Predictions that diminished stature and a hostile environment awaited Mayor Michael Bloomberg on the other side of his term-limits fight have come true—and earlier than expected.

In the month since he signed the bill that allows him to run for a third term, hardly a day has gone by without a major city employer announcing layoffs, or another dismal economic indicator making headlines. With tax revenues dropping, he has proposed $2.5 billion in tax increases and service cuts, sparking anger and fear among special-interest groups. He has been challenged by an emboldened City Council, and his approval rating has fallen 9 points, to 59%—its lowest point in three years.

“The term-limits fight did significant damage to his image as someone who was above the normal political fray,” says lobbyist Richard Lipsky, a frequent critic of the mayor’s. “It’s not so much that he’s having more missteps than before; it’s that people are willing to challenge him because they don’t see him as sacrosanct.”

The mayor hasn’t made life any easier for himself by withholding the $400 tax-rebate checks he had promised to homeowners, and advancing a plan that could close some senior centers.

“People are literally scared in New York, and no group more than seniors,” says Councilman Eric Gioia, D-Queens.

After teaming up to pass the term-limits extension, the council and the mayor have been at odds. Council members have filed a lawsuit to save the rebate checks and blasted the changes to senior services. Brooklyn Councilman Lew Fidler said that the mayor’s responses portrayed a “let them eat cake” attitude toward struggling New Yorkers.

“The honeymoon didn’t last very long,” says Doug Muzzio, a public affairs professor at Baruch, noting the irony that a month ago, council members—most of whom benefited from the extension of term limits—were praising the mayor’s fiscal acumen.

Council members and the mayor often see the city differently. Members, who get more direct feedback from constituents, tend to take a more parochial view, while the mayor takes a broader view and at times can seem insensitive to individual concerns.

The council has perhaps become more aggressive in opposing the mayor’s service cuts and tax increases now that most of them will be running for re-election next year. They’re especially sensitive to seniors.

“This is not only the most vulnerable of populations, but this is also the most politically active community in our city,” says Councilman James Vacca, D-Bronx. “Seniors vote.”

In some cases, the prospect of a third term has helped the mayor. He was able to get council approval for a controversial rezoning of Willets Point in Queens, and he reached an agreement to buy Coney Island land from a developer whose plan for the amusement area differed greatly from Mr. Bloomberg’s.

Before term limits were extended, the developer appeared content to wait for another mayor to take the reins in 2010. On Willets Point, 31 council members had signed a letter opposing the threat of eminent domain by the mayor, who was then a lame duck.

But given the economy, it will be years before anything is built.

“All of these dreams are confronting a harsh reality,” says Baruch’s Mr. Muzzio. “It’s just obvious that they can’t happen.”

The mayor is even catching grief for projects that are happening, namely stadiums for the Mets and the Yankees, which are being financed by tax-free bonds while the city is starving for tax revenue.

“The teams are getting a subsidy from the public,” Mr. Muzzio says. “The stadiums may be physical legacies, but they’re real problematic from a policy point of view.”

Mayoral aides dismiss the notion that Mr. Bloomberg is particularly embattled.

He faced a large budget deficit early in his mayoralty and raised property taxes, then watched his approval rating plunge. He endured withering condemnation during his bid to implement congestion pricing, which was shot down by the state Legislature in April. And there has never been a shortage of critics hectoring him at City Hall press conferences.

Source: Crains New York