Responding to growing outrage, Mayor Bloomberg reluctantly canceled the annual marathon scheduled for Sunday.
Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers have no power, heat or water.
First responders are still recovering bodies of victims.
The city is not ready to celebrate.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
From Marine Park, Brooklyn… all thought the idea of actually holding the marathon ridiculous. Good to see sense prevailing.
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What was he thinking? Fifty plus deaths related to Hurricane Sandy, flooding throughout the city, massive power outages, city’s subway system down and want to have a road race
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Reblogged this on Kmareka.com and commented:
Seems like the right thing to do.
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Lance Armstrong could enter that, and people would pay to see it.
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It was pretty obvious that the 26.2 miles got the febreeze treatment. Now those portosans that the NYRR hoarded can go to SI and downtown. Not to mention those carb heavy 30K meals
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Oh he just cancelled it because he found out another storm is going to hit us on Wednesday and his dry cleaners might not have power back in time to press his money suit.
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Bloomberg…Mr. Money bags had an extra $20,000 laying around to donate to the campaign in Bridgeport, CT to take away the rights of citizens to elect their BOE members.
He should have saved the money and used it to help some NYC citizens to pay for funerals….I suppose twenty thousand is chump change to Mike.
This endless corruption and greed is going to ruin our country.
http://jonathanpelto.com/2012/11/02/news-flash-mayor-finch-and-education-reformers-spend-record-amount-to-take-away-bridgeport-voters-rights/
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I would not care to be standing anywhere near Bloomingidiot when the tsunami of bad karma he’s wracked up comes to call. I read elsewhere that he also played that favorite card of spiteful administrators everywhere and ordered teachers to report to work Friday even though the city is still on its knees. A truly petulant little man, a Lilliputian in all of its Swiftean connotations.
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Two more Staten Island victims. Saw Mary the Marathon spokesperson on NY1. She should have said nothing. They should have canceled the race on Tuesday. She said there was no benefit to canceling while announcing the cancellation.
Besides the opposition to the marathon from most people with a heart & aware of the devastation, how would NYC recover FEMA funds while hosting a marathon at the same time?
It’s sounding to me, from bits of news, that police may have weighed in.
Good for them. They want to help recover & I have no doubt looting would not look good while police were working on a marathon.
No one would look good. And NYC residents would be at greater high stakes risks.
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He’s unbelievable. Cancelling it was the right thing to do. People are still missing in the very area the race was to start.
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Ok, I am a psychologist, so I can’t help but wonder if the idea that the marathon would go on was part of the shock and denial that is common in such circumstances…
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Or an extremely out of touch billionaire who only has a use for the commoner when they suit his purpose.
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Perhaps he really is a narcissistic sociopath. After all one of his BFF’s is Michelle Rhee. But maybe the reason is, is that he isn’t a true New Yorker. He was after all born in Boston. A native New Yorker would never have made such a grievous mistake.
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Known for his tantrums, Bloomberg was no doubt brought kicking and screaming to this decision by his more rational and politically attuned aides.
The man has nothing but contempt for the lives and work of the people who make the city run. What NYC teachers have been experiencing for a decade, everybody else is seeing now.
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Interesting that the reason he cancelled was because his aides told him it would make him look bad (worse than after the blizzard). I don’t think he has visited any area outside of Manhattan. Certainly not Midland Beach in SI or the many union members who live in the Rockaways. No Park Avenue addresses there. But Cuomo hasn’t been there either. At least Christie is visiting many areas.
I also don’t understand why it took FEMA and the National Guard so long to get to SI when the bridge was reopened a few days ago. It’s like they are just being discovered now.
Also on today’s news evacuees at some of SI high schools are complaining about the deplorable and unsanitary conditions inside the schools. Yet students are to report to these schools on Monday. Reporters were not allowed to go into the school. Again, another black eye for Bloomberg.
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Your mayor is something else. He’s overly concerned about SuperSizedSodas, baby
formula and the NYC Marathon, but he could care less about the city’s conditions for which he is responsible. I guess it’s too cold & uncomfortable for him to step out of his limo for even two minutes to talk to “the commoners.” Beyond tragic.
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Contrary to the views expressed avove, the decision to cancel the NYC marathon should have been a close call.
Before concluding that cancelling the marathon was a no-brainer, we’d have to know how much first-responder resources the marathon consumes and whether the marathon organizers could have substituted private resources for these first-responder resources (i.e., how many police are detailed to marathon duties and could the marathon organizers have substituted volunteers for most of these police).
Other than the possible drain on first-responder resources, it’s unclear that holding the marathon would have interfered substantially with storm recovery. Yes, the marathon would have used some generators to run timeclocks and portapotties for the runners along the course. But — these generators and portapotties are supplied by private companies and it’s unclear to what extent these generators/portapotties will be reallocated to severely-suffering storm victims (as opposed to, for example, high school football games or restaurants whose customers are dining out for pleasure rather than necessity).
Presumably, the movie and Broadway theaters in NYC that have power are continuing to operate (at least, I have not heard any appeals by the general public for the city to shut them down). These theaters could be used to house people who need shelter, heat, and bathroom facilities. Why cancel the marathon while allowing the theaters to continue operating? Similarly, hotels that have power are continuing to register out-of-town guests. Why not require these hotels to give registration priority to storm-displaced city residents over out-of-town guests holding reservations? Or, to provide a certain number of rooms free of charge to storm-displaced city residents — why should the hotels continue to make a profit in the storm’s aftermath while the city prevents businesses that hoped to sell goods/services to marathon participants from making their anticipated profits?
And, there is a cost — private and public — to cancelling the marathon. Many participants (runners, family members, friends, race organizers, sellers of racing merchandise) have purchased non-refundable airline tickets and made non-refundable hotel reservations. The marathon participants would have spent literally millions of dollars in NYC — expenditures that would have profited businesses, employees, and the city’s tax revenue.
Finally, there is the issue of NYC’s reputation as the city that takes the hardest possible hits and fights on — i.e., 9/11 and its aftermath. Staging the marathon as scheduled — with ample publicity explaining the minimal drain on first-responder resources and Red Cross donations by participants — would have been a morale booster for the city and reinforced the city’s national/international image as the city that just cannot be beaten.
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It may have been different if Bloomberg’s home was destroyed, his kids or grandkids were swept away, or he was now homeless. I know….difficult to imagine, but things are much different when the hardships are yours to face. He is still a selfish, egocentric, pompous, self-absorbed, highfalutin jerk.
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Wanted to share something I read earlier today, just to illustrate that it is not such an easy decision to make. The below was written by Toby Tanser (a NYC running legend) and I think it illustrates how difficult of a decision this really is:
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So, I sit here with about 400-emails to answer. To runners who signed up to do this race, the majority who signed up not just to run, but to raise money for a purpose. Who then, when they heard, or saw firsthand Hurricane Sandy AGAIN donated. Runners; the changemakers. To the ones who saved up for years, like the A
borigines group with Rob De Castella – a once in a lifetime experience, how can we apologize? To the man whose dying daughter gave me an entry to this year’s marathon who has raised thousands for cancer research. To runners in a whole who have raised a mind boggling 650-million for Cancer research…
Sunday will come and Sunday will go – as if it was a Saturday.
No resources are being shifted that aren’t needed– who knows better than Bloomberg, you or I? The Red Cross are saying “We don’t need more volunteers, we need money,” and that is what the runners were doing. Who was listening to the Red Cross?
Raising Dollars — in the first day near to $3-million before the fanfare started… All these people who are shouting, “We’re going on a clean up on Sunday instead on running” – where were you on the day of the hurricane, or the day after… Why do you have to wait to Sunday for a Clean up?
We, as a city, voted Mayor Bloomberg to make the executive decisions; he spoke with the police, the fireman, all the city agencies who repeatedly said, “This will be good for NYC.”
I can not tell you how many Firemen I met at the expo who were looking forward to this race, who were excited for this race… Anyway, many problems are deeper lying than the obvious… but as a Board Member of the NYRR I know I have to apologize to each and everyone of these runners. I hear all your stories and I feel pain. Am truly sorry. Every story I hear makes me feel terrible, and I know the pains, trials and tribulations you took to arrive to get to this day. What a sad resolution
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Also found a great link http://aleksruns.com/2012/11/02/breaking-nycm-cancelled-after-all/ showing a
map of volunteer stations in NYC for all interested in giving a helping hand.
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The Red Cross needs more money? Do you you mean the Red Cross that has been nowhere to be seen in New York?
As for Bloomberg knowing best, is he even remotely aware that people are going hungry in the city while he worries about marketing the cityas a playground to to tourists and the global rich?
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