Mayor Bloomberg's Legacy Is His Contribution To The Widest Wealth Inequality In New York City Than In Any Other City In The Nation.

One of the more obvious and at the same time, disturbing results of Michael Bloomberg's tenure as Mayor of New York City is the "wealth gap" that he leaves the next Mayor to try to solve.  Under Mayor Bloomberg's policy of "what's good for the rich is good for the city" the disparity between the rich and poor in the City is the widest in the nation. The statistics showed that the top 20% of city residents had an average income of $222,871 while the lowest 20% was $8,993 or 25 times less than the top 20% and almost 50 times lower than the top 5% ($436,931).  While Mayor Bloomberg can't be totally blamed for this "wealth gap", his policies certainly contributed to it.

As for poverty, the latest numbers show the highest poverty rates since the Mayor took office at 21,2% meaning that 1.7 million people live below the poverty level.   Moreover, 31% of children 17 years old or younger lived in poverty which is very disturbing..  In addition,  the unemployment rate rose to an unacceptable 8.6% last month.

I have written previously how Mayor Bloomberg's education legacy has been a failure.  Now you can add the outrageously wide "wealth gap" to the failures of the Bloomberg Administration. The arrogance of the Mayor's policy of "what's good for the rich, is good for the masses" resulted in his disconnecting with the people of New York City.  A prime example was his selection of the inept Cathie Black as Chancellor of the New York City Public Schools simply because she was part of his wealthy social circle of friends.  Under Mayor Bloomberg's tenure there is definitely a "tale of two cities"  His arrogance can be seen in his refusal to negotiate a contract with the municipal unions, many of them working class and making modest salaries, with some unions working without a contract for over 4 years!  Yet he seems to spend billions on high-priced consultants, some of them crooked (Citytime, 911 etc.).

Is it any wonder that the anti-Bloomberg candidate, Bill de Blasio received over 40% of the vote in the Democratic primary while Christine Quinn, his choice received only 15%?  Most New Yorkers are sick of Mayor Bloomberg and his policies that shows disrespect for the masses and tries to impose his own preferences to remake the city in his own image.  Michael Bloomberg's legacy is a mixed bag with his destructive education policy, the ever widening "wealth gap", and his disrespect of his municipal workers overshadows his stewardship in bringing New York City through many crises in good shape.