God delivered unto New York almost two feet of snow 10 days ago, and then in His wisdom he took it away; too bad the same can’t be said for the mountains of garbage still piled curbside all around the city.
And now another storm is expected, but Mayor Mike promises that all is in readiness, saying: “We plan to do a great job.”
Quite unlike 10 days ago.
The leadership vacuum in City Hall during the Christmas blizzard was pronounced; the plowing slowdown and other operational failures naturally followed in train.
Doubtless Bloomberg will see to it that there is a full complement of deputy mayors on duty when the flakes fly today — though the damage to his reputation as a master manager is substantial, and perhaps irreparable.
A new Marist Poll out today shows Bloomberg’s approval rating has cratered — at 37 percent, it’s the lowest since he took office nine years ago — with 71 percent of respondents disapproving specifically of the blizzard response.
Meanwhile, investigations are under way by the US attorney in Brooklyn and the district attorneys in Brooklyn and Queens into whether sanitation workers, angered at recent budget cuts, staged a deliberate slowdown.
Late Wednesday, the city’s EMS chief was demoted because of a huge (the mayor yesterday put it at 1,700 calls) backlog in emergency responses during the blizzard when ambulances kept getting stuck in the unplowed snow. As were two Brooklyn bosses, as part of a Sanitation Department overhaul.
Sounds like a good start.
But where was Waldo, er, Mike, when the snow started falling?
As per usual, the mayor stonewalled.
“We don’t announce, except for the public schedule, where the mayor is,” he says. “There’s no reason for it. I have a right to a private life, the same as you.”
Fair enough.
But New Yorkers have an unambiguous right to know precisely who is in town, and in charge, during an emergency.
Ten days ago, First Deputy Mayor Patti Harris was MIA.
And Deputy Mayor for Operations Steven Goldsmith — presumably the go-to guy in such a situation — was in Washington and simply stayed there even after blizzard warnings were issued.
Bloomberg clearly has no intention of budging on this issue. That’s why it’s incumbent on the City Council to take the matter out of his hands.
There’s no good reason why the council can’t mandate that a duty roster be established — and made public — whenever a mayor prepares to leave town.
That way, the mayor’s privacy is protected.
The public is kept in the loop.
And the city itself avoids a repeat of the confusion and incompetence occasioned when a mayor goes AWOL and his deputies disappear right behind him on the eve of a universally predicted weather emergency.
And who knows what else.
Bloomberg, of course, would hate such a requirement. Too bad about that.
The council’s duty is clear: It must act without delay.