Editorial

Stand By Bloomberg

Shortly after 9 a.m. on Monday, two months and one day after terrorist attacks leveled the World Trade Center Towers, American Airlines Flight 587 took off from John F. Kennedy International airport, bound for the Dominican Republic. The plane never made it. Three minutes into the flight, the plane crashed into the neighborhood of Belle Harbor in the Rockaways, killing everyone on board and leaving dead and injured on the ground .

The crash was the latest in a series of catastrophic incidents besetting New York City. During the last weeks of the mayoral campaign, scaffolding around Astoria's P.S. 122 blew down, injuring no one, only because children and teachers were inside at the time. Construction workers at a building on Park Avenue South a few days later were less lucky--deaths and injuries followed when an overloaded scaffold collapsed at a building undergoing renovations.

Even before the World Trade Center disaster, the city's economy was in a dubious state. The recession gathering force even before September 11 had the Independent Budget Office predicting a $3 billion deficit for the 2002-03 fiscal year. With the added economic woes of the World Trade Center factored into the mix, the deficit figure is predicted to rise to between $4 billion and $6 billion, with most experts seeing the higher number as more likely. While fines, license fees and other small items may gain the city some revenue, most of the shortfall must be made up from budget cuts, every one of which will incur the wrath of one group or another. It is likely the next mayor will try to impose layoffs on many city agencies, an uphill battle now that several city unions have no-layoff clauses in their contracts and will view a giveback request with disdain.

The next mayor cannot possibly cut the numbers of police or fire fighters, many of whom are considering leaving city service through retirement anyway. Any sign that the drop in crime achieved under the administration of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani is reversing itself will cause consternation. Any attempt to reduce the ranks of the city's teachers will incur the immediate wrath of the teachers' union and parents. All of this means that the budget cuts will come from the "traditional suspects"--parks, street cleaning, capital projects, housing and the City university system. The quality of life which New Yorkers enjoy may quite possibly decline. Under such a scenario, streets will be dirtier, park repairs will take longer, libraries will close on Saturday and Sunday and after school and summer jobs will be curtailed.

Add to this an airplane crash that devastated a neighborhood already hard hit by the world Trade Center attacks and we'll bet that Michael Bloomberg must be wondering what sort of barbed-wire-studded whirlwind he just got himself into. Leading New York City in the best of times is a job considered second only in responsibility and repute to that of president of the United States. We're fortunate that Bloomberg is willing to relinquish, or at least put on hold, a lucrative business career to take up this burden. Bloomberg brings considerable business acumen and extensive management insight to the mayor's office at a time when both such qualities will be desperately needed.

There are those who decry Bloomberg's lack of political experience. We say that his other skills will more than make up for his relatively late advent upon the New York City political scene. A fresh perspective may very well prove a welcome change at City Hall.

The people made their choice clear. It is now the responsibility of all New Yorkers is to stand behind Bloomberg at this, the dawn of a new era in the history of New York City. In helping him to succeed we will also help ourselves.