On Snow Response, Mayor Goes from Testy to Angry to Sorry

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While he didn't actually say the magic words, Mayor Bloomberg came as close as he's going to come to an apology for how the blizzard response was mismanaged. At a press conference at a Bronx hardware store today, Bloomberg told reporters, "We did not do as good a job as we wanted to do, or as the city has the right to accept. We'll figure out what happened this time and try to make it better next time." But that wasn't good enough for some disgraceful reporters, who had to go and press the mayor until he finally said something imperious. When asked if New Yorkers should have been doing anything besides venting anger at him, Bloomberg replied, "People should have gone to the park and enjoyed this time with their families." And decrease the surplus population of complainers!

Bloomberg also announced that if the City Council gets to have a hearing on the blizzard, he gets to have an investigation. "I cannot tell you for sure why it was a lot worse this time than the other times... could we do a better job?" Bloomberg wondered. "We are going to find out." Just not now, though; the mayor added, "The time to worry about that is after we've gotten every street open and that's what we'll do." So... sometime in March maybe? Who knows, Bloomberg's busy! When asked about shovelin' Newark Mayor Cory Booker, the mayor admitted that he has a slightly different approach. "I have not been out with a snow shovel but I have been answering emails," he offered.

The mayor also refused to fire Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty, who, for his part, predicted all streets would be cleared by 7 p.m. tonight. He added, "Will someone find a street missed? Maybe." But that's nothing a little bottle of rum and some child labor can't fixf!

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By John Del Signore in News on December 29, 2010 2:45 PM

Comments [rss]

nolastname

Can I have a T-shirt that says "Bloomie Be Gone"?
Or "Wish him in the corn field". Please.

Guest

Yet another reason not to own a car in a city like New York. In many suburbs, cars aren't allowed to park on the road in the winter so that plows can do their job. But, in NYC all the car driving entitled assholes who cannot cough up for a garage little the street with their cars making it nearly impossible for plows to remove the snow in a timely manner. So, if you are parked on the street and want someone to blame, take a look in the mirror.

TimeDown

Bloomberg seems to have pretty thin skin for the mayor of such a large city. Every time the press questions his mistakes or prior negative comments he responds immaturely. It's hard to believe he is as successful as he is.

j44ke

Classic situation where events are compounded by an underestimation of the weather's severity. A decision was made that standard precautions were enough, and then by the time it was clear they weren't, nothing could be done. Not enough plows were out so streets were getting buried, buses were getting stuck, EMTs had no chains on the trucks so they were getting stuck, private vehicles were getting stuck, tow trucks couldn't get to anyone, and extra workers couldn't get in to help out because everything was clogged, snowed in, stuck, buried, etc. Then in the morning, Bloomberg assuredly got a "rosy picture" from his staff that meant evidence to the contrary only stoked Bloomberg's unappreciation complex. Ergo, NYC is full of whiners and everyone should just lie down and enjoy it, or what was it? Go to the park. That's it.

Hey, Bloomberg wanted it three times, you know? Now he has it, but for some reason, it always seems to sound like HE is the one whining. The only benefit to all this will be if it totally destroys any potential presidential hopes he might have.

nicemarmot

Plow during the goddamn storm. When you don't, you wind up with this situation. Why they didn't I don't know; I've lived here for years now and never seen it this bad. Maybe the gave everyone the day off since it was Christmastime.

nolastname

He did not want to declare a snow emergency Christmas day. He did say it would have been an inconvenience. So this is convenient?

twophrasebark

I would have to reluctantly agree that Mayor Bloomberg is simply lying. This isn't rocket science. Snow falls and it takes a lot of workers and money to clean it up. Obviously they either tried to save a few bucks and it backfired or maybe sanitation was doing a slow down. Either way he doesn't have to do an investigation to know what's up.

Peanut_Butter

Why don't cops, meter maids, EMTs and Sanit guys all pick up shovels, a la Seinfeld? Firemen do that already.

nolastname

Yes, lets go for disability and compensation. I do like Seinfeld. Love the NYFD,

shocktheday

Cops don't want to pick up a ticket book let alone a shovel. EMTs are very busy in this city. Construction companies should be made to clean streets since they put alot of wear on the roads with their trucks and equipment; clearing snow can be payback to taxpayers who have to repair the damages their trucks cause.

airtech1

Or, a la Cory Booker

Rod

all the spin from liar bloomberg is outrageous.

first plow I heard saw come down St. Marks place in MANHATTAN was day four at 3am. metal scraping asphalt. 3am! cuz by day 4 the traffic had mashed all of the snow away. today at 11 am, another plow scraping asphalt. just now, 3pm, another plow scraping asphalt.

it's called "damage control".

ask mayor mike and he'll say it's because people dug their cars out (or similar excuses his spin doctords feed to him)

wrong. this is the evillage and all the cars are still under mountains of snow b/c everyone in this area uses them for leisure, not work. and one side of St. Marks has no cars and no parking!

he lies about everything he says and you know why? because it never fails to trick dumb new yorkers.