Helluva Choir, a group of elderly vocalists, sang "When you're smiling," a song made famous by Louis Armstrong. The P.S. 29 kids' choir sang a mashup of MGMT's "Kids" and Jay-Z and Alicia Keys' "Empire State of Mind." There was even a message from a groundhog known as "Staten Island Chuck." This was all before New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was introduced and made the rounds of the St. George Theater in Staten Island, shaking hands.

Then he took to the stage.

During Bloomberg's State of the City address, the mayor channeled his inner Giuliani and made more than a few references to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He also made several allusions to the depressed state of the city in the 1970s, possibly reminding New Yorkers of how bad things could be without a business-minded leader holding the reins.

With talk of an innovation-based economy that encourages entrepreneurship and championing welfare-to work program, Bloomberg, while focused on local issues more than usual, almost outright ignored several key ones, including education, crime and the plight of the public employee. Or maybe that was the point?

"In fact, for the first time in decades – New York City entered a national recession later than the rest of the country, and now we have come out of it faster and stronger than the rest of the country," stated Bloomberg. "We're not out of the woods yet, not by a long shot, but we sure are going in the right direction." But some organizations and coalitions don't agree.

Living Wage NYC, a coalition that organizes for an ordinance that would require tenants who live in publicly subsidized housing to pay its employees a "living wage," took to their Twitter account to lambaste Bloomberg. "Working poor New Yorkers are still waiting for the economic recovery the mayor referenced in his speech," they said.

"Let me be clear: We will not raise taxes to balance the budget," said Bloomberg during his speech, to big applause.

Bloomberg spend a lot of the speech discussing budget cuts, saving money and reforming the city's pension system.

"Last year, when we gathered together to consider the state of our city, I spoke of the twin challenges we faced: creating jobs in the midst of a national economic downturn and balancing our budget in a way that protected vital services and taxpayers," said the mayor. "Today, I am glad to report that, over the past 12 months, we have met both of those challenges better than almost any other city in the nation."

"The only way to protect pensions for our city workers – including our police officers, firefighters, teachers, sanitation workers and correction officers – is to reform the system so we can afford it and at the same time afford the vital services that New Yorkers want and depend on," he continued.

Bloomberg wants to save $8 million a year by consolidating pension systems, which he says wont affect benefits at all. He also wants to set a new tier for future hires that would raise the retirement age to 65 for non-uniformed workers, and wants to overturn the state law that prohibits the City of New York from negotiating pensions as part of the collective bargaining process.

"I will not sign a contract with salary increases unless they are accompanied by reforms in benefit packages that produce the savings we need to continue making investments in our future and protecting vital services," said Bloomberg.

With reports in Brooklyn and the Bronx of New York City police officers being forced to meet "quotas" and downgrade crimes to make the statistics look good marring much of 2010, Bloomberg's "we cut crime to record lows" statement rings hollow to some New Yorkers.

Bloomberg did reference education, but focused mainly on fighting the way the "most effective" teachers are laid off as opposed to the "least effective" teachers and defending his choice of Cathie Black as the new chancellor. "Cathie Black has a deep understanding of the skills our students need to succeed in the job market – that's why I picked her," he said. "She knows that first-rate teachers are the key to success."

The mayor also mentioned albeit briefly, helping minority and women-owned businesses establish themselves.

"We'll launch a new program to connect immigrant entrepreneurs to the information they need to open small businesses, and the loans and expertise they need to grow and expand," Bloomberg said. "We'll also enter into a new partnership with a major bank – Citi – that will get credit flowing to hundreds more qualified small businesses in all five boroughs.

"To remain strong, we must make the right choice," Bloomberg stated during his State of the City speech, but with the stench of the blizzard of 2010, Cathie Black and Off-Track Betting (OTB) issues still fresh, Bloomberg will have to do a lot of work to regain the favor of New Yorkers who feel he's out of touch with the average man.