NY Times Report: One city lawmaker called it Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s “Let them eat cake” attitude.
After being dealt a rare public embarrassment by the City Council, which forced his administration to acknowledge on Monday that he was legally required to send out $400 rebate checks promised to hundreds of thousands of New York homeowners, a defiant Mr. Bloomberg said yesterday that he had no plans to release the money.
At a news conference, Mr. Bloomberg described the rebates as “up in the air.”
Asked what he would tell homeowners who have been depending on the money to pay bills or buy holiday gifts, he responded: “Plan for the worst, and hope for the best.”
When pressed, the mayor said: “I just answered your question. You just don’t want the answer.”
The mayor has argued that the city cannot afford the rebates this year. Still, Mr. Bloomberg’s remarks left people in the political world scratching their heads, with some accusing him of profound insensitivity to those who lack fat bank accounts, especially as job losses and foreclosures mount in the city.
“It’s the height of arrogance and insensitivity,” said Councilman Lewis A. Fidler of Brooklyn, who also said that Mr. Bloomberg had a “Let them eat cake” attitude toward the homeowners.
“They look at what does this mean to someone on the Upper East Side or Central Park West and say, $400, so what?” Mr. Fidler said. “I’m looking at it from what it means to Mrs. Goldstein, a 72-year-old senior in my district who lives on Social Security and is counting on that money,” he added, using a hypothetical example.
The rebate checks, sent to about 600,000 individual owners of condos, co-ops or houses in the city over the last several years, are typically mailed out in October, and this year, with more residents feeling especially pinched, City Hall has been bombarded with calls from people looking for their checks.
Bloomberg’s aides instructed the city’s 311 operators to tell callers that no checks would be forthcoming.
The mayor’s comments recall previous remarks that have left him seeming out of touch with those he governs.
When residents complained that the city was issuing parking tickets after a snowstorm in 2007, the mayor – who typically takes the subway or a chauffeured sport utility vehicle to work – suggested that New Yorkers stop “griping.” About crowded subways, he has said: “So you stand next to people. Get real. This is New York.”
This year, responding to complaints that black rubber mats and other playground equipment get dangerously hot in the summer, the mayor said: “If it’s hot, don’t sit on it. Air-conditioning the slide is not something we can afford to do.”
On Wednesday, when saying that the city was trying to turn the thermostats down inside city buildings to save heating costs, he offered this advice: “Wear a sweater if you’re chilly.”
But it also appears that Mr. Bloomberg is irritated by a newly aggressive City Council, which was deeply divided over his move last month to push through legislation allowing him to seek a third term.
One person close to the mayor, who insisted on anonymity to avoid revealing private conversations with Mr. Bloomberg, said the mayor was especially irked that four Council members went to court on Tuesday to try to compel the administration to issue the rebates immediately.
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
12 Responses
Send him packing!!!!
i guess when it comes to re-electing him for a third term as he wants – we will also have the attitude of it’s up in the air and plan for the worst and hope for the best! after all we were all depending on our rebates – just as he is depending on our votes!!!!!!!!!!
Don’t attack the messenger, but 600,000 people times $400.00 is $240 million!!! yes people could use the $400 but will it really kill someone if they have $400 less? while the city could sure use $240 million dollars???
This guy is geting worse every day it goes by its crazy.
The bottom line is that he’s a great mayor & there’s noone out there who could do half as good a job, so if he says some stupid things once in awhile we should just ignore it.
By using the word “arrogance” in the headline, and by not only reporting the Mayor’s not promising to send the rebate checks, but also every other thing he did that you perceive as arrogant, you are obviously trying to send a message to your readers. You are trying to form your readers’ opinion of Mayor Bloomberg, just as the frum media did with Obama. Now they’re all backtracking(just like they said Obama did) because Obama won. Why don’t you just report what he said and let us decide whether we think it’s arrogant. Don’t tell us what to think, directly or indirectly!
Why cant u uncoveneice youselves a bit? why not in this financial crises. Hes 100% right, stop complaining u spoiled brats, who never lived in hard times, cry babies!!!!!!!! probably all Democrats fools who voted for that one, who will destroy America. Let him CHANGE things “yes we can” he said.
SEND ME SOME.YUM
These ARE very hard times, and we must face reality. We just have to know that there are sometimes when you have to contribute more & expect less, and there has never been such a time that I can remember like this. Besides, anyone who becomes mayor of this city is taking over generations of liberal waste and handouts of perhaps billions of $$$. Trust me – I could use the $400 rebate. But I still do not find it hard to give Bloomberg the benefit of the doubt.
Although there isn’t much to like about the guy, I still think he’s doing a fine job. Let’s not forget that he has a record of being extremely supportive of E”Y. We all remember that after the terrible & tragic # 2 Bus bombing he took his private jet to E”Y, along with other dignitaries including the very notably chashuver askan R. Simcha Felder hy”v, just to show solidarity with the Israeli people who were suffering. He also seems to be pretty supportive regarding mosdos hatorah. He’s also not a “M.Z.-nik” like the sick, diseased, insane ed koch was.
I think if he runs again he’ll win – not because of popularity, but money buys elections. But it would be a stupid decision to seek a 3rd term. If he leaves now he’ll still be remembered as one of the better mayors NYC ever had. But another term, especially in these hard times, will make him hated and despised, and that’s how he’ll go down in history. He’s not a stupid guy, but he is a little far-reaching in his goals, & that sometimes gets him into trouble. Look, he thinks and acts like a billionaire which he actually is. ($22b net worth! – do have a “hasaga”?!!!)
I agree with #7. Maybe NYC would not need to do this if tax and welfare fraud were not so rampant here. So start paying your taxes and stop cheating on welfare–then the government would have more money for the things you want and you will praised by the Abisheter for being a honest Yid when you meet Him in Shamayim. What a concept…
Its not respectful to call the mayor “Bloomy.”
#3, You make a reasonable point. But from time to time I hear Mayor Bloomberg on the radio Friday mornings and he seems to pride himself on how efficient he is with taxpayer money and how innovative he is with using each tax dollar. Isn’t the $400 dollars for each tax payer FROM each taxpayer anyway? Perhaps Mayor Bloomberg should present how the approx. $240,000,000 will benefit each tax payer in terms of services or infrastructure upgrades. That would be a fair expectation of a public servant.