Changes

==Political views and Mayoralty==  

==Political views and Mayoralty==  

Bloomberg enforced a strengthened cell-phone ban in city schools. Under Mayor Bloomberg, the high school graduation rate in New York City went up 18%. He supports [[abortion]] rights and [[same-sex marriage]]. Bloomberg was also the most prominent Republican to oppose President [[George W. Bush]]'s nomination to the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] of Chief Justice [[John Roberts]].  

Bloomberg enforced a strengthened cell-phone ban in city schools. Under Mayor Bloomberg, the high school graduation rate in New York City went up 18%. He supports [[abortion]] rights and [[same-sex marriage|same-sex "marriage"]]. Bloomberg was also the most prominent Republican to oppose President [[George W. Bush]]'s nomination to the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] of Chief Justice [[John Roberts]].  

Bloomberg is a supporter of illegal immigration, saying that [[New York City]] would "collapse" if they didn't have illegal aliens.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/2006/07/05/bloomberg-new-york-city-will-collapse-without-illegal-immigrants.html |title=Bloomberg: New York City Will Collapse Without Illegal Immigrants |work=[[Fox News Channel|Fox News]] |date= July 5, 2006 }}</ref>

Bloomberg is a supporter of [[illegal immigration]], saying that [[New York City]] would "collapse" if they didn't have illegally come aliens.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/2006/07/05/bloomberg-new-york-city-will-collapse-without-illegal-immigrants.html |title=Bloomberg: New York City Will Collapse Without Illegal Immigrants |work=[[Fox News Channel|Fox News]] |date= July 5, 2006 }}</ref>

Bloomberg took office as mayor in January 2002, just four months after the September 11th terrorist attacks. Upon taking office, he inherited the largest fiscal crisis in recent New York history. Giuliani spent lavishly during his final year in office, increasing capital spending by 60%. Not anticipating the [[dot-com bubble]] burst and the unforeseen attacks of September 11, Giuliani left office passing on a $4 billion city budget gap, where city law mandates a balanced budget.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303182233/http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/02_05/b3768089.htm |title=New York: A Day Late and $4 Billion Short |work=[[Bloomberg|Bloomberg.com]] |date= FEBRUARY 4, 2002 }}</ref> A large portion of New York City's budget are fixed costs. This created a predicament for the fiscally conservative new mayor. Bloomberg made some very unpopular budget cuts in the portions of the budget under his control, even closing many redundant fire-houses, a subject of severe public outcry so soon after September 11. These cuts however, had only marginal effect on the city's budget gap, which was ultimately addressed with the largest property tax increase in the city's history. Later in his second term, Bloomberg lowered property taxes, but not enough to completely remove the increases of his first term. Bloomberg effectively used tax breaks as an incentive to lure companies to the city. When Bloomberg first took office, the city's budget crisis brought threats from Albany that the state may step in and take over the city's finances. By June 2007 S&P (Standard and Poor's) raised New York City's bond rating to AA, the highest bond rating in the city's history.<ref>http://home2.nyc.gov:80/portal/site/nycgov/menuitem.c0935b9a57bb4ef3daf2f1c701c789a0/index.jsp?pageID=mayor_press_release&catID=1194&doc_name=http%3A%2F%2Fhome2.nyc.gov%2Fhtml%2Fom%2Fhtml%2F2007a%2Fpr174-07.html&cc=unused1978&rc=1194&ndi=1</ref>

Bloomberg took office as mayor in January 2002, just four months after the September 11th terrorist attacks. Upon taking office, he inherited the largest fiscal crisis in recent New York history. Giuliani spent lavishly during his final year in office, increasing capital spending by 60%. Not anticipating the [[dot-com bubble]] burst and the unforeseen attacks of September 11, Giuliani left office passing on a $4 billion city budget gap, where city law mandates a balanced budget.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303182233/http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/02_05/b3768089.htm |title=New York: A Day Late and $4 Billion Short |work=[[Bloomberg|Bloomberg.com]] |date= FEBRUARY 4, 2002 }}</ref> A large portion of New York City's budget are fixed costs. This created a predicament for the fiscally conservative new mayor. Bloomberg made some very unpopular budget cuts in the portions of the budget under his control, even closing many redundant fire-houses, a subject of severe public outcry so soon after September 11. These cuts however, had only marginal effect on the city's budget gap, which was ultimately addressed with the largest property tax increase in the city's history. Later in his second term, Bloomberg lowered property taxes, but not enough to completely remove the increases of his first term. Bloomberg effectively used tax breaks as an incentive to lure companies to the city. When Bloomberg first took office, the city's budget crisis brought threats from Albany that the state may step in and take over the city's finances. By June 2007 S&P (Standard and Poor's) raised New York City's bond rating to AA, the highest bond rating in the city's history.<ref>http://home2.nyc.gov:80/portal/site/nycgov/menuitem.c0935b9a57bb4ef3daf2f1c701c789a0/index.jsp?pageID=mayor_press_release&catID=1194&doc_name=http%3A%2F%2Fhome2.nyc.gov%2Fhtml%2Fom%2Fhtml%2F2007a%2Fpr174-07.html&cc=unused1978&rc=1194&ndi=1</ref>