Bulldogs on Bloomberg 2020

By Bryan Davis

Brooklyn College student opinion skewed negative on former mayor Michael Bloomberg’s November announcement to run in the Democratic presidential primary.

New Yorkers in general had mixed opinions about Bloomberg’s run to be the Democratic nominee for president. Issues with Bloomberg’s policy of Stop-And-Frisk, and the increase in homelessness in New York City drew the most criticisms.

Stop-And-Frisk had been the biggest complaint in Bloomberg’s tenure as mayor. The policy was created so that police officers could allegedly briefly and non-intrusively stop and search someone. Many felt that this policy, which Bloomberg has recently apologized for, let police officers racially profile people. In 2011, during the height of Stop-And-Frisk under Bloomberg’s administration, 87% of those stopped were either Black or Latino, and 88% of all of the people stopped were innocent.

New Yorkers who grew up with Bloomberg in office are now college students who are eligible to vote in the upcoming presidential primary. WBCR found that NYC’s young people aren’t sold on Bloomberg as a presidential candidate.

“I feel like he just did bare minimum of anything,” said Max Mejia. Mejia, who is a recent CUNY graduate and actor, had grew up during Bloomberg’s tenure as mayor. “But I don’t think he should run because we need someone who cares about minorities and working class. I’m not saying the president is the end all be all, but just to be an influence. He did feed homeless folks during the holidays and was making us wait till 5 a.m. to see if school was closed on a snow day.”

“I think de Blasio has a more subtle approach and it’s working so far,” said Shawn Behlin, a BC student majoring in Business Administration. 

One of the biggest critics of Bloomberg has been the city’s current mayor Bill de Blasio. De Blasio, who has been mayor since 2014, stated in a phone interview with CNN: “He had almost six full years to say it was wrong. We have had plenty of inflection points where he could have said, ‘You know what, I was wrong.’ He has never cared to do that. And I think that says something about the veracity of this.”

WBCR asked Bulldogs on Facebook if they believe de Blasio’s judgement of his predecessor is correct. 

“To some degree he’s right, but De Blasio has a clear political and personal bias against Bloomberg and given this is in the wake of a very recent failed presidential bid in his part as well as a lame duck phase that started half a term too soon… it doesn’t make him look great,” wrote Mohammed Sarker.

“Bloomberg reinforced systematic oppression during his three terms and nothing short of a full upheaval of said system will be enough to end class war against the workers,” wrote former Bulldog Molly Isanenigma.

Behlin believes that de Blasio has been doing a better job as mayor than Bloomberg: 

“In terms of policing, for example, I sometimes still feel an uncomfortable aura with them. However, it was not nearly as much as when I was growing up with Bloomberg. Being from Coney Island, a relatively small low-income community, the police genuinely seem to be trying to do better.”