Michael Bloomberg Wants People To Run Over The Dead Bodies Of Sandy's Victims UDATE: Generators For Marathon, Not Victims

"We're gonna die! We're gonna freeze! We've got 90-year-old people!"-A Staten Island resident who doesn't appreciate how important the NYC Marathon is.

There are no words to describe Michael Bloomberg's decision to allow the NYC Marathon to be run as scheduled this Sunday. If there were they would include, callous, despicable, contemptible and criminal. But those words do not convey the level of stupidity and cruelty involved.

Each year the NYC Marathon starts its five borough tour of the city on Staten Island. Right now Staten Island is a disaster area in every sense of the term. The majority of the deaths in NYC from Sandy happened on Staten Island and vast swaths of the Island (which is essentially a barrier island for Manhattan) are still flooded, homes have been destroyed, people are missing (door to door searches for the dead haven't begun yet) and survivors have been left with out food, water and shelter.

Just yesterday the bodies of two young boys who were ripped from their mother's arms by raging floodwater were discovered.

The heartbreaking discovery came as residents and public officials complained that help has been frustratingly slow to arrive on stricken Staten Island, where 19 have been killed — nearly half the death toll of all of New York City.

Garbage is piling up, a stench hangs in the air and mud-caked mattresses and couches line the streets. Residents are sifting through the remains of their homes, searching for anything that can be salvaged.

"We have hundreds of people in shelters," said James Molinaro, the borough's president. "Many of them, when the shelters close, have nowhere to go because their homes are destroyed. These are not homeless people. They're homeless now."

Molinaro complained the American Red Cross "is nowhere to be found" — and some residents questioned what they called the lack of a response by government disaster relief agencies.

A relief fund is being created just for storm survivors on Staten Island, Molinaro and former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said Friday. And Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Federal Emergency Management Agency Deputy Administrator Richard Serino planned to tour the island.

These stories are not unique to Staten Island but are being repeated across the city and the region, yet Michael "No salt or Transfats" Bloomberg wants to have a party.

The people crying for help aren't idiots, they may or not have had emergency supplies on hand, but it doesn't matter. Anything they had is gone. It was all washed away by the sea that left nothing behind but destruction and misery. This isn't about the reaction of the government, it's about not hampering relief efforts in the middle of a disaster. Make no mistake, the disaster is ongoing in many places and will be for days and weeks.

I'm a "life must go on" guy but it must go on AFTER everyone has been not made whole but at least has received basic emergency aid. It goes on AFTER a relief supply system has been put in place. It goes AFTER everyone has been found and AFTER the dead are buried.

What Michael Bloomberg is doing is putting the NYC Marathon over the health and well being of the people of New York City.

There are people without food, water and clothing across New York City today. All of those things will be handed out to runners on Sunday. Might there not be a better use for those vital supplies? If you have no food or water I guess you need to sign up for the marathon to get some.

It takes a small army of volunteers to put on an event like this. Might not these volunteers be asked to do some relief work instead? How much more could be done with that kind of effort? How many lives made better?

There are reports that police are being forced to give up their off day to work the marathon. These cops have been working almost non-stop since last weekend. For many this would have been their first day off, their first chance to care for their own needs and tend to family and friends. But no, the race must go on!

And what about firefighters, doctors, EMS, sanitation workers and on and on and on who are necessary to put this event on? How in the world can one justify putting a single person on marathon duty when so much is to be done and so many need help?

Right now all city parks are closed but Central Park will be ready to host the finish according to organizers. What resources are being used to get the park in shape that could be used clearing debris to open streets and help get power back on?

But hey Mayor no rush on getting anything done. It's not like there's the chance of another winter storm hitting the area next week. Oh wait.

Staten Island is...an island. There are four bridges that connect it to the rest of the world (3 to NJ and one to Brooklyn). The only connection to the rest of NYC is the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, that bridge is also the starting point of the marathon. Every minute that bridge is closed even partially to accommodate runners and it's closed for hours) is a minute supplies aren't getting through.

This isn't about people's feeling or if it's "too soon" to get back to normalcy. It's about New York Road Runners Club and Michael Bloomberg WILLFULLY hampering relief efforts. If one ounce of relief material is delayed for one second getting to a person in need, Michael Bloomberg should be put in jail.

Added: This guy gets it.

Richard Nicotra, who owns the Hilton Garden Inn in Bloomfield, said those who have been displaced by the hurricane can stay as long as necessary. Marathon runners are unhappy that he will not honor their reservations, but Nicotra said he will not ask the evacuees to leave.

“How do I tell people that have no place to go, that have no home, that have no heat, that you have to leave because I need to make room for somebody that wants to run the marathon,” Nicotra said. “I can’t do that.”

Nobody HAS to run a marathon. A lot of life is getting your priorities right. Putting a recreational activity ahead of life and death needs is never the right priority.

Update 2: Are you FUCKING kidding me?

As hundreds of thousands of Big Apple residents suffer in homes left without power by Hurricane Sandy, two massive generators are being run 24/7 in Central Park — to juice a media tent for Sunday’s New York City Marathon.

And a third “backup” unit sits idle, in case one of the generators fails.

The three diesel-powered generators crank out 800 kilowatts — enough to power 400 homes in ravaged areas like Staten Island, the Rockaways and downtown Manhattan.

Be a real shame if a mob showed up and put them to good use.

posted by DrewM. at 10:00 AM

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