Gov. Cuomo Forces Mayor Bloomberg To Take Hurricane Sandy Seriously

Related : Related : Hurricane Sandy - Political Accountability For Hospital Evacuations

Blogger and activist Suzannah B. Troy draws attention to the mixed messages about hurricane preparedness and readiness. Ms. Troy questions the ability of the 911 emergency call system here in New York City to handle a major emergency, such as a large-scale natural disaster.

Nobody understands how Mayor Bloomberg can expect city employees can show up to work when there is no mass transit due to the suspensions of services by the MTA New York City Subway system, and during what the National Hurricane Center describes as a "life-threatening" storm.

At 11:30 a.m. Sunday morning, Mayor Bloomberg ordered mandatory evacuations of Zone A areas of New York City, but he is only giving the impacted residents a few hours to find shelter. Has Mayor Bloomberg been sleeping on the job, or was he busy with his new Super PAC ?

Meanwhile, here in Queens, it is evident that the City's sanitation workers were not told to clear the garbage on the streets, to minimize flying objects during the hurricane wind gusts.

Are we heading for a repeat of the way that the Sanitation Department was overwhelmed in the aftermath of the post-Christmas Blizzard of 2010 ?

Will NYC 911 tech system work during the Frankenstorm ?

The artist and political blogger Suzannah B. Troy has posted on her blog concerns about whether the 911 dispatch tech system in New York City will hold up during the impact and aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Remember how New York City's emergency response plan turned out to be inadequate in the lead up to and the in the aftermath of the Snowpocolypse ?

Like Putin, Like Bloomberg

From The New York Times :

Like Putin, Like Bloomberg

October 4, 2011, 8:44 AM
By CLYDE HABERMAN

Political ploys under way in Russia could almost serve as an instruction manual for the leadership at either end of New York’s City Hall. You have to slap your forehead in wonder that the New Yorkers didn’t think up comparable high jinks for themselves.

In case your idea of foreign news is a revised menu at the International House of Pancakes, allow us to explain.

Dmitri A. Medvedev, who is Russia’s president but not the guy in charge, plans to step aside so that his place can be taken by Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin, Mr. Medvedev’s predecessor and still the true power. Once Mr. Putin is installed anew as president, Mr. Medvedev will move in as prime minister. In some countries, leaders swap political favors. In Russia, it seems, they swap jobs.

The reason for this folderol is that Mr. Putin, though not thrilled with the idea, yielded the presidency three years ago in accordance with a constitutional provision limiting him to two consecutive terms.

In other words, this former K.G.B. man, known for strong-arm tactics, was more scrupulous about observing the niceties of term limits than were New York’s political leaders: Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and his Medvedev equivalent, Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker.

You will recall that Mr. Bloomberg and Ms. Quinn could not bother themselves with observing the letter, let alone the spirit, of a voter-imposed city law limiting them to two terms. With the help of complaisant council members, they simply changed the law to reward themselves with third terms. Generally speaking, it’s not a good idea to look less faithful to democratic formalities than Vladimir Putin.

There is no need to belabor the wobbly nature of this third term. Names and phrases like Cathleen P. Black, the 2010 blizzard, Stephen Goldsmith and the CityTime scandal tell you at a glance how things have often gone.

For the privilege of presiding over all that, Mr. Bloomberg distorted campaign financing beyond all recognition — yet again — by spending $108 million in 2009.On Monday, he was forced to testify at the trial of a political consultant accused of stealing $1.1 million from that campaign. Theft, if proved, is bad, of course. But Mr. Bloomberg tosses around money so freely that his losing a million dollars is like an average person’s having coins slip between the sofa cushions.

Nor are finances the only area of distortion. The normal balance between the executive and legislative branches in this city has been knocked askew in the Bloomberg-Quinn era. Theirs is not quite the Putin-Medvedev relationship, but it bears a certain resemblance, sort of a second-rate Moscow on the Hudson. Not unlike the Russians, Mr. Bloomberg and Ms. Quinn are trying to make sure that power remains within their alliance.

He leaves no doubt that he wants her to take his place after 2013. His administration goes out of its way to include her in news conferences even when the Council’s role is close to nonexistent, whether the issue is Hurricane Irene or, as was the case last week, an announcement that New Yorkers were eating more fruits and vegetables.

In turn, Ms. Quinn often acts as if she were not the Council speaker but, rather, the deputy mayor for legislative affairs. The latest example came a week ago when she bottled up a bill loathed by the mayor. It would have required mayors, including the wandering, Bermuda-loving Mr. Bloomberg, to let the rest of us know when he strays far from the city — certainly when he leaves the country, as he did before the 2010 blizzard. Ms. Quinn made sure that the Council would not even debate this proposal.

There is, however, such a thing as excessive coziness. A NY1-Marist College poll last week confirmed that, for now anyway, Ms. Quinn is the Democratic front-runner in the 2013 mayoral election. But it also showed that nearly half of Democratic voters would be less likely to vote for a candidate who had Mr. Bloomberg’s support.

How does that aphorism go about being careful what you wish for?

Mayor Bloomberg Find Himself Snowed-Under

Snow Blower

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg continues to try to dig himself out from under the piles of criticism following the deadly post-Christmas Blizzard of 2010. Yesterday, the mayor ran out of patience with reporters questions, who were keeping Mayor Bloomberg accountable for the deadly response to the blizzard, even as a new snow storm was expected to hit New York City just in time for the weekend.

NYTimes Blows Off Snowpocalypse

Public Anger At Tone Deaf Mayor and Impotent Emergency Management is Questioned By The New York Times. Does Public Outrage Do Any Good, asked reporter Michael Wilson ?

The New York Times called the outrage at the lack of the Bloomberg administration's blizzard preparation an exaggerated reaction.

''But is there a point when the outrage itself becomes outrageous? After all, it was an awful lot of snow. Or is outrage something every New Yorker needs to experience to pull through? Can we all learn to stop complaining and love the plows?''

Meanwhile, let's run a reality check : the outrage was based on the public's fear of abandonment by the Bloomberg administration following the natural disaster. '' By comparison, " Death of newborn baby among several blizzard tragedies as city is accused of 'dropping the ball' '' was the headline in The New York Daily News. New Yorkers had reason to fear that the government response to the post-Christmas Blizzard would resemble the government response to Hurricane Katrina, namely, no response.

Seems like The Times just might be as tone deaf as Mayor Bloomberg.

Ambulance Buried In NYC Snow

An Ambulance Stuck In Snow -- Right Outside Of Beth Israel Medical Center, NYC, 28-Dec-2010.

The New York Times has reported that ''at least 200 ambulances got stuck on unplowed streets or were blocked in by abandoned cars.'' Hopefully, the city won't face the possibility of a state of emergency, like a natural disaster, such as a blizzard, which would require a rapid response.

Cinnamon Raisin or Hot Dog Buns

It was after 9 p.m. last night, when I ventured out to the grocery store. On my way, I found a sanitation truck stuck in the snow. All of these snow removal trucks wouldn't be getting stuck in the snow if they had started plowing the streets earlier than this. Once I got to the grocery store, in terms of bread, I had my choice of cinnamon raisin bread or hot dog buns. I failed to buy bread before Sunday night, but, by comparison, New York City failed to have an adequate snow removal plan. The sad thing is that we all knew on Saturday that this snow storm was coming. I chose cinnamon raisin, but what did Mayor Michael Bloomberg choose ?