Nearly a year after Hurricane Sandy, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the mayoral candidates are warning that gridlock in the nation’s capital threatens to delay projects that aim to make the city safer here in future storms. NY1′s Josh Robin filed the following report.
One house livable, the ones beside it still knocked out from last October’s storm. It’s a sign of how fragile parts of the city remain, and how they may remain, with Hurricane Sandy recovery plans caught up in the government shutdown.
“Washington’s gridlock is doing real harm to our nation’s economy, and if they don’t get their acts together soon, New York City families, especially those who endured the worst from Hurricane Sandy, will feel real pain,” said Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
It’s a sentiment that unites Bloomberg’s would-be successors.
“The shutdown does threaten, by definition, the aid we are depending on to rebuild after Sandy, and that’s going to have a huge negative impact on a lot of people’s lives who suffered as a result of Sandy,” said Democratic mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio.
“What has gone on in Washington is outrageous,” said Republican mayoral candidate Joseph Lhota. “I’ve never seen anything in my life as irresponsible as shutting down the government.”
Irresponsible, and damaging to Republican hopes of keeping New York out of Democrats’ hands.
The gridlock is Washington is causing some political problems for Lhota in new york. He has to explain his party affiliation at a time many New Yorkers are deeply distrustful of the Republicans, thinking they are more at fault in the impasse than Democrats and President Barack Obama.
De Blasio isn’t skipping chances to link the national party with its local candidate.
“I don’t understand in this day and age how someone could continue to be a Republican and say that they want to help New York City move forward,” he said. “I think there’s a contradiction there.”
“While I may be a Republican, I don’t believe in what those congressional Republicans are doing,” Lhota said.
Still, Lhota admitted that the shutdown likely complicates getting out his own message.
“Well, Bill de Blasio keeps bringing it up every chance he gets, so the answer is probably yes,” Lhota said. “But I’ve got a record of saying that what they’re doing is wrong. I’ve been saying it for a long period of time.”
As for wrong, Lhota is repeating his criticism de Blasio isn’t right for the city. He calls de Blasio an “extremist.”
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via Great Local News: New York http://newyork.greatlocalnews.info
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