Considering Mayor Bloomberg won a third term in office by such a slim margin, perhaps it's time for New York's dictator-in-chief to show off a less arrogant, more humble side? That's what some people are suggesting, such as Lauren Solomon, the president emeritus of the Association of Image Consultants International:
• Just in time for the cold wave, a list of bars with heated outdoor spaces. [GS]
• Great Jones Cafe is the latest restaurant to sustain fire damage. [Eater]
• A report from last night's preview of OBAO, Michael Huynh's latest spot. [SE]
• Trader Joe's has signed a lease at Sixth Avenue and 22nd Street. [NYO]
• Artichoke has the go-ahead to open a meatpacking district outpost. [CN]
• Ten dirty restaurant tricks to make you queasy. [Slashfood]
• Mayor Bloomberg says he's psyched about the food scene in Brooklyn. [NYP]
You knew that Mike Bloomberg went to extraordinary lengths to get himself elected to a third term, spending close to $100 million to blanket the local airwaves with commercials and stick flyers in the mailbox of every New Yorker. It turns out his campaigning extended far, far beyond New York as well:
Another possible sign that New York's real estate market is on the rebound: Mega-broker Sharon Baum, who told the Times earlier this year that she was giving up the hunter green Rolls-Royce she used to ferry clients around town because it made her "deeply uncomfortable" amid the downturn, is reversing course. The Corcoran agent—and one-time girlfriend of Mike Bloomberg!—tells the Observer she's using the Rolls once again, although she did decide to get rid of her Vespa recently, for what's it worth. [NYO]
Anthony Weiner is finally admitting that he'd probably be New York City's mayor-elect right now if he hadn't made the decision last spring to remain on the sidelines. Not that he has any regrets, of course. Had he elected to run, he would have totally neglected his responsibilities in Washington and then he wouldn't have been able to play such a central role in passing health care legislation. Obviously! Weiner also says that if he'd jumped into the race, Mayor Bloomberg would have been forced to spend $150 million on his campaign (instead of the $90 million he spent going up against Bill Thompson), since Bloomberg's advisers "were afraid" of him. So Weiner saved the mayor $60 million? Sounds like someone deserves a gift, Mr. Mayor. [NYT]
Brilliant executive, richest man in town, and beloved mayor-for-life Mike Bloomberg joins Ed Koch, Fiorello LaGuardia, and Robert Wagner (not the actor) in the third-termers massive failure lame duck mayor club!
That sure was close, wasn't it? Going into the election, pollsters and pundits were predicting a double-digit win for Michael Bloomberg. But for all the money he spent ($157.27 per vote, compared to Thompson's $13.12), flashy endorsements he lined up, political rivals he forced into submission—and even with an opponent like Thompson who never quite got his act together—Bloomberg only managed to win by five percentage points. Yesterday's results will have implications for years to come, of course. We've rounded up a few of the early winners and losers below.
The good news for Ivanka Trump: She did remember to go out and vote today and displayed a surprising amount of courage and independence by breaking with her father and throwing her support behind underdog Bill Thompson. (Just kidding!) The bad news: She forgot to wear her giant wedding ring when she appeared on The View this morning. Elisabeth Hasselbeck wasn't happy about it. But really, how do you expect someone to fully concentrate when democracy is in action? Cut the lady some slack! [Twitter, People]
Are you quivering with anticipation about how much Bloomberg's margin of victory will be? Whether moderate Republicans have been banished from Northeast New York? Whether Maine's letting gays marry? Oh good because Peter Feld's hosting an election-night live blog tonight.
You may remember Peter as the man behind last year's Gawker Decision Desk. Election Night 2009 doesn't hold quite the same promise of jubilant street celebrations, but there will be plenty to discuss. So, please stop by around 8pm when polls begin to close. In the meantime, for those of you actually bothering to vote, here's Peter's rebuttal to yesterday's Gawker Endorsement: Don't Vote for Bloomberg in which he gives you ten reasons to return a billionaire to City Hall.
Election Day has arrived, which means if you live in New York City, you have until 9pm to go to the polls to cast your vote for the next mayor. Is it even worth trekking to your local polling station given Mike Bloomberg locked in a third term ages ago? Probably not, but you'll be doing your democratic duty and for that you can be proud. (If you skip it and you're a Bill Thompson supporter, take comfort in the fact that a low turnout is something Thompson is hoping for.) If you live in New Jersey, it's a very different story. Gov. Corzine and Chris Christie are neck in neck, every vote will count, and a winner may not emerge until late into the night. So decide between the lady-loving bald dude or the thieving fat man and get to it. [Photo: Flickr]
Tomorrow is Election Day! You will probably not vote, because there are no contested races for anything important in 90% of the nation. But if you are a New Yorker, we have one message: don't vote for Michael Bloomberg.
If you skipped the debate between Mike Bloomberg and Bill Thompson, you probably made the right choice. For better or worse, nothing that happened last night is going to change what happens next week. And if you just wanted to watch two politicians verbally pummel each other for an hour, you could turn on a cable news channel at any time of the day or night. Then again you did miss opportunity to see the bilingual mayor casually break into Spanish for no apparent reason!
Bill Thompson doesn't stand much of a chance at winning next week's mayoral election. But the two will face off once again this evening for their second and final debate. (Thompson will have to deliver "the political equivalent of an Oscar-performance" if he has any hope of turning things around, says Michael Barbaro of the Times.) Don't think the mayor is coasting on his lead, or on the $85 million he's spent on his campaign thus far. He's taking tonight's debate seriously: "Mr. Bloomberg seems to be taking no chances on Tuesday: there are no events other than the debate on his schedule, allowing him to spend the day preparing for the confrontation." Either that or he's figured out that it's an excellent excuse to take the day off and chill out at home, which it is. [NYT]
Michael Bloomberg built his estimated $16 billion fortune thanks to Bloomberg LP, the financial news provider he founded in 1981. Thirty years later, it is now one of the most lucrative media operations on the planet. Banks and large corporations pay $1,250 a month for each Bloomberg terminal that's installed in its office. There are no discounts available and the company never engages in price negotiations. And while Bloomberg faces competition from the likes of Reuters and Dow Jones, neither company has been able to successfully dislodge the grip that Bloomberg has on the financial media marketplace. No wonder. Getting Bloomberg to cancel your monthly subscription is about as easy as getting Columbia House to stop billing your credit card for those "free" DVDs it insists on sending you every month, even after you've called the 1-800 number a dozen times to complain.
According to today's Times, mayoral candidate Bill Thompson is "starved for publicity." We have a feeling that the article in which that tidbit appears wasn't the sort of publicity he had in mind, unfortunately:
Bill Thompson now trails Mayor Bloomberg by 16 percentage points in the polls, which is a bit of a setback for Thompson since he'd narrowed the lead to 9 percentage points back in September. But shouldn't Bloomberg's lead be bigger right now, especially given how much cash he's spent on his wildly overpriced campaign?
