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September 21, 2008
'Meet the Press' transcript for Sept. 21, 2008
Meet the Press Tom Brokaw asks Mayor Bloomberg how the financial crisis will affect city planning:
MAYOR BLOOMBERG: No, we're not going to make the mistake--the mistake that was made in the '70s is we stopped policing the streets, we stopped cleaning the streets, we stopped cleaning the graffiti off buildings, we stopped supporting our cultural institutions and building parks and schools and all those kinds of things. We are going to go ahead and continue those things. We may have to stretch out some construction projects, we may have to ask people to do more with less. We may not be able to have the frills at the edge, but we are not going to walk away from our city. That's the prescription for disaster. When you do that, your tax base leaves, and the rest of this country, as well as New York, are going to have exactly the same decisions to make. The taxpayers are going to have to decide do they want to have a future or not? If they don't want to have a future, then they're not going to have to pay as much now, but if they want to leave a better world for their kids, they're going to have to pay the bills up front.
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NoLandGrab: We're not sure what stretching out a construction project could mean, other than allowing endless timelines. Although a project with no timeline and no public money would be great, shouldn't the taxpayers who "have to decide do they want to have a future or not" have some say in these matters?
Posted by amy at September 21, 2008 1:20 PM