“‘We Need Food, We Need Clothing’: Staten Island Residents Plead for Help 3 Days After Sandy,” ABC reports. However, as the New York Daily News notes, such horror stories aren’t preventing Mike Bloomberg from focusing on more important mayoral duties:
Desperately needed food, water and generators were being rushed Thursday to Sandy-ravaged Staten Island while local leaders blasted the city’s “idiotic” plan to stage the New York City Marathon in the midst of the crisis.
Staten Island Councilman James Oddo urged Mayor Bloomberg to reconsider, especially while rescue efforts are still underway on the hard-hit South Shore.
“The notion of diverting even one police officer, one first responder, one asset away from this carnage is beyond irrational,” the Republican lawmaker told The Daily News.
“The mayor said to me, ‘We’re not going to diminish what is happening on Staten Island.’ You know what happens on marathons – you put a cop on every corner. How are we going to have enough resources?”
Speaking of which, the New York Times evidently has enough resources, in spite of the myriad disasters caused by Sandy, to run stories such as this article yesterday: “A Restroom Plan Can Reduce Worry:”
A raceday outfit. A prerace meal. A playlist. A warm-up routine.
And there is one more thing runners obsess over but are often too shy to discuss in public: making sure that digestive issues have been dealt with. “If you don’t address it or wing it then that’s when you lose valuable time in the marathon,” John Honerkamp, chief coach for New York Road Runners, said.
It is a vital part of any proper prerace routine, said Adam Banks, chief executive of NY SportsMed, a sports therapy practice. “Carrying that extra weight with you for 26 miles is extremely uncomfortable.”
That’s why 1,750 portable restrooms, from A Royal Flush, are placed at the start of the New York City Marathon.
“A lot of runners laugh about it, but a really important component to having a good race is doing your prerace business,” said Beth Risdon, a running coach and running blogger.
No really — that’s an actual headline and the first paragraphs of an article in the most important paper in the most important city in the world in a time of natural disaster.
Gray Lady Down, indeed.
(Cross-posted at Instapundit.)
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