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Thursday, October 23, 2008

We The People

Columbus Circle, NYC
Photo by myself near Columbus Circle, earlier this year.

A crowd tries to get a view of a large screen television, near 59th Street and Columbus Avenue.

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For those of you not living in New York, here's an update on local news. Today (Thursday) we find out whether the mayor can extend the usual maximum of eight years in office.

Traditionally, mayors have adhered to term limits, however Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the self-made businessman and billionaire, is petitioning to extend his stay due to the current economy.

So far, I think Bloomberg has done a good job. Quality of life has remained the same for residents, and energy has been put into making the city a desirable place to visit.

We'll see today whether New York has the chance to have Bloomberg around another four years.

To those New Yorkers out there, what do you think?

Related posts: The Latest Urban Adventure, A View From The Streets and Mass Mentality.

5 comments:

Kizz said...

What do you think? I can't decide. Fiscally, sure, Mike has been the right guy for the job but he's far from the perfect mayor and the law says you get 2 terms to do your job and then you have to find other ways to help so trying to change the law seems sort of skeevy to me. On the other hand we're gonna need an awful lot of help and the law hasn't been in place all that long so what's the harm really? I just don't know.

Morty said...

This one is tough to call. The old adage, "if it ain't broke then don't fix it" comes to mind. On the other hand, having the power to extend term limits undermines the voice of the people. I'm on the fence here. I recently updated my own site with a lighthearted look at the upcoming election. Feel free to have a look, and pass it on.

Morty!

Kitty said...

Hi Kizz
I see both views. The skeeviness, yes..it seems opportunistic to me.

I'm curious about what historically brought the law into place.

Hi Morty
I'll be visiting your site next!
yknow I'm curious why the decision didn't go out to the people to be voted on. Hm.

Kizz said...

I'm pretty sure that Ed Koch's approximately 16 years in office are what brought it on. He was so entrenched that people wanted a way to ensure some variety. At least that's how I remember it but there's probably a much better explanation somewhere else on the web.

dianasfaria.com said...

I am too biased on this one to be impartial. I'll never forget seeing Mayor Bloomberg at The Met hanging out with his fellow New Yorkers right after September 11th.He was trying to encourage people not to be afraid to come into Manhattan. We had come into the city from Long Island to see the DaVinci show & the mayor made a special point to come over and talk with my son who was 7 years old at the time. I remember hearing other stories about the mayor that were similar to mine & I just feel he was very sensitive to what people really needed during those awful days. So I hope he gets another 4 years.