The Juniper Park Civic Association is pleased to announce that Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been selected for 2003 Man of the Year. With amazing speed, Mayor Bloomberg negotiated the purchase of the 6 acre Elmhurst Gas Tanks site from Keyspan Energy. Sensitive to the needs of the community, he declared that the City of New York will build a park on the property in the near future. For his dedicated and innovative leadership as Mayor of the City of New York, and for his sensitivity to the needs of the communities of Middle Village, Maspeth and Elmhurst, Michael R. Bloomberg, is the Juniper Park Civic Association’s unanimous choice for Man of the Year.
About Mayor Bloomberg
Michael R. Bloomberg is the 108th Mayor of the City of New York. He was born on February 14, 1942 to middle class parents in Medford, Massachusetts, where his father was the bookkeeper at a local dairy. Mayor Bloomberg’s thirst for information and fascination with technology was evident at an early age, and led him to Johns Hopkins University, where he parked cars and took out loans to finance his education. After his college graduation, he gained an MBA from Harvard and in the summer of 1966, he was hired by Salomon Brothers to work on Wall Street.
He quickly advanced through the ranks, and became a partner in 1972. Soon after, he was supervising all of Salomon’s stock trading, sales and later, its information systems. He was fired in 1981 after another company acquired Salomon. Michael Bloomberg used his stake from the Salomon sale to start his own company, an endeavor that would revolutionize the way that Wall Street does business. As a young trader, he had been amazed at the archaic nature in which information was stored. When he needed to see how a stock had been trading three weeks ago, he had to find a copy of the Wall Street Journal from the date in question, and the records system consisted of clerks penciling trades in oversize ledgers. So, he created a financial information computer that would collect and analyze different combinations of past and present securities data and deliver it immediately to the user.
In 1982, Bloomberg L.P. sold 20 subscriptions to its service; 20 years later, Bloomberg LP has over 165,000 subscribers worldwide. As the business proved its viability, the company branched out and in 1990 Bloomberg LP entered the media business, launching a news service, and then radio, television, Internet, and publishing operations.
Nearly 20 years after its founding, Bloomberg LP now employs more than 8,000 people — including 2,500 in New York City — in more than 100 offices worldwide. As the company enjoyed tremendous growth, he dedicated more of his time and energy to philanthropy and civic affairs. His desire to improve education, advance medical research and increase access to the arts, has provided the motivation for much of his philanthropy.
He funded relief programs for victims of domestic violence in New York City, sponsored the Children’s Health Fund’s Mobile Medical Unit which serves the children of homeless families, and supported construction of new athletic fields at city high schools throughout the five boroughs. He also served on the boards of 20 different civic, cultural, educational and medical institutions, including: the High School for Economics and Finance; Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Police & Fire Widows’ & Children’s Benefit Fund; S.L.E. (Lupus) Foundation and Prep for Prep.
The Mayor served as the Chairman of the Board Trustees of Johns Hopkins University until May 2002. Recently, he was honored by Johns Hopkins University, when its School of Hygiene and Public Health was renamed “The Bloomberg School of Public Health,” a tribute to his leadership and use of philanthropy to improve the human condition.
In 1997, Michael Bloomberg published his autobiography, Bloomberg by Bloomberg. All of the royalties from sales of the book are donated to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Since taking office, the Mayor was able to gain control of the City's School System and bring accountability into our education system for the first time in a generation. The Mayor has continued the historic decline in crime in New York City, in the last two years crime is down nearly 10% percent and last year murder declined to the lowest level since the early 1960s. The Mayor has presided over the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan as stores, businesses and resident flock to a revitalized downtown. The Mayor has guided the City through the most sever fiscal crisis since the 1970s, reducing city spending by nearly $3.4 billion while maintaining or improving many City services. The Mayor has also launched the revolutionary 311 call center, providing citizens with one number to call for all non-emergency services.
