Recession Over, Bloomberg Plans To Vote To Restore Two Term Limit

“[A]s if you needed any more proof that the business of politics — especially in New York — is retaining power to one’s self and marginalizing it from everyone else as much as possible, well, now you have more.”

See also: Bloomberg For Mayor 2009.

Buried Lede: How Did They Get Those Seats For Only $375?

So much for Aura and Mystique — I thought those tickets were like $1200 or something during the regular season:

It was any Yankee fan’s dream: Late October, the playoffs, the Yankees leading the game, and plenty of food paid by expense accounts and $11 beers being delivered by waiters. After some chat about business and baseball, the inevitable question was raised: when to head for the exit.

It was the fourth inning.

Nonetheless, with evening approaching, ballpark cheers gave way to the siren song of Manhattan and the comforts of an evening of luxury, a short Lincoln Town Car ride away.

Despite paying $375 per ticket on StubHub, the men had no qualms about leaving early, the very idea of which, if introduced in certain other ballparks in certain other cities, might result in a Budweiser bath.

Location Scout: Yankee Stadium.

How Not To Escape The Cops

People learn nothing from other attempts at riding the exterior of a train on the ACE line in an unorthodox fashion:

A knife-wielding robbery suspect tried to flee police in a lower Manhattan subway station by leaping onto a moving train — but ended up falling under its wheels, officials said.

. . .

The cops halted one train pulling into the station, but the suspect then tried to hop onto a moving E train that was just leaving, police said.

Investigators believe [the suspect] slipped as he tried to leap into the space between cars — and fell under the train.

[The suspect] died at New York Downtown Hospital a short time later, officials said.

Well Would You Want To Go To A Public Hearing About Charter Revision In This Heat?

I didn’t think so:

Two events of note took place in the Bronx on Wednesday. One drew 47,521 spectators. The other fell short of that number by only, oh, 47,468. One was a baseball game. The other dealt with how New York City ought to govern itself.

It will be left to you to match the event to the turnout.

Not that any person with a reasonable grip on sanity would have expected thousands to fight their way into a hearing on ways to alter the City Charter, New York City’s constitution. But 53 people?

Surrender, give up, move away . . . leave the city to those in charge. See you all at the beach!

Never Trust A Politician Running On Test Scores

That third term will make him the Rod Paige of the Northeast:

New York State education officials acknowledged on Monday that their standardized exams had become easier to pass over the last four years and said they would recalibrate the scoring for tests taken this spring, which is almost certain to mean thousands more students will fail.

. . .

Large jumps in the passing rates, which Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg trumpeted in his re-election campaign last year, led to criticism that the tests had become too easy.

That’s a pretty tame fourth paragraph there. I’m sure you got about twenty of these sent to your house: