Bloomberg’s Record: Deep Cuts!

If you’re interested, Wayne Barrett takes a close, sober look at Bloomberg’s tenure, including his agency appointees, mayoral control of the schools, public employee pensions (and massive layoffs after November 3), illegal guns, public health and stadium financing (thankfully, the mayor’s glory-hogging, grandstanding, questionably effective environmental record seems to be missing):

When I was in high school, and John Kennedy and Richard Nixon were squaring off, my father helped me craft a list of the qualities and issues we should use to judge the two candidates, a score card so logical that it did not take into account the heart or the gut. I wound up the only kid in my class, at a small Catholic high school in Virginia, willing to champion Nixon in a debate.

There is only so far that a checklist of pluses and minuses can carry you, though this one is not as detached as the one I concocted in 1960. I won’t let my emotions rule, either, however. I believe that the self-serving reversal of term limits was the greatest abuse of power I have covered in more than three decades on this beat. But elections are choices between names on the ballot — not opportunities to file a protest.

You can view elections in a sober manner like this or you can, like me, be content to simply file a protest.

Somewhere Dick Van Patten Picks Up His Pet Cat And Sadly Reflects On What A Long Career In Television And Film Has Amounted To

And Willie Aames wonders if this somehow means that his life may turn around:

As the debate concluded, Mr. Carter asked each candidate to say something nice about the other. Both complied, momentarily, before reverting to attack mode.

“He is a great golfer,” Mr. Bloomberg said. But he added, “I just think he’s not the right person to lead the city for the next four years.”

Mr. Thompson offered that the mayor “is well dressed” but went on, “At some point, after eight years, eight is enough and it’s time for him to go.”

The mayor became uncharacteristically animated, interjecting: “Wait, wait. Eight isn’t enough for better schools, eight isn’t enough for lower crime.”

Mr. Thompson shot back: “Obviously eight is enough, when you violate the will of the people and overturn term limits.”

At that point, the moderator put a stop to it: “O.K. All right.”

New York: The City That Always Leaps

Even an image of a jaywalker pinned underneath a double-decker tourist bus won’t deter New Yorkers from their cultural right to cross against the light:

It happened again — this time, leaving horrific images of the consequences.

But despite the grim photos of a jaywalker pinned beneath a double-decker tour bus, New Yorkers’ death-defying habit of darting into traffic against the light is unlikely to ever be broken.

While technically against the law, law-enforcement officials determined long ago that writing tickets does little to stop such a widespread practice. Some veteran cops say they have never issued a single jaywalking ticket.

“Jaywalking is an urban cultural issue. There are certain cities where jaywalking has been accepted for 50 years or more, so to stop it is like trying to stop the tide from coming in,” said one ex-cop familiar with transportation issues. “You can’t address the whole culture through policing.”

In fact, one source conceded, “There’s no one person assigned to give jaywalking tickets in a precinct.” A recently retired cop with 25 years on the job said he “wouldn’t know how to write a jaywalking ticket.”

A Few Trees Go A Long Way

By shifting the narrative toward the ameliorative effect of trees on the cityscape, the mayor has opened up a new line of argument for people throughout the five boroughs:

A Bronx strip club owner is under fire from Long Island City community leaders for his plans to open a gentleman’s club that could feature all-nude girls near the Queensboro Bridge.

Gus Drakopoulos, who operates Sin City in the Bronx, plans to open a club featuring full nudity if the local community board tries to block his liquor license. By law, a club that serves liquor can have only topless women.

“He’s a thoroughly disingenuous guy with a total disrespect for this community,” said attorney Pat O’Brien, a member of Community Board 2. “It’s totally polarized the community. We’ve been trying for decades to make this a better place.”

Drakopoulos said his Bronx club, next to the Major Deegan Expressway, has made the community a better place by illuminating the block and planting trees on the desolate street.

“We took a concrete, deserted neighborhood and brought life to it,” he said. “There were weeds 5 feet high, car parts and tires everywhere.”

Did You Hear The One About Astoria?

“Another reason a particular fish will choose a particular cranny on a reef is not only the opportunities it offers for feeding, but the protection from predators”:

“My block is so quiet,” begins a joke that Moody McCarthy has added to his routine, “if there’s any yelling at night that means Ecuador scored a goal.”

. . .

In case you haven’t been to a comedy show in a while, comedians are still having little luck with the ladies. And living in Astoria isn’t necessarily helping.