Attack from left on ‘abysmal’ Bloomy
Mike Bloomberg’s time as mayor of New York was a disaster for people of color — and not just because of stop-and-frisk — say a group of leading lefties trying to call attention to his record on city schools and NYPD surveillance of Muslims.
“We lived under a Bloomberg administration. We urge you NOT to reward Bloomberg with your vote. His governing record in New York … was abysmal and destructive,” writes city Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, state Sen. Julia Salazar (D-Brooklyn), City Councilman Antonio Reynoso (D-Brooklyn) and Nelini Stamp, a leader of the Working Families Party, which organized Tuesday’s open letter.
It lists grievances against Bloomberg including mass surveillance of Muslims — the NYPD’s use of secret informants at mosques and collection of info about worshipers in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. The program “led to exactly zero leads and resulted in mass fear, mistrust and trauma in Muslim communities that continues to this day,” the critics state.
They say Bloomberg’s “racist policing” included “more arrests for marijuana possession than under the three prior mayors combined,” with 85% of the busts targeting African-Americans and Latinos.
The letter’s signers include eight relatives of New Yorkers who died at the hands of the police during the Bloomberg years. Activists groups including Make the Road New York also signed.
The missive is no less sparing of Bloomberg’s record on education, faulting him for shutting down schools that served communities of color while pouring cash into charters.
The letter also revisits moments that voters outside the city might not know about, like Bloomberg’s controversial appointment of magazine publisher Cathie Black as schools chancellor. She was pushed out in 2011 following widespread criticism from teachers and parents.
“After a series of incidents where she insulted black and Latinx parents, including suggesting that the solution to school overcrowding was birth control, she was forced to resign,” the letter states.
The document accuses Bloomberg of trying to “rewrite his terrible record” with jawdropping levels of ad spending and a belated apology for his handling of stop-and-frisk, the police tactic in which officers are empowered to search people if they are suspected of illegal activity or carrying a weapon.
Bloomberg campaign spokesman Stu Loeser rejected the allegations.
“Not all of the facts in this letter line up with Mike’s real record,” he said. “For instance, Mike raised income and real estate taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers so he could double spending on schools … and, unlike what this letter says, open more than 650 new schools.
“He led the NYPD changes in recruiting that transformed the patrol force into majority-minority for the first time ever,” Loeser added. “Our critics are welcome to offer alternative opinions, but the broader range of facts presents a different picture.”