Park Slope's Rabbi Andy Bachman, of Congregation Beth Elohim, was at Brooklyn College on Friday, an invited guest to hear Mayor Bloomberg's State- of- the-City address. Here are some of his reflections. The rest is, of course, on his blog:

Yesterday I had the honor of being a guest at Mayor Bloomberg’s
State of the City address on the Brooklyn College campus. Despite the
freezing weather, ten students greeted people across from the entrance,
lamenting budget cuts in education and Israel’s incursion in Gaza.
People didn’t seem to “pay no mind.” There was a small bit of irony
that the road leading to Whitman Hall is called Hillel Place, named for
the campus Jewish institution which took its name from the early Jewish
sage who represented openness and dialogue with all people.

I
sat in the back section, with the masses, clicking away on my iPhone
while Blackberry and cellphone message lights glowed all around. A
great soundtrack played while people shmoozed and mingled, a Ric Burns
documentary about New York played, with its message about the
resilience of New Yorkers in hard times set the tone for the Mayor’s
speech.

Marty Markowitz shpieled about Brooklyn and the Mayor of Midwood High School had the honor of introducing Mayor Bloomberg.

The
speech was practical and tough–a kind of combination of past
accomplishments, plan for the next four years, and campaign kick-off
all rolled into one. He spoke law and order, guns off the streets, and
spoke boldly about not waiting for Washington to act in the face of
this terrible economic crisis. As New York University professor
Mitchell Moss said to the press afterward, “He reassured New Yorkers
that we are going to have a positive approach to dealing with the
economy, we’re not going to sit around and wait for the federal
government to take charge.”