Photo by Dana Maxson
With time comes healing. For many it’s hard to recall that on the New Years Eve shortly after 9/11 when Michael Bloomberg stood in Times Square with Rudolph Giuliani and assumed the position as mayor of the City of New York, New Yorkers actually knew very little about the man who would go on to transform their devastated metropolis to global powerhouse.
An engineer by training, the technocratic mayor methodically strategized to help the city regain its footing by hiring women and men who shared his vision of reform and its implementation.
“Whether you agree with him or not, he changed the city economically and philosophically,” said Tom Dunne, senior vice president for administration.
On Friday, Nov. 14 Fordham University will host several key members of the administration, journalists, and academics to discuss how the economy, education, development, public safety, and sustainability evolved during the Bloomberg administration. “Bloomberg’s New York: A Retrospective” will run from 8:30 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. at Fordham Law School.
The various panels represent a cross-section of New York industry. One panel features Metropolitan Museum President Emily Rafferty and former Brooklyn Navy Yard developer Andrew Kimball. Dunne said that the program drew inspiration from NYU President John Sexton, Ph.D. (FCRH ’63, GSAS ’65 and ’68). Sexton’s “Fire and Ice” speech set the tone for post-2008 diversification that encouraged the city’s established industries of Finance, Insurance, Real Estate (FIRE) to make room for newer economic engines of the intellectual, cultural, and educational (ICE) fields.
“We picked big categories and basically matched them with the people in the administration who are responsible for reshaping the city,” said Dunne.
From charter schools to rezoning, from bike lanes to the tech sector, the transformations of the 12 Bloomberg years have yet to be fully assessed or even realized—many of the building projects approved under his mayoralty are still digging their foundations.
On hand will be CUNY Emeritus Chancellor Matthew Goldstein, former Landmarks CommissionerRobert Tierney, former Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, former New York Supreme Court Justice Bob Keating, and New York State Board of Regents ChancellorMerryl Tisch—to name but a few.
