Given the extensive coverage of New Jersey governor and GOP Establishment darling Chris Christie's ever-widening web of scandal, right-leaning types have been desperate to find some false equivalence. Yesterday, Rupert Murdoch owned rag The New York Post tried to blame Mayor Bill De Blasio for poor snow removal on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Hilarity ensued...
The writers at the "Post" insisted that De Blasio botched snow removal on the wealthy UES as political payback because he didn't garner the percentage of votes there as he did in other neighborhoods:
“It really is a tale of two cities — this time with the tony Upper East Side getting the shaft!”
Of course, when these people receive the exact sort of service that the residents of the Outer Boroughs receive, they perceive it as an attack. It's particularly frustrating because the neighborhood is well-served by public transit. One entitled chucklehead interviewed on the radio whined about having to take five cabs to get from the 70s to the 90s, when a ride on the Lexington Avenue subway line would have gotten him there with no problem.
Even more hilariously, part of the perception of shoddy treatment resulted from a malfunctioning GPS unit which failed to update progress made by a plow that was operating in the vicinity. Yeah, a WATB sitting in a Starbucks checking snow removal performance on his iPhone would have thought that nothing was being done, while a glance at the street would have revealed the truth.
The recent snowstorm was no picnic- I spoke to a Yonkers police officer on line at the supermarket, and he indicated that there were auto accidents all over the place... and NYC received more snow than the City of Y______. The simple fact of the matter is that the snow removal proceeded at a normal pace, and the wealthy Upper East Siders had to get in line with everybody else in the city.
You know they've got nothing when, not only do they want to conflate a slow snow response to an actively hostile lane closure, but they have to lie about the speed of said snow response.
Of course, when these people receive the exact sort of service that the residents of the Outer Boroughs receive, they perceive it as an attack.
ReplyDeleteOne would think the Outer Borough residents and lower income Manhattanites (the NY Post's audience) would not be receptive to that kind of thinking.
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You should be pleased that you at least HAVE weather. Here, locked in an endless series of 70 degree days and 45 degree nights, sunshine and drought emergencies, I'm actually kind of jealous reading about snow & ice storms, sub-freezing temperatures and the challenges of an urban winter.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I GET that if I lived in it I'd HATE it, but SOME variation, something that might be remotely perceived as winter weather would be welcome. This has become some kind of Rod Serling interpretation of hell...
It really is a tale of two cities — this time with the tony Upper East Side getting the shaft!
ReplyDeleteThat makes no sense at all. What weird misapprehension of Dickens' novel has the writer managed to acquire? What is the imagined parallel between London versus Paris, in comparison to Upper East Side versus other districts of NY?
One would think the Outer Borough residents and lower income Manhattanites (the NY Post's audience) would not be receptive to that kind of thinking.
ReplyDeleteI think the vast majority of "Post" buyers purchase it for the extensive sports section and 25-cent cover price.
You should be pleased that you at least HAVE weather. Here, locked in an endless series of 70 degree days and 45 degree nights, sunshine and drought emergencies, I'm actually kind of jealous reading about snow & ice storms, sub-freezing temperatures and the challenges of an urban winter.
On a basic level, I totally agree, but we had a goddamn pipe burst in one of our buildings. I always loved the winter, but this one is getting to be too much!
What is the imagined parallel between London versus Paris, in comparison to Upper East Side versus other districts of NY?
It's a Murdoch rag, it's not supposed to make sense.
Wait, I read the post article. So the snow came down starting at 8:00 am, and they're upset that all streets weren't plowed BEFORE IT STOPPED FALLING?
ReplyDeleteI remember a snowstorm in the '70s when it came down one afternoon and the next day at 10 am I was walking knee deep in snow down the middle of Fifth Avenue just north of Washington Square.