The New York Times - September 13, 2005
Mike Mcintire

The Mayor's Management Report, an annual accounting that is sure to draw more scrutiny than usual in this election year, showed that crime is down, streets are cleaner, student test scores are up and the number of AIDS cases is declining. There were fewer child-abuse complaints, more calls to 311 and cleaner parks compared with a year ago.

In calling a City Hall news conference yesterday to announce the findings, Mr. Bloomberg, a Republican seeking re-election, did not deny the political value of his upbeat assessment of city services or the benefit of releasing it one day before Democrats go to the polls to choose their candidate. The Sept. 12 date was the earliest he has released the report during his term; previous release dates were Sept. 24, 2002; Sept. 17, 2003; and Sept. 15, 2004.

Asked why he did not wait until after today's primary, the mayor replied: "I think later this week you're going to be focusing on writing stories about other things. Isn't this better for you and for the public to find out what's really going on?"

He continued: "It's a big book with lots of numbers. For the people of New York it's fair to say it is good reading. We have become - envy may be too strong, but maybe not - the envy of the rest of the country and the world."

With a laser pointer in hand, Mr. Bloomberg plowed through a slew of statistics that showed improvement in everything from public safety to education. His report card also revealed that quality-of-life summonses handed out by the police declined last year for the first time since Mr. Bloomberg became mayor. In past years, the administration has been accused of carrying out ticket blitzes aimed at minor infractions to raise revenue for the city budget.

For all the good news, there were a few sour notes.

Average response times to fires edged up by 15 seconds last year, to 4 minutes 31 seconds, compared with four years ago. Complaints about rat infestations around the city were up. And while public health had improved by most measures, the number of syphilis cases increased to 646 last year from 188 in 2001.

"There's been an international increase in syphilis and New York City has not been spared from that," said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the city health commissioner, adding that there was "preliminary evidence that there is a decrease in some risk-taking behavior" that had slowed the growth of new cases.

Also, while the city's public libraries are now staying open a little longer each day compared to a year ago, their daily hours remained diminished from four years ago. In the fiscal year that ended in June, only 29 percent of the New York Public Library's branches were open six days a week, down from 100 percent in 2001.

The cutbacks at the libraries are a symptom of the budget problems Mr. Bloomberg has had to contend with since taking office in January 2002, when he faced a projected deficit of about $6 billion. Yesterday, he said his administration had succeeded in righting the city's fiscal ship, in part, by cutting $3.6 billion in spending and reducing the municipal payroll by 15,000 jobs.

A year ago, the mayor said he had reduced the work force by 18,000 jobs. Asked why almost 3,000 jobs had been added since then, Mr. Bloomberg said the increase was financially worrisome and he cited several causes, including the hiring of more police for antiterrorism patrols. He also cast some blame on the City Council, saying it "keeps passing laws, and every one of those laws that they pass we have to go and enforce, and that requires more resources."

Steve Sigmund, a spokesman for Council Speaker Gifford Miller, a Democratic mayoral candidate, reacted dismissively to the mayor's comments.

"I'm sorry the speaker has done his job and actually passed laws," he said. "I apologize if that makes the mayor's job harder."

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