Bloomberg's Blind Spot on Class

Mention the name Michael Bloomberg to any New Yorker and you'll most certainly get a visceral response. We either love or hate the billionaire mayor. Still, none of us would deny that he has transformed New York City during his tenure. Even in the midst of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, New York has moved forward and has a certain vibrancy and kinetic energy that separates it from the rest of the nation. Despite the economic clouds and debates surrounding development and over-building, New York remains a city of big dreams, and behind it all, since he first took office in 2002, there's been Michael Bloomberg, cheering, pushing, and prodding (often, not so gently).

So Bloomberg's New York is a city of overachievers. And yet, we're Americans too, and we seek to be forever middle class. Even struggling freelancers here identify as such. I met a freelance photographer last week who self-identified as middle class, despite making under $40,000 last year. "Ask people around the country, 'Are you middle class?' and the answer is likely to be yes," wrote Amy O'Leary in The New York Times earlier this year. "But ask the same question in Manhattan, and people often pause in confusion, unsure exactly what you mean." We're confused by the question because of the high cost of living in New York City. But too often we think of New York as only Manhattan, forgetting there are four other boroughs. And, as Richard Florida’s analysis of the class divide in New York shows, we are a city that is geographically segregated along class lines as well.