This News Will Make Bloomberg Very, Very Sad

Bloomberg henchman Deputy Dan Doctoroff is still leading the charge to bring the Olympics to NYC and rectify one of Mayor Bloomberg's biggest setbacks - his failure to turn NYC into an Olympic Village.

Mayor de Blasio says he's not interested, however:

Mayor Bill de Blasio has ruled out any possibility that New York City will submit a bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, a top member of his staff said Tuesday.

The administration decided not to pursue the Games after looking at the pros and cons of bidding for and hosting the event, said Alicia Glen, deputy mayor for housing and economic development.

 Mr. de Blasio said he would consider the Olympics when news broke earlier this month that Dan Doctoroff, the driving force of the city's unsuccessful bid for the 2012 Games and a top official under former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, had broached the possibility of pursuing the 2024 Games with Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration. At that time, however, Mr. de Blasio warned that the bar would be high.

...

 

Ms. Glen said Mr. de Blasio, with other top officials at City Hall, recently reviewed the possibility of a bid for 2024 and decided it "doesn't make sense."

Ms. Glen said many cities pursue the Games because it brings recognition, but "very few people would say that New York City is not quote on the map and is not a major global city."

Cities also have sought the Games to boost tourism. But Ms Glen said the city already was experiencing record-high tourism numbers, with more than 54 million visitors last year.

"Our feeling is that you could actually deter tourism to some extent by hosting an Olympic Games," she said.

Ms. Glen said top officials also feared an Olympic bid would distract from the mayor's economic-development agenda. If the city focused on particular sporting venues, or particular neighborhoods where events would be held, other parts of the city could be neglected, she said.

Cuomo may still push for the Olympics, given that Bloomberg still seems to want them and Bloomberg's got lots of cash to hand over to Sheriff Andy for future political runs.

Wouldn't it be interesting if Cuomo pulls a "Moskowitz" here and forces the city to submit a bid for the Olympics even though the mayor says he doesn't want to?

I mean, if the governor can force the city to pony up millions of dollars for Eva Moskowitz's rent, I suppose it's also conceivable that he can force the city to submit a bid for an Olympics games it doesn't really want.

I'm kidding, of course.

Sort of.