When the Mayor Travels, Who Holds Down the Hall?
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Mayor Bloomberg and the woman who acts as mayor in his absence will both be in Europe this weekend, which raises the question: Who’s in charge when the City Hall parents are out of town? When Mr. Bloomberg took office in 2002, one of his first actions was to sign an executive order transferring mayoral powers to his first deputy mayor, rather than the city’s public advocate, whenever he is outside city limits. During his first term, that was Marc Shaw, and now it is Patti Harris.
But it is not clear who has mayoral authority when Ms. Harris is also out of town and accompanying Mr. Bloomberg, as she occasionally does. This weekend she will travel with him to France and England, where he will hold several public events on sustainability and give a speech at a Conservative Party conference in Blackpool.
Mr. Bloomberg said yesterday that the City Charter was not clear on whether Ms. Harris would still technically be vested with mayoral authority whiletraveling. Butitappears that the succession line may automatically kick in when both Mr. Bloomberg and Ms. Harris are gone, putting Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum in control.
Either way, Mr. Bloomberg said he designates other deputy mayors to be in charge. He insisted it is all “theoretical” anyway, because he and his staff are in constant communication via e-mail and mobile phones.
So, New Yorkers should not fear that City Hall will go on a wild policy bender and suddenly lift the smoking ban, allow a citywide trans-fat binge or cancel school to hold a party in Central Park.
“Rest assured, anything where the mayor would normally be consulted, the mayor would still be consulted, whether he is in one of the five boroughs or in one of the other continents,” he said.
Since taking office, the private travels of the billionaire mayor, who has homes in Bermuda, Colorado, Florida, London, and upstate New York, have been a closely guarded secret at City Hall. His predecessor, Rudy Giuliani, traveled far less frequently.
“There’s a plane waiting, you’d be back in six hours, and most things can wait for that,” he said.
