Tim Boxer At JCRC Dinner
Michael Bloomberg is wrapping up his 12th year as mayor of the greatest city on the planet, and he’s wasting no time planning his future.
At the annual Jewish Community Relations Council awards dinner at the Pierre Hotel, where he was the guest of honor, the mayor faced the prospect of unemployment by announcing, “If anyone has any ideas, I work for a dollar a year.”
As vice president/CEO Michael Miller presented the mayor with the JCRC-NY award, Bloomberg offered, instead of a long speech, “to walk around the room and thank each one of you. We could talk briefly and you could bring up that traffic ticket you want fixed.”
Bloomberg said that when he was a young boy studying for his bar mitzvah, “if I had told the rabbi that I would receive the JCRC Visionary Leadership Award, the rabbi would have said I was meshugah.”
“We are a proud people with a tradition of resilience in tough times,” the mayor added. “JCRC keeps those traditions alive right here in New York City and strengthening the bond with Israel. We have a responsibility as American citizens. And as Jews we cannot forget that freedom is not free.”
Jerry W. Levin, president of UJA-Federation of New York, said he was grateful to the mayor “for all he’s done for making New Yorkers healthier and safer – and sometimes against their will.”
Three other individuals were also honored for their contributions to society. They were Adena T. Friedman, CFO and managing director of the Carlyle Group, and CEO Alan Suna and president Stuart Match Suna of Silvercup Studios. “We are Queens kids,” Alan remarked.
Photo:
Diana Taylor, de facto First Lady of New York, accompanies Mayor Michael Bloomberg at JCRC dinner. Photo by Tim Boxer