Today’s page looks at the self-made billionaire who heads an international financial company while leading our world-class city.
The man who would become New York’s 108th mayor was born in Boston on Feb. 14, 1942. He attended John Hopkins University in Baltimore, where he graduated in 1964 with a degree in electrical engineering. Bloomberg appreciated the value of hard work and offset his tuition with a job as a parking-lot attendant while attending classes.
In 1966, he graduated from
Harvard Business School and, with MBA in hand, headed to New York City to work on Wall Street.
His first job was with Salomon Brothers, where he earned $9,000 a year. Bloomy rose quickly through the ranks and was
eventually put in charge of equity trading and system development – a perfect fit since he already had a keen interest in technology.
In 1981, the company was bought out and Bloomberg was out of a job. But he already had a goal in mind – to merge his knowledge of finance and his love of technology into his own company. That same year, he formed Bloomberg LP. The company revolutionized the way securities data is handled and has 9,500 employees and locations in more than 100 cities.
The success of Bloomberg LP has made the mayor one of the world’s richest people. He’s also a big philanthropist, giving millions of dollars to charitable causes.
His alma mater, John Hopkins, renamed its School of Hygiene and Public Health the Bloomberg School of Public Health in recognition of its famous graduate’s donations and dedication to health-care issues.
In 2001, the financier decided to take a stab at politics by running for mayor of New York City. He switched from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party.
The underdog candidate won, and no one was more surprised than he.
Bloomberg took the reins after the Sept. 11 attacks. The city had never been so downtrodden, in spirit or finance. He quickly went to work, using his business savvy to strengthen the city’s economy. It wasn’t easy trying to do more with less, and most New Yorkers were not happy about the increase in taxes and cuts in services. Bloomberg kept a positive outlook.
In 2005, Bloomberg was re-elected. Time magazine named him one of America’s Best Mayors. Under his leadership, the city has seen a continued decrease in crime. New York is the nation’s safest big city.
The mayor also took control of the city’s public school system. The changes have been good, as more kids are passing instead of being pushed through. Test scores have increased overall.
It hasn’t all been smiles, however. The mayor has received criticism for being out of touch with most everyday New Yorkers. He’s also taken hits for his stand on last year’s taxi strike, parking and snow removal. His company was recently charged with discrimination.
The billionaire mayor doesn’t need the salary, and takes only a dollar a year for his job. No fancy corner office for Bloomberg.
Instead, he shares a bullpen-style workspace with his staff. He also lives in his own townhouse on
the Upper East Side rather than the mayor’s residence at Gracie
Mansion, but he still rides the subway to work. The mayor’s two daughters, Georgina and Emma, work for him at City Hall.
As for the rest of his term, Bloomberg’s goal is to make the city more eco- friendly and to get illegal guns off the streets. For the most part, his track record has been pretty good and, while there’s speculation he’ll make a run for the White House in 2008, the word from Bloomberg is “no.”
On his job as New York City’s mayor, he says, “I’ve got the greatest job in the world. There’s no other job in government where cause and effect are so tightly coupled, where you can make a difference every day in so many different ways and in so many different people’s lives. It’s a great challenge.”
ACTIVITIES
USE the Internet or other reference source to learn more about Michael Bloomberg.
LOOK through today’s paper for any articles about the mayor. Discuss them with your
classmates.
RATE the mayor. Write a report card on his performance. Do you think he’s doing a good job or not?
THE mayor brings his business experience to City Hall. How would you run the city if you were mayor?
Today’s lesson fulfills the following New York standards: ELA 1c, 3c, 3d, 4a, 4b, 5a Social Studies Standards 1 and 5