Mayor Bloomberg's momentary visit with President Bush yesterday at JFK Airport is being analyzed backwards and forwards. The Daily News says Bloomberg "blinked" in not chastising the President enough over the lack of Homeland Security funding for the city. The Mayor recounted his conversation for reporters:
"I welcomed him to New York, took credit for the great weather... I did thank him for his efforts to make all homeland security moneys ... distributed based on risk. He had said that a number of times... And while I wish the pot was bigger, and that is something that he has some control over, then, it really gets down to the House and the Senate, and that's where we've got to make our case. Other than that, you know, we just chitchatted about how nice it was for him to come."
Ah, a chitchat - that's what politics is all about. And it was really nice of Bloomberg to meet Bush - he took a helicopter from JFK to get back to City Hall for a bill signing "late," the NY Times notes, as well as how Bloomberg wore a blue (Democratic?) tie while Bush wore red. The bills the Mayor signed were establishing a retiree health benefits trust fund, exempting Corrections Emergency Response vehicles from fuel and tech requirements, and requiring additional reporting from the Administration for Children's Services. Then he headed to Times Square to help open the new Midtown location of Junior's, welcoming it to the "Crosswords of the World" and impliciting encouraging heartburn to many more people.
And to further ease New Yorkers' anxiety about maybe-maybe not Al Qaeda cyanide attacks on the subways, Mayor Bloomberg took a train at Times Square. We bet he's leaning on the doors, which is a MTA no-no, but everyone does it.
Photograph of Mayor Bloomberg in subway car from Shiho Fukada/AP
