New York City is in serious trouble: Its economy is collapsing under the COVID lockdown — and Mayor Bill de Blasio is totally clueless about how to reopen it.
On Tuesday, he admitted City Hall has no specific date for lifting restrictions (though he’s hoping it’ll be some time in June) — and no firm grip whatsoever on the details of how the reopening will take place.
“We’re going to be briefing all New Yorkers on each of these questions as we get closer,” he assures. Gee, thanks. (Memo to Hizzoner: June starts on Monday.)
There’s a “lot that we have to put together,” he dithers, “but it’ll all be in place well before we announce the actual day for the restart.” Huh? What’s he been doing for the last three months?
As for Phase 2, don’t even ask: “I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves,” he dodges. “We still have to get to Phase 1” and prove it works, which could take “several weeks.”
Most tellingly, he can’t say how commuters will get to work, since social distancing seems impossible on crowded subway trains. “We’re going to be working with the MTA on that,” he says.
Good to know, Mr. Mayor.
Please. Hospitalizations are down 90 percent from their COVID peak. The rest of the state is open or set to open — and a million city residents have filed for unemployment.
It’s been clear for weeks that the city needs to start reopening as soon as possible — and that the day was getting ever closer. Yet Team de Blasio is still figuring out the basics of how to do it — with no clue on key issues such as the subway.
He also insultingly claims that small businesses can “hang on” just fine.
Meanwhile, de Blasio has been busy setting up advisory panels — including a racial-inequality panel led by his wife — and spending millions on consultants who plainly haven’t helped resolve anything.
Wouldn’t it make sense to worry about a “chief diversity officer” after you ensure that the city can function?
New York has suffered through de Blasio’s for 6 ¹/₂ years, but its underlying strengths allowed it to pull through. But now the city has to rely on his “leadership” amid a crisis of the first order — and so is facing utter disaster. We are, unfortunately, learning the true price of an inept leader.
