Bloomberg Diverts Food, Generators from Devastated Staten Island to NYC Marathon

Fresh off his "climate disruption"-driven endorsement of President Obama, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has chosen to divert critical food supplies and power generators from desperate residents of Staten Island to Sunday's New York City Marathon. Gothamist reports:

[T]hose urging the city to halt the run believe that the thousands of Marathon volunteers could direct their efforts towards post-Sandy relief and cleanup, "and they also argue that the event will divert thousands of police from important hurricane-related duties." But despite petitions circulating, work started up again yesterday on the Marathon route.

A tipster, who wishes to remain anonymous, told us there were lots of workers in and out of the park today, who had "started before the storm and then came back starting yesterday." Trailers are lined up from around 71st to 66th Streets on Central Park West, a food truck was set up today, and "generators have been sitting there at least a week." The tents that were taken down prior to the storm have also been set back up, and there is a stage set up near 73rd Street.

Considering all the volunteer help and NYPD attention that's already being diverted to the Marathon, the added sight of generators and food being channeled to the event is probably going to strike some New Yorkers as a little misplaced—we're thinking of the ones who are currently lined up waiting for the National Guard to ration out MREs and bottles of water.

Staten Island residents are frantically calling for help, ABC News reported on Thursday:

The residents of Staten Island are pleading for help from elected officials, begging for gasoline, food and clothing three days after Sandy slammed the New York City borough.

“We’re going to die! We’re going to freeze! We got 90-year-old people!” Donna Solli told visiting officials. “You don’t understand. You gotta get your trucks down here on the corner now. It’s been three days!”

Staten Island was one of the hardest-hit communities in New York City. More than 80,000 residents are still without power. Many are homeless, and at least 19 people died on Staten Island because of the storm.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/11/01/Bloomberg-Divert...

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Permalink Reply by Central Scrutinizer on November 5, 2012 at 1:14pm

Marathon canceled, but generators and supplies still sit unused in park

By REBECCA ROSENBERG, SALLY GOLDENBERG, KATE KOWSH and BRUCE GOLDING
Last Updated: 11:45 AM, November 5, 2012
Posted: 1:02 AM, November 5, 2012

What a run-around!

The city left more than a dozen generators desperately needed by cold and hungry New Yorkers who lost their homes to Hurricane Sandy still stranded in Central Park yesterday.

And that’s not all — stashed near the finish line of the canceled marathon were 20 heaters, tens of thousands of Mylar “space” blankets, jackets, 106 crates of apples and peanuts, at least 14 pallets of bottled water and 22 five-gallon jugs of water.

This while people who lost their homes in the Rockaways, Coney Island and Staten Island were freezing and going hungry.

Warzer Jaff

THE GOODS: Would-be marathoners who circled Central Park yesterday were the reason given for not moving some crucial supplies.

THE GOODS: Would-be marathoners who circled Central Park yesterday were the reason given for not moving these crucial supplies (above).

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Michael Murphy, of Staten Island, who had no power and no heat, said yesterday, “We needed 100 percent of the resources here.”

“If those generators were here, we maybe could have had some light for the cleanup effort,” he said. “Those generators would really have come in handy.’’

Larry Gold, 61, of Rockaway Park, who has difficulty breathing, can’t use his oxygen tank without electricity.

“I need power to breathe,’’ he said.

“Right now all I can do is sit outside my house and pray that they bring us a generator.’’

A marathon security worker still working yesterday from a generator-powered trailer in the park, said the power sources had not been moved to devastated areas of the city because of an impromptu race run by marathon holdovers in the park.

“Once we found out they’d still be running a marathon, we had to call all the towing vendors and tell them they couldn’t come,” he said.

“We can’t have these trucks coming in with the runners. It’s a safety issue.”

But most runners in the non-sanctioned run around the park were upset to learn they were being held responsible for disrupting rescue efforts.

“I’m sure they could have asked the runners to pause to remove the things,” said Scott Hawley, 31, of Hell’s Kitchen.

“It shouldn’t take long, and if any of us knew this, we would want that to be the priority.”

And the city had no explanation for why it didn’t simply ask the runners to stay out of the way of the trucks — or send cops to clear a path.

City Hall also did not explain why the equipment and food were not moved out of the park on Saturday — since the race had been canceled a day earlier.

Richard Finn, a spokesman for the New York Road Runners, which pledged all its supplies for disaster relief, also declined to say why the food and equipment weren’t moved out earlier.

The club “focused on routing any available resources to the needy in partnership with local authorities, and making our own personal contributions where we can,” he said.

REST OF IT