It’s love in ‘Bloom’
Gov. Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio have finally agreed on something — both heaped praise on former Mayor Mike Bloomberg on Wednesday for the opening of Cornell Tech, a project Bloomberg launched in his final term.
The three leaders appeared on Roosevelt Island Wednesday at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the high-tech graduate center, which is expected to generate 8,000 permanent jobs and $23 billion in economic activity over the next 35 years.
“Thank you for 12 years of extraordinary service,” Cuomo gushed to Bloomberg. “You, my friend, left New York City better than you found it, and there is no higher praise for a public servant.”
De Blasio, who during his 2013 mayoral run billed himself as the anti-Bloomberg candidate, also lauded the billionaire media mogul, but made sure to point out their differences.
“I don’t think I’ve been accused of being a Mike Bloomberg sycophant,” he said, drawing few laughs. “Therefore, I hope the praise is seen as that much more genuine.”
“We’re standing here because of one person, who had the vision and had the persistence to believe this could happen,” de Blasio continued. “I want to say to Mike Bloomberg, a profound thank you from 8½ million New Yorkers.”
De Blasio’s words marked a stark contrast from his inauguration in 2014, when one speaker likened the city under Bloomberg to a “plantation.” At the time, de Blasio said he was “very comfortable with all that was done” at the ceremony, which Bloomberg attended.
Cuomo and de Blasio were not openly hostile at Wednesday’s ceremony despite months of feuding over everything from how to fix mass transit to when to shut down Rikers Island.
Cuomo congratulated de Blasio on the mayor’s Democratic-primary victory Tuesday, saying it was a “pleasure” to be with him. But the governor didn’t extend specific compliments.
Cuomo then raved about what a can-do mayor Bloomberg was.
“Mike’s formula was shared by my father, [ex-Gov.] Mario Cuomo, who called himself a pragmatic progressive,” the current governor said. “Think about it. A progressive who gets things done.”
De Blasio also had few kind words for Cuomo, who left before the mayor delivered his remarks.