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American Morning
Big Apple's New Mayor Faces Many Challenges
Aired January 01, 2002 - 09:11 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: New York City has a new mayor, Michael Bloomberg. He took the oath of office just minutes after midnight and in the wake of the terrorist attacks, he will have a job that is unmatched by any other Big Apple mayor.
CNN's Jason Carroll joins us from New York. Good morning to you Jason.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you.
Last minute preparations are under way for Mayor Bloomberg's inauguration. We're all going to have to get used to saying Mayor Bloomberg as opposed to Mayor Giuliani. We've been saying that for eight years now. We're all going to have to get used to saying that.
This is an invitation only event. It promises to be filled with a lot of pomp and circumstance. The mayor has really had a chance to celebrate over the past few days. But he faces a number of challenges as he becomes the city's 108th mayor.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL (voice-over): You're looking at a man who built a billion dollar media empire from scratch, who with no political experience beat the odds in a competitive mayoral race. Michael Bloomberg is used to challenges and he's about to meet another one.
MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (R), NEW YORK CITY: The most important thing for the mayor to focus on within the backdrop of safe streets, clean streets, balanced budget, is the educational system of the city.
CARROLL: There's a long list of problems the new mayor will have to address and it's as diverse...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Improve hospitals.
CARROLL: ... as the people who call the city home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he should be rebuilding New York and concentrating on the deficit that he's about to encounter.
CARROLL: Bloomberg will face a deficit in the billions and the economic rebuilding of downtown on a scale no new mayor ever had to deal with. Better race relations, improved education, affordable housing and now there's also the issue of security.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We saw the city in a certain sense really shaken. And I think that that, if that came back, that fear, that'd be the toughest thing he has to handle.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's very, very smart.
CARROLL: Support from an unlikely source, former Democratic candidate for mayor Alan Hevesi. He says Bloomberg has already made some smart moves, quietly reaching out to people.
ALAN HEVESI: Symbolic gestures like the trip to Puerto Rico, the trip to the Dominican Republic, the support for Israel, very important to constituents to know that he wants to reflect their world view and their values.
CARROLL: Perhaps Bloomberg should take a cue from Rudy Giuliani, who in his final days of office gave some advice to the man he endorsed.
FORMER MAYOR RUDY GIULIANI (R), NEW YORK CITY: Just to be true to himself and be honest and be straight.
CARROLL: And to rise to the many challenges that face him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: And you heard about some of those challenges there. Mayor Bloomberg is expected to touch on some of those themes during his inaugural speech. He'll talk about some of the belt tightening the city has to do in the wake of the billion dollar, $4 billion deficit the city faces. He'll also talk about September 11. He'll also reference some of the themes that are close to his heart, namely education reform, crime reduction in the city, as well as quality of life issues.
The inauguration will get under way at 12:00 president.m. Eastern time and it's expected to last about an hour -- Marty.
SAVIDGE: This speech that he's going to make, is it going to be just a litany of everything he plans to do or does he try to bring in what has happened in New York at the same time?
CARROLL: I think it'll be a compilation of different things. Again, I think he'll talk about September 11. You can't give an inauguration speech or just about any speech in this city without referencing that. I think what he's really, though, going to touch on also is really how the city, everyone's really going to have to come together and -- because so many cuts are going to have to be made in the city. I think he was really sort of trying to set people up for that, saying that we're really going to have to tighten some of our belts. We're really going to have to come together and work through this -- Marty.
SAVIDGE: Jason Carroll from New York. We'll be looking for you later. Thanks very much. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
