Friday, July 21, 2006

Blackout Day 5

The big news is they're actually reporting it. Took them long enough.

The blackout of 2003 lasted about 18 hours. People still talk about it like the Kennedy assassination. But since this one is localized in my neighborhood, no one cares five days in. Yesterday Bloomberg said he didn't need to go to Queens. Someone must have told him how unbelievably callous that was cause he was in Astoria that afternoon, not talking to anyone.

Renee and I went down to Rockaway to visit my family. We hadn't had time to stop by since Father's Day so I guess staying away from the house is paying off.

I actually saw a light go on in my house this morning. I would have investigated further but I had to leave for work in a torrential thunderstorm. Fun week.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ha - I'm drying off as I type. Have a *great* day!

Cromely said...

"Yesterday Bloomberg said he didn't need to go to Queens. Someone must have told him how unbelievably callous that was cause he was in Astoria that afternoon, not talking to anyone. "

Bad move, Bloomberg. That's exactly what cost Lindsay the election in 1969. A blizzard hit NYC, and he didn't bother sending the plows out to Queens for days. Apparently he want to clear the "more important" boroughs first.

He was a Republican, too. At that point (and I imagine today as well) Queens was where the Republicans had the most support in the city. You would think political survival would say youo should clear your own supporters neighborhoods first. Apparently, he put politics aside, however, in a myopic view of Manahattan's importance.

My mother still talks about that election and blizzard.

Of course, my grandmother used to insist that she and my grandfather register to vote in different parties. That way, regardless of who was in power, they would still get city services. That's another story, however.

In a related note, Fark.com has been citing reports of the larger STL blackout happening now, now, and emphasizing how if it had been NYC it would have gotten much more coverage. Now, apparently, the smaller NYC blackout has pushed the STL blackout off the front pages.

http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=2184225

But the facts of that supposition are being disputed in the thread.