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During the campaign Mayor Bloomberg proposed many new policies, which will affect everyone, including young adults:  from education to immigration, will he come through on what he promised?

With the elections over, and Michael Bloomberg re-elected for a third term, the news that he has spent an estimated $900,000 a day in the past three weeks, and over $85 million total during the campaign to convince the city’s residents that he is the most capable person to lead the city seemed to have worked, but only by five percentage points. To many Bloomberg’s win proves that with the amount of money he has in the bank, New York City is like an open department store and he’s the only shopper.
Although Thompson had secured the endorsement and support of President Barack Obama and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, to just name a few who pledged their support, the illustrious names were not be enough to unseat the incumbent mayor.
Now assured of another four years, taking a look inside Bloomberg’s politics and policies for the future, especially for students and parents, as the mayor who has been directly involved in the city’s education, he has made it clear from the beginning of his term in office that several schools are likely to be “phased out,” which could mean the school to which any one student reading this magazine attends would likely be selected, over the next few years, and gradually closed to be replaced by the formation of new charter schools within the buildings where the public school existed.  
Also referred to as alternative schools, charter schools are public schools operated independently with a different curriculum from other schools in the educational system. According the plan for the school system, students who are slacking and failing to make progress would be transferred to another school, with the hope that they would obtain the necessary push to graduate.  
Since succeeding in removing the Board of Education, the independent schools governing body, and assuming direct control, Bloomberg has continued to push for smaller schools.  But, the effectiveness of this is yet to be seen.  Some of these smaller schools have already been forced to close, because even some of these schools have not always met the revised standards.
What is clear is that over the last few years the City University of New York and the State University of New York have seen an increase in the number of students needing remedial classes because more and more students are making it to college without being adequately prepared.
And, charter school expansion isn’t likely to stop any time soon: the state’s legislature has handed Bloomberg complete control over reform of the educational system. To date, the mayor plans to raise more funds, beyond the $200 million already spent on charter school construction, for new buildings and to make room for more of these alternative schools.  

Bloomberg and the Children’s Zones.   
Harlem Children’s Zone, is touted as one of the most successful educational organizations in the Harlem community that provides children with an innovative way of learning. Bloomberg plans to form two new Children’s Zones in the city, one in the South Bronx and another in Brooklyn. The Mayor hopes that the new locations would have success similar to that experienced by Harlem’s Children Zone under the supervision of its principal, Geoffrey Canada. The goal of these charter schools is to foster a message of excellence in education. Funding from the U.S. Department of Education is expected to provide $10 million to the new Children’s Zones as part of President Obama’s “Promise Neighborhoods” plan.  

Questions
Despite these planned ventures, questions remain: How is Bloomberg’s vision going to affect young adults preparing for the future? Bloomberg hopes to save 400,000 jobs by implementing $10 billion in infrastructure activities this educational cycle with more “green jobs” on tap to be created, which would focus on new wind and solar technology.
What about the middle class and their struggle during this recession? With regard to the family aspect, there is expected to be financial management assistance for families to assist in avoiding debt and helping prevent home foreclosures; housing would be made more affordable, quality education will improve schools, and job-training programs is expected to benefit the middle class.

Bloomberg and the Gay Community
Should members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community (LGBT) be concerned about Mayor Bloomberg’s policies? It appears that the members of the LGBT community have reason to be concerned. In an interview with Gay City News, the Mayor attempted to explain the delay over the marriage equality bill, stating that there was no way that the bill would pass this year, adding that its chances are “zero, zero,” and added, “I don’t know how to get it to come up on the Senate floor.” Others, in the LGBT community, have refuted Bloomberg’s remarks with optimistic views of the bill passing this legislative session.  

Immigration in New York City
One of Bloomberg’s significant plans at the moment is immigration. He recently introduced a 10-year plan to ensure that all immigrants in the city should be able to learn English. According to his plan, 5,000 immigrants would be enrolled in classes for those to whom English is a second language, with the city committing $3 million to ensuring that they learn the language of America.
Following on the openness that became characteristic of the Obama White House, Bloomberg is attempting to emulate the president with an open access policy which would be established to allow New Yorkers to interact freely with city government officials. The mayor has also backed the furtherance of a regulation policy, which is intended to protect non-English-speaking immigrants from fraudulent crimes, protecting and serving immigrants yearning to be citizens. A task force would be created which would seek to bring together the many immigrant related agencies throughout the city and is expected to present a proposal to Mayor Bloomberg soon. The mayor hopes that the proposal would lead to an end of the exploitation of immigrants with the deployment of lawyers who will help communities in need of legal assistance.
Bloomberg has put forward a number of plans for the city’s residents, some of which are new policies that would affect everyone. Only time will tell if he implements these policies and how successful he will be during his third term.  For New York City’s sake hopefully he helps the city move towards a better tomorrow.