announcement was seen as an aggressive move by the New York City Indie music community, causing broadcaster WFUV to take public on-air swipes at Wierson for having encroached on their market. On March 5, 2009, Wierson, along with NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, announced that WNYE, after being in Brooklyn since 1938, was moving its radio broadcast operations to Manhattan, and was unveiling a new digital transmitter, capable of transmitting multiple in-band HD radio streams. Over the years that Wierson was at the helm of New York City's media assets, he was known to spar with several public officials who were critical of the Bloomberg Administration. New York City Councilwoman Gale Brewer, who at the time represented Manhattan's Upper West Side on the City Council and had oversight over telecommunications and technology (she is now the Manhattan Borough President), regularly criticized the Bloomberg media and communications operation as being "too flashy" with its focus on fashion, celebrity, and other topics she viewed as inconsistent with the mission of the network. Wierson countered Brewer in sworn Council testimony that "television is meant to be watched." While at NYC Media, Wierson also taught as an adjunct professor of business at the MBA program at Metropolitan College of New York (formerly known as Audrey Cohen College) lecturing on the business of media and television. In 2009, Mayor Bloomberg announced Wierson was stepping down as President of NYC Media Group, saying "Over the past seven years, Arick Wierson and his team transformed NYC TV into one of the nation's best television stations. After helping build the station virtually from scratch, Arick oversaw the merger of NYC TV with WNYE-TV and WNYE-FM, creating the largest local media group in New York that now reaches hundreds of thousands of people every day. NYC TV's 160 New York Emmy nominations and 42 awards serve as a testament to Arick's vision, tenacity, and leadership and to the excellence of the media group he was instrumental in creating. I have no doubt that Arick's entrepreneurial and creative talents, which helped him achieve great things at NYC TV will serve him well as he rejoins the private sector..." The New York Times later revealed that Wierson had been quietly producing a documentary film starring former U.S. President Jimmy Carter "Back Door Channels: The Price of Peace" which later opened in Monte-Carlo and Abu Dhabi. Business activities in Angola In 2009, Wierson