Leadership is a difficult quality to quantify. There are many immeasurable characteristics that comprise what we consider to be the quintessential leader. We want someone who is unflappable under pressure, who possesses a keen understanding of the problems at hand, the ability to create and execute a plan to improve the status quo and a record of successful performance. Our community has high standards for our leaders and an expectation that they will constantly deliver results.
With a mayoral race looming on the horizon, we closely examined the individuals vying to be mayor of the City of New York. We studied their public service records and considered who would be the best person to lead this city for the next four years. We concluded that only one of the candidates possesses the leadership qualities necessary to guide New York into the future. That person is Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Experience
For the past eight years, Mayor Mike Bloomberg has skillfully and successfully guided this city through good times and bad. He has deftly utilized his business acumen and real life experience to make New York City a better place for all of us. He has a proven record of achievements that every New Yorker can be proud of. And with an uncertain economic future before us, there is no better person to lead this city for the next four years than Mike Bloomberg.
Results
As evidenced by his sterling record, Mayor Bloomberg has worked especially hard to improve our quality of life. During his tenure, New York City’s crime rate has plummeted to its lowest level in four decades. And that’s not just an overall drop in crime, we’re seeing the effects first hand in individual communities throughout New York. In Midwood (home to many in our community), for example, crime has dropped by approximately 35% over the past eight years.
In addition, Mayor Bloomberg has overseen an unprecedented effort to clean up the city’s streets, which has resulted in a level of cleanliness that this city has not seen in more than 30 years (just one such example in our community is the clean-up of Kings Highway spearheaded by the Kings Highway Beautification Association with support from Councilman Domenic M. Recchia Jr. and Mayor Bloomberg).
Mayor Bloomberg also established the city’s renowned 311 system, which enables people to easily access the city’s government and services with just one phone call.
Let us not forget about Mike Bloomberg’s personal crusade against illegal guns. He spearheaded a heroic effort to get illegal firearms off of the streets through an initiative entitled “Mayors Against Illegal Guns.” To date, over 320 mayors from more than 40 states have joined his valiant effort to keep our streets free of illegal weapons. Just last month, the Mayor’s group stopped federal legislation from allowing anyone from anywhere in the country to bring their guns into New York City.
Economy
When it comes to addressing the city’s financial situation and the economic crisis that has pervaded the five boroughs, Mayor Bloomberg has once again risen to the occasion. He is an experienced business leader who has unveiled a grand vision that aims to create or retain 400,000 jobs in NYC. He implemented a program which offers millions of dollars in emergency loans to small businesses throughout the city to help them avoid having to lay off their employees. Mayor Bloomberg has also gone to great lengths to craft city budgets that eliminate wasteful spending, yet still allocate sufficient funding to sustain the myriad social programs that are the lifeblood of this city.
Relationships
While he enjoys wonderful relationships with New York’s countless ethnic and religious communities, Mayor Bloomberg’s Jewish heritage has helped him develop a deep understanding of the issues that Jewish New Yorkers encounter. In addition, the Sephardic community has enjoyed a longstanding friendship with the Mayor not only on an individual lay-leadership level but through the tireless work of the community’s umbrella public policy organization: the Sephardic Community Federation.
Yeshivahs
Understanding the unique needs of tuition-paying parents, Mike Bloomberg has supported measures that are meant to alleviate the crushing financial burden that private school parents face. For example, starting this month, under Mayor Bloomberg’s leadership and working in concert with our very own Sephardic Community Federation (SCF), nearly 50 yeshivahs in New York City will receive a share of millions of dollars of new government funding. One such ground-braking program is the newly improved No Child Left Behind program that for the first time will allow over 10,000 yeshivah children in NYC to receive free tutoring twice a week in reading, writing and math. This is a change that was spearheaded by the SCF, and is a project that the SCF has been working on for three years, but this would never have come to fruition without the explicit support of the Mayor and his stellar staff including Chancellor Joel Klein, Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott and Executive Director Caren Zayde Moncher of the Bureau of Nonpublic School Reimbursable Services.
Israel
Further, one cannot question Mayor Bloomberg’s staunch support of the State of Israel. He understands the issues and challenges that the Israelis face on a daily basis. He has journeyed to Israel on numerous occasions, while rockets were still falling, to visit with victims of terror. His philanthropic contributions to countless Israeli institutions have helped them sustain and enhance the vital services and programs that they provide to Israeli families.
Community
Closer to home, it was only a few months ago that he came out to support the efforts of the SCF by serving as the keynote speaker at their annual meeting in the home of Joseph and Ester Jerome. With over 100 Sephardic community leaders in attendance, Mayor Bloomberg spent a long evening speaking with them about issues of importance to the Jewish community, and discussing the challenges that NYC will face in the months and years ahead.
The Mayor acknowledged that he genuinely appreciated the opportunity to spend time with members of the Sephardic Jewish community, and he was completely at ease talking with them about the issues that are most important to them.
Independence
Michael Bloomberg is the consummate public servant. He has an innate ability to anticipate problems and to propose practical and effective solutions. He has repeatedly demonstrated a willingness to listen to peoples’ concerns, and a readiness to address those concerns. Under his leadership, New York City has flourished. He has put countless measures into place that have helped breathe new life into the city. In the face of great adversity, Mike Bloomberg has triumphed, time and time again. It takes an extraordinarily unique and talented leader to bring about such considerable change in the face of such monumental challenges.
Support
Mike Bloomberg is a proven leader who has not just earned our support; he has earned our trust and admiration as well. With Mayor Bloomberg at the helm, we are confident he will guide this city and our community down the road to continued success and prosperity in the years to come. We wholeheartedly endorse Mike Bloomberg for a third term in office and wish him the best of luck in his ongoing effort to make this city a better place to live and raise a family.
