According to official reports, Michael Bloomberg is the proprietor of an $18 billion fortune. With his eponymous television channel, he directs financial markets all around the world. This man is also the mayor of New York, where he only accepts $1 per year as a salary. When people ask him why he does this, his answer is always something like “because there is no place like New York!”
Thanks to Istanbul’s mayor, Kadir Topbas, I had the chance to meet this very interesting man the other day. I was also able to meet with Bloomberg’s sister, Marjorie B. Tiven, who has a position working in the municipality as Bloomberg’s right-hand assistant. She arranges all of his appointments and participates in meetings. Just think, if something like this ever happened in Turkey, there would be complete outrage. The opposition party would jump at the opportunity to accuse the mayor of running the city like his own family business. As a consequence, forget a family member being permitted to assist the mayor; they wouldn’t even be allowed in city buildings!
The Topbas Bloomberg Meeting
It went on for about 40 minutes. Not very many people were able to observe the entire meeting. After saying he was pleased to be able to receive Topbas as his guest, Bloomberg starting chatting about Istanbul. Bloomberg visited Istanbul seven years ago (he stayed at the Four Seasons), and says he was enchanted by the city. Topbas responded by telling Bloomberg he was invited to return anytime he wished. After this, the two mayors discussed their duties together. Bloomberg remarked that he was frustrated by New York’s traffic problem. Topbas added that Istanbul suffered the same problem and described some of the policies he is employing. Bloomberg was apparently so impressed by these recommendations that he nodded to his assistant to start taking down notes.
The end of the meeting, however, was witness to a strange incident that I would definitely like to share.
Before the photo-op, Bloomberg’s sister, Marjorie Tiven, handed Topbas a gift basket with a silver apple, a symbol of New York. Mayor Bloomberg expressed his happiness at being able to offer this gift and added that he did not have to use public money to buy it because Tiffany and Co. was sponsoring the occasion. To tell you the truth, this announcement struck me as quite strange, probably because it clashes quite a bit with Turkish convention and custom.
Think about it — this is one of the wealthiest men in the world, who works for free just out of love for his city. Yet he isn’t willing to reach into his pocket to pay for a $500 gift! I was so struck by this oddity that I brought it up that night in a conversation I had with William Wachtel, architect of New York’s new taxi project and director of Karsan. I was really surprised by Wachel’s response. He told me I shouldn’t be surprised by Bloomberg’s announcement. It was necessary because in the United States, public money can’t be used to buy gifts of any kind — not even a plastic pen! He added that if anyone ever asked Bloomberg to donate his entire fortune to New York, he wouldn’t hesitate. But he still won’t pay for gifts out of pocket when receiving visitors. After all, Bloomberg is a world-renowned public figure. Not just mayors from other cities, but also prime ministers and presidents work very hard to get a meeting with Mr. Bloomberg. Wachtel finished by adding that, not to exaggerate too much, but Bloomberg’s prestige is on the level of Obama’s. For this reason, getting a meeting with Bloomberg and having the Turkish delegation received in New York is really remarkable for Istanbul.
There you have it. Americans really are very interesting. I’m sure we’ve still got quite a bit to learn from them. But I bet that in the name of interpersonal relations, they could learn a few things from us as well — don’t you think?
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.