Results tagged “bronxboroughpresidentfernandoferrer”

It's deja vu all over again! In the recent Democratic mayoral primaries, runoffs were threatened and this year's was no exception as campaigns squirmed in too-close-to-call limbo. While former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer has essentially 40% of the vote needed to avoid a runoff, he's about 0.04-0.05% short of a perfect, unequivocal 40%, which translates to a handful of votes. And Congressman Anthony Weiner, who has 29%, will be demanding that every vote be counted, including 8,422 valid absentee ballots. Which means that the results for the Democratic primary might not be known for days, even a week. Ferrer was in the odd position of being so close to victory, but not guaranteed of it, last night at his party, while Weiner's party got more interesting as Ferrer's numbers dropped.

Okay, so it's crunch time for the Democratic mayoral candidates, with just hours until the polls open tomorrow and New Yorkers (hopefully) go and vote for a Democratic candidate. Former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer received an endorsement from Reverend Al Sharpton yesterday, which helps his frontrunner status, but many polls show the Congressman Anthony Weiner is right at Ferrer's heels - and that Ferrer still might not be able to avoid a runoff. While a lot of polls and surveys seem to indicate that Mayor Bloomberg is uncommonly popular for a Republican mayor in our blue city, the NY Times finds some voters that do want him out but, as ever, it comes down to who will actually come out and vote. The big questions are the middle-class (Miller or Weiner) and African-American population (Fields, Ferrer, or maybe even Weiner?). What Gothamist has been finding interesting in this final stretch is that we've been noticing the NY Post has been talking up Congressman Anthony Weiner's chances a lot, perhaps trying to sway voters to force Ferrer into a run-off. The latest stories about Gifford Miller seem to be more about his finance troubles, and C. Virginia Fields seems to have faded completely. Gothamist thinks it's too close to call whether or not there will be a primary. What do you think will happen tomorrow?

On what was surely one of the most beautiful "last day of the summer" in recent memory, millions of people celebrated in Brooklyn at the 38th West Indian American Day Carnival and Parade. While people with roots in the Caribbean were the main participants, they weren't the only ones: The NY Times reported that "four rabbinical students donned do-rags with the colors of the Jamaican flag." And Gothamist's favorite quote comes from Newsday, where Jason Ridges said, "I'm not from any island but Coney Island. This is the one day of the year I can feel Caribbean."

The first official Democratic candidate mayoral debate took place last night with all four candidates, including Congressman Anthony Weiner who had been passed a kidney stone earlier in the day. After that, we can only imagine the debate was a walk in the park! The NY Times has a transcript of the debate, but there's nothing like seeing City Council Speaker Gifford Miller get all pissy when asked if he would send his kids to public school (they attend private pre-K now). Former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer tried to redirect criticism from himself to the Mayor, Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields was the only candidate to eagerly say she wanted the Reverend Al Sharpton's endorsement, and Weiner came away with the best one-liners. All in the all, the debate was kind of boring, like the candidates themselves; the Observer's Ben Smith and Lizzy Ratner explain the problems with all the candiates, including Mayor B, in an article today called the "Aristo-Democrats," with the most frightening cartoon EVER.

Democratic front runner and former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer will start his advertising campaign tomorrow, according to the NY Times. This would make Ferrer the first of the Democratic hopefuls to compete with TV and radio, with what his campaign calls a "substantial" ad buy while his rivals' campaigns say the ad buy is "modest" (tens of thousands of dollars). Well, everything is modest compared to what Mayor Bloomberg is spending! But the Daily News points out that City Council Speaker Gifford Miller has purchased $1 million of advertising in the week before the September 13 primary; Miller has also raised the most money of the Democratic contenders. It sounds like Ferrer is attempting to develop name recognition with a steady media presence for a longer period whereas Miller may simply try to blanket the area with his message in the final moments, though Ferrer is probably going to increase his media by the primary. Gothamist gives the edge to Ferrer with this decision, because we suspect Bloomberg has helped his approval ratings with his seemingly constant advertising in the past few months. And we doubt C. Virginia Fields and Anthony Weiner will advertise much to make a blip.

The hits keep coming for former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer: City Councilman Charles Barrons says Ferrer should get out of the mayoral race and support Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia's Field mayoral bid. Barron says Ferrer is "free-falling and it's not going to stop." For his part, Ferrer says he has a right to run. And, Gothamist would imagine, a right to lose. But things aren't that cheery for Ferrer, not to mention the other Democratic challengers. There's a NY Times article about NYC Democrats hoping for a stronger candidate to emerge from somewhere else (Al Sharpton! Bill Clinton!), followed by an item on how mustaches aren't taken very seriously:

Indeed, in some political circles, Mr. Ferrer is being compared to Groucho Marx and some consultants are saying that the real lessons that he should absorb from the recent win of the clean-shaven Antonio Villaraigosa in Los Angeles are his grooming habits.

Where's the Queer Eye gang? And Gothamist would like to point out that our readers have thought Ferrer looks like Floyd the Barber. Even Donny Deutsch thinks Ferrer should lose the 'stache althoghter, but he did not comment about whether or not Ferrer should wear tight, nipply T-shirts. And to wrap-up our Ferrer news, he likes Donald Trump's plans for the World Trade center, even though he previously wanted to decentralize office space so terrorists wouldn't have a target.

Former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer's campaign suffered a blow as two top aides resigned yesterday, due to "strategic differences." That sounds like a death knell of a campaign to Gothamist! Earlier this week, a Marist poll revealed that Ferrer had slipped significantly, with Mayor Bloomberg now leading; plus, his lead over Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields was also much smaller. The two aides were the director of commucations and a senior media adviser, apparently frustrated that their "advice was being ignored," according to the NY Times. Political consultant Hank Sheinkopf also tells the Times Ferrer has to "change the discussion" from being just about his flip-flopping Amadou Diallo remarks. We can hear Fields', Miller's, and Weiner's own campaign operatives figuring out ways to stir up the discussion about that to neutralize Ferrer and make their own runs for the Democratic nod.

If you see a slight spring in Mayor Bloomberg's step, it might be due to the latest poll from Marist College which puts him, for the first time this year (we think), ahead of any Democratic candidates in a hypothetical Mayoral matchup. The Mayor had been trailing behind former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer earlier this year, but it seems like the tide has turned for now, with the Mayor leading Ferrer 51% to 38%, up from Bloomberg's 42% to Ferrer's 49% last month. It's unclear what exactly caused the Mayor's bump, but it could be the Mayor's seemingly endless supply of campaign money or Ferrer's Amadou Diallo remarks, which the press has helped keep front of mind. And Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields looks like she's gaining steam, with 30% of Democrats supporting her, 34% supporting Ferrer.

The big news rocking the world of Democratic mayoral hopefuls is that Reverend Al Sharpton won't endorse a candidate this year. In other words, the Reverend Al is just like Gothamist and many other voters: Wondering if there are any strong messages in the Democratic candidates. He noted that this will be the first time in 20 years he will not be involved in a Democratic primary, but, of course, Sharpton did leave himself an escape chute, he'd reconsider if a candidate seemed to shape up. Sharpton also noted that former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer's remarks about Amadou Diallo didn't help things. Gothamist is shocked that Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields or even City Council Speaker Gifford Miller didn't try even harder to rise to the challenge of getting Sharpton's endorsement, because his support could have really helped solidify them in the race.

During yesterday's Crain's New York sponsored forum, mayoral candidates tried to stake out their positions in the crowded field people who just wanna beat Mayor Mike. To summarize: Representative Anthony Weiner attacked former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer's plan to tax stock transactions; Ferrer attacked the Mayor's rehaul of the school system; City Council Speaker Gifford Miller talked about transit issues; Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields spoke about education and community-police relations. And all candidates attacked Wal-Mart's intentions to move into NYC. Yeah, it's sadly still sounding like Charlie Brown's teacher. The NY Times' also notes that Fields and Ferrer's jabs show that their "non-aggression pact" has fallen to the wayside, which makes sense for Fields, since she probably wants to try to beat Ferrer. In the next month, Gothamist hopes someone will step up.

Yesterday, the seven mayoral candidates for Mayor converged in Queens to speak at the Northeast Queens Jewish Community Council. Mayor Bloomberg left after giving opening remarks, giving some of the other attendees (Democrats Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields, former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer, City Council Speaker Gifford Miller and Representative Anthony Weiner; Republicans investment banker Scott Shaw and Thomas Ognibene of Queens) opportunity to slam him. Weiner ragged on how Bloomberg was there for such a short period (Bloomberg says he had other activities; this ">Post picture proves he needed to be in a Greek parade with some youngin's) while others sounded the usual things against him: The West Side Stadium, education reform that hasn't quite jelled, being a billionaire, bad housing policy, and being Manhattan-centric.

- Mayor Bloomberg's reelection staff sought advice from a range of influencers and politicians on how to shed the mayor's billionaire image. It seems the number one thing to do is remind people he wasn't born a billionaire, he just worked his way to that. Both former Mayor Ed Koch and former Representative Herman Badillo say that the mayor needs to get out and meet people in the outer boroughs (Koch says, Bloomberg should be "out there on the streets 10 days a week, not 7" and Badillo notes, "If you walk up the South Bronx and see 1,000 people, then they will tell 10,000 people, 'I just saw the mayor; he was here with us.'"). Koch also had other colorful quotes for the Times article: Ferrer "slit his own throat" by his handling of his remarks about Amadou Diallo's death and Mayor Bloomberg's "problem is that he's shy." But yet not too shy to fill potholes!

The NY Times conducted some research on the Mayor, as well as his standing versus other mayoral hopefuls such as former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer, City Council Speaker Gifford Miller, Congressman Anthony Weiner, Manhattan Borough President Virigina Fields, and former Councilman Thomas Ognibene. The study says that 41% of registered voters view the Mayor favorably; while 41% sounds mediocre, that's a 10% increase from last summer. He does lead his opponents (see the NY Times graph here), but one Democratic strategist tells the Times that "Any incumbent starting off an election year with an approval rating under 50 and losing to an unnamed opponent by 22 points is in real trouble." To drive that point home, it seems that these numbers are closer to David Dinkin's pre-reelection numbers than Rudy Giuliani. Ouchy. Issues where voters are still on the fence with the Mayor are indeed education and the proposed Jets stadium on the West Side, which means Bloomberg will be working overtime to emphasize his strengths and appeal to voters that overhauling the education system will take time and he should be in office for that.

It seems that while the Mayor did get a decent reception, it was City Councilman Charles Barron's criticism of the Mayor, noting that the "Jets, Nets, and Olympics" priorities of the Bloomberg administration, not regular New Yorkers, was something that "set the crowd on fire." It will be interesting to see how the Mayor continues to explain that the West Side Stadium project will drive jobs for the working class and not siphon money from areas that desperately need resources.

Yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg gave his fourth State of the City address (which was titled "Building a City of Opportunity"), which was notable for how positive he was about the city. The NY Times called it "feel-good," Newsday called it "upbeat," with lines like "The state of our city is strong -- and we are going to make it even stronger for the future." Clearly, that was the only way to go since he's running for re-election this fall, but some things, like keeping the streets safe and improving education standards, are timeless in being effective at publis sentiment. Here some gold from his closing:

We may not agree on everything. In fact, that’s one thing that will never change in this city. But I know we all share the same love and passion for this great city. And with our passion, our pride, and our people how can we not succeed?

Continue reading "Mayor Bloomberg Builds "A City of Opportunity""

And in sorta related news, since it involves a comptroller: State Comptroller Alan Hevesi says the NYC budget deficit won't be the $3 billion Mayor Bloomberg project - it will be more like $3.6 billion, because of education spending.