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Article: Betting on a Billionaire: As power passes from 'America's mayor,' New York's going on a blind date with a global brand name. Can Gotham rise again?(New York, New York mayor-elect Michael Bloomberg)(Column)
- Article from:
- Newsweek
- Article date:
- November 19, 2001
- Author:
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Byline: Jonathan Alter
New York is "alive and well and open for business!" Mike Bloomberg boomed in his reedy Boston accent after his improbable election last week as the city's 108th mayor. It was a strong and reassuring line from the billionaire bon vivant, who got his job the New York way--he bought it, with a staggering $70 million of his own money. But in truth, like an all-night Korean grocery, the city had never been closed in the first place, not even on September 11. And short of an atom bomb, it never will.
The business of New York has always been business, the buying and selling of dreams. The currency--money, power, ideas, creativity--may ...