How will you spend your Thanksgiving break?
New York City mayoral candidates Michael Bloomberg and Mark Green traded thoughts on policy and a personal jab or two in both Spanish and English at New School University's Tishman auditorium last night.
Participating in the city's first-ever bilingual mayoral debate with the assistance of United Nations translators, Bloomberg and Green addressed issues including education, housing, the power of Latino voters and rebuilding the city. The two candidates fielded questions from a three-person panel of Hispanic journalists, the audience and each other in the hour and a half long debate.
In his opening statement, Green focused on the central issue of his campaign '#0151; educaton.
"Education is the key to opportunity and justice," Green said. "Our public school system is broken, and we must fix it."
Bloomberg, on the other hand, spoke about the need to rebuild the city and its economy following Sept. 11.
"We now, for the first time, really do have to worry about our jobs," Bloomberg said. "We've got to recapture our spirit, we also have to be realistic about what we can do."
Green and Bloomberg both agreed that the reactivation of the economy will be the central issue for the city's next mayor.
"The mayor's first job will be to sit down with the big companies and convince them that they want to stay here," Bloomberg said.
Green and Bloomberg also addressed President Bush's recent decision to tighten student visa restrictions, and both said they want to maintain the international presence in the city.
Green said that 80% of the city's population consists of first or second generation immigrants, and that he wants to continue this trend by allowing students into the country.
Bloomberg went so far as to say that the city should be recruiting international students to bring to local schools.
"The last thing we want to do is keep them out," Bloomberg said.
In response to a question about education, Bloomberg proposed building a group of high schools on the abandoned Governor's Island, which elicited quiet laughter from the audience, although the suggestion had been made in earnest.
In the closing part of the debate, the candidates were allowed to ask questions of each other. Bloomberg aggressively questioned Green about why he sought the endorsement of Fernando Ferrer after he attacked Ferrer's experience prior to the Democratic primary.
"This from a man who a week ago said he wouldn't be divisive," Green said. "I'm proud that Freddy Ferrer and so many of his supporters have endorsed me and not Mike Bloomberg."
At one point, Green jokingly asked Bloomberg if he still thought Green was a Stalinist, which Bloomberg denied.
Although neither Green nor Bloomberg speak Spanish, they each wore translation devices in their ears to understand questions from the panel, which were posed entirely in Spanish. Spanish-speaking members of the audience were also given translation devices to understand the candidates' responses.
The event was sponsored by the Spanish-language daily newspaper el diario/LA PRENSA, as well as the Spanish broadcasters WXTV Univision 41 and WADO 1280 radio. El diario Editor-in-Chief Gerson Borrero moderated the debate.
Outside of the auditorium, ticketless supporters from both the Bloomberg and Green camps filled the sidewalk on 12th Street as they rallied before and after the debate. Chants of "Bloomberg for mayor!" and "Mark Green for mayor!" could be heard more than a block away as the two groups attempted to outdo each other with sheer volume.55,10,1
