Screening Questions for Mayoral Candidates

2009

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s Response

1. As a newly elected official what will be your three top areas of focus during
your term of office as Mayor of the City of New York?

If I have the honor to be reelected as mayor, I will strongly focus on the areas most
important for working New Yorkers: managing the budget and the City well, creating
jobs and keeping the City working, improving the school system by undertaking critical
reforms made possible because of mayoral control of schools, cutting crime, and
modernizing mass transit by reforming the MTA.

Managing the City—and its budget—well is the key to getting us through this recession.
We prudently saved in good times in order to prepare for bad times, and as a result the
City’s finances are in far better shape than those of the state or federal governments. To
prepare for this downturn, we cut planned spending, reduced debt costs by $3.2 billion
and set aside $2.5 billion for retirees’ benefits. If we had not taken those steps, instead of
confronting a crisis today we would be caught in a cataclysm. And it’s that sort of
prudent decision-making that will allow us to get through this continuing crisis while
preserving key services.

Keeping our economy strong is also particularly important, because without a vibrant
private sector creating jobs and spurring economic activity, the City will not collect the
tax revenues necessary to ensure that it can maintain the dedicated, excellent workforce
that provides the services New Yorkers need, want and deserve. That’s why I created
the Five Borough Economic Opportunity Plan, which will create or save 400,000 jobs;
and that’s also why I launched our DiverseCity initiative, for without a diverse economy
that is less dependent on Wall Street, our ability to provide the public sector services
that we need will continue to be overly dependent on the financial sector’s boom and
busy cycle.

2. The City of New York is facing a possible $4 billion budget deficit this year
and $2.3 billion for FY2010. Given the Wall Street Crisis revenue to the City
will decline significantly.
What revenue raising ideas do you have that can put money in the city’s
treasury?

Tackling our Fiscal Year 2010 budget, during a period that many have come to call “The
Great Recession” and which felled many of our city’s financial institutions, took
foresight and planning. Even before we first got wind of potential tough economic times
ahead, we resisted calls to spend more during the boom, and instead saved billions to
help the city weather future storms. City services have been maintained and even
improved—crime is lower, test scores are higher, emergency response times are faster,

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and the city’s streets are cleaner. When those storms arrived, we balanced the budget
through a combination of reducing City spending and raising additional revenue. This
new revenue enabled the City to avoid laying-off tens of thousands of workers in the
middle of a recession. Even Comptroller Thompson—my opponent—acknowledged that
the City’s competitive position is “inherently stronger” today than it was during
previous downturns.

I continue to search for ways to responsibly raise new revenues. For example, our
administration proposed a plastic bag fee, in order to raise much needed revenues and
help the environment at the same time. Unfortunately, the City Council would not go
along with the proposed fee.

Finally, the best way to raise new revenue is to help foster a vibrant private sector.
That’s why we are moving forward with the Five Borough Economic Opportunity Plan
and DiverseCity initiatives outlined above.

Always remember, this is not the first time that our great City has faced a profound
fiscal crisis. As this union knows all to well, in the 1970’s City labor unions stepped up
to the plate to help the City avoid bankruptcy. When I first became Mayor following the
tragic events of September 11, 2001, I was forced to make some very tough decisions
regarding the City’s fiscal future. Many called on us to cut programs, sell our hospitals
and privatize services, but we made the tougher decisions. We bet on New York City by
raising revenues and protected and invested in our core services. It was the right thing
to do. We came out of the City’s last recession stronger than before. I am confident
that—because of the prudent decisions we have made in balancing the FY 2010 budget—
history will repeat itself. We have taken the responsible path towards balancing the
City’s Fiscal Year 2010 budget, though very difficult times still loom in Fiscal Year 2011,
when we anticipate facing an over $5 billion budget deficit.

3. For a long time the BOE/DOE has not been under the jurisdiction of the office
of the Comptroller – The state legislature is considering reauthorizing Mayoral
Control and establishing an office of contracts in the comptroller’s office to
oversee all contracts in the DOE under Mayoral Control –
What is your position on such a proposal?

I am very pleased with the mayoral control agreement that just passed the State
legislature – it preserves the most important elements of the system, gives parents more
of a say, and establishes welcome oversight and transparency on the contracting process,
with non-competitive contracts and contracts over $1 million requiring approval of the
Panel for Educational Policy. I believe the new mayoral control bill strikes the right
balance, and our contracting process will continue to be as transparent and accountable
as possible.

4. In addition, as a part of the reauthorization members of the legislature are

calling for the Board of Education/Department of Education to become a
mayoral agency – What is your position on this proposal?

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Once again, I believe the mayoral control legislation that just passed will allow us to
continue to bring accountability and transparency to a school system that was, by all
accounts, broken.

5. DC 37’s recent White Paper “Massive Waste At A Time Of Need” found $9.3
billion in public dollars that went to private contractors – as the next Mayor –
What actions would you take to correct the findings in this report?

To read report, go to www.dc37.net

Over the course of the last year, members of my Administration have been meeting with
leaders of DC 37 to discuss the union’s white papers and ways in which the City could
continue to deliver quality services to New Yorkers provided by union workers. We
have found these analyses to be thoughtful and impressive. We also continue to discuss
many of the potential ways your union has identified to raise additional potential
revenue to avoid layoffs. We have and will always welcome dialogue with union leaders
on these issues.

In fact, similar conversations have led to real action to help members of the labor
movement in the past. One specific example regarding contracting out vs. existing
municipal service is sanitation service. My administration did a comprehensive study
comparing private collection to the service provided by the city workforce. The results
showed that they were basically the same.

I have no ideological belief that contracting out services is the best way to do business.
In fact, I would prefer to use City workers whenever it is fiscally prudent to do so. But,
as mayor, my guiding principle is that City funds should be used with one principle
always in mind – that city taxpayers are getting their money’s worth in quality services.

6. Both Mayor Bloomberg and Speaker Quinn have endorsed the reversal of
term limits in New York City through legislation. The council passed this
legislation on October 23, 2008 by a vote of 30 to 21.

(non - incumbents):
What is your position on this action and what is your position on term limits?

(incumbents):
What is your position on this action and how did you vote on term limits and
why?

Support. The City Charter gives the City Council the authority to amend the term limits
law, and so the question for Council members - and for me - was this: Is it in the best
interests of the City to extend term limits from two terms to three, giving voters more
choices next November, a time when we could be (and now are) in a full-fledged
recession?

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I believed then and still believe now that the answer is yes. And after considerable
debate and lengthy public hearings, the majority of the City Council agreed - choosing
substance over process and pragmatism over ideology. Ultimately, the voters will have
the chance to decide whether they agree. And that's important to remember: the people
will render the final verdict on this bill, because it empowers them to decide who they
want in office.

7. Do you support the “workfare” concept of giving welfare recipients municipal

jobs without affording them full pay, civil service status or protections?

I support programs that provide low-income New Yorkers with on-the-job training. I
believe that we should work with people to move them up the career ladder - and for
some people getting basic job skills is the first step on the road to self-sufficiency. I do
believe that one important way to gain skills is in a work environment. That’s why it’s
important to continue initiatives like the JTP (Job Training Participant) program, which
provide structured, time-limited employment for those transitioning to or back to the
work force. The goal of these programs is for the City to give as many individuals on
public assistance as possible a helping hand in becoming self-sufficient. Providing full
benefits and pay would undermine both the rationale and the funding of these
programs.

Indeed, they have been very successful. Thanks to our continued welfare reform efforts
designed to engage recipients in work and work-related activities, which enhance their
ability to obtain employment and reach self sufficiency, the number of persons receiving
cash assistance has reached the lowest level since October 1963. When I came into office,
we had 462,500 people on our welfare rolls. Now that number is down to 346,100 – a
decrease of 25%.

8. The City of New York has privatized and contracted out many city services.
What is your position on contracting out of city services?

I believe our municipal employees do stellar work and deserve the salaries and benefits
that we provide for them. City agencies have to make evaluations based on productivity
and cost when doing work that is generally outside the scope of expertise. While I firmly
hold the belief that New York City has the most dedicated and talented municipal
workforce in the nation, I cannot strip the ability of managers to make decisions that are
in the best interest of the City and its taxpayers. That being said, my door remains open
to discuss any specific issues.

9. By most accounts, housing costs constitute up to 50% of our members’ salaries.

What is your position on rent control and rent stabilization and what
affordable housing plan would you devise to deal with the lack of availability
of decent and affordable low and moderate income housing?

The Rent Guidelines Board was created by the State and made an independent board so
that politics could be removed from the process. I believe that was the right decision.

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As mayor I launched the largest municipal affordable housing plan in the country,
which will provide affordable housing for half a million New Yorkers. In fact, working
with DC37 in 2005 we also launched an innovative program that created a 5% set aside
for municipal workers in NYC’s affordable housing developments. While in office, our
Administration has already completed over 91,000 affordable housing units, and we will
work hard going forward to meet our goal of building or preserving 165,000 affordable
housing units throughout the city.

10. What do you think can be done to stop the City’s practice and abuse of the
civil service system particularly in regards to the over 35,000 provisional
employees now working for the city?

The number of provisional employees in City government has grown over decades, and
we’re working aggressively to address it by giving more exams more often. We have
already opened one computer testing center in Manhattan, and we expect to open a
second center in Brooklyn by early next year. The Department of Citywide
Administrative Services (DCAS) has prepared a comprehensive plan to address this
issue over the next five years, and we’re working with the State Civil Service
Commission to address it.

11. What is your position on the revision of the Taylor Law?

The Taylor Law was created to protect the public and I support those principles. Note
that the law provides for binding arbitration for public sector employees, which does not
exist in the private sector. As always, my door remains open to discussing how we could
make improvements to the law.

12. Do you support the employment of “Support Personnel” (Non-Pedagogical)

employees working in the New York City Department of Education public
schools?

Support. Support personnel are critical to the proper functioning of the Department of
Education. Indeed, one of my proudest achievements as mayor is the creation of the
position of parent coordinator to provide a specific, dedicated outlet for parents to find
out more about their child’s education.

13. Would you be supportive of legislation enhancing the Cost Of Living

Adjustment (C.O.L.A.) and other benefits for retirees?

Retirees, who have served this city dutifully, deserve everything that was promised to
them in their respective contract/tier. There is a COLA adjustment that is already
applied to public employees statewide. In terms of increasing that adjustment, the City’s
current fiscal situation makes that difficult. But that’s not to say that at some point, when
the economy has recovered, an increased COLA or other index-adjusted increase
wouldn’t be brought back into the discussion.

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 14. Would you be in support of repealing the current 1 in 3 rule to go strictly by
list number order on civil service exams?

Exams are an important part of the Civil Service system. They test necessary
qualifications and help to ensure that City employees are hired on the basis of merit and
fitness—not based on who they know, or some other inappropriate basis. But managers
and prospective employees also need some flexibility to account not only for
particularized skills, but also to ensure that an employee and a manager can work
together. This works both ways—prospective employees are not forced to take a job,
and managers aren’t forced to take a particular person, even if they are next on a list.

15. What is your position on the issue of an Early Retirement Incentive (ERI) for
city employees as an alternative to layoffs?

These tough economic times require tough choices, but to minimize any necessary pain
my administration has worked hard to reduce our workforce through attrition rather
than layoffs. We will look at the economic viability of ERIs for City employees, as part of
our efforts to find as many ways as possible to reduce the pain of this recession for our
municipal workers.

16. What priority and resources should the City give to making government
services accessible to immigrant residents?

Our administration has launched numerous initiatives designed to the ability of non-
English speakers to access to government services. We established a uniform policy and
standards for translation and interpretation services for City agencies that have direct
interaction with New Yorkers – a historic step that is making city life better for all
foreign language speakers. Every such City agency now provides language assistance in
the top six languages spoken by New Yorkers. Additionally, we equipped 311 to handle
calls in dozens of languages.

17. What is your position on the issue of Civilianization – The practice of uniform
workers doing clerical duties of civilian employees?

As a general rule, I believe people are best suited doing the work they were specifically
trained to perform – that means uniformed officers should be on the streets and civilian
employees should perform clerical duties. Indeed, I have a record of working with your
union’s leadership, and Executive Director Lillian Roberts in particular, of finding ways
to help civilian employees at uniformed agencies. Your Executive Director, Lillian
Roberts, and I worked together to avoid laying-off 300 NYPD civilian employees.

It is in this spirit of cooperation that I will continue to work with union leaders to
explore opportunities to civilianize appropriate parts of the civilian workforce.

18. What is your position on SLR 36 of 2005 (S.749 Krueger/A.1688 Lopez)

- Which asks the state to restore city control over city Rent Regulations.

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The Rent Guidelines Board was established to remove rent regulation from local politics.
I will continue to examine issues regarding State and City control over Rent Regulations,
but firmly believe this issue should be insulated from the political process.

19. NYC’s Health & Hospital Corporation (HHC) is world renowned.

What would you do to ensure the maintenance of services they provide?

After years of administrations neglecting or trying sell off HHC facilities, my

administration is dedicated to reviving the City’s public hospital system, which have
been transformed into a widely praised system that provides care for New Yorkers who
are the most in need. But we have more work to do, and no matter how good the present
state of our hospitals, we can always do better. That’s why our administration has
launched the largest public hospital capital improvement program in the City’s history.
The 5-year, $1.2 billion program will expand and modernize City hospitals by replacing
existing structures with state-of-the-art medical facilities, investing in infrastructure
upgrades and developing new healthcare services. Our commitment to quality public
hospitals has transformed that system, and I am proud of the work of Local 420 in
helping us achieve this transformation.

20. In February 2005 the NYC Council issued a report “Food Stamp Enrollment and
Growing Hunger in NYC” – the report found that between 621,000 and 1 million
eligible New Yorkers’ are not receiving food stamp funds – resulting in a loss
of revenue for New York City of $1.45 billion.
What plan would you devise to eliminate the barrier of access at the
community level?

Since entering office, I have worked hard to improve accessibility of the Food Stamp
Program for working New Yorkers. More than 1.39 million New Yorkers are enrolled in
the Food Stamp Program—an increase of 74% since our administration started.

In addition, using federal stimulus dollars, we recently increased monthly food stamp
grants for all enrolled New Yorkers by 13%. The increase will bring an additional $25
million a month to food stamp households and increase the total food stamp benefits
issued monthly to New Yorkers to more than $200 million. What’s more, using a new
federal grant of over $650,000, we are providing targeted food assistance to seniors by
creating an automated food stamp benefit assessment and simplified application process
for over 40,000 seniors who may be eligible.

21. What is your position on Intro. 241 of 2006 – Spousal coverage?

We have supported the extension of survivor benefits to certain surviving spouses

through local laws passed on a case by case basis. However, we do not support
extending such benefits through blanket legislation that fails to take into account the
individual circumstances.

22. What is your position on for profit charter schools?

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During my administration, the City has opened 333 traditional public schools. Test
scores in reading and math are up over twenty percentage points for fourth and eight
graders, graduation rates are up fifteen percentage points and school crime is down
44%.

Much of that good work is due to the members DC37 represents. It takes an entire school
community to comprehensively educate a child. We all play a role and we should all feel
proud of the progress we have made. But the job is not done.

On the question of charter schools: I strongly support charter schools, because they offer
a great educational option for our children and give more choices to parents. Our efforts
have mainly been focused on opening non-profit charter schools, but for-profit charter
schools have been part of the program and as long as they prove to deliver solid results,
they will remain in our plans.

23. Do you believe there should be money for mandatory support services
employees, appropriated from the Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE) award?

The CFE money should have one goal: to better educate our children and help end the
inequality of school funding in New York State. To the extent that support services are
necessary towards achieving that goal, they should be funded.

24. In 2006 the City Council passed Intro. 486-A a tax abatement and tax exemption
program for developers commonly referred to as 421-A.
What is your position on this legislation?

Support. The 421-A program has helped fuel the construction of over 110,000
apartments in the city since starting in 1971. However, the city’s real estate market has
changed dramatically since that time. In recognition of the need for reform of the
program, my administration convened a 26-member task force in February 2006 to
examine 421-a, and recommended proposals which eventually ended up in the final
legislation. The reforms in the legislation allow us to ensure that affordable housing is
built in the future. By removing unnecessary tax incentives for luxury developments and
market rate housing, we shifted the incentive structure to make sure that more
affordable housing is built. Going forward, these 421-a reforms will play an important
role in helping us meet our goal of providing affordable housing for half a million New
Yorkers.

25. What is your position on Mayoral Control of the New York City school
system?

I support mayoral control, because it brings true accountability to a school system that
desperately needed it. Under mayoral control, New York City school children have
made educational gains that no one thought was possible under the old Board of

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Education, which is why test scores and graduation rates have increased significantly,
while the achievement gap has shrunk.

26. Do you support the creation of a new pension Tier – Tier 5 – why or why not?

Support. I believe every worker in the system now has earned the rights and benefits
agreed to when they became an employee. For future hires, I believe that we need to
find a way to care for them while doing so in a way that makes long term economic
sense for our city.

27. What do you propose to do about civilianization in the uniformed agencies, in

light, of the Arbitration Awards Local 1549 has received? I.e., School Safety,
Traffic Enforcement Agents and the Benewitz Award concerning Police
Administrative Aides and Senior Police Administrative Aides.

A few years ago, the NYPD hired more than 500 civilians in connection with arbitration.
In most cases, once again, I believe people are best suited doing the work they were
specifically trained to perform. I want to see police officers on the street and
administrative personnel handling the civilian duties. In light of the recent arbitration
award, we will continue to look carefully at this and look forward to cooperating with
DC37 to work on some of these issues. And we will do so in the same spirit that we
have used to in the past, including when we worked with the DC 37 leadership to avoid
layoffs of civilian employees at NYPD, as mentioned above.

28. Would you consider using Education and Experience Civil Service tests to
reduce the number of Provisionals? Many Provisionals have served for 15, 20,
25 years and more in Departments where no civil service tests were offered for
years. In too many cases, civil service test takers have died on the list.

Exams are one important way to address the provisionals problem, but that cannot and
should not be the only way. There are more than 1000 titles in New York City
government, and the need to reduce the number of provisional employees has forced us
to look at the entire universe of titles and recommend some consolidations—or re-
classifications of particular titles. As you’ve noted, the City has many too many
provisional employees right now, and we need creativity and dynamism to address it.

29. What do you propose to do to resolve the Impasse a 911 because the PCTs and
SPCTs are presently processing FDNY 911 Calls. These members have seen
their workloads significantly increased and are due an appropriate wage
adjustment.

Our 9-11 call-takers and supervisors are on the front lines of Emergency Response in
New York City, and in many ways, are the unsung heroes of the City’s workforce. We
are in the middle of a transformation at 9-1-1, after which NYPD and FDNY call takers
and dispatchers will be co-located in the same place; and NYPD call takers have already
begun to answer some calls that used to be answered by FDNY call takers, eliminating a
redundant step that will save time and lives.

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My understanding is that PCTs and SPCTs were offered an increase when they were
asked to field these additional calls, which they thought was insufficient. We’re still in
negotiations regarding this issue. So there’s no disagreement that PCTs and SPCTs
should get some additional compensation for this work, we just need to figure out how
much is appropriate. Beyond that, I can’t comment on an ongoing negotiation.

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