For Next Act, Bloomberg and Pals to Lead "Urban SWAT Team"

The mystery of what outgoing mayor Michael Bloomberg and his top lieutenants will do for their next act has been solved. Many will continue to work together at a new consultancy exporting the ideas they've championed in New York to other cities.

December 16, 2013, 5am PST | Jonathan Nettler | @nettsj

"Michael R. Bloomberg, determined to parlay his government experience and vast fortune into a kind of global mayoralty, is creating a high-powered consulting group to help him reshape cities around the world long after he leaves office," reports Michael Barbaro. "The organization, to be called Bloomberg Associates, will act as an urban SWAT team, deployed at the invitation of local governments to solve knotty, long-term challenges, like turning a blighted waterfront into a gleaming public space, or building subway-friendly residential neighborhoods."

"In a twist on the traditional business model of consulting, clients will not be charged," he notes. Like many of his other philanthropic and advocacy campaigns, it will be financed by the mayor's considerable fortune, "with no expectation of earning a profit".

"The group resembles a government in exile. Mr. Bloomberg has recruited at least half a dozen top aides from his administration, including Janette Sadik-Khan, the transportation commissioner; Katherine Oliver, the commissioner of media and entertainment; and Kate D. Levin, the cultural affairs commissioner."

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Bloomberg Focuses on Rest (as in Rest of the World)

Published on Saturday, December 14, 2013 in The New York Times