Two cities voted in mayoral race

Mayor Michael Bloomberg won City Hall, but he lost two boroughs: the Bronx and Brooklyn. Some take the result as a reminder of the city’s economic division: If New York City were a country, the income gap would be second to Namibia, according to the One City/One Future coalition.  

“People outside Manhattan, particularly in the Bronx and Brooklyn, feel left out of the mainstream, and Bloomberg has reinforced that idea,” said David Bloomfield of Brooklyn College’s School of Education. “When people see the chairs on Broadway, they say, ‘What’s the city doing in my neighborhood?’”

The Bronx has never gone for Bloomberg. But he carried Brooklyn in 2005.

“Brooklyn has gone through a lot of growth in the last eight years, but a lot of that growth has not been equitable,” said John Petro, of the nonpartisan Drum Major Institute.

Alan Aja, a professor of Latino studies at Brooklyn College, said it was a “stark” contrast as wealthier parts of Brooklyn like Park Slope chose Bloomberg and poorer areas in Central Brooklyn overwhelmingly picked Thompson. “It sends a message to black and Latino leaders in the city that coalitions are necessary,” Aja said. “If they wanted to beat Bloomberg, they could have.”