Mayoral debate

Last night, much to my disappointment
NY1 did NOT closed caption the live
Mayoral debate between Bloomberg and
Thompson :(

I spent 1 hour "watching" it with Jack and
having him summarize what they said every
few minutes. NOT fun! I even got dizzy
from trying. What little I did gather from the
debate is us NYers are caught between a
rock and a hard place. And I blame Bloomberg
because he has left us with the choice.
To violate the term limits that he feels he
doesn't need to follow like the rest of us
or get stuck with Thompson who comes
across as wishy washy and unprofessional.
Even his "political" gestures were forced
and unnatural. And the water rates?! Hello
us NYers are RENTERS and do not pay for
water. What the heck was Thompson thinking?
Bloomberg played it so cool as if Thompson
was just an annoying fly whizzing around
Bloomberg harmlessly. Thompson came
across more like an awkward teenager who
was speaking in the public for the 1st time
than a hardcore debater.

So after last's nights debate who would get
my vote? Well it would have to be Bloomberg
for several reasons. Thompson wants to fire
all the commissioners! Bloomberg pointed
out that they are doing a phenomenal job,
why mess with something that isn't broken?
Thompson wants to expand the projects and
section 8. Bloomberg opposes and advocates
the "work advantage" program that helps
people when they help themselves (ie finding
work before receiving handouts). There was
also the fact that Bloomberg changed how
the police dept is run. Instead of having an
equal number of police officers in every
neighborhood, he goes by what
neighborhoods have the highest crime
rates and commits higher concentration
of police officers in those areas
compared to other. Thompson seems
to want to go back to the 90s which
didn't work! Bloomberg also mentioned his
police force consists largely on minorities
from various neighborhoods because who
better to patrol them, than their own
residents? Another thing I really liked
about Bloomberg was no matter what
was said, his answers always reverted
back to "I will do whatever it takes to
make NYC a better city, be it switching
political parties etc., etc.." Basically his
answers reflected his love and dedication to
this city. Bloomberg also said "we survived
9/11 and came back stronger. We will
survive this [economy] and come back
stronger and better than ever. That our
city will bounce (economically) back
quicker than any other city in the U.S..

Having said all this what I don't like
about Bloomberg is the whole I don't have to
play by the same rules as everyone else and
respect the term limits. I have unlimited funds
to destroy my opponents reputation. And the
crazy talk a few months ago that Bloomberg
proposed that cross-city buses be free! Come
on, you've got to be kidding me. The MTA
while at times has let us all down here and
there, they need every penny they can get.
Besides free cross town buses would only
create more problems that contribute to any-
thing. More homeless people would ride it,
and don't get me started on the confusions
the tourist would have grasping the already
"complex" NYC public transportation system.

There will be a 2nd mayoral debate in 2 weeks
on the 27th. I will be contacting NY1 to request
they not leave out their Deaf NYers and to
PLEASE provide CC! If they want Deaf people
to vote, they can't leave us out.