Run, Mike Bloomberg!

Bloomberg Fans, we apologize for the long delay in posting, we all were swamped leading up to the 4th of July. But no need to fret, were back!

A little background to this site:

We came up with this site because we sat down one day and wrote out the positions our ideal politician would hold. This is what led to the first post, Our Beliefs. Upon review of our little list, we looked and found Michael Bloomberg. While some of us already knew and liked Michael Bloomberg, at least one of us didn’t know much about him. It didn’t take much reading however to show pretty clearly how well he fit with our beliefs. He has been tremendously active during his period as mayor of New York, and he has been a shining example of how good effective government can greatly improve a city.

After looking on the internet for some way to express our support for the Mayor’s Presidential run, we found nothing, so we decided to create a site on our own. However, because we all work (or are in grad school) full time, and, to be honest, we weren’t sure there were others like us, we set benchmarks. Well, we are pleased to announce that our first goal was reached, more than 100 petitioners in less than a month!

After this and the huge amount of press surrounding a Bloomberg presidential run, we are getting more serious. We are determined to turn this into more than just a petition; we want to form the grass roots support behind Michael Bloomberg. We want to start a serious movement.

So here is our plan of the future of this site over the next few months:

• Post a blog entry between 3 and 4 times a week.
• Get in contact with Michael Bloomberg’s people and let them know we exist.
• Expand www.runmikebloomberg.com, turning it into a hub of grass roots support.

To do this we need your help.
If you would like to blog let us know, we’d love to post a blog 7 days a week.
We have started an off site list of people interested in learning or participating in future Michael Bloomberg for President events.
Finally, we want your input on this site. We want to be more than a blog, more than a petition; we want to be the next generation of grass roots online support.

• What do you want to see when you come to this site?
• What is the best way to gather support online around an ideal candidate?
• If you could build any website you wanted, what would you create to help mobilize support?

Join us, we all have an opportunity to build this movement from the ground up.
Join us at its very beginning

The best way to reach us currently is bloombergblog@gmail.com

This is crunch time. The federal government has given until Monday for New York to decide if they want up to $500 Million to start a pilot program for congestion-pricing. It would be a staggering failure if New York dose not take this money and Mr. Bloomberg recognizes this and is fighting to get this plan on track. He’s own words

“First, a congestion charge will reduce gridlock immediately in all five boroughs, easing the stranglehold traffic currently has on our economy. The price of congestion in fuel costs, delayed deliveries and lost productivity is already $13 billion a year - and will only get worse unless we act now. So will the air pollution which results in children in some of our city's neighborhoods being hospitalized for asthma at close to four times the national average.

Second, a congestion charge will generate the revenue we need to upgrade and expand our mass-transit system. The vast majority of New Yorkers commute by mass transit - only 5 percent drive into Manhattan for work - and yet we have not expanded the subway system since 1981. It is no secret which projects we need: East Side Access, the Downtown Rail Link to Jamaica, the Second Avenue Subway, Bus Rapid Transit, increased bus and ferry service, and others. But if you add them all up, we are more than $30 billion short, and no one wants to talk about where the money to plug that gap will come from. It is time we do. Congestion pricing will yield nearly $400 million per year, and 100 percent of it will go to transit improvements.

By simultaneously reducing congestion and finally finding a way to expand our mass-transit system, we will remove the greatest barriers to our economic expansion and prepare the city for long-term growth. That's one of the reasons our congestion-pricing plan has been endorsed by more than 140 civic, business, environmental, labor, community and public health organizations. A growing list of elected officials from every community and the editorial boards of New York's biggest newspapers, including this one, have signed on, too.”

It’s hard to argue with this logic, but he is just one person and he needs our help. We need to call our local state representatives today and tell them we will not forgive them for letting such an opportunity go by.

Call or write to Sheldon Silver at his district office:

DISTRICT OFFICE
250 Broadway
Suite 2307
New York, NY 10007
212-312-1420

Or Albany Office:
LOB 932
Albany, NY 12248
518-455-3791

Call or write Joseph L. Bruno at his district office:
368 Broadway
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
(518)-583-1001
Or his Albany Office:
Room 909 Legislative Office Building
Albany, NY 12247
(518) 455-3191

According to the most recent public Opinion poll, 66% of New Yorker’s rated him either “good” or “Excellent”. What is quite possibly more amazing, is that a tiny number, 8% of those polled, rated his performance as “poor”. This is astonishing when considering who were talking about lives in New York. We have all nationalities, all income levels, republicans and democrats, immigrants and those who have been here for a 100 years, and yet they all think he’s doing a wonderful job.

Yes it is true that the poll also revealed that a majority does not want him to run in 2008, but we firmly believe those same people will change their mind quickly when he truly does announce his campaign. No one (no one but us that is) wants to get their hopes up when there is a chance that he won’t even run at all, but I think the nation is in for a shock when they see just how many people are ready for a new direction, a rational direction.

Use this site to express your support and convince those around you were not alone!

This is a sad week. Yet this week should have brought a great victory for the state, the city and the Mayor. The incredible incompetence of this states assembly, specifically Sheldon Silver, is astonishing. The fact they could not recognize a $500 Million gift is beyond comprehensive and borders on the insane. It is episodes like these that make an Independent candidate so appealing. We need to get out of “Politics as usual”, it is destructive, and ultimately, it is the citizens of this great country who suffer.