Bloomberg.
BTW, I don't think it was the mayor himself who posted above. He's usually not quite that incoherent. (Was that cynical?)
Weird thing is he's right this time, the Plaza idea is a disaster.
My take is that he's trying to share the love with 32BJ after he opposed giving them more union guarantees as part of the West Side rezoning. The Plaza opposition is an easy thing for him to do and this is the first chance he got to try to make up with them.
The jobs at the Plaza are HERE, not 32BJ (technically, UNITE-HERE). And yes, this is a very transparent attempt by Bloomberg to curry favor with one of the unions in the city that doesn't hate him. Not that there's anything wrong with that...
I see it as an attempt to preserve an important, beautiful New York City landmark. Eloise, Plaza Suite, thousands of honeymoons -- converting the Plaza into condos would be akin to the pillage of the old Penn Station. It may make money in the short term, but it would be a crime against the city in the long term.
Is it so hard to believe that Bloomberg might actually *be* on the side of the blue-collar workers? Why must it be a politically motivated position?
does anyone know where i can go to get on the waiting list for the plaza when it turns into condos? thanks y'all.
Incite- Sorry, I just realized that and came back here to correct my mistake. He's not going to get far with UNITE-HERE...
Nobody- I watch this situation very closely. If he were actually on the side of blue-collar workers (hotel work traditionally isn't blue-collar, btw), he wouldn't be letting Doctoroff zone out their jobs throughout the city. He also wouldn't be taking steps to actively redevelop the neighborhoods that blue-collar workers live in, while acting to "preserve neighborhood character" in the outer borough neighborhoods that upper-middle class Republicans and conservative Democrats live in.
It actually has nothing to do with the workers' rights. The members of the International Olympic Committee are staying at the Plaza, apparently. Reports are that service there has already gone way downhill. Bloomberg is trying to ingratiate himself to the workers to the room service eggs are not served cold.
Bloomberg can afford to buy the Plaza if he thinks he can make money on it as a hotel. I eagerly await his bid.
Michael Bloomberg, Interventionist Extraordinaire