Bloomberg's donations may end...

Bloomberg Is Quietly Ending a Charitable Program is the focus of the New York Times, link is creating some concern in the New York area.

Since he was first elected mayor in 2001, Mr. Bloomberg has provided money to hundreds of mostly small neighborhood, arts and cultural groups through the Carnegie Corporation of New York, a philanthropic trust, in a process that was remarkably informal and closely coordinated with City Hall.

The gifts reflect the often blurred roles Mr. Bloomberg plays in the city as mayor, tycoon and philanthropist. And while the donations earned him praise from grateful recipients, who regarded him as an enlightened billionaire, they also drew rebukes from elected leaders who argued that he bought political acquiescence with his checkbook.

That tension was heightened during the mayor’s 2008 push to rewrite the city’s term limits law. His aides asked several groups that had received Carnegie grants to lobby for the change publicly, which allowed him to remain in office for four more years.