Even as a kid in Medford, Massachusetts, Michael Rubens Bloomberg dreamed of a big life in New York City. Three mayoral terms and billions of dollars later, Bloomberg has basically washed away the Masshole stink of his home state, focusing instead on our fine city (plus London and Bermuda). But he’s not a total deadbeat, slipping his old town a few bills every now and then:
>Since 1999, Mr. Bloomberg has given $27,000 to the public schools, $127,000 to a local orchestra of Medford High School alumni and $5,000 for a new outdoor sports complex. He has also given $1.5 million to the synagogue and $100,000 to a local hospital.
Still, that’s pretty much pocket change. And as the New York Times reports today, “the mayor’s ties to Medford are starting to fade,” most likely owing to the death of his mother last year:
He has not been back since, and some here, while grateful for his generosity, wonder whether a man who has long since transformed himself into a New Yorker will now maintain any connection to their town.
“The general take on Mayor Bloomberg and Medford is that Mayor Bloomberg made his money in New York and is very focused on that,” said Tom Lincoln, a local historian. Benjamin Averbook, 90, a longtime friend of Charlotte Bloomberg, put it more bluntly: “His mother is gone. He won’t be back.”
