Nov
04
Billionaire Michael Bloomberg won a third term as New York mayor Tuesday in a closer-than-expected race against a Democratic challenger who stoked voter resentment over the way Bloomberg changed the city’s term-limits law so he could stay in office.
Bloomberg, the richest man in New York and founder of the financial information company Bloomberg LP, defeated William Thompson Jr. 51 percent to 46 percent — a difference of less than 51,000 votes.
The mayor called it a “hard-fought victory in a very difficult year,” and promised that New Yorkers “ain’t seen nothing yet” from him.
“I’m committed to working twice as hard in the next four years as I did in the past eight,” Bloomberg said.
In the days leading up to the election, polls showed Bloomberg with as much as an 18-point lead, an edge so big that critics accused the mayor of overkill in his strategy of bombarding the city with campaign ads.
His actual margin of victory was far smaller than the nearly 20-point blowout he pulled off in 2005.
When all the bills are paid, Bloomberg will probably have spent more than $100 million on his campaign, the most expensive self-financed campaign in U.S. history. Thompson, the city’s comptroller, relied on donations and matching funds for his mayoral bid, and was on track to spend about a tenth of Bloomberg’s staggering total. Read more..
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...
Email This Post
Aug
26
In 1968, after the tragic assassination of his brother, New York Senator Robert Kennedy, as the people of this nation reeled from shock, Ted Kennedy delivered the eulogy at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
I was among the people who listened as he declared: “My brother need not be idealized or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.”
The Kennedy brothers had a special relationship with New York. I saw it in the eyes of thousands as they greeted presidential candidate John F. Kennedy in a ticker tape parade up lower Broadway in 1960. I marveled at the enthusiasm of the crowds as they surged around the open convertible bearing the couple. Clearly people related to this handsome, smiling young man and his beautiful wife. As they rode up the Canyon of Heroes, it was almost like we were witnessing the prelude to a coronation, as indeed it was.
Earlier I was with Jack Kennedy at a rally in the Bronx on Fordham Road and the Concourse when he told the crowd: “I come to the Bronx as an old Bronx boy. I used to live in the Bronx.”
Ted Kennedy: In His Own Words
Ted Kennedy: In His Own Words
WATCH
Ted Kennedy: In His Own Words Read more..
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...
Email This Post
Jun
25
The Bronx Culture Trolley rolls again on Wednesday, July 1, along South Bronx Cultural Corridor with an evening full of family activities. The evening features six art exhibitions at: Longwood Art Gallery at Hostos, Bronx Museum of the Arts, Synthetic Zero Art Space, LDR Studio Gallery, and Bruckner Gallery at the Bruckner Bar & Grill. The evening will also include a book signing at the Bronx Museum, a visit to the outdoor Tree Museum, a trip to the Alexander Avenue Art and Antiques District, an outdoor literary reading at St. Mary’s Park, and a karaoke after-party at the Bruckner Bar & Grill. The Bronx Culture Trolley is a program of the Bronx Council on the Arts (BCA). Admission to most activities is free and all are welcome to hop on board and enjoy them. Read more..
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...
Email This Post
May
28
While juggling world crisis in Korea, Iran and the Middle-East as well as preparing for visits to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and France, Barack Obama has managed to squash, nullify and neuter any opposition from Republicans to his choice for the Supreme Court.
A Hispanic, “up from her bootstraps” women judge, Sonia Sotomayor is a deft and politically brilliant choice for his first nomination to the Supreme Court.
In making this choice Obama has reinforced once again his own personal story.
He has picked a candidate who exemplifies his belief that everyone, even from the most modest background, should have the opportunity to succeed.
The choice of Judge Sotomayor is as much a symbol for the Hispanic community as Barack Obama’s election was for the African American community.
It signifies that in America, the doors of power will open for those who work hard and move beyond externally imposed cultural stereotypes to higher ground.
Obama has stressed that he wanted a nominee with real life experience.
Read more..
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...
Email This Post
Newly minted Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor will enjoy the highest honor of her young career on Saturday — she’ll be throwing out the first pitch at the Yankees-Red Sox game.