Bike and Ped Programs Among Bloomberg's Greatest Achievements, Say New Yorkers

"They stirred resistance at every turn, prompting predictions of economic doom, touching off years of lawsuits and spawning a cottage industry of jokes on late-night television," observe Michael Barbaro and Megan Thee-Brenan. "But Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s crusades to restrict smoking, encourage biking, expose calorie counts and sideline automobiles are now overwhelmingly embraced by New York City residents, according to a New York Times poll, making his experiments in behavioral modification an unexpectedly popular hallmark of his legacy."

"Over all, the Times poll offers a portrait of a long-term relationship between mayor and city that remains deeply conflicted and contradictory, marked by almost loveless admiration and an unmistakable yearning for change as Mr. Bloomberg’s third and final term winds to a close," Barbaro and Thee-Brenan add.

After a decade of staggering growth, and a recession that has overly afflicted those less well-off, the poll captures an image of a city that caters to the wealthy. Eighty-five percent of respondents said the city is becoming too expensive for people like them to live in, and fifty-five percent said the mayor's policies favor the rich.