Should Mayor Bloomberg have postponed the NY Marathon?

I'm not sure cities heal or somehow feel better about themselves because a niche sport is taking place in the middle of a disaster area.
I've already read about storm refugees whose homes were damaged and who had the money to go to a hotel are being kicked out for runners. And huge generators are being used along the race route when they could go to Staten Island, which is among the worst-hit.
I think Bloomberg has bungled this horribly by insisting it go on.
Thoughts?

 

Absolutely.

They keep talking about symbolism and intangible crap like that. Quit worrying about symbolism and get people their help.

And let some of the cops have a fricken day off for once.

 

Speaking as a former Staten Islander with relatives and friends still living there, there's no way the race should be held. I understand they're prioritizing storm cleanup for the race route while more needy areas suffer. I understand the race is a revenue generator but the billionaire mayor got this one very wrong.

 

To me, this reminds me of one of those deals where you're more willing to piss off your spouse than another person. Example: On Saturday night, we're meeting a co-worker and his girlfriend for dinner. It's way later than my wife would like. But I'm not trying to get it switched, because I figure I can deal with her and don't mind dealing with her. I'm less enthused about negotiating with my co-worker, who is a friend but, obviously, not as close to me as my wife.

Bloomberg would rather deal with the backlash from his own residents, the devil he knows, than outsiders coming into town.

It's ass backwards, but we all do it.

 

Don't know the lay of the land and maybe it's too soon for all this, but in the aftermath of Katrina and 9/11 and other natural or manmade events, hasn't the #1 request from local officials been "come here and spend your money"?

 

It's incredibly tone deaf for someone who is the mayor of NYC.

 

Yeah but protocol would suggest you wait until the rescue operation is over.

 

How much of the rescue operation remains in place because people ignored evacuation orders? I'm legitimately asking.

Dick hit it on the head here.

 

I don't know the specific geography too well. They are drawing the comparison that it went on after 9/11, but that was two months later and I don't think the route took them too close to that site. (At least if it was the same route as when I visited in 2010 to watch a friend run.)

But the race and the stated $340 million economic impact -- which is probably inflated, so stipulated, but there is a lot of activity -- don't wait. They either happen this week or not at all in 2012. So it's money lost in a very real sense. And I imagine there are a lot of businesses that count marathon week revenues pretty heavily in their annual budget projections.

I don't know. New York is used to handling many things at the same time. If they can do the recovery efforts and the marathon, why not?

 

Really irrelevant to the discussion, I think, Wicked.

"You should have evacuated like you were told, so screw you, we're sending the cops to close off intersections for people to run across."

I don't think that's what you believe, but it comes across that way.

 

Bloomberg has been acting a lot like a tinpot dictator lately, and seems to like it.

Put it off two weeks.

 

Of course it should be postponed. Holding it Sunday is nuts!