Mayor Bloomberg probably doesn’t do all that much fraternizing with sandhogs, the rare breed of construction workers who dig the city’s water and transit tunnels, working sometimes hundreds of feet below ground.

Today, however, was an exception, as the billionaire executive slipped a reflective vest over his suit, put on a hardhat, and chatted it up with a couple of workers who seemed twice his size as they watched a 100-ton drill bit of sorts get lowered into a newly created cavern below 26^th Street and 11^th Avenue.

The mayor was on hand to announce the start of tunneling in the 1.5-mile extension of the No. 7 line that would connect Times Square to the Javits Center upon completion (slated for 2013).

The project is no trivial initiative for the mayor, as it is the cornerstone—or main pillar—of his plan to transform Manhattan’s far West Side into a new district for office space, hotels and residential development. The largest of the development is expected along 10^th and 11^th avenues, development that would surely be an impossibility without a transit line connecting to the rest of midtown.

Now that there are a handful of giant holes under Chelsea for the line, and soon to be two drills that are making tunnels, the likelihood that the project will actually come to fruition is increasing substantially (though no one has agreed to pay for cost overruns yet). But with the economy in shambles, the question becomes how quickly—or slowly—development will sprout up on the far West Side.

This is more than just an academic question. To fund the $2.1 billion budgeted for the extension, the city sold bonds that are to be repaid with the extra taxes expected from all the new development on the West Side. If development takes years to begin—or never happens—the city would need to use money out of its budget to pay the $100 million or so annually in debt service, adding to an already high debt burden.

At the announcement today, the mayor delivered what sounded like a slight plea to developers to get building again.

“If anybody’s a developer out there, and if you want to know a good time to start, I can’t think of a better time,” he said. “People are ready to take the jobs, you can buy concrete and steel a lot cheaper than you could have before, and you’ll have these buildings ready when our economy comes roaring back and people are going to need space.”

Minutes later, standing on a small stage in front of the large tunnel boring machine, the mayor handed the podium over to his deputy mayor for economic development, Bob Lieber, with a telling introduction.

“It’s Bob’s job to make sure that we get development going on the West Side,” he said, adding coyly, “If he wants to keep his job, he will do that.”

What with the increasingly apparent concern from the Bloomberg campaign about the fact that he still doesn't have a line to run on, I asked the mayor yesterday what he’s planning to say to Republican county leaders when he meets with them next week.

He answered by asking why I keep asking him campaign questions.

Here's a clip of Michael Bloomberg not talking about Hugo Chavez's successful effort in Venezuela to get rid of term limits.

The reporter posing the question is Erin Einhorn of the Daily News.

After Lehman Brothers collapsed last fall, it quickly became clear to the Bloomberg administration that the spiraling economic crisis was going to hit New York especially hard. The financial sector had been the city’s economic engine, driving real wages and estate prices up citywide.

So the Bloomberg administration did what it so often does when it wants to think big: It ordered the creation of a point-by-point action plan, fed in large part by work from a major private consulting firm.

Four months later, we now have a product, as Mayor Bloomberg on Wednesday unveiled his “Financial Services Revitalization Plan,” calling for 11 points of action in the wake of the economic crisis. In the past the city had turned to McKinsey & Company for a few big reports: this time it engaged Boston Consulting Group to help with the report, which was prepared by the city’s Economic Development Corporation.

The plan calls for about $15 million in city investment to encourage startups, boost early investment in growing companies, and convince financial firms in emerging markets to open or expand offices in New York (later this spring, Deputy Mayor Bob Lieber is planning a trip to Beijing with this end in mind).

Driving the report are two main themes: the need to heal a wounded financial services sector, an industry that may forever be much smaller than it was in 2007; and the desire to retain the talent lost in the waves of Wall Street layoffs, encouraging entrepreneurship on an individual level.

The plan also takes $30 million in federal money allocated to speed Lower Manhattan’s recovery after September 11, 2001. Presumably this $30 million comes from a program meant to encourage companies to grow in, or relocate to, Lower Manhattan: the Job Creation & Retention Program. The state’s development arm, the Empire State Development Corporation, initially had an unspecified amendment to the program listed on the agenda for a Wednesday board meeting, though the meeting was canceled.

As currently worded, that program already is intended to encourage job growth, as it gives grants to companies “in return for a minimum commitment of seven years to maintain more than 200 jobs in Lower Manhattan,” according to the ESDC’s Web site.

The city’s projections for the plan’s effects are rather ambitious: The report estimated that the actions are expected to create more than 25,000 jobs over 10 years (and more than 12,000 jobs over five years), totaling a potential $750 million in economic impact over the decade.

After Lehman Brothers collapsed last fall, it quickly became clear to the Bloomberg administration that the spiraling economic crisis was going to hit New York especially hard. The financial sector had been the city’s economic engine, driving real wages and estate prices up citywide.

So the Bloomberg administration did what it so often does when it wants to think big: It ordered the creation of a point-by-point action plan, fed in large part by work from a major private consulting firm.

Four months later, we now have a product, as Mayor Bloomberg on Wednesday unveiled his “Financial Services Revitalization Plan,” calling for 11 points of action in the wake of the economic crisis. In the past the city had turned to McKinsey & Company for a few big reports; this time it engaged Boston Consulting Group to help with the report, which was prepared by the city’s Economic Development Corporation.

The plan calls for about $15 million in city investment to encourage start-ups, boost early investment in growing companies and convince financial firms in emerging markets to open or expand offices in New York (later this spring, Deputy Mayor Bob Lieber is planning a trip to Beijing with this end in mind).

Driving the report are two main themes: the need to heal a wounded financial services sector, an industry that may forever be much smaller than it was in 2007; and the desire to retain the talent lost in the waves of Wall Street layoffs, encouraging entrepreneurship on an individual level.

The plan also takes $30 million in federal money allocated to speed Lower Manhattan’s recovery after Sept. 11, 2001. Presumably this $30 million comes from a program meant to encourage companies to grow in, or relocate to, Lower Manhattan: the Job Creation & Retention Program. The state’s development arm, the Empire State Development Corporation, initially had an unspecified amendment to the program listed on the agenda for a Wednesday board meeting, though the meeting was canceled.

As currently worded, that program already is intended to encourage job growth, as it gives grants to companies “in return for a minimum commitment of seven years to maintain more than 200 jobs in Lower Manhattan,” according to the ESDC’s Web site.

The city’s projections for the plan’s effects are rather ambitious: The report estimated that the actions are expected to create more than 25,000 jobs over 10 years (and more than 12,000 jobs over five years), totaling a potential $750 million in economic impact over the decade.

Michael Bloomberg's campaign manager Bradley Tusk, emailed supporters this morning seeking volunteers, and pointing them to a fancy new campaign web site.

The site urges supporters to volunteer because Bloomberg "is willing to make the hard choices – independent of politics and the special interests."

In 2005, top aide Kevin Sheekey set a goal of recruiting tens of thousands of volunteers.

Here's the email to supporters:

UPDATE: It's right out of the old playbook, actually.In the book The Power of the Vote, Bloomberg's pollster Doug Schoen described the need for a massive volunteer army for the mayor's 2005 re-election campaign:

As the 2009 mayoral campaign draws closer, Anthony Weiner, the intense, rail-thin Brooklyn congressman, is playing it suspiciously cool.

After having spent much of last year outside New York as a presidential-campaign surrogate for Hillary Clinton, he has remained immersed in Washington issues, getting into the news most recently for his role in procuring stimulus money for hiring police. What he is not doing is acting like someone who is running for mayor: no regular press conferences attacking Michael Bloomberg or upstaging fellow Democratic candidate Bill Thompson; no ceremonious openings of campaign offices; no announcements of staff hires.

"It doesn't seem like a full-out, running-for-office campaign," said Democratic consultant Joseph Mercurio, who, in 2005, worked on a rival campaign.

Mr. Weiner, Mr. Mercurio said, "looks like he's raising money for a mayoral race-but not a race this year."

The congressman says he's just doing his job.

"Look, I don't know," said Mr. Weiner after a Feb. 17 press conference about federal stimulus money with his mentor and former boss, Senator Chuck Schumer. "I'm trying to figure out what feels right. And what feels right right now is, in the light of a once-in-a-lifetime crisis, really, Washington is being turned to help out New York. Being there and working hard on those things seems like the right thing to do."

"Whether it turns out to be the right thing politically, I'll wait and see," he said. "But I certainly feel right now, I'm hearing a lot of New Yorkers not say, ‘Why aren't you hitting the mayor more?' but saying, ‘What are we doing about mass transit? What are we doing about saving my job and businesses?' and things like that," he said. "So I'm going to let that guide me."

Mr. Weiner is keeping a much lower profile than one would expect from (a) a candidate for mayor who will be particularly reliant on free media exposure to keep up with his billionaire opponent, and (b) a politician who, even by politician standards, is not given to going about his business quietly. 

Mr. Weiner says that what he's doing now isn't much different from his approach during the run-up to his first campaign for mayor, in 2005, when he lost in the primary but outperformed expectations, finishing second and narrowly missing a runoff against the eventual nominee, Fernando Ferrer. (The result was actually close enough to prompt calls for a recount, which Mr. Weiner made moot by conceding.)

"People made fun of me at the time, saying, ‘Oh, Weiner, you really got to be going to more Democratic clubs, and these policy speeches and books you're putting out are really not that important. You need to be getting endorsements and things like that.' And it didn't feel right then, and I think the way we did it then shows I was probably where voters were," he said.

Actually, Mr. Weiner's low profile the last time around wasn't by design so much as it was the result of the fact that he was considered a long-shot candidate. His opponents grumbled afterward, with some cause, that he actually profited from a relative lack of public scrutiny that allowed him to present catchy campaign proposals without having to go into too much pesky detail.

In that regard, Mr. Weiner's more substantive-looking approach this time may serve him well, as he produces policy books ("Keys to the City: Keeping New York City the Capital of the Middle Class") and wonky speeches on the local economy that have garnered little press attention, but clearly give him things to point to as thoughtful ideas.

It's still early, of course, and unless Mr. Weiner drops out, he'll have to start acting like a more traditional candidate once the campaign begins in earnest.

But there's another reason Mr. Weiner may be treading somewhat more cautiously than usual, which is that his opponent, Comptroller Bill Thompson, is well established, generally well liked and African-American.

In 2001, a racially divisive primary between Mark Green and Mr. Ferrer tore the Democratic Party apart heading into the general election, which, along with the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, set the stage for Mr. Bloomberg's first election.

Asked whether the prospect of a fight with Mr. Thompson posed a special challenge, Mr. Weiner said that talk of "apocalyptic divisions in the party and a racially divisive race" in 2005 didn't come to pass, and that it won't this time.

"You know, I would rather lose a campaign than have it divide our city and weaken our party," said Mr. Weiner. "I mean, that's the bottom line. I didn't think that a runoff in 2005 was good for the future of the party, the future of the city, and I took a step back even though I thought I did well enough to have earned a right to be in that runoff. So, I'm not concerned about that, and I think that we've got to give voters more credit."

With the federal stimulus package signed, the Bloomberg administration has done some tallying. The total to be infused for city-run capital infrastructure projects, according to a City Hall memo issued today: $544 million.

Per the memo, that money comes from two separate pots—$311 million for water and sewer projects, which the city must apply for through the state, and $233 million for transportation projects.

Also coming to the city courtesy of the stimulus, though not included in that $544 million number, is an estimated $390 million for repairs and renovations for public housing at the New York City Housing Authority, $142 million for other housing programs, and $140 million for energy efficiency.

Unlike the state government and the M.T.A., the city has not yet released lists of projects that would qualify as “shovel ready” and would thereby be eligible to receive stimulus funding. The memo said such a list would be released in coming weeks, though some on the City Council have criticized the administration on the issue, alleging they have been intentionally left out of the process.

The new money comes as the Bloomberg administration has proposed a 30 percent cut in its five-year capital plan, which funds billions in infrastructure and economic development projects. That comes on top of a move last year to stretch out the plan from four years to five, effectively cutting spending by 20 percent.

With the federal stimulus package signed, the Bloomberg administration has done some tallying. The total to be infused for city-run capital infrastructure projects, according to a City Hall memo issued today: $544 million.

Per the memo, that money comes from two separate pots—$311 million for water and sewer projects, which the city must apply for through the state, and $233 million for transportation projects.

Also coming to the city courtesy of the stimulus, though not included in that $544 million number, is an estimated $390 million for repairs and renovations for public housing at the New York City Housing Authority, $142 million for other housing programs, and $140 million for energy efficiency.

Unlike the state government and the M.T.A., the city yet to release lists of projects that would qualify as “shovel-ready,” and which would therefore be eligible for stimulus funding. The memo says that such a list will be released in the coming weeks.

The new money comes as the Bloomberg administration has proposed a 30 percent cut in its five-year capital plan, which funds billions in infrastructure and economic development projects. That comes on top of a move last year to stretch out the plan from four years to five, effectively cutting spending by 20 percent.

City Stimulus Analysis

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Michael Bloomberg might have gone and hired John McCain’s former director of communications, Jill Hazelbaker, but it's going to take more than that to impress Phil Ragusa.

 “I don’t really know who she is," said Ragusa, the Queens County Republican chair. "Is she from New York?”

Hazelbaker, is, in fact, from Oregon.

“I wish her lots of luck, but she’s not a local person,” said Ragusa. “I think he has to do a lot more than that.”

Bloomberg is set to meet with Republican county chairs on February 25, when they will decide whether to allow him to run in their party’s primary.