If there's a city parade, you bet it's an opportunity for politicians to get out to press the flesh. And yesterday's West Indian American Day Parade in Brooklyn was no different, with the primary showdown over the Congressional seat being vacated by Major Owens coming up next week. As it happens, the crowd in the Wyckoff Gardens Houses weren't too happy to hear Mayor Bloomberg and candidate-City Councilman David Yassky announce that $600,000 worth of security cameras would be installed. Someone ended up throwing a frosted doughnut near the Mayor, causing his girlfriend Diana Taylor to take "cover beneath a concrete overhang," as the Times puts it. Which only made the Mayor joke, "Well, just another reason why we need cameras." Newsday reports that another man was loudly murmuring in the back of the crowd, prompting the mayor to say, "If we could have some quiet back there, sir, it would be appreciated, thank you; we can't hear." Of course, the NYPD investigated the tasty treat toss, but came to the conclusion, "Nothing was ascertained with certainty, but there is no indication it was directed at the mayor. It may have just been tossed out the window or dropped."
Residents seemed to be upset that the security camera press conference was purely political and that the Mayor and Councilman Yassky just using the residents. The NY Times added that "None in the crowd would say whether they worked for any of Mr. Yassky’s opponents" - Carl Andrews, Yvette Clarke, and Chris Owens - who still seemed much better received than Yassky.
Other politicians that marched: Senator Hillary Clinton, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Attorney General and gubernatorial frontrunner Eliot Spitzer and his main challenger Tom Suozzi, Attorney General wannabes Andrew Cuomo, Mark Green and Jeannine Pirro.
