Mayoralty of Michael Bloomberg

Bloomberg assumed office as the 108th Mayor of New York City on January 1, 2002. He won re-election in 2005. As mayor, Bloomberg initially struggled to gain high approval levels from the public; however, he subsequently developed and maintained high approval ratings.Bloomberg's re-election means that the Republicans have won the previous four mayoral elections (although Bloomberg's decision to leave the Republican Party and be declared an independent on June 19, 2007 resulted in the Republican Party losing the mayor's seat prior to the expiration of his second term). Bloomberg joins Rudy Giuliani and Fiorello La Guardia as re-elected Republican mayors in this mostly

Democratic city. (John Lindsay was also elected mayor of New York twice while a registered Republican; however, Lindsay did not receive the Republican Party nomination during his 1969 campaign for re-election but ran successfully on the Liberal ticket and joined the Democratic Party during his second term.) On November 10, 2008, Bloomberg News sued the Federal Reserve for failing to disclose where its $2 trillion of loans were going. Bloomberg has said he wants reforming public education to be the legacy of his first term and addressing poverty to be the legacy of his second. Some have alleged that he made certain decisions regarding the closure of 17 day-care centers across the city for political reasons.

He is known as a political pragmatist and for a managerial style that reflects his experience in the private sector. Bloomberg has chosen to apply a statistical, results-based approach to city management, appointing city commissioners based on their expertise and granting them wide autonomy in their decision-making. Breaking with 190 years of tradition, Bloomberg implemented what New York Times political reporter Adam Nagourney called a "bullpen" open office plan, similar to a Wall Street trading floor, in which dozens of aides and managerial staff are seated together in a large chamber. The design is intended to promote accountability and accessibility.

"Reverend" Billy Talen, who announced his candidacy for Mayor in Union Square on March 1, 2009, , gave this criticism of Bloomberg's mayoralty:The street vendors get thousands in fines, asylum seekers are put in chains, the “open container” laws become a profit-center, the parking tickets double and triple, the city inspectors victimize the local bistros and diners, the bus routes are canceled… The most classic example is that chain stores get special seed money as local shopkeepers learn that it comes from their own pockets