Cathie Speaks

First, I'd like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to reach out to your audience.  Now I know a lot of you think I was born with a silver spoon, but that's not true.  I've been working for 40 years and I really know what life is like for a typical person nowadays.   Also, during a recent visit to a public school, I learned that public school children are human beings. This resonated with me. The fact is I've been working with human beings fairly regularly in my publishing business.  Writers are human beings.  Staff is human beings.  Sure, adult humans are larger than younger ones, but they're all human.

And it's not like I'm a stranger to what city parents go through.  I mean, sure, I wouldn't send my kids to public schools, because, face it, who really wants 40 kids in a class, and how the hell are you supposed to get any work done with kids living in the house?  For just 45K you could send a kid to boarding school like Kent and be done with it.The point is I haven't had it easy. I've had to take second and third jobs, and I'm no stranger to doing extra things.  I only get about half a million a year for sitting on these boards, but the important thing is I'm able to help people.  I got Dougie Daft an extra 36 million, and Steve Heyer 24 million.  As chancellor, I'll be able to get folks like Dougie and Steve many more millions, not an easy thing in these tough economic times.

And please, don't lecture me about sacrifice.  I just had to sell one of my homes for 1.98 million, and really, it was well worth the 2.35 asking price.  And now I'm down to my Park Avenue penthouse and the place in the Hamptons.  Mike says most public school parents don't have more than two homes, and now I can relate to that sort of life.

And I'm sorry, but these are tough economic times, and they call for sacrifice.  Sure I'll have to fire teachers.  Sure class sizes will go up.  But really, how about growing up?  I took a big loss on that Connecticut home and you don't see me whining about it. And the Kent School is still taking applications, so stop whining about public schools and fill one out if that's what you want.

So let's just go forward together.  You can complain all you want, but Mayor Bloomberg has more money than anyone else in the city, and he's shown the willingness to do whatever he wants no matter what anyone else says.  With all due respect, anyone who disagrees can try to amass more money than he has or shut your mouth.

I hope that didn't come off the wrong way.  Remember, after an extensive search, it was my penthouse Mayor Bloomberg walked across the street to visit.