What’s there to smile about?
Mayor Bloomberg looked downright gloomy as Gov. Pataki shook hands with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver during a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new high school in lower Manhattan yesterday.
It was the first public appearance together for the mayor and the governor since they clashed over a schools commission created by Pataki without the city’s input.
Bloomberg called the panel a “cruel hoax” without proper city representation.
But the Bloomberg-Pataki tiff over the commission wasn’t on display in public yesterday – at one point the mayor and the governor were chatting and laughing like long-lost friends.
Bloomberg even joked about whether he or Pataki would appear together in more parades with J.Lo.
The governor declared his new education commission would be “adding more people from the city and from across the state.”
The mayor had attacked Pataki’s commission on Wednesday by pointing out it didn’t include any city officials.
On his WABC radio program yesterday, the mayor suggested that he, the governor and legislative leaders sit down to hammer out a fair funding formula for city schools.
“I don’t think that a panel is the right answer,” said Bloomberg. “I think that we know the problems. We weren’t elected to duck decisions.”
But there was no evidence of any disagreement as Bloomberg and Pataki heaped praise on one another when it came their turns to speak.
“The mayor and the governor actually like each other,” said a source. “The staffs, well, they’re killing each other.”
The new Millennium HS is located on three floors of converted office space at 75 Broad St.
The first class of 220 students arrives Monday.