Free Republic

ALBANY - The city should slash the number of people who are allowed to carry concealed weapons, Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday. "We've taken a look at it to see whether we couldn't have fewer," Bloomberg said. "I can tell you one thing: We will keep it to as a minimum as we possibly can." Bloomberg added that he has asked Police Commissioner Ray Kelly to tackle the issue. "If you want a gun permit, you should have to really show that your life is in danger, and that having a gun will protect you, will improve the chances of you...

ALBANY - The city should slash the number of people who are allowed to carry concealed weapons, Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday. "We've taken a look at it to see whether we couldn't have fewer," Bloomberg said. "I can tell you one thing: We will keep it to as a minimum as we possibly can." Bloomberg added that he has asked Police Commissioner Ray Kelly to tackle the issue. "If you want a gun permit, you should have to really show that your life is in danger, and that having a gun will protect you, will improve the chances of you...

De Niro Has Role in NYC Trans Fat Debate NEW YORK -- Days after city health officials proposed outlawing trans fats in eateries, Mayor Michael Bloomberg defended the ban and tried to drag Robert De Niro into the debate because the actor's restaurants do not use the man-made oil. De Niro, an owner and investor in several culinary hotspots, went to City Hall on Thursday for a news conference related to his Tribeca Film Festival, but stayed for the mayor's general press briefing, at which Bloomberg was asked about the health department's trans fats ban. The proposal is raising questions...

Mayor Michael Bloomberg unleashed a tirade on Congress yesterday for pushing gun legislation that, he said, leaves it easier to track the origins of tainted spinach than a cache of illegal firearms. Speaking yesterday near the state Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa., where he called for tougher gun laws in that state, Bloomberg drew a direct link between gun-related violence and proposed legislation that makes it harder to track illegal guns and penalize rogue dealers. "They are pro-criminal and anti-public. They're anti-children. They're anti-all-of-us who would like to live free and safe," Bloomberg said. "Nobody wants to take away your right...

Mayor Bloomberg says politicians who oppose measures to crack down on illegal guns have been "cowed or duped" by an "extremist gun lobby." "They say that they are protecting the Second Amendment, but that's a red herring if ever there was one, and it's time for us to start exposing it," Mr. Bloomberg said. "The Second Amendment does not give anyone the right to sell or possess a gun illegally," he said.

DID you hear about Mayor Bloomberg's new initiatives for city teens? * Although booze is banned at all school functions, the mayor recognizes that many students will drink anyway, especially on prom night. So, for those who choose to be alcoholically active, the city will provide safe transportation home. Inebriated students who accept this ride home won't be disciplined. * While smoking marijuana is illegal, and students caught with pot in school are suspended and reported to the police, the mayor knows that marijuana sold on the street is often sold laced with other drugs. So the city will provide...

Monday afternoon's Eleanor Roosevelt Legacy Committee luncheon at the Grand Hyatt in Manhattan was supposed to boost Fernando Ferrer's faltering campaign to unseat New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg. But according to the New York Post, Ferrer's appearance was just window dressing compared to the real star of the show - Hillary Clinton - who was feted by the city's Democratic Party elite as the next president of the United States. "She is already the Democratic front-runner for the presidency in 2008," declared Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields while introducing Clinton. New York State gubernatorial hopeful Eliot Spitzer positively...

Eloise can stay! Owners of The Plaza hotel announced a deal yesterday that saves the hotel's grandest public spaces - including the famed Palm Court where a portrait of the fictional Eloise hangs nearby - and secures hundreds of union jobs. "This is another good day for New York," said Mayor Bloomberg, who was credited by both sides with coaxing out a deal during a raucous announcement packed with cheering union workers in the hotel's ornate Grand Ballroom. Under the plan, which must still be approved by Local 6 of the hotel workers union, new owners Elad Properties agreed to...

On Wednesday of last week, New York's City Council approved legislation that will increase the amount of matching funds from 5:1 to 6:1 when candidates face so-called “well-financed candidates,” who are candidates that spend a significant amount of their own money when running for office. Steve Shaw recently discussed his opposition to this legislation. "I am fully opposed to the 6:1 portion of this legislation," said Shaw, who, under Campaign Finance Board rules, is limited to contributing about $15,000 of his own money to his campaign. "New York City already has one of the most generous campaign finance matching programs...

I need your financial support if I am going to defeat Mayor Bloomberg in the 2005 Republican primary for New York City mayor. We must remove liberal Democrats from the Republican Party, and I urgently need your support to make this happen. After campaigning as a Republican to secure Rudy Giuliani’s valuable post-9/11 endorsement, Mayor Bloomberg has compiled the following record: * Raised every tax in the book to cover billions in new spending. * Enacted harmful regulations on small business, including a comprehensive smoking ban that devastated bar owners. * Supported a minimum wage hike that is $2 higher...

When New York voters were polled recently on whether they approved of the way Mayor Michael Bloomberg is doing his job, only 37 percent of them said yes. Among black voters, he fared even worse - a measly 29 percent. This prompted a city official close to the mayor to lament that, while Bloomberg has taken on quite a few issues that black people care about, "he still gets his - kicked."

<p>November 9, 2003 -- We don't know what Mayor Bloomberg was smoking when he gave that interview to Vanity Fair, but it must have been strong stuff; why else would he have dissed Rudy Giuliani like that? After all, without Rudy's active support Mike Bloomberg would still be sitting at home counting his mega-billions.</p>

Bottom Line, Bloomy, You're Wrong No, folks, I didn't see New York falling apart yet while I was up there on Monday. But there was a big story in the New York Post Monday, a survey of a bunch of restaurants and bars to find out how badly the smoking ban is hurting them. It looks pretty bad in some restaurants and bars, and in other bars and restaurants it's not affecting them at all. So, Mike Bloomberg, the mayor of the city said, "I don't think that anybody seriously takes something on the front page of the New York...

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said he and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg have reached an "understanding" that gives the mayor direct control of the city's schools. "There is an understanding between the mayor and myself, and we've spoken to both the governor and Senator (Joseph) Bruno about that understanding," said Silver. "And we believe we can move forward to bring about a new era in education in the city of New York by having a Board of Education that is controlled by the mayor." The agreement in principle, which must be approved by both houses of the state Legislature and signed...