The Many Lives of Michael Bloomberg

by Eleanor Randolph

  2. CPI, Inflation Calculator, amount = $180,000, http://www.in2013dollars.com/1884-dollars-in-2019.

  3. Matilda Jaxon, “The History of Rikers Island,” ClassNewYorkHistory.com, April 10, 2017.

  4. Michael Bloomberg, Aspen Institute talk, Karl Herchenroeder tap, February 5, 2015. It eventually made its way to YouTube: “Bloomberg’s Remarks at the Aspen Institute About Minorities and Guns,” published on February 16, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L0Zq0MusGA.

  5. “Mayor Bloomberg Announces New York City’s Incarceration Rate Hits New All-Time Low,” press release, NYC.gov, December 26, 2013, https://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/434-13/mayor-bloomberg-new-york-city-s-incarceration-rate-hits-new-all-time-low/#/0.

  6. Chris McNickle, Bloomberg: A Billionaire’s Ambition (New York: Skyhorse, 2017), 278.

  7. Diane Cardwell, “Commissioner of Probation Will Run Jails,” New York Times, December 27, 2002.

  8. Jake Pearson, “Widespread Problems on Rikers Island Tough to Fix,” AP, December 28, 2014, https://www.apnews.com/1d49c8ea13ac4a57bdb1a75e1ba3e827.

  9. Author interview with Martin Horn, February 14, 2017.

  10. Frank Straub and Paul E. O’Connell, “Why the Jails Didn’t Explode,” City Journal, Spring 1999, https://www.city-journal.org/html/why-jails-didn%E2%80%99t-explode-11794.html.

  11. Ibid., McNickle, Bloomberg.

  12. Ibid., Author interview with Martin Horn.

  13. Michael Schwirtz and Michael Winerip, “Violence by Rikers Guards Grew Under Bloomberg,” New York Times, August 13, 2014.

  14. Ibid.

  15. Sarah Zielinski, “Migratory Canada Geese Brought Down Flight 1549,” Smithsonian.com, June 8, 2009, http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/migratory-canada-geese-brought-down-flight-1549-12575190/.

  16. Ibid., Author interview with Martin Horn.

  17. Azi Paybarah, “Norman Seabrook Backs Thompson, Regrets the Errors,” New York Observer, October 13, 2009.

  18. Ibid., McNickle, Bloomberg: A Billionaire’s Ambition, 280.

  19. Ibid., Author interview with Martin Horn.

  20. Ibid., McNickle, Bloomberg: A Billionaire’s Ambition, 281.

  21. Ibid.

  22. Associated Press, “City Pays $2 Million in Case of Inmate Killed at Rikers,” New York Times, June 8, 2012.

  23. Ibid., Schwirtz and Winerip, “Violence by Rikers Guards Grew Under Bloomberg.”

  24. Chai Park, The City of New York Board of Correction, “Violence in New York City Jails: Slashing and Stabbing Incidents,” 2011–2014, NYC.gov, http://www1.nyc.gov/assets/boc/downloads/pdf/Violence%20in%20New%20York%20City%20Jails_Slashing%20and%20Stabbing%20Incidents.pdf.

  25. “Manhattan U.S. Attorney Finds Pattern and Practice of Excessive Force and Violence at NYC Jails on Rikers Island That Violates the Constitutional Rights of Adolescent Male Inmates,” U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York, Department of Justice, August 4, 2014; https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/manhattan-us-attorney-finds-pattern-and-practice-excessive-force-and-violence-nyc-jails.

  26. Ibid.

  27. Jennifer Gonnerman, “Before the Law,” The New Yorker, October 6, 2014, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/10/06/before-the-law.

  28. Ibid.

  29. Vivian Wang, “7 Takeaways from New York’s $175 Billion Budget,” New York Times, March 31, 2019.

  30. Russ Buettner, “Bus Stoppage Said to Target Rikers Inmate,” New York Times, November 20, 2013.

  31. McNickle, Bloomberg: A Billionaire’s Ambition, 283.

  32. Ibid.

  33. Zoe Greenberg, “Norman Seabrook Guilty in Bribery Trial That Cast Shadow over de Blasio,” New York Times, August 15, 2009; Benjamin Weiser and Zoe Greenberg, “Norman Seabrook Was Once a Union Power Broker in New York. Now He Is Going to Prison,” New York Times, February 8, 2019.

  34. Edward Porter, “Wall St. Money Meets Social Policy at Rikers Island,” New York Times, July 28, 2015.

  35. “Impact Evaluation of the Adolescent Behavioral Learning Experience (ABLE) Program,” Vera Institute of Justice, September 2016.

  36. Linda Gibbs, former deputy mayor for health and human services for Mayor Bloomberg, speaking at Fordham University for series, “The Bloomberg Years.”

  37. Jeff Coltin, “De Blasio Sets 10-Year Timeline to Close Rikers Island,” City & State New York, March 31, 2017.

  CHAPTER 18: THE CITY GROWS UP AND UP

  1. NYC Government Office of the Mayor release, September 30, 2007. “Mayor Bloomberg Delivers Remarks at 2007 Conservative Party Conference in Great Britain.”

  2. Author interviews with Ester Fuchs, others on background, May 2017.

  3. British Conservative Party Conference in Blackpool, England, September 30, 2007, https://www.c-span.org/video/?201279-1/british-conservative-party-conference.

  4. Sydney Sarachan, “The Legacy of Robert Moses,” PBS, January 17, 2013, http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/environment/the-legacy-of-robert-moses/16018/.

  5. Daniel Doctoroff, “Making Omelets Without Breaking Eggs: Getting Things Done in the Post-Moses Age,” speech, Museum of the City of New York, February 1, 2007.

  6. Eric Jaffe, “7 Fun Facts About the New York Subway’s New 7 Train Extension,” CityLab, September 11, 2015, https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2015/09/7-fun-facts-about-the-new-york-subways-new-7-train-extension/404800/.

  7. “Mayor Bloomberg Announces Completion and Activation of Manhattan Portion of City’s Third Water Tunnel,” press release, NYC.gov, October 16, 2013, http://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/334-13/mayor-bloomberg-completion-activation-manhattan-portion-city-s-third-water/#/0l; “Mayor Bloomberg Turns on Water in Manhattan Portion of Water Tunnel No. 3,” YouTube video, October 16, 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyYdXQxB34w.

  8. New York City Municipal Archives, Peter Madonia, 22677, box 2 of 2, DEP, Shaft of 33B City Water Tunnel, letter to John Whitehead.

  9. Charles V. Bagli, “As Stadiums Rise, So Do Costs to Taxpayers,” New York Times, November 4, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/05/nyregion/05stadiums.html.

  10. Edward Wyatt, “Stock Exchange Abandons Plans for a New Headquarters Building Across the Street,” New York Times, August 2, 2002.

  11. Bagli, “As Stadiums Rise, So Do Costs to Taxpayers.”

  12. Michael Kimmelman, “An Arena as Tough as Brooklyn, but Street Smart?” New York Times, October 31, 2012.

  13. Rich Calder, “Your ‘Net’ Loss,” New York Post, April 14, 2008.

  14. “Mayor Bloomberg Delivers 2013 State Of The City Address,” press release, NYC.gov, February 14, 2013, https://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/063-13/mayor-bloomberg-delivers-2013-state-the-city-address.

  15. Chris McNickle, Bloomberg: A Billionaire’s Ambition (New York: Skyhorse, 2017), 151–152.

  16. Julie Satow, “Amanda Burden Wants to Remake New York; She has 19 Months Left,” New York Times, May 18, 2012.

  17. Mitchell Moss, “How NYC Won the Olympics,” Rudin Center, Robert Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, NYU, November 2011.

  18. Ibid.

  19. Author interviews with Bloomberg staff, 2005 and 2014.

  20. Charles V. Bagli and Michael Cooper, “Olympic Bid Hurt as New York Fails in West Side Stadium Quest,” New York Times, June 7, 2005.

  21. Sam Roberts, “Is New York ‘Greater than Ever’? Yes, a Former Official Argues,” book review, New York Times, May 10, 2017.

  22. Moss, “How NYC Won the Olympics.”

  23. Joel Rose, “New York Skyline Sees Boom in Super Tall Skyscrapers,” NPR, December 12, 2016.

  24. James B. Stewart, “Plan to Tax the Rich Could Aim Higher,” New York Times, October 26, 2013.

  25. Chris Smith, “In Conversation: Michael Bloomberg,” New York, September 7, 2013.

  26. “What Are Air Rights?,” description by the Curtis Group, Air Rights New York, 2018, http://www.airrightsny.com/.

  27. Jason M. Barr, Building the Skyline: The Bir
th and Growth of Manhattan’s Skyscrapers (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016), 683.

  28. “Accidental Skyline: A Blueprint for a More Intentioanl City, 2013–Present,” Municipal Art Society of New York, https://www.mas.org/initiatives/accidental-skyline/.

  29. Michael Kimmelman, “Seeing a Need for Oversight of New York’s Lordly Towers,” New York Times, December 23, 2013, https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/23/arts/design/seeing-a-need-for-oversight-of-new-yorks-lordly-towers.html.

  30. Julie Creswell, “Stratospheric Views and Prices,” New York Times, November 4, 2013, https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/04/business/stratospheric-views-and-prices.html.

  31. Zoe Rosenberg, “A $225 Trash Can Inspired NYC’s Tallest Residential Tower,” Curbed, June 1, 2015.

  32. “NYC’s Supertall Skyscraper Boom, Mapped,” Curbed, updated January 28, 2019, https://ny.curbed.com/maps/new-york-skyscraper-construction-supertalls.

  33. Paul Goldberger, “Too Rich, Too Thin, Too Tall,” Vanity Fair, May 2014, https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2014/05/condo-towers-architecture-new-york-city.

  34. Daniel L. Doctoroff, Greater Than Ever: New York’s Big Comeback (New York: PublicAffairs, 2017), 107. (At first, Pataki gave John Whitehead, a well-known businessman and friend of Bloomberg, what appeared to be the top job. Then, when it counted, he made sure that his own people were actually in charge. That turned out to be a big mistake.)

  35. Ibid.

  36. WTC Integrates Innovative Technologies, Event at Center for Architecture, November 17, 2010, Charles V. Bagli, moderator, https://www.centerforarchitecture.org/news/wtc-integrates-innovative-technologies/.

  37. Author interviews with Bloomberg officials on background, December 2002.

  38. Andrea Bernstein, “Bloomberg’s Plan for Lower Manhattan,” WNYC, December 13, 2002, https://www.wnyc.org/story/85495-bloombergs-plan-for-lower-manhattan/.

  39. Paul Goldberger, Up From Zero: Politics, Architecture, and the Rebuilding of New York (New York: Random House, 2004), 134–135.

  40. Jennifer Steinhauer, “Mayor’s Proposal Envisions Lower Manhattan as an Urban Hamlet,” New York Times, December 13, 2002.

  41. J. Jennings Moss, “15 Ways Lower Manhattan Has Changed Since 9/11,” New York Business Journal, September 7, 2016.

  42. Doctoroff, Greater Than Ever, 292.

  43. Ibid., 293–295.

  44. Lynne Sagalyn, Power at Ground Zero: Politics, Money and the Remaking of Lower Manhattan (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016), ix.

  45. Charles V. Bagli, “Bloomberg Gives September 11 Museum a $15 Million Loan,” New York Times, May 2, 2013, https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/02/bloomberg-gives-sept-11-museum-a-15-million-loan/.

  46. Author interview with official at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on background, 2014.

  47. Michael Arad bio, Handel Architects, https://handelarchitects.com/firm/leadership/michael-arad.

  48. Author interview with Chris Ward, 2018.

  49. McNickle, Bloomberg: A Billionaire’s Ambition, 296.

  CHAPTER 19: TAKING THE HIGH LINE

  1. Tom Hynes, “Looking Back at the History of the High Line in NYC, New Video from Blueprint,” Architecture New York, Untapped Cities, April 1, 2015, https://untappedcities.com/2015/04/01/looking-back-at-the-history-of-the-high-line-in-nyc-blueprint/.

  2. Author interview with Dan Doctoroff, 2015.

  3. Ibid.

  4. New York City Municipal Archives, 22665, box 6 of 11, Deputy Mayor Doctoroff, Economic Development & Rebuilding. Memo from Doctoroff to John Cahill.

  5. Author interview with Dan Doctoroff.

  6. Flyers from merchants around High Line, 2002.

  7. New York City Municipal Archives, 22665, box 1 of 2, 2002, Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff. Letter from Randy M. Mastro hand-delivered to Doctoroff, February 15, 2002.

  8. Kelly Crow, “Neighborhood Report: Chelsea, Fight Heats Up Again over Grassy Bed of Rails,” New York Times, January 27, 2002.

  9. Joshua David and Karen Hock, “Reclaiming the High Line,” DesignTrust for Public Space, February 2002, http://designtrust.org/publications/reclaiming-high-line/.

  10. “Reclaiming the High Line,” Design Trust for Public Space, with Friends of the High Line, 2002, http://www.solaripedia.com/files/1048.pdf.

  11. Joshua David and Robert Hammond, High Line: The Inside Story of New York City’s Park in the Sky (New York: Farrar Straus & Giroux, 2011), 38.

  12. Author interviews with Amanda Burden, 2013 and 2015, Vishaan Chakharbarti, 2015 and 2018, and city officials on background, 2015.

  13. New York City Municipal Archives, City Planning File on High Line 22665, box 1 of 1, Dan Doctoroff. Burden memo to Doctoroff on zoning change for High Line area, November 12, 2002.

  14. Lisa Foderaro, “$20 Million Gift to High Line Park,” New York Times, October 27, 2011.

  15. “First Section of High Line Park Opens to the Public,” Daily Plant, NYC Parks, June 11, 2009, https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/the-high-line/dailyplant/21962.

  16. Robin Pogrebin, “Renovated High Line Now Open for Strolling,” New York Times, June 8, 2009.

  17. Lachlan Cartwright, “Highline Hotel Encourages Nude Clientele,” New York Post, August 26, 2009.

  18. J. David Goodman, “Mayor Visits the High Line and Becomes One in Seven Million, Finally,” New York Times, September 26, 2017.

  19. Mariela Quintana, “Changing Grid: Exploring the Impact of the High Line,” StreetEasy, August 8, 2016, https://streeteasy.com/blog/changing-grid-high-line/.

  20. Kate Ascher and Sabina Uffer, “The High Line Effect,” Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, research document and conference report, 2015, http://global.ctbuh.org/resources/papers/download/2463-the-high-line-effect.pdf.

  21. Daniel Geiger, “Gottesman’s Death Leaves Edison Properties Without a Clear Successor,” Crain’s New York Business, September 11, 2017; Edison Properties, the Real Deal, New York, https://therealdeal.com/new-research/topics/company/edison-properties/.

  22. British Conservative Party Conference in Blackpool, September 30, 2007, https://www.c-span.org/video/?201279-1/british-conservative-party-conference[c-span.org].

  CHAPTER 20: FROM LOW POINT TO LANDSLIDE—2005

  1. James Bennet, “New York’s Mayor on Everything from Campaign Money to Circumcision,” The Atlantic, October 24, 2012.

  2. Haley Drazin, “New York to Pay $17.9 million to 2004 Republican Convention Protestors,” CNN, January 16, 2014.

  3. Josh Barbanel, “Big Tax Increases, Small Tax Rebates,” New York Times, September 18, 2005.

  4. Author interview with Bill Cunningham, 2015 and 2018.

  5. Patrick D. Healy, “If He Has to Lose, Ferrer Wants to Lose with Dignity,” New York Times, November 7, 2005.

  6. Author interview with Senator Charles Schumer, October 20, 2016.

  7. Jim Rutenberg, “G.O.P. Rival in Mayor’s Race Says Petition Is in Jeopardy,” New York Times, July 26, 2005. (Ognibene eventually moved onto another line—as the Conservative Party candidate—where he got 14,630 votes.)

  8. “Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and District Council 37 Announce Tentative Labor Agreement,” press release, NYC.org, April 20, 2004, https://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/090-04/mayor-michael-bloomberg-district-council-37-tentative-labor-agreement.

  9. Ibid.

  10. Wayne Barrett, “Billionaire Buys Union,” Village Voice, August 9, 2005.

  11. Michael Barbaro, “Bloomberg Spent $102 Million to Win His Third Term,” New York Times, November 27, 2009; “Bloomberg’s Increasing Annual Wealth: 1996 to 2013, Plus Updates on His Annual ‘Charitable’ Giving,” Noticing New York, March 6, 2013, http://noticingnewyork.blogspot.com/2013/03/bloombergs-increasing-annual-wealth.html.

  12. “Blue Whale Model,” American Museum of Natural History, https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent-exhibitions/irma-and-paul-milstein-family-hall-of-ocean-life/blue-whale-model.

  13. Mayor Bloomberg Presents: Pla
NYC: A Greener, Greater, New York, NYC documents, April 22, 2007.

  CHAPTER 21: A CITY ON THE MOVE

  1. Janny Scott and William K. Rashbaum, “The Ferry Crash Overview,” New York Times, October 16, 2003; Michele McPhee and Corky Siemaszko, “Staten Island Ferry Crashes into a Concrete Pier at the St. George Ferry Terminal, Killing 10 in 2003,” New York Daily News, October 14, 2015.

  2. Author interview with Iris Weinshall, June 3, 2015.

  3. William K. Rashbaum and Sewell Chan, “Pilot and Supervisor Sentenced in ’03 Staten Island Ferry Crash,” New York Times, January 10, 2006.

  4. Ibid.

  5. “Statement by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on the Resignation of Dot Commissioner Iris Weinshall,” NYC.gov, January 29, 2007, https://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/030-07/statement-mayor-michael-bloomberg-the-resignation-dot-commissioner-iris-weinshall.

  6. Author interviews with Iris Weinshall, 2015 and 2018.

  7. Jed Lipinski, “Leaving Footprints on the City,” New York Times, March 23, 2012.

  8. “Infrastructure: Sidewalk Maintenance and Repair,” New York City Department of Transportation, NYC.gov, https://www1.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/infrastructure/sidewalkintro.shtml.

  9. “Infrastructure: Street Lights,” New York City Department of Transportation, NYC.gov, https://www1.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/infrastructure/streetlights.shtml.

  10. Raven Rakia, “There are too Many Trucks Coming into New York City,” Grist, October 12, 2015.

  11. NYC Pedestrian Fatalities, NYC records, NYCDOT-NYPD, https://www1.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/pedestrians/pedsafetyreport.shtml.

  12. Janette Sadik-Khan and Seth Solomonow, Street Fight: Handbook for an Urban Revolution (New York: Viking, 2014), xiv; “The Mobility Factbook,” NYU Rudin Center for Transportation, http://nycmobility.org/.

  13. PlaNYC—A Greener, Greater New York, the City of New York, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, April 2007, p. 7, https://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/119-07/mayor-bloomberg-presents-planyc-a-greener-greater-new-york#/3.

  14. Author interview with Mitchell Moss, Rudin Center, 2016.

  15. Author interviews with Bloomberg advisers on background, 2002 and 2014.