Yesterday, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly promised more scrutiny and oversight for the NYPD's controversial stop-and-frisk policy, outlining several changes to the policy in memos to the NYPD and City Council. But as far as Mayor Bloomberg is concerned, everything is working just fine, and there's nothing controversial about stop-and-frisk, and he can't hear any complaints nah nah nah: "We're going to keep doing this...We're not going to walk away from tactics that work and we're not going to walk away from bringing crime down," he said on his radio show this morning. more ›

Yesterday during a Q&A at City Hall, Mayor Bloomberg claimed that the NYPD's controversial stop-and-frisk policy is actually not that controversial, and most NYers (outside a vocal "minority of people") overwhelmingly support it. But Police Commissioner Ray Kelly seems to disagree with that assessment—why else would the NYPD issue a department-wide memo instructing officers (yet again) to not racially profile? And why else would Kelly send a letter to City Council Speaker Christine Quinn describing the changes and improvements the NYPD has made to "increase public confidence" in the policy? more ›

Following a press conference in City Hall today where he announced that the Mets will host the All-Star Game in 2013, Mayor Bloomberg opened up the floor to other topics in an open Q & A session. And the light-heartedness of the baseball news was soon overshadowed by questions regarding the NYPD's stop-and-frisk policy. Bloomberg made it clear that he absolutely supported stop-and-frisk, and dismissed critics as a vocal minority: "Nobody should ask Ray Kelly to apologize—he's not going to and neither am I—for saving 5,600 lives. I think it's fair to say that stop-question-and-frisk has been an essential part of the NYPD's work." more ›

The Blue Room at City Hall was an especially appropriate setting today for the announcement that the Mets will host the 2013 All-Star Game. Mayor Bloomberg was joined by MLB commissioner Bud Selig, Mets owner Fred Wilpon, Mets COO Jeff Wilpon, MLB Executive Vice President Joe Torre, and Citi Field's most beloved resident Mr. Met to make the announcement. "Competition for All-Star Games over the last five years has been enormous," Selig said during the press conference. "The new ballpark, Citi Field, that was certainly a primary reason for it. It was their time in a new ballpark." more ›

Last week, Mayor Bloomberg begrudgingly released an independent consultant’s report on New York City's 911 system, which found that "call operators waste time on duplicative questions and employ inconsistent questioning procedures." Even more startling, nearly 40% of all calls to 911 in 2010 came from butt-dials. Now we have a much clearer picture of why Bloomberg was reluctant to release all the data: it makes the city look like an ass. more ›

Did you know that Mayor Bloomberg is an amateur poet? To get in the spirit of NYC's 10th annual "Poem In Your Pocket Day," the mayor submitted his latest ode to the city: "50.5 Million Can't Be Wrong." This is the fifth time the mayor has taken part in the event (here's one of his past ones)—but of course, not every amateur poet gets their verse displayed on MTV's giant screen in Times Square. Below, behold the agile verbal wit of Bloomberg, with all of his references to the shadows and shades of mortality Tebowing, Gaga, and Unisphere. more ›

Just as he said he would, Mayor Bloomberg today vetoed a living wage bill out of the City Council that would have mandated a higher wage for some workers (though not nearly as many as it originally meant to). And while doing so, Hizzoner even managed to get some digs into his presumed choice to replace him, Council Speaker Christine Quinn. more ›

Mayor Bloomberg held a press conference to announce and further clarify new proposed legislation that would require residential buildings to adopt written policies on whether smoking is permitted or prohibited. “This does not prohibit anything,” Bloomberg said. “It just gives people the right to know before they sign a lease, and it seems to be very popular.” He insisted that he wasn't trying to outlaw smoking, but he couldn't help putting it in a certain context: “If you really intellectually start thinking about it, we protect people from hurting themselves, if they're trying to jump off a bridge we restrain them,” Bloomberg said. “Should you really do it with smoking? We’re not going to do it with smoking, but we—this is purely an informational thing.” more ›

Mayor Bloomberg's successful campaign to turn smokers into animals is taking aim at your apartment today: Bloomberg is expected to announce legislation that would require residential buildings to adopt written policies on whether smoking is permitted or prohibited—likely greatly increasing the amount of non-smoking buildings in the city. "We think that people ought to know whether they might be exposed to second-hand smoke in their apartment before they decide whether to rent or buy," Dr. Thomas Farley, commissioner of the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, told the Wall Street Journal. more ›

Occupy Wall Street attempted to retake Zuccotti Park yesterday on the six-month anniversary of the start of the OWS movement—and by early this morning, 73 protesters had been arrested or detained by the NYPD. But Ed Needham told Reuters that this has actually reinvigorated OWS: "Every time they use violence to put us down, it only increases the number of people that are empathetic to the cause. It adds fuel to the fire and draws attention to the movement. Mayor Bloomberg did us a big help last night in terms of fundraising." more ›

For Bloomberg, this isn't as much about Peyton Manning as it is about Mark Sanchez: “I think it’d be a great story for the press, Manning versus Manning, both playing in New York. But keep in mind the Jets have a young quarterback in Mark Sanchez, and he nearly led his team to the Super Bowl twice. So you know, let’s not dismiss [him]. He's sitting there." more ›

Sometimes with all the bad moods and boondoggles, it's hard to remember that Mayor Bloomberg is just a humble billionaire in Bermuda shorts like the rest of us. And he's got his own daydreams to help him while away the last days of his third term. With him running a temperature due to Giants Super Bowl fever, Bloomberg revealed one of those fantasies on his radio show this morning: he thinks about coming back to Earth in a second life as a quarterback, ala Warren Beatty in Heaven Can Wait. Well, it's certainly better than coming back as this guy. more ›

Has Mayor Bloomberg just started trolling everyone lately? Those pithy Newt Gingrich comments, that turtle-jiggling State Of The City video? Does he even care whether everyone loves him still? During his snow press conference yesterday, Bloomberg inexplicably took the opportunity to show off the local cheese curds and Titletown’s Sno-Cap root beer he plundered from Green Bay. And now he's set his sights on city Republicans, telling the Post that he's pretty sure his sucessor will be a Democrat: “ It’s really hard to see the Democratic primary next year not being the real election.” more ›

If the Giants lose, Bloomberg will send a dozen bagels from Bagel Oasis in Queens to Lee. He'll also rename 49th Street in Manhattan as "49ers Street." But he might be getting a little cocky about the Giants with all those delicious Green Bay cheese curds gurgling in his stomach: “Just like Hakeem Nicks ran right past the Packers’ secondary, the Giants are going to breeze by the 49ers on their way to the Super Bowl. After Sunday, Niners fans will be left with a taste as sour as their famous bread, and the Giants will have their sights set on another trophy.” more ›

First they took Manhattan... then they take Downtown Brooklyn? Since NYU lost out in Mayor Bloomberg's high-tech campus contest to Cornell, the Downtown dominator is now hoping for the city will give it a consolation prize of free real estate in the borough of churches. But, god bless it, the cash-strapped MTA—which happens to lease the land NYU wants from the city—isn't about to just walk away empty handed. more ›

Although Mayor Bloomberg is too shy to say which NY team he supports more (unlike NJ Gov. Chris Christie), he's perfectly fine with making bets over playoff games. To that end, Bloomberg made a friendly wager with Green Bay Mayor Jim Schmitt over this Sunday's NFC Divisional game between the Giants and Packers. “The Giants are playing best when it matters most, and I know they’re going to keep it up on Sunday,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “I have a feeling that Victor Cruz will be dancing in the end zone and the Giants will be putting the Packers’ Super Bowl dreams to rest just like they did four years ago. And our salsa and cheesecake will be staying right here in Brooklyn.” more ›

Following some video hijinks involving Ed Koch and turtle-esque jiggling, Mayor Bloomberg got down to business delivering his 11th annual "State Of The City" speech in the Bronx today. Besides serving as a kind of summary of his achievements in office as well as a glimpse at what he'd like his legacy to be, Bloomberg's speech most notably touched on a plan to shake up the school system by offering monetary incentives to high-performing teachers while booting the worst ones: "We need to be able to identify those ineffective teachers and give them the support they need to grow," he said. "And if that doesn’t work, we need to be able to move them out." more ›