When Will Bloomberg Cancel The Marathon?

It is absurd that the Mayor of Money is insisting that the NYC Marathon will go forward on Sunday even as many parts of the city struggle to recover from Superstorm Sandy - few places as bad as the starting gate for the Marathon, Staten Island:

Outer-borough residents pleaded for help Thursday, claiming their Sandy-ravaged neighborhoods are the forgotten victims of the killer hurricane — and nowhere was the anger more palpable at the storm's Ground Zero: Staten Island.

Even as the city and feds rushed food, water and generators to the borough, residents and their elected officials fumed that Staten Island was being prepped as the starting line for Sunday's New York City Marathon, even as the rest of the island is left to deal with the aftershocks of the mega-storm.

"The notion of diverting even one police officer, one first responder, one asset away from this carnage is beyond irrational,” Councilman James Oddo told the Daily News. Earlier, Oddo called the idea of hosting the marathon as “idiotic” on his Facebook page.

Staten Island has been the scene of some of the most heartbreaking storm-related devastation, especially on the South Shore where numerous trapped residents had to be rescued. Hundreds of homes — from multimillion-dollar mansions to modest bungalows — have been damaged and dozens of streets are impassable due to downed trees and buckled roads.

As such, federal and local officials heard an earful from residents Thursday.

“Please don’t leave us,” a weeping Donna Solli pleaded to Sen. Chuck Schumer in front of her damaged Neptune St. home. “I live alone down here.”

...

“We have the worst tragedy that's ever happened in Staten Island, and I'd say New York City, since 9/11," said Borough President James Molinaro. "We need help … We need food, we need clothing, we need everything you can possibly think of."

"We have hundreds and hundreds of people in shelters. How do we handle them? Where do they go?"

Schumer and Mayor Bloomberg said help was on the way.

“We are, over the next few days, going to have to work out some procedures to make sure people can get food,” Mayor Bloomberg insisted.

But a growing and bipartisan chorus of Staten Island pols complained their borough was getting short-changed by a mayor more intent on getting Manhattan up and running. They’re especially irate that the New York City Marathon, which kicks off Sunday on Staten Island, is still scheduled to happen.

Staten Island is the “ground zero” of Sandy damage, said State Sen. Diane Savino, a Staten Island Democrat.

"We've been devastated on Staten Island," she said. "I don't think people appreciate just how bad it is on Staten Island. We are screaming for help on Staten Island."

Staten Island Assemblyman Michael Cusick said the people in his borough “feel left out” from the recovery efforts.

“I don’t think people realize how bad it is out here on Staten Island,” Cuscik said. We’re in a tough situation out here. A lot of the coastal lines are going. They’re still recovering people.”

People in Queens are also pissed at the city's response - or lack thereof:

 

 Queens lawmakers also blasted what they termed the outer-borough "Katrina."  As of Thursday afternoon, 92,788 were still out of power in Queens.

“I understand there may be priority locations (for restoring power), but there aren’t priority boroughs,” said state Sen. Tony Avella, a Democrat. “I have tens of thousands of people without power in my district alone.”

Sen. Malcolm Smith inspected the damage in Far Rockaway and said, “I’m looking at a small Katrina out here.”

It's the Bloomberg Blizzard/Boxer Day all over again, with Bloomberg and the city ho-humming their storm response to the outer boroughs - except this time the outer boroughs also means lower Manhattan.

And yet our intrepid mayor is so far going to go forward with the NYC Marathon on Sunday, he's busy issuing proclamations on the presidential election, he's lecturing people about global warming.

Get the power back on, Mr. Mayor.

Get people food and water.

Help them.

Worry about that other crap later, when people are taken care of.

So far, Bloomberg has skated on this, but if he doesn't get things up and running by tomorrow, I think he starts to take a real political hit.

Especially if the Marathon takes place as scheduled even as people lack water, food, power and aid.