A Let them Eat Cake moment NYC Marathon ??/

[yubba]

Yep in central park they have tents, generators, bottled water and snacks, not for residents of the city but for some out of towners,,you liberals never sieze too amaze me.

[mookiemookie]

I think it's sad to live a life full of fear, full of misplaced anger and rage, fueled by those that prey on that fear by fanning the flames of political discontent for ratings and money. Being told over and over again that all of society's ills are due to this group over here. Taking every situation and turning it into a reason to hate this group over here. Constantly being told you need to view everything through the lens of partisan politics. Master manipulators and their brain mallets.

I think it's sad.

[Oberon]

Awww, Yubba looking to use the relief efforts as a political point, how cute.

[Jimbuna]

I think I heard somewhere that the city was gearing up for some marathon event even whilst some local people were still in need of relief supplies

[CCIP]

The marathon thing is completely awful but has nothing to do with politics. What liberals have to do with it, I don't know. You're an idiot, yubba. Step off, because this is in really bad taste and is offensive to the actual situation and people who are suffering there now, regardless of politics.

It really needs to be cancelled, of course.

I know people in Staten Island are getting particularly riled up over it, though. It's supposed to pass through there, and the place got hit especially hard, lots of people having lost their homes, there's a lack of gas for the generators, many roads are still unusuable, and they're still pulling out dead bodies from some of the houses (my friend's former school is now a makeshift morgue there). It would be a travesty to run a marathon, close roads, and waste gas where people are still having trouble digging out their belongings and getting around as it is.

AFAIK from a first-hand source, there is indeed some bad neglect of Staten Island going on right now. Aside from the marathon, the restoring of services is really slow there, and the official response is sluggish - Verrazano Narrows bridge, for example, won't even waive the (already extortionate) toll, which is making it miserable for people who are trying to get their belongings off the island. There has been a lot of focus on getting Manhattan back in working order, but Staten Island is really struggling.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by CCIP

You're an idiot, yubba.

Hey! It's not nice to pick on people with a Mental Dissorder.

[August]

Originally Posted by jimbuna

I think I heard somewhere that the city was gearing up for some marathon event even whilst some local people were still in need of relief supplies

Yeah the New York city marathon, one of the larger running events in the country. People are mad that police and firefighters are being pulled away from recovery efforts in order to cover the event instead.

It probably should have been rescheduled to a later date but I understand that's not all that easy for such a large event.

[Betonov]

Originally Posted by jimbuna

I think I heard somewhere that the city was gearing up for some marathon event even whilst some local people were still in need of relief supplies

Might not be a bad idea. To lift the morale with an event, raise funds in between. Get some celebs to run and donate etc...

[CCIP]

Originally Posted by August

Yeah the New York city marathon, one of the larger running events in the country. People are mad that police and firefighters are being pulled away from recovery efforts in order to cover the event instead.

It probably should have been rescheduled to a later date but I understand that's not all that easy for such a large event.

Don't/shouldn't events like this have a "disaster-related cancellation" contingency of some sort? I mean, if something like this was happening during 9/11, I'm sure they would've got everyone off the track pronto. The city should probably step in at this point and just put the brakes on.

[BossMark]

Shouldn't it have been postponed this year, or even better still cancelled?.

[CCIP]

Originally Posted by Betonov

Might not be a bad idea. To lift the morale with an event, raise funds in between. Get some celebs to run and donate etc...

I think that's great, but again, not if they're getting in the way of people who are trying to clean up, get their belongings back, or even get gas and food for themselves. It's hard to overstate how strained the infrastructure in some places is already. Commuting for a lot of people there has been a several-hour for the past couple of days, because there's so many things (tunnels, roads, subway) that are closed or damaged. This is just adding another burden, on that as well as on the emergency services. And that's bad.

An alternative would be to move it to higher ground. AFAIK it's the route that's a big part of the problem, because it affects some areas and transport lanes that are needed by people in hard-hit areas.

[CCIP]

Here's the official map btw:

http://www.ingnycmarathon.org/docume...Map_ForWeb.pdf

The big problem is the start location. Staten Island is in bad shape and this really isn't something they need right now.

[Jimbuna]

Not sure how far away the marathon event is but I'd have thought they'd postpone...at least until the local populace is sorted.

[Sailor Steve]

I would have thought so too, but who knows? Maybe the city officials thought it would help take people's minds of their troubles.

[mookiemookie]

Bloomberg's saying that there's an economic incentive to have the race go on. I buy it...I'm sure it's a big moneymaker for the city, and I think they could use that. But I don't know about how thin it would stretch city services for people who really need it right now. Conflicted.