A Let them Eat Cake moment NYC Marathon ??/

[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 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.

[yubba]

Now that's out of the way, now we can get supplies to the people that need them,, they need to turn the schools into aid stations they have the room and everbody knows where they are.

[CCIP]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-20189083

Good.

Again, having some personal connections in Staten Island, I can confirm that there is indeed some real problems and some real anger there. They have a right to be frustrated, so in this case, I can only approve of the decision. It's just a sensible thing to do when people are still digging out.

[AVGWarhawk]

Originally Posted by 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. .

So you figured out its all about the almighty dollar. People and their well being have very little to do with this decision. Don't confuse this stunt as a moral booster for those affected by the storm. Personally I think it should never have come into question. Post pone.

[Jimbuna]

Earlier, some runners who had signed up for the race told local website Gothamist they would instead volunteer on Staten Island. As the cancellation was announced, other runners said they would do the same.

Nice one