Mayor's Ties to Hometown Fade, But for a Few, They Are Still Felt.

MEDFORD, Mass. -- David Honeycutt stepped into John Brewer's Tavern, his family's sports bar just outside this blue-collar Boston suburb, days before the start of his senior year at Columbia, tipped off that the mayor of New York was eating lunch beneath a wall covered with Red Sox pennants and big-screen TVs. Mr. Honeycutt, like Michael R. Bloomberg, had grown up in Medford and moved away for college, seeking a job in finance. Mayor Bloomberg, recognizing a kindred spirit, offered the young man his card; weeks later, in fall 2009, he greeted Mr. Honeycutt at City Hall and arranged an introduction to an executive at a major Wall Street bank. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]