We've reported to you how New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is diverting resources away from hurricane clean-up efforts in order to keep the NY Marathon on schedule this weekend. (Glenn also talked about the absurdity this morning on his radio program.) Meanwhile, residents on Staten Island are diving in dumpsters in hopes of finding food and residents of Coney Island are trying to fight off looters with sticks and stones. With such a dire situation, you'd think the mayor would take all the help he could get.
Think again.
Bloomberg has reportedly turned down additional help from the U.S. National Guard. "We don't need it," Bloomberg insists, despite pleas from the boroughs for back-up. “The NYPD is the only people we want on the street with guns.”
::facepalm::
The Brooklyn Paper has more:
[Borough president] Markowitz demanded the National Guard’s help just an hour before Bloomberg’s press conference, claiming that the NYPD and FDNY are “brave — but overwhelmed” by all the challenges Sandy brought when it visited the borough on Monday night: flooding, power outages, and looting.“All of our resources have been stretched to the limit,” Markowitz said. “In the name of public safety we need to send more National Guard personnel into Coney Island, Manhattan Beach, Gerritsen Beach, Red Hook, and any other locations.”
Markowitz hopes that the sight of an armed soldier would deter criminal activity in the still-unaccessible evacuation zones — such as the rash of break-ins that took place in Coney Island hours after Sandy kissed the borough goodbye — but the Mayor said the NYPD was more than capable of handling the job.
“There are plenty of locations upstate and in surrounding states where they don’t have a police department the size of New York and they can use help [from the National Guard],” said Bloomberg.
I'd like to take this moment to reflect on the lunacy that is Michael Bloomberg and to remind our readers that he's endorsed Barack Obama for president. That is all.
