Tight Vote Shows Brooklyn falls out of Love with Bloomberg
Brooklyn to Bloomberg: Show us some love.
Mayor Bloomberg’s 6 percentage point loss to Controller William Thompson in Brooklyn revealed deep frustration with the mayor.
When the News asked Kings County voters what they want from Bloomberg during his $87 million third term, the message was loud and clear: Brooklyn voters want Millionaire Mike to come to their neighborhoods and feel their pain.
Oh, and while you’re at it Mr. Mayor, could you please provide more cops who write fewer parking tickets?
“He has to go into those neighborhoods and and listen to the complaints in the streets,” said political analyst George Arzt.
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz – who supported the mayor – said many Brooklyn voters seemed angry about the way costs have risen under Bloomberg’s watch.
“Brooklynites are saying, ‘Enough of nickel and diming us,’ ” said Markowitz.
To help Bloomberg out, here are some voices from across Brooklyn to guide him in third term:
– Bedford-Stuyvesant – where Bloomberg lost by the largest margin in Brooklyn – voters want lower taxes and more Hizzoner sightings.
“If he’s interested in us, he should show it and come by more,” said Esther Williams, 82, owner of New Casablanca Cocktail Lounge on Malcolm X Blvd.
Max Blythe, 52, who owns Mo Max Variety Store on McDonough St., said property taxes have spiked too high. “It’s unaffordable,” said Blythe, who voted for Thompson. “Now we’re looking to see where our money can stretch.”
– Sunset Park, where Bloomberg and Controller William Thompson fought their tightest race, voters said their biggest issue is drug dealing inside the neighborhood’s big park, Sunset Park.
“We need security for the park. It’s not safe enough in there, said Jay Rodriguez, 52, who voted for Thompson because he ”wanted change.“
On 5th Ave., Gina Villacis, 50, who owns a party goods shop, said small businesses are getting choked by ever-escalating rents.
”My landlord has doubled the rent to $2,000 a month,“ complained Villacis, a Bloomberg supporter. ”With this kind of business we don’t make that much money.“
– Down in Gerritsen Beach, part of a larger district that also saw a tight Bloomberg-Thompson split, voters want cleaner beaches and repairs to crumbling streets.
Real estate broker Doreen Greenwood, 57, said the influx of people to the once-sleepy area has brought more water pollution to the Shell Bank Creek. ”It requires more attention than ever,“ she said.
George Broadhead, 77, said the tiny neighborhood needs a major street fix. ”The streets in the old section of Gerritsen Beach flood year after year,“ he said.
– Public safety was a major issue in Crown Heights, which went for Thompson, though with a decent Bloomberg showing.
Yehudy Fely, 40, a local businessman said he wants more cops and less parking tickets.
”Bloomberg should actually take care of crime, instead of sending the police here to give out parking tickets,“ he said. ”It’s easier for them to write tickets for leaves on your sidewalk than to go after criminals.“
Suzanne Spellen, 54, of the Crown Heights North Association, agreed that more cops would be good – but also wants ”better policing“ by cops who know the neighborhood, and a ”sense that city money is coming over our way. A lot of people in this community don’t think that [Bloomberg] cares about us,” said Spellen.
count our blessings
We, in Brooklyn in general and Crown Heights in particular, should count our blessings and thank Hashem that Bloomberg made it for another term.
He has taken this wild and free-for-all city and returned sanity to it, in a no nonsense way.
Mr. Bloomberg, continue in your path of making this city a better place to live for all citizens. Those of us with special interests and a need to bend the rules will have to change their ways and shape up or, ship out. DINA D’MALCHSA DINA is our rule.
same story.. nothing new
There are always a bunch of complainers out there… I don’t think we ever had a mayor who did not have a bunch of complainers going after him. that doesn’t necessarily mean the complainers have no point. It also doesn’t mean the complainers points are all valid.
Marcus
A statistical analysis of the heavily Jewish blocks of Crown Heights shows Bloomberg winning handily. For example: in the square that goes from Kingston to Albany, Carroll to Montgomery the vote was 133 to 53 Bloomberg over Thompson.
mendel
who raiced the parking tickets.he hutrt anyone who drives a car
Third Term-s the Charm
count our blessings
You are so out of touch with reality it’s sad.
Crime is up, the infrastructure is crumbling, schools forget it,Wall St. plays by it’s own rules, rules MB used and supported, bringing us close to world financial collapse, Bloomburg like his predecessor thinks the city should be for the rich and tourists, forget everybody else.
He cares about your vote, he pandered to every group on their own level, counting on getting the Jewish vote.
He bought this election, and barely.
ps: are you saying that CH and other Jewish communities are not special interest with a need to bend the rules, because then you’re really crazy.
sad
i wiil be the first person to say now dont blame me i did not vote for bloomberg wene kingston ave is closed for 18 month i dont wana hear any kvetching