OPINION

Why is the “will of the people” so sacred when the election is over and the a candidate takes office, but, “the will of the people” is garbage when the office holder is now required by law to leave office?

Why is a vote for a candidate the same as applying super-glue to the candidate and the office?

Why is a vote for term limits just a bothersome annoyance that can be dismissed?

Mayor Bloomberg has decided that the term limit law, twice approved by voters in two referendums, need not apply.

He wants the City Council members – 34 of whom are also in their final term due to the same law – to dismiss (repeal) our vote and have more, perhaps, unlimited terms.

How do these people justify defying the people’s will?
Their argument? That term-limits laws prevent voters from electing the most qualified candidates. Well. This argument forgets that governors and presidents are term-limited. Many jurisdictions have term-limit laws without the world ending.

The argument also fails to account for the presence of so many very qualified men and women, young and old, from every ethnic group, who just may do a far better job of governing or legislating than the career politicians.

The argument assumes (arrogantly) that the current crop of careerists is the only set of people at all qualified to serve in public office. In other words, the current crop is indispensable. French president Charles De Gaulle had something to say on political indispensability: “Don't think of yourself as indispensable or infallible. De Gaulle said, the cemeteries of the world are full of indispensable men.”

Military officers must keep improving. Why not elected officers?
The US Military has what is called the “Up-or-out” rule for commissioned officers. The rule is that an officer must earn the next higher rank (at least) in a set time period, or leave the military. This rule is an incentive to keep improving the qualifications and military skills to remain in the military. And, the military career is no way to get rich. Military pay is severely less than that of most elected officials.

The “up-or-out” rule in the US Military also allows the services to retain the best, brightest, and most qualified officers.

If Up-or-out is good enough for the poorly paid Military, isn’t is good enough for politicians? Don’t we deserve the most qualified people to serve in the best paid, often part time, often cushy elective positions at the state, county (borough) and city level?

Do the politicians believe that we taxpayers don’t deserve the best and the brightest? Don’t we deserve fresh faces and new ideas at election time? Do the careerists believe that they are the only qualified people to serve? Do the politicians believe that they, and they alone have the answers?

Are any of these elected officers qualified?
The question then becomes: is Mayor Bloomberg, your borough President, and your NY City Council representative qualified to another term in office or to be elected to another office? And, that no one else is just as qualified or more qualified?

Let’s look at the qualifications that Bloomberg claims. The New York Times, on October 1, states that Bloomberg will argue that he, a former Wall Street trader and the founder of a billion-dollar financial data firm, will argue that the worldwide financial crisis — with its potentially severe impact on New York City — demands his steady hand and business experience.

Is Bloomberg just another inside trader, using the mayor’s office to protect his wealth?
Why didn’t this former Wall Street trader, see this crisis coming and warn us and the officials responsible for heading it off? Perhaps his business experience is just not sufficient. Does this billionaire simply now see the crisis as a danger to his own vast wealth and see the mayoral office as a insider’s opportunity to protect his own assets at taxpayers’ expense, as do so many Wall Streeters and politicians?

Bloomberg’s central push has been “affordable housing”. He set the goal of 165,000 units of affordable housing, and, on September 23 this year, proudly announced producing half that goal. “Affordable Housing” is at the root of the current financial crisis. Essentially, the scheme is to require banks to issue loans to people with poor credit history – no job, no income, failure to repay, and all the reasons that we would say should deny the mortgage loan.

The bank takes no risk in issuing such mortgages; Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac purchase these risky loans, essentially putting all the risk onto the taxpayer.

You know this story by now.

Bloomberg is a central part of the problem.
Bloomberg could have known, and should have known the gigantic magnitude of the crisis. As a former Wall Street trader and the founder of a billion-dollar financial data firm, with his steady hand and business experience, he cannot claim that he was ignorant of the worldwide financial crisis that would be the natural result of issuing loans to people who could not pay.

Has your credit rating, or your pension, your 401K, your job, your auto loan been threatened by this crisis? Should the perpetrators be kept on our payroll?

Bloomberg reveals his poor business experience: it’s all self-serving.
Just recently, the federal government proposed $5 Billion aid to help the responders to the 9-11 attack with their illnesses from the rescue efforts. But, the proposal required NYC to put up $500 Million. Bloomberg said that he could not agree; that spending $500 Million was far too risky for the fragile budget.

This from the same mayor who want to hand $3 Billion to his wealthy, crony developer friends to seize land from property owners at Willets point using a perverted form of eminent domain so that they can put up hotels, convention centers, and condos in place of those businesses, many run by third-generation private property owners who just want to earn an honest living doing the unglamorous work that must be done for any city to function.

This steady-handed experienced billionaire businessman cannot pay $500 Million to assist the ill heroes of 9-11 (though $5 Billion will flow to the city), but there is always $3 Billion for his friends. That $3 Billion is your hard earned money you pay in taxes?

What has Bloomberg accomplished? Only the trivial or dangerous or expensive.
When he’s not savaging your earnings, he’s closing down delis that hang salami in the window; he’s ranting about our use of salt in our food; he’s banned trans-fats, smoking, calories and safe parks from the city. He even tried to ban outer-borough residents from freely entering Manhattan. Our presence apparently bothered his sensitive friends.

Safe parks? What’s that about? This steady-handed, experienced billionaire former Wall Street trader (who never saw the crisis coming – or, saw it, but sat on the observation) has installed over $200 Million of cancer-causing artificial turf in our parks. When it wasn’t directly causing cancer, it was scalding the feet of toddlers. The children needed hospitalization. How did he fix that problem? He demanded that the little ones wear footwear in the park. He posted that demand on signs. Now, there’s his show of concern for the public and children and our tax dollars (Yes, the parents will sue. And rightfully win. But, you will pay the judgments.)

Bloomberg is generous with promises. He fails to ever deliver.
Again, the parks. This man promised that every New Yorker would be within a ten-minute walk to a park. He promised to plant a million trees.

Let’s examine the results. Maspeth. He refused to transform the land of the Saint Saviour’s Church to the promised parkland. Bloomberg sided with the disgraced sexual predator to oppose transformation into a park, and instead promote cheesy development of more than 90 substandard housing units to be erected on the land.

Pervert Gallagher and Bloomberg are partners in treachery.
Naturally, to accommodate the “affordable” housing development in an old and settled neighborhood, Bloomberg and the pervert Gallagher stood by as more than 200 trees were destroyed (so much for one million trees). Most of these trees were nearly 200 years old. With the trees and the contours of the land as well as the structures, the park was ready but for some small amount of landscaping.

The property is now a muddy, ugly, eyesore that only a mayor who was punishing a community of hardworking taxpayers could justify.

Bloomberg sneers at the US Constitution and the First Amendment.
The JPCA, with Tony Avella and Tony Nunziato, along with residents of Maspeth and Middle Village protested the mayor’s refusal to transform the Saint Saviour’s property to a public park. All these protests were in the rain or summer heat and humidity. The residents wanted a park. Bloomberg had promised a park. But, in partnership with the now convicted sexual pervert Gallagher, Bloomberg stubbornly refused to consider the idea.

Why? Because the JPCA had taken the city to court over the mayor’s decision to unleash the dogs in our parks. Use of the court is a function of the First Amendment to the US Constitution – “redress of grievances”. Use of the courts to change decisions is an everyday event. But Bloomberg would have none of it. He took the use of court personally.

Bloomberg uses tax dollars to attack taxpayers.
So he unleashed more dogs. This time the dogs were paid city employees. Bloomberg appointees to the Community Assistance Unit. So, he made you pay for his attack of our use of the First Amendment. The first attack was a obscenity-laced loud-mouthed attack on Bob Holden, directly spelling out that the JPCA would no longer get any city services because we had the impudence to use the court to challenge a Bloomberg decision.

The second attack was in writing, with Bloomberg informed by having a copy of the letter. This letter (Bloomberg required that you also pay for this attack) was written by the ignorant successor to the Community Assistance Unit Directorship.

This attack also threatened to withhold all city services from taxpayers who lived in Maspeth and Middle Village. What did they do? Well, nothing in particular. But they had the foolish audacity to live within the JPCA membership boundaries.

This letter was taking personal offence at a CARTOON displayed at a protest at Saint Saviour’s. Remember the Middle East terrorists’ offence at some cartoons? The Bloomberg appointee author of this letter happens to be Iranian, and very stupid. The cartoon was displayed 3 (three) full months before any offence was taken – manufactured.

Bloomberg supported the threat. And, Bloomberg continues to support the threat. Both threats.

So much for honoring his oath of office to protect and defend the constitution. He was just kidding about that silly oath. He’s much more important than keeping oaths. Unless its his oath to avenge any protests of his actions.

Hey, big spender, won’t you spend a little time with me?
Bloomberg wants to rip out the trees from the Ridgewood Reservoir. There are thousands of old trees, home to migrating birds and small wildlife. But, Bloomberg, with utterly no regard for creations in nature, wants to replace what God created with what his suppliers want to sell: Cancer-Causing artificial turf for athletics. And where the artificial turf won’t fit, lay tons on concrete.

No matter the flooding damage from destroying this land, no matter that just within one hundred yards of the reservoir land is Highland Park, with many, many acres of athletic facilities. No matter that Bloomberg neglected Highland Park to almost the point of uselessness. Muddy, neglected ball fields, broken light fixtures, fallen and rotting trees, all make for a repellent park.

But, Bloomberg wants to spend hundreds of millions of your tax dollars to destroy the Reservoir basins, convert them to athletic fields (to cure obesity – another Bloomberg obsession), and spend nothing at all to first repair and maintain Highland Park. It would probably be far too cynical to suggest that Bloomberg’s real agenda is to spend your money on his already very wealthy cronies – in the hopes of kickbacks and help in his determination to remain mayor-for-life. Or, is it actually too cynical?

Bloomberg needs to be encouraged to go home.
Like the boorish guest who yaks on and on at the open doorway, with the rest of the guests long gone home, and the family restless to put the pajamas on, Bloomberg just won’t leave.

Like Castro, Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, Zimbabwe’s Mugabe, North Korea’s Dear Leader, and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, this Bloomberg simply doesn’t get the hint: Exit the stage now; the show’s over; the curtain is coming down. The audience no longer is interested.

Bloomberg: take your act elsewhere.

Now make Bloomberg pay attention to you.
Tell Bloomberg that you want a fresh face. Someone with fresh ideas that don’t wind up making you pay for wealthy developer’s greed for land and profits.

Write to Bloomberg:
Mayor’s Office
City Hall
New York, NY 10017

Phone him at: 212-788-3000, or phone 311 and ask to leave a message for the mayor. Let the JPCA know if there is any resistance.

Fax him your letter at: 212-788-2460

Email him at: mbloomberg@cityhall.nyc.gov