Bloomberg Explains Taxing High Line Neighbors

Michael Bloomberg defended a plan to include residential property owners with commercial property owners for the purposes of taxing them in order to fund a proposed Business Improvement District near the new High Line Park.

Speaking to reporters at a press conference at City Hall, Bloomberg said the headline in today’s Post about the plan, which read, "Mayor Bloomberg Supports The Tax on High Liners," was “a bit misleading.”

“If residents want to do something, or businesses want to do something, I have no objection to that,” Bloomberg said.

“I’m not rushing out to propose another tax. But if people want to volunteer and spend their own money to help their own neighborhood, I don’t know why I should be against that,” he said.

“The city is going to do as much as it can for every neighborhood. But why should the city discriminate against a group of people that want to get together and improve theirs?”