Bloomberg Will Spend $200 Million to Boost Mayors
Michael Bloomberg “will throw his financial might into helping beleaguered American mayors, creating a $200 million philanthropic program aimed at backing inventive policies at the city level and giving mayors a stronger hand in national politics,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Bloomberg intends to announce the initiative on Monday in a speech to the United States Conference of Mayors in Miami Beach, where he will castigate federal officials and state governments around the country for undermining cities."
Excerpts from New York Tmes
. . . he will castigate federal officials and state governments around the country for undermining cities. He plans to describe the program, called the American Cities Initiative, as a method of shoring up the global influence of the United States despite turmoil in Washington.
A wealthy former mayor of New York who seriously explored running for president in 2016 as an independent, Mr. Bloomberg, 75, has embraced a public role since the election as a kind of elite-level organizer against certain policies of the Trump administration.
In an interview, Mr. Bloomberg said his city-focused initiative would serve in part as an extension of his advocacy for national policies that address climate change, gun violence, public health and immigration. That largely liberal agenda is aligned with the growing aspirations of big-city mayors, who are mainly Democrats and who have vowed to check conservative mandates emerging from Washington by using their power at the local level.
In this excerpt below from an article posted just now
Michael Bloomberg Will Give Millions to Mayors With Ideas to Sidestep Trump
8:16 AM ET
Bloomberg's offer, the Times reports, is part of a $200 million program called the American Cities Initiative that Bloomberg plans to announce Monday in a speech to the United States Conference of Mayors, in Miami Beach.
As part of the initiative, majors are asked to submit compelling city-level policy proposals. In return, the city leaders could win six- to seven-figure grants to run an experiment in their own cities. . .
In an interview with the Times. Bloomberg, the one-time mayor of New York City who seriously considered running for president in 2016, said that the initiative would be a way (in the Times' wording) "to shore up the global influence of the United States despite turmoil in Washington."
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