Bloomberg backs $20 museum fee

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has an answer for citizens questioning how the Museum of Modern Art can get away with raising its admission price from $12 to $20 when it reopens in Manhattan on Nov. 20: Go to another museum.

“MoMA is a private institution,” Bloomberg was quoted as saying in Tuesday’s New York Daily News. “It’s not a city institution. And they have a right to set their own pricing policies.”

Bloomberg, a billionaire, said that even though the museum has received taxpayer money, the city should not be “pressuring” private groups about fees.

“If you can’t afford [admissions] at any one, you can go to another one,” he said.