When Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s third term ended in 2013, his 12 years of service seemed like enough.
He had brought a renaissance of success on numerous fronts, but New York was ready for a fresh face.
Countless City Hall scandals later, can we have him back?
Almost half of New Yorkers say they want Bloomberg to run again if Mayor Adams is forced aside.
It’s easy to see why when you look at the alternatives.
Anyone who thinks Bill de Blasio and Eric Adams were bad should brace for catastrophe if radical Jumaane Williams takes over next.
Ditto for the other wannabes, such as the former and current city comptrollers, Scott Stringer and Brad Lander.
New York needs a real hero to run and restore greatness to America’s City.
Unfortunately, Bloomberg seems to have no interest in the job.
Who can blame him?
The good news: We can replicate his success by choosing another City Hall outsider — someone who’s not a hack, didn’t rise through the city’s corrupt Democratic Party ranks and isn’t interested in milking the mayorship for personal gain or wacky ideological change.
Keep in mind: You don’t have to be a current Gotham resident to run for mayor. State law requires only that you live in New York City on Election Day.
The ultimate outsider, with an outsider’s perspective, may be an executive with experience in New York but who isn’t “of” New York — someone who can bring fresh eyes to the city’s problems.
Bloomberg taught us several things we should seek in a mayor, and the importance of executive experience is the first.
Bloomberg was a serious CEO who had already made his fortune.
He wasn’t running to promote or enrich himself.
Second, like his predecessor, Rudy Giuliani, he taught the most important duty of any mayor is to provide a safe environment for residents and businesses to thrive.
Get that right and the private sector will do the rest.
The city hasn’t yet gotten it quite right under Adams, despite his history in policing.
Felonies remain a full third above levels five years ago, with murders still up more than 10%.
Subway-system slayings have surged 60% so far this year alone, and migrants are flooding the justice system, making up as much as 75% of arrests in Midtown alone.
The way to ensure safety is to bring in a truly aggressive police chief, as Bloomberg did with Raymond Kelly, and empower him or her and the department to enforce the law.
I saw this firsthand as mayor of Miami Beach — sometimes called the sixth borough of New York — when I hired Dan Oates as police chief, a so-called “Brattonite” who trained under legendary NYC Police Commissioner Bill Bratton.
I reaped the same rewards Bloomberg did: a drop in crime, a rise in resident satisfaction and an influx of new economic activity to the city — all things New York could use.
Third, Bloomberg taught us that New York must seek a mayor who will create a pro-business, pro-capitalism tax-and-regulatory environment that earns the business of the world’s best companies.
In case anyone forgot, businesses are those entities that create jobs and bring people into the city on weekdays.
Unless New York can find a way to ban Zoom and Teams, it needs to attract more businesses to compensate for pandemic-era losses.
New York City needs those Bloomberg-esque qualities in its next leader — an outsider with executive experience who will keep the city safe and restore its status as the business capital of the world.
That’s how to stop the rapid drain of New York talent and money to other states.
In 2022, New York experienced a net population loss among every generation except Gen Z.
The state and city lost 91,000 residents to Florida alone.
According to one Miami real-estate agent, roughly a third of her buyers are now from New York City.
As someone who spends significant time in both Miami and New York, I can tell you that these trends are accelerating.
The “sixth borough” has been more successful, attracting more wealth, and has safer and cleaner streets than the other five.
New Yorkers can disappoint Floridians by sending a common-sense leader to City Hall who will stop this talent and wealth transfer.
Of course, for that to happen, we need someone to step up and run.
In that spirit, my fellow business leaders should remember: We’re all New Yorkers.
It’s America’s City, and anyone can run to lead it.
Philip Levine, a cruise-industry entrepreneur, is a former two-term mayor of Miami Beach and one-time Democratic candidate for governor of Florida.
