Bloomberg, the billionaire who changed New York

“Prevent young people from smoking before they even start.” The goal of Mayor Bloomberg’s latest law is ambitious to say the least. By banning the sale of tobacco and electronic cigarettes to minors under the age of 21 last Wednesday, he completed an anti-nicotine chapter started in his first term. Coming to power in January 2002 in a city marked psychologically and economically by the attacks of September 11, Mayor Bloomberg however first invests in the field of health. Freshly elected, he signed a pioneering law, soon adopted by more than 500 American cities, 35 states and 48 countries. From now on, we will no longer smoke in bars and restaurants. Twelve years, Michael Bloomberg will have done the good of New Yorkers in spite of themselves. Paternalistic nanny for some or visionary councilor for others, he has undeniably reshaped the city in his image: healthier, more innovative, richer.

Life expectancy extended by three years

His crusade for a better hygiene of life has spread to almost all sectors. Ban on unsaturated fatty acids, reduction of the salt content in prepared meals, obligation for restaurant chains to display the number of calories in the dishes. For Linda Fried, dean of the School of Public Health at Columbia University, the increase in the lifespan of New Yorkers – three years longer than in the rest of the country – is “in large part” linked to Bloomberg initiatives. To continue to fight against obesity, the mayor now wants to put his citizens in sport. Unable to decently ban elevators in the vertical city, he sought to encourage New Yorkers to climb the steps. In July, he announced his plan to fight: clearly indicate access to the stairs, and keep the stairwells longer.

For him, the “capital of the free world” must be a model for the country and for the whole world. He was also thinking of personalities with global influence to succeed him: Hillary Clinton and George Soros, in particular. This ambition prompted him to focus on education. Rarely to half measures, the mayor has closed dozens of public primary and secondary schools with poor results … to inaugurate more innovative and dynamic. Six hundred and fifty-six establishments have been opened since 2002, more than under any administration. Most of them are charter schools: free schools financed by the taxpayer but privately operated. This remodeling has allowed the city to catch up with the rest of the state. On the strength of his vision of the city as a technopole, the mayor also encouraged the creation of new universities, in particular the future Cornell Tech.

Crime down 80%

All these successes would not have been possible without a drastic drop in the dangerousness of the metropolis since the 1990s. Initiated by his predecessors, Democrat David Dinkins and Republican Rudolph Giuliani, Bloomberg continues the “cleansing” of a former city gangrenous by crime. “All American cities have become safer during this period, but while the national crime rate has fallen 40%, it was 80% in New York,” said Franklin Zimring, professor of law at Berkeley and author. of The City That Became Safe (“the city that became safe”). This decline began under Giuliani, but Bloomberg has reduced the police force while maintaining a significant drop in crime, this is the New York paradox. “

One of the keys to the “mystery” lies in the stop & frisk policy: stop any suspect individual and search him, to fight against the proliferation of weapons and drugs. If Bloomberg defends this practice as essential to the safety of the city, it has been criticized by his detractors as a policy of facies crime. In August, a federal judge also considered it “unconstitutional” and “racist”.

The inequality divide

It is this record, both in police matters and in terms of living standards, that Democrat Bill de Blasio attacked in his campaign. His successor, elected on Tuesday, is the exact opposite of the billionaire. The city’s growing attractiveness has driven real estate prices up to such an extent that the middle class has become poor. The pay gap is larger in New York than in any other city in the United States. Almost half of the population lives below the poverty line, when the number of billionaires continues to increase. It was their taxes that helped finance Bloomberg’s pharaonic projects, including the opening of multiple parks and green spaces. “A godsend”, according to him. But far from the image of the Big Apple that New Yorkers want to maintain.

Source: JDD paper

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