Former Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith, with Bloomberg, on his first day at the job back in April 2010 (nycmayorsoffice's flickr)

Well, that was fast! After little more than a year the former mayor of Indianapolis and blizzard whipping boy Stephen Goldsmith is stepping down as Deputy Mayor of Operations "to pursue private-sector opportunities in infrastructure finance." He's being replaced by DEP head Cass Holloway, who (funny that) used to be the chief of staff to the previous Deputy Mayor, Ed Skyler.

“I’m thrilled and honored at the opportunity to come back to City Hall and work even more closely with Mayor Bloomberg on the issues that are so important to the daily lives of New Yorkers,” Holloway, a Harvard and UChicago Law grad who lives in Brooklyn Heights with his wife, said in a statement. His new job starts, uh, now.

Goldsmith, meanwhile, is saying his exit was all about his family: “This week, I informed the Mayor of my decision to resign my job as Deputy Mayor of Operations,” he said in a statement. “Over the last month, I received important overtures in an area with which I have long been associated—infrastructure finance." And apparently the overtures were too much to ignore. "After thirty years of long hours in public service, the change will provide me, at age 64, with more flexibility for me and my family and a secure foundation for our future. In addition, I intend to continue my academic work and the school year is about to start. Now that we have the ball rolling on our initiatives, I am comfortable that the person taking over for me will do an exceptional job moving things forward."

Mmmhmm. We're absolutely sure that the public shaming he got over the mishandling of the blizzard, not to mention his troubles playing well with others (Comptroller John Liu recently smacked down a $286 million contract request that was part of the city's $2 billion project "to upgrade its antiquated emergency-response system—a major project that forms part of the former deputy mayor's portfolio."). Plus, Mayor Bloomberg's increasingly poor showings in public opinion polls can't have anything to do with Goldsmith's sudden departure. Anyway, interesting that this news, another high-profile exit from the Bloomberg camp, comes as most people are paying attention to the markets and not to City Hall.