Mayor Michael Bloomberg made his State of the City highlighting ambitious plans to continue his overhaul of the “broken system” he faced when he entered office.
Before the mayor made his way to the podium a short video was played chronicling his “journey” to get to this year’s speech. Along the way he poked fun at himself — he danced to Lady Gaga who helped him ring in the new year with a kiss — and issues he has fought for over the years, including bike lanes and taxis in the outer boroughs. It also featured former Mayor Ed Koch welcoming motorists to “his” bridge, the former Queensboro Bridge.
Bloomberg opened up his 11th State of the City speech at Morris High School in the Bronx outlining the successes his administration has had.
“We did” became a running theme through the beginning of the speech.
“We said we’d launch a new East River ferry service, balance the budget and hold the line on taxes. And in partnership with Speaker Christine Quinn and the City Council — we did,” Bloomberg said. ““We said we’d seek to attract a world-class university to build a new science and engineering campus here – the brainchild of EDC President Seth Pinsky and Deputy Mayor Bob Steel — and we did.”
The bulk of the speech focused on education and his commitment to continue improving the system.
“We took on the broken system, and by stressing accountability and innovation and ending social promotion, we’ve made real progress turning it around,” the mayor said.
His plan included retaining top teachers through pay raises, attracting top flight teachers by agreeing to pay student loans and by toughening guidelines for evaluating teachers.
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