Bleu
: I don’t speak French worth a damn, but I can tell from this lead in le Monde under the headline “New York City Blues” that there’ll be fun in this story (over to you, multilinqualists): “Crise financi
7 responses to “Bleu”
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Ran it through Babelfish and this came out:
New York City blues
THE WORLD | 23.07.03 | 12h57
Financial crisis and crisis of confidence, New York still did not overcome on September 11, 2001. The city has the blues. The taxes fly away. The collective services are threatened. The homeless people made their return in the streets. Under the pressure of the municipality, to make return of the money in the cases, the police officers seize the least pretext, sometimes eccentric, to impose fines.
The economic and financial crisis does not cease becoming extensive, at the point to recall the years 1970 and the quasi-bankruptcy of the metropolis. A deep pessimism settled.
According to a survey published last month by the New York Times, hardly 30 % of the questioned people believe that the city will be a place where it will be “more pleasant to live in ten years”. They were still 54 % to think it one month only after the attacks of September 11, 2001.
In two years, more than 200 000 employment were lost. The rate of unemployment reaches 8,6 %, a level much higher than the average of the United States. Lastly, the terrorist threat did not disappear. The arrest, made public last month, from Lyman Faris came to point out it. This truck-driver, member of Al-Qaida, had come in December 2002 to carry out locations to destroy the bridge of Brooklyn.
Of course, New York did not lose its ambition. It chose to rebuild instead of World Trade Center, destroyed on September 11, 2001, the highest tower of the world. Surmounted by a black arrow, it will reach 533 meters. It always proclaims the capital of the world (“Capital of the world”) and all the more could it believe that UNO, whose seat is along East River, was at the beginning of the year the political centre of gravity of planet.
But it quickly returned to Washington. The city will accomodate in 2004 republican convention and hopes well to organize the Olympic Games in 2012. Its team of baseball, the most titrated history, the Yankees, celebrates this year her centenary and always gains. Christo intends to cover in 2005 Park Exchange of giant streamers. Even Wall Street finds colors. The last quarter with the Stock Exchange is the best since 1998.
But that is not sufficient for a city which still believed three years ago, an eternity, with prosperity without limits. “the remainder of the country is questioned to know if the economy is about to join again with a strong growth. For New York, the question does not arise, the situation goes from evil in worse “, explains Michael Amodeo. It knows what it speaks.
He is the largest liquidator of restaurants and small trade in bankruptcy of the city. He never had as much work. Their difficulties, the eight million New-Yorker found a person in charge today. It is not any more Oussama Ben Laden. It is not yet George Bush. It acts of their mayor, Michael Bloomberg.
According to the same survey of the New York Times, its dimension of popularity lowest is ever recorded. Only 24 % of the inhabitants are declared satisfied with the billionaire become politician on late. With for leitmotiv “not of panic”, Michael Bloomberg faces a situation certainly impossible, but without the charisma and popular fibre of its predecessor, Rudolph (“Rudy”) Giuliani.
ADVANTAGES
Its more impersonal method, colder, its research of the compromise rather than of the conflict, were regarded as advantages. Today, they serve it. “With a fortune of almost 5 billion dollars, a true gift for the hollow sentences and the set language and a great difficulty of allotting itself as a public his successes – an aptitude however in general innate at the politicians – it have evil to be essential”, explains Steven Cohen, professor of political sciences at the university of Columbia. “For the average New-Yorker, it is a republican billionaire, unobtrusive, distant, who does not have the least idea of his difficulties.”
Elected official in January 2002, with the general surprise, thanks to the poor countryside of the democrats and with the support – late – of Rudy Giuliani, haloed of his image of courageous mayor of September 11, the billionaire had only one asset: to be a brilliant manager. “But finances of the municipality do not need only somebody of qualified. He is it. They need a miracle-worker. If the economic situation does not improve, the city goes to the catastrophe “, estimates Mitchell Ross, professor at the university of New York.
Alan Hevesi, the controller of the budget, quantified last year the cost of the attacks of September 11 for the city between 90 and 105 billion dollars over ten years in the form of losses of wages and rents and of the sums to be engaged for the rebuilding. N the other hand, the insurers should pay at final the 40 billion and Washington and the State New York to bring approximately 20 billion.
The budget 2003-2004, voted last week, is a perfect illustration of this inextricable situation. The 43,7 billion expenditure is a historical record just like the deficit envisaged of 6,4 billion. Michael Bloomberg however removes 5 500 municipal employment, including 3 500 of police officers, and firm six fire stations.
The municipal bookshops will be more open only five days per week instead of six. It increased many taxes, in particular real, for a total of 3 billion dollars. “We finally did not remove many services”, underlines the mayor.
“In the majority of the cases, we found the means of making more with less. Of course, the conservatives complain. For them, there were not enough clear cuts. Those which want better services also feel sorry for, it does not have enough money there. And those which pay more taxes feel sorry for obviously “, adds it.
Under the pressure, it gave up removing extrascolaires activities, closing swimming pools and reducing the maintenance of the roadway system or the frequency of the ferries.
It could also praise new reduction in the insecurity. The crimes and offences still dropped by 4,5 % last year. But the mayor must rather defend his police force, marked of burs and racism.
The RULE Of IMPATIENCE
Ousmane Zongo, 24 years a African immigrant, was killed by ball on May 22 in the district of Chelsea at the time of an intervention against a CD trafficker and DVD. It had nothing to do with this business and was not armed. A few days later, at the time of another raid, this time at Harlem, a 57 year old woman, Alberta Spruill, frightened by the irruption of the police force in its residence, died of a heart attack.
In a city where impatience is the rule, Michael Bloomberg counts on time and the economic revival to make appreciate its merits and be made re-elect. “In two years, people will realize that the municipality acted well to preserve the quality of life in the city”, explains it. A risky bet. In 2005, it could find a certain Bill Clinton across his way.
The rumour of a candidature of the former president has been propagated for several weeks and was contradicted mollement. “If president Clinton wants to become mayor, I can tell him only one thing: it is a trade very, very difficult “, declares Michael Bloomberg with a contracted smile.
Eric Leser -
You don’t know much about Paris either. One the one hand there is more pollution and someone is always on strike. Dog poop everywhere (the Altman movie Pret-a-Porter(?) was dead on.). Parisians are just awful.
On the other hand, the city is heavily subsidized by the central government. Public services are better. Garbage collection is a lot more frequent. The metro is a dream. Pan handlers are not as aggressive (many of them are Americans!). This year there are fewer ignorant Americans who spend most of their time shopping and pack the McDonalds. Parisians are away in August.
We New Yorkers are overtaxed and our tax money is used to subsidize redneck southerners. Our state taxes subsidize upstate NY. New Jersey steals our businesses and wants to appropriate the Statue of Liberty…. Grrrr -
Bloomberg is NOT a republican billionaire. He’s a democrat billionaire. Anyone who followed the election knew that.
Professor Cohen is wrong. I wonder if it was a mistake on his part. -
Let’s see if we find out. I just emailed him.
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He ran on the Republican ticket, as NYC elections for mayor are partisan, unlike “local” elections in other parts of the country.
It is true that his politics lean more Democratic than Republican. -
your remarks are unfair and even stupid and made me sad.
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Bloomberg only ran on the pubbie ticket because the dem field was crowded.
And he only got elected because of Rudy.
