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Mayor Bloomberg has been leading the city for over five years, but the way he handles dealing with the public during crises - no matter how big or how small - remains curious. As some people think he should have stayed in NYC after Wednesday's brutal Bronx fire - and not gone to Miami, some people ascribe his cool "delegate issues to underlings" and "move onto the next thing" attitude to his business management experience.
In mid-January, Bloomberg had his highest approval ratings ever (a far cry from a 32% approval back in 2003). However, he still could stand to work on how he reaches out to the public after incidents. Here are a couple notable examples of where it seems like the Mayor should have thought before speaking:
And regarding his Thursday day trip to Miami, the NY Times reports that Sheikh Moussa Drammeh, who is spokesman for the Bronx fire victims' families, "called at the request of the mayor's office" to show that the victims' families were "satisfied with the city's response." Drammeh told the Times, "They have been very pleased with the responses from all city agencies... they perfectly understand that there are multiple issues at every given moment.”
- After a bicyclist riding on the Hudson River Greenway was killed by a drunk driver who mistakenly was driving on the bike path, the Mayor said bicyclists should "pay attention... Even if they're in the right, they are the lightweights."
- When the icy Valentine's Day snow made it hard for people to move their cars, yet the Mayor still enforced alternate side of the street parking rules, he said, "This was not a lot of snow. It was easy to move your car. I don't like to get up early in the morning and have to do anything either. I'd like to sleep in, too. But it was the right thing to do." And the next day, he decided to forgive the tickets, after realizing there was a lot of snow in the outer boroughs.
- During Day 6 of last year's Queens blackout, Mayor Bloomberg said, "I think Kevin Burke deserves a thanks from this city. He's worked as hard as he can every single day since then, as has everybody at Con Ed." Of course, later, it was found that Con Ed neglected to maintain the Long Island City network, which caused many of the problems; Con Ed's customer assistance was also faulty in giving people information and in determining how big the problem was.
- When the Department of Education cut school bus routes and started doing things like giving 5-year-olds Metrocards and telling siblings who go to the same school to get picked up a mile a part, the Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum and City Council members complained about the changes. The Mayor got huffy and said, "You're quoting people who have no experience in doing anything, so I don't quite know how to answer it. Nobody is going to be able to satisfy everybody, and if those people who haven't done anything in terms of management think that they know what to do, they should apply for jobs and we'll be happy to do it." Later, he admitted the changes didn't go well.
Photograph of Mayor Bloomberg arriving at yesterday's press conference about the Bronx fire by Jason DeCrow/AP
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Do you want this guy to run the city or do you want him to sit around like Donahue and empathize with every sob story that crosses his desk?
That's a good question. I think he's done a pretty decent job with running the city, but some compassion might be nice.
It's been continually interesting over the past few years reading Jen Chung's posts on Bloomberg. She does not ever attempt to hide her disdain for him--and his continued popularity and success must be rankling her. Was it because he went to Johns Hopkins instead of Columbia?
stewart, that's a false dichotomy. Part of the job of being mayor is empathizing with people when things go wrong.
Hey, I think the Mayor has done some good things and I don't hate him. I think his heart is in a good place most of the time, and I agree with him a on a lot of issues. But I think as the Mayor, he deserves to be questioned as any leader would.
I gotta agree with Jen on this one. While he has overall been a good Mayor, he does have a very business-first/people-second instinct when a crisis occurs. There are also more and more revelations about the '04 RNC Convention that are coming to light every week. That may blow up in his face his last couple of years in office.
bloomy is better than a lot of mayors in major cities. he gets shit done, or at least tries to. at least he addresses things like the cyclist getting killed, sean bell, or the bronx fire. there are plenty of other politicians that would rather sweep those stories under the rug. he can't be expected to shed a tear every time something happens to his fellow new yorkers. but as long as he takes action to ensure that these sorts of things don't keep reoccuring, then that's alright by me.
I love that second quote. A prize to anyone who can produce a picture of Bloomberg shoveling out his own car.
Actually, I'm surprised that people expected the mayor to immediately attend to this event. It's tragic, yes, but what can he really do about it. I'm sure that getting a visit & press conference from the mayor on the day after it happened was the least of the family's concerns.
And, he wants to be President?
This guy hates being with the common people, can't you see him recoiling everytime someone wants to hug or get close to him?
And, Jen, More Bloomberg posts, the more it gets out the more people will know about it. Thanks, is all I have to say.
I love seeing him get all huffy and snippy. I bet it trickles down to his staff, most notably, Skyler.
re. the RNC do check out this week's voice article (03/07/07 voice) for which i cannot provide a URL right now, but ... the general gist is that many cases are coming up.
i suggest that anyone who can provide testimony, evidence, etc. for the crap that went down, speak up. bloomberg, kelly, smolka, et al should not get away with this.
I actually like it that Bloomberg isn't so great with "empathy" and other professional political tricks. Most "empathy" we see from our leaders is pure PR and nauseatingly hypocritical. It's sad that a lot of Americans fall for it and vote based on a candidate's ability to project folksiness (look who's in the White House).
I would also like to echo the thanks to Jen and Gothamist for keeping tabs on the city's highest-profile Civil Servant.
Bloomberg speaks in a straight forward manner, but I don't think that's offensive. Bikers SHOULD be extra attentive because they are more vulnerable. He didn't say it was the guy's fault. And out of all of the public statements he makes, of course over several years there are going to be a few things that irritate some people, but overall, he isn't uncompassionate. He still has to work, despite whatever happens...personal tragedies or not. I think he handled it all decently.
I agree that Bloomberg has done some terrible things, but he's not our Daddy or our therapist. He should be criticized for pimping out our police to be the Republican Party's political muscle in 2004, for supporting real estate boondoggles that are ruining the city, and for being cozy with big business to the detriment of the city. I don't want our mayor to become a weeping pile of mush every time a gaggle of illegal immigrants sets their house ablaze.
You people are Heartless. No one said he should be weeping. Just more sensitive and stop it with the knee jerk insensitive comments.
another child has died. Karma will prevail.
Just typical NYC liberals whining because they dont like the fact their babysitter wont pay attention to them.
You heartless souls will get their due.
Ask your friend, dick ebersol, why his youngest, most precious and caring son died.
Ask others why their children has autism.
>>He should be criticized ... for supporting real estate boondoggles that are ruining the city...
Amen. I think Bloomberg's doing a decent job (remember Rudy's idiotic "Decency Panel"? ) but I do dislike how he's letting these cheap, ugly developments ruin the character of some of our great Manhattan nabes...
He's a businessman ! How many businessmen you know pay special attention to singular events ? The phrase " If it happened to you, You'd see it differently " Sound familiar ?
I guess people still miss Rudy's phony everyman bullshit.
Rudy was every man only if you're WHITE.
So, guess lots of you whities fell for it.
"I would also like to echo the thanks to Jen and Gothamist for keeping tabs on the city's highest-profile Civil Servant."
Yeah, god forbid I make up my own mind - instead I'll let someone with half-baked, poorly edited ideas, with no original source material influence me because they're published on a free blog.
Thanks for interpreting AP articles for me. The proper grammar was inhibiting my comprehension.
Why don't you stick to aggregating the news up top and then post your opinions to the forum section?