<p>Zoose, I don’t get it. Who votes for this guy? He seems to be pretty disliked on both sides of the aisle. Obviously, I don’t know New York politics though.</p>
<p>Romani, he was term-limited out after his last term but spent $200 million to overturn the twice-expressed will of the voters. There are some things that he does very well, but he has a remarkable bias against fat people and it intrudes frequently, which takes his attention off of what really needs to be done. Bloomberg is also a bit delusional and a lot out of touch. He is no Rudy Giuliani, that’s for sure. Unfortunately, he’s been the best of a bad lot. The potential successors are beyond wretched, either indictable or wholly-owned by certain unions. Or both. In this great city, it’s staggering to see how poor the choices are for that job, but the entrenched interests want nothing to do with competence. Which is why, again, the city is falling apart. For a long time it was a great place to live, but for the last 3 years or so crime is up big time and there is a lot of conflict. Bloomberg is either intentionally or through neglect undoing all the reforms that made New York resurgent.</p>
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</p>
<p>Huh? Looks like the total count of seven major types of felony crime is down from 2008 to 2011:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/downloads/pdf/analysis_and_planning/seven_major_felony_offenses_2000_2011.pdf[/url]”>http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/downloads/pdf/analysis_and_planning/seven_major_felony_offenses_2000_2011.pdf</a></p>
<p>2000 - 184,652
…
2007 - 121,009
2008 - 117,956
2009 - 106,730
2010 - 105,115
2011 - 106,669</p>
<p>Actually 7-Eleven’s Big Gulp is exempt from this ban.
Any drinks bought from convenience grocery stores are exempt. You can’t buy a big soda from McDonald’s but you can from a 7-Eleven.</p>
<p>
The statistics are garbage. Which is why there have been multiple scandals in the last couple of years about under-reporting and reporting felonies as misdemeanors. Crime IS up, the homeless are all over the streets and even the squeegie guys are back. Come and see for yourself. I dare you.</p>
<p>
Just like you can’t have a beer in a park while watching a concert, but you can drink yourself into a stupor on the Staten Island Ferry.</p>
<p>I’m not defending Bloomberg’s priorities, but I do have my doubts about whether any mayor could avert the rise in crime that usually accompanies a severe and prolonged recession.</p>
<p>
No, I don’t think so. That part is not his fault by any stretch of the imagination. But his failure to prioritize that and turn his considerable gifts to that issue is all up to him. Particularly with the current challenges to stop and frisk, which will almost certainly cause crime to rise further, his attention is needed.</p>
<p>This is why I live in Texas where we plan to keep our guns and our giant sodas :-). I don’t drink alcohol, so my big vice is the large Diet Dr Pepper with crushed ice that I pick up at Sonic twice a week before work.</p>
<p>That mayor needs to be booted out asap!</p>
<p>
And you can have it, even in New York (although I personally would recommend taking ice water instead of the chemical sludge sold by Seven-11) The bile spewed at the Mayor (about whom I personally know nothing - is he a Democrat or Republican?) is interesting. A “divisive”, “judgmental snot-face” indeed!</p>
<p>Garland: MiamiDAP is convinced that the United States is becoming a Stalinist Communist dictatorship, and this is apparently the smoking gun which proves that.<br>
(No, I’m not kidding.)</p>
<p>Kluge, I was half kidding. It was a comment on the title :). It was late and what makes sense in my head didn’t translate lol</p>
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</p>
<p>Besides vehement assertions, what is the evidence of that?</p>
<p>I do know people who seem to always think that crime is much worse than it actually is, and are willing to vote for anything supposedly anti-crime, even if it is a risk to civil liberties of non-criminals or an inefficient use of money in terms of amount of crime reduced per dollar.</p>
<p>
Fraudulently concealed. Unfortunately, there are several major scandals ongoing. And if you look at your statistics, crime from 2010 to 2011 is up, which is exactly what I said, and it’s even up more this year. I did not say this was the crime capital of the universe, just that it is going up and in some areas it’s going up at a frightening rate, while the mayor worries about soda, transfat and whether his vacation destinations should be public.</p>
<p>
He is a lifelong democrat who ran as a republican because it’s easier to get a spot on the ballot as a republican here, and he is now an independent. Which just goes to show that everyone hates him.</p>
<p>It seems to me that it would be hard to get elected if “everyone” hates him. But I do understand that crime rates are very local. City wide statistics are not particularly relevant if crime in your neighborhood is up.</p>
<p>Which doesn’t mean that the Mayor should simply ignore everything else. Most big city mayors have lots of stuff they’re juggling at the same time - a small thing like a 16 oz. soda regulation probably didn’t consume him for weeks on end.</p>
<p>
I meant both parties, not every citizen.</p>
<p>
And you would be wrong on that. As you said upthread, you don’t know much about him.</p>
<p>“moron is interested in?”
-no moron by any measure, just another very corrupted politician who is only interested in being politically correct to to lick ------ of superior beings in top places…he does not care a bit about anything else, not surprised at all, very logical and expected, more will follow, this is just a bit of a tip of the iceberg, the true colors will start shining brighter and brighter, be prepared for the ride…they will tie you up and put you upside down and you will have nothing to say…talking from experience</p>
<p>^^^ Umm. Oh. Far above my comprehension skills.</p>
<p>Miami, sorry but… what?</p>
<p>Again: Stalinist dictatorship. And Obama (somehow). I can’t explain any better than that. (How it ties into the portion size of sugary beverages I have no clue.)</p>
<p>Bloomberg is not a socialist, not a communist and not a Stalinist. Maybe he is a Napoleonist? A runtist? A twerpist?</p>