At Dr. King Event, Sharpton Lauds Bloomberg

The Reverend Al Sharpton, who has not endorsed a candidate for president, is heaping praise on Mayor Bloomberg and, in turn, criticizing the legacy of Mayor Giuliani.

Mr. Bloomberg changed the "tone of ugliness" in the city, Rev. Sharpton said, so that even when there is disagreement, those on conflicting sides still speak to each other.

"It is important that even when we disagree that we not have a climate of disagreeability," Rev. Sharpton said yesterday at an annual rally held in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. at the headquarters of Rev. Sharpton's National Action Network in Harlem.

"Michael Bloomberg has torn down the curtain of polarized dialogue in the city and he has done it in an effective way," he said.

Without naming Mr. Giuliani, his remarks appear to be a swipe at the Republican candidate for president, who immediately preceded Mr. Bloomberg at City Hall. Mayor Dinkins also criticized Mr. Giuliani yesterday, bringing up the former mayor's role in denying asylum to Haitian refugees when he worked in the Justice Department as an example of a "bad thing" being allowed to happen in America because not enough good people spoke up.

"I should go down to Florida right now, where this same person is making his last stand: Rudolph W. Giuliani," Mr. Dinkins said.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Giuliani did not return a call for comment.

Messrs. Bloomberg and Dinkins were among more than a dozen former and current elected officials who spoke at the event, which is a requisite stop for officials traveling between events to commemorate King's life and work. Over the course of the holiday, officials took seats on the carpeted stage, waiting for their turn to deliver speeches on King, civil rights, the economy, education, and the city.

Politics was never far from the room, with Rev. Sharpton pointedly suggesting at one point that Governor Spitzer, who stood beside him, appoint a black official to fill Senator Clinton's seat should she become president. Rev. Sharpton then pulled Lieutenant Governor David Paterson, who is black, from his chair to show he already had someone in mind for the job.

The president of Manhattan, Scott Stringer, spoke about economic development in Harlem and about the need to balance an influx of new buildings and residents with the people who "created" the neighborhood.

If King walked through Harlem today, he would look in amazement at the changing face of the neighborhood, Mr. Stringer said, but he added that King would "take a step back and wonder if all this change is helping the people who have fought the fight over the last 40 years."

"We've got to protect our identity: the cultural heritage of this neighborhood; the rich diversity; the culture; the affordable housing," Mr. Stringer said.