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| נשלח ב-1/8/2005 08:57 |
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http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/01/nyregion/metrocampaigns/01bloomberg.html?pagewanted=all
August 1, 2005
Mayor's Campaign Follows Jewish Voters to the Catskills
By MIKE McINTIRE
Hundreds of Jewish New Yorkers who thought they had escaped city life for the summer found that the city, in the form of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's re-election campaign, had followed them to their Catskill retreat yesterday.
Taking aim at a voting bloc with whom he has had an awkward relationship over the years, the mayor barnstormed the upstate enclaves of the city's Orthodox Jewish community for several hours. He arrived by helicopter, then joined a motorcade that roared off into the sleepy hills in search of summer camps, country clubs and villages populated by Gotham residents on holiday.
"Is that Bloomberg?" a startled woman exclaimed as the mayor, clutching a cinnamon pastry and a can of seltzer, strolled out of a kosher bakery in the tiny village of Woodbourne.
For Mr. Bloomberg, who is Jewish but readily admits that he is not a religious person and rarely goes to temple, courting New York's sizable population of religious Jews has been a complicated affair.
In addition to his decidedly secular worldview, he has had to overcome stories, from his days as a private businessman, of his fondness for jokes about kosher food and about being Jewish. On the other hand, he has always been a strong supporter of Israel and has donated millions from his own fortune for Jewish causes; he and his sister endowed a fund, in their mother's name, to send teenagers to an upstate camp that is part of Young Judaea, a Zionist youth movement.
His efforts to win over Jewish voters received a boost last week with the endorsement of Assemblyman Dov Hikind, a Brooklyn Democrat and an influential member of the city's Hasidic community.
Yesterday, Simcha Felder, a Democratic city councilman from Brooklyn and a former aide to Mr. Hikind, accompanied the mayor on his pilgrimage to the Catskills. Mr. Felder said the summertime trip, one that Mr. Bloomberg did not make the first time he ran for office in 2001, was "a tradition for elected officials, both in office and those that want to be in office, to come say hello."
Two of Mr. Bloomberg's stops were at separate religious camps for Jewish boys and girls, where he was swarmed by children excited to have the mayor wandering among their cabins and picnic areas. He was jostled by boys trying to have their pictures taken with him as he walked on their campground in Woodridge, where he met privately with Rabbi Aaron Schechter of Brooklyn.
At the girls camp in Liberty, Rabbi Shlomo Gertzulin, a vice president of Agudath Israel of America, an ultra-Orthodox group, praised Mr. Bloomberg for holding a reception in February for Siyum HaShas, a celebration by Jews who have completed seven and a half years of study of the Babylonian Talmud. He said the mayor had promised Jewish leaders that he would defend their right to religious expression.
"The mayor was very responsive, the mayor was very receptive, he was even proactive and assured us that when it comes to practicing our religion, he will make sure that nothing is done in the city of New York that takes away that absolute freedom that we have to practice our religion," Mr. Gertzulin said.
Of course, by prompting vacationing New Yorkers to think about city politics for a few hours yesterday, the mayor ran the risk of having some of the more unpleasant aspects of city life come to mind. And, indeed, a common complaint among the city residents present for his whirlwind tour was the claim that the Bloomberg administration was conducting a ticket blitz aimed at so-called quality-of-life infractions.
While Mr. Bloomberg met privately with a rabbi at one of the camps, outside residents started trading stories of being ticketed. A 17-year-old boy said he had to go to court after getting a ticket for riding his bicycle on the sidewalk. Phyllis Lander of Queens said she had received a $45 ticket for leaving a scrap of paper in her garbage instead of putting it in with the recyclables.
"I've only been ticketed once, but my neighbor's been ticketed three times," she said. "Now I don't put my garbage out until I see the garbage truck coming."
תוקן על ידי - Mench - 01/08/2005 8:58:31
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| נשלח ב-2/8/2005 01:58 |
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וואס גייט דא פאר? מעיאר בלומבערג האט געפילט פאר וויכטיג אויפצונעמען א קאמפיין-שטאב ספעציעל פאר היידפארק? עס קוקט אויס ווי "פאליטיק" ארבעט פאר'ן בלומבערג קאמפיין.
וואספארא דערגרייכונג!
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| נשלח ב-2/8/2005 02:12 |
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On Sunday July 31, Mayor Bloomberg Left NYC by Helicoptor to the Catskills.
He landed around 8:45am in Sullivan county airport where his security detail waited to take him on his tour to in the Catskills.
His first stop was at Kutchers. The mayor spoke a few words and then went around greeting the people there. He met there with members from Boro Park Hatzolah, NY State Troopers, Members of Boro Park Shomrim, and George Klein.
His next stop was at Camp Morris in Woodridge, where he met with Rabbi Schechter and the Mayor of Brooklyn.
From there the Mayor traveled to the town of Woodbourne. The Mayor went into most of the stores to greet everyone. In the Bakery the bought a piece of cake and a seltzer, in the pizza store the Mayor ordered a pizza and shared the pizza with a little boy. While eating the pizza the Mayor spoke with Yingerlite about issues they were concerned. The mayor also visited the Supermarket, Book store, and Dougies were he posed for a picture with the staff of Dougies.
The last stop was at Camp Bnos where the Mayor had a very warm reception. The Mayor received 3 standing ovations first when he came in to the packed auditorium with all the Campers (1706 Girls), in middle his speech, and after the speech.
The Mayor piloted the helicopter by himself.
תוקן על ידי - Politic - 02/08/2005 2:19:30
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| נשלח ב-2/8/2005 06:22 |
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 מצורף קובץMayor Bloomberg in Woodbourne's Kosher Bakery during his trip to the Catskills. The Mayor brought his reelection campaign to the summer retreats of New York City's Orthodox Jewish Community. His trip also included breakfast at Kutcher's Country Club and visit to Camp Morris and Camp Bnos.
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| נשלח ב-2/8/2005 06:25 |
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מצורף קובץMayor Bloomberg surprising a shocked caller to
Woodbourne's Judaica store during his recent trip to the Catskills.
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| נשלח ב-2/8/2005 06:27 |
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מצורף קובץMayor Bloomberg with the sweatshirt presented to him by Camp Bnos, an all-girls summer camp in the Catskills run by Agudath Israel of America. With the Mayor are Councilman Simcha Felder who accompanied the Mayor during his trip through the Catskills, and Rabbi Shlomo Gertzulin, a vice-President of Agudath Israel of America.
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| נשלח ב-4/8/2005 19:46 |
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כפארשטיי נישט פון איין זייט אינדארסט אים יעדער מיט די גרויסע עסקנים אינדיג וכו' און פון צווייטע זייט שרייבן אז יעדע זאל רופן די מעיאר מוחה זיין וועגען מציצה בפה
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| נשלח ב-4/8/2005 23:10 |
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די וואס אינדארסירן אים זענען נאר ווייל זיי האלטען אז ער גייט געווינען, אבער יעדער האלט אז עס איז גארנישט ווערט.
נאר היינטיגע צייען מיז מען נישט זיין גערעכט, נאר זיין א ווינער.
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| נשלח ב-4/8/2005 23:34 |
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Faith-Based Talk Breaks Into Race For Mayor
Weiner, Miller playing for religious votes in effort to invigorate campaigns.
Adam Dickter - Staff Writer
Hoping for a boost from the city's religious communities in a campaign that has lacked defining issues, two Democratic candidates for mayor are positioning themselves as supporters of social services linked to faith-based groups.
The city would appoint a ''nonprofit czar,'' find housing for large, religious families, work to keep Catholic schools open and devote more police to protecting yeshivas if Rep. Anthony Weiner were elected, he announced last week at NYU's Hillel house.
''Democrats must reclaim our partnership with faith,'' Weiner said, echoing a theme national Democrats have adopted since the November election and its moral values overtones.
A few days later, Council Speaker Gifford Miller surrounded himself with Jewish social-services leaders at a kosher food pantry in Borough Park to highlight the nearly $12 million allocated in the June 30 budget for the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty and its affiliated community councils.
The event apparently was intended to show that Miller already had experience doing what Weiner was proposing.
''Gifford Miller has been a leader for the past 3½ years in partnering with religious groups to provide services,'' said his Jewish liaison, Manny Behar, after the event.
A campaign spokesman for Michael Bloomberg said later that no one trumps the mayor in helping the faithful help the needy.
''Mike Bloomberg has already opened dozens of new partnerships with faith-based groups,'' said Stu Loeser, promising ''many, many more in the second term.''
Weiner's event, however, was intended to portray him as much as a friend of the faith-based community as an iconoclast within his own party, which steadfastly has opposed President Bush's initiatives to fund groups with religious missions to carry out vital social services. Nationally, Democrats have struggled to adopt language that appeals to faith while drawing the line at government funding.
''We can't be a party that walks way from organizations of faith, because they are practicing some of the things we believe very strongly,'' Weiner said Tuesday.
Miller has also been courting religious communities by pushing through legislation to eliminate parking meters on Sundays to make it easier for churchgoers, setting up a battle with Bloomberg, who says the city can't afford the lost quarters. The mayor's veto pen is ready, but an override is likely.
Drawing a few amens from communities of faith could help Weiner and Miller — both of whom have been lagging in Democratic primary polls behind frontrunner Fernando Ferrer — break from the pack.
''When the topic is affordable housing, they all want more,'' said Democratic consultant Norman Adler, who is not involved in the mayoral race. ''When the topic is subways, they all want them safer. Nobody differs on any of that stuff. But communities are saying what about other issues, and these appeals are directed at them.''
As to whether the religion card is effective, Adler said, ''It's never been tested whether that sort of thing plays in New York City. Jews especially have a wariness about government getting involved with religion because it usually works out against us.''
Many national Jewish groups have opposed federal faith-based initiatives because of concerns about opening the door to public funding of religious activity.
But Weiner's local proposal prompted no immediate constitutional unease.
''There is nothing new or novel about a proposal to enhance security for nonprofits,'' said Marc Stern of the American Jewish Congress, a watchdog on issues of church and state. ''And a lot of the city money is federal money, bound by rules. Some of it sounds problematic in the sense that it singles out certain types of institutions for particular types of benefits, but I wouldn't get bent out of shape about it, as long as he is not singling out places of worship in the contracting scheme.''
While generally praising Weiner's proposals, David Zwiebel of Agudath Israel of America said his umbrella group would be wary because of efforts on the federal level to ensure that organizations who partner with the government eschew hiring practices based on religion or sexual orientation. He noted that his organization already sued the Koch administration in the 1980s over such provisions.
''A partnership can only work if a religious organization is allowed to stand on its practices and values,'' he said.
Weiner opposed a faith-based measure in the House because it did not bar religious or sexual discrimination by contracted groups, and said as mayor he would not allow agencies that discriminate to participate in faith-based funding.
Bloomberg has been stepping up his outreach to the Jewish community, particularly the Orthodox.
''The Jewish community has long been a priority for Mike Bloomberg,'' read a press release last week announcing a Yiddish portion of his Web site.
On Sunday, Bloomberg did what thousands of city Jews do on summer weekends — head for the Catskills — although in his case via private helicopter. There the mayor pinned on a kipa and visited summer resorts frequented by the chasidic and fervently Orthodox, as well as shopping centers and Kutsher's Country Club in Monticello. He was joined by Councilman Simcha Felder of Brooklyn.
In Borough Park last week, where he picked up the endorsement of Assemblyman Dov Hikind, Bloomberg was warmly received by local leaders and residents, although one passer-by shouted a complaint about increased fines for parking tickets.
The Hikind endorsement, which Bloomberg did without in 2001, could be useful this year since there is no passionate issue driving voters and they are more likely to look for guidance.
But it probably made Bloomberg uncomfortable when Hikind a few days later called for racial profiling in police searches of subway passengers. Terrorists, Hikind said, ''all look a certain way.'' The outcry from civil libertarians was predictable.
Joel Levy of the Anti-Defamation League disagreed with Hikind.
''The police must operate within the law, in accordance with decisions made in the courts,'' Levy said. ''I think they are treating the problem with complete seriousness and dealing with it very well.''
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Another candidate seeking the good graces of the religiously observant is George Spitz, who is running for the East Side City Council seat to be vacated by Miller.
Spitz is braving the slings and arrows of the teachers' union and church-state separation purists by calling for aid to parents who pay parochial school tuition.
''I'm concerned about the terrible burden that families have when they want to send their kids to religious schools and then to college,'' said Spitz, a Democrat who has run for mayor, Manhattan borough president and other offices. ''I am supporting not only tuition tax credits for religious schools but any other forms of aid to deal with this problem.''
That includes public vouchers, which have been tried in Wisconsin and Ohio with mixed results, but have been a dead issue here.
Spitz, 82, is running against better-funded and well-supported candidates, and he has no illusions about whethr his tuition plank will help his prospects.
''I'm willing to sink or swim on this,'' he said.
But Spitz said his election would pave the way for others to support public tuition aid, unafraid of consequences.
''If I do well or win, everybody will change their thinking,'' he said.
Spitz said the city could afford to offer the vouchers if it reduced contracting of services to private groups, which he says has ballooned in the past 12 years from $2.8 billion to $7.7 billion.
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As reported here in April, Bloomberg will seek the Liberal ballot in addition to the Republican and Independence lines this fall, and his campaign recently began gathering the 7,500 signatures to put the moribund party back in action.
It would be useful in the event that Independence members opposed to controversial activist Lenora Fulani's faction, which has endorsed Bloomberg, succeed in challenging Bloomberg petition signatures and knocking him off the ballot. Otherwise state election law only allows two ballot lines per candidate.
If Bloomberg remains on the Independence ballot and gains the Liberal nod, most likely he would appear as a Republican/Liberal on one column and Independence on the other. The word liberal could then mitigate the hesitation many Democrats feel about voting GOP.
Calling Fulani an ''extremist hate-monger,'' the New York Post editorial page on Monday called the Independence signature challenge to Bloomberg ''an opportunity to shed himself of the Fulani taint.'' n
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