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!
