Tiny Tyrant Bloomberg decides the New York Marathon should proceed as planned...w/ Update

really?

I have a great idea.

Close to 50,000 people have registered to run in the New York City Marathon, which starts on Staten Island, one of the hardest hit areas and desperately in need of help.  Instead of running the marathon, how about all those people pitch in to help the residents of Staten Island?  I figure 45K or so people could make a huge difference.  I see no reason for them not to be able to offer assistance for at least two days.

Update:

Marathon Runners Form Protest Group To Spurn Starting Line And Volunteer On Staten Island Instead

 A Brooklyn woman scheduled to run in the NYC Marathon is gathering a group of runners to volunteer on hurricane-battered Staten Island Sunday instead of running the race. Penny Krakoff, a social worker who lives in Crown Heights, is entered in the race, but tells us she can't participate in good conscience. Instead, she plans to user her bib to take the official bus transporting marathon runners to the starting line on Staten Island—and then spurn the race to spend the day volunteering.

Krakoff says she'll collect extra food and and clothing to take with her on the bus and distribute it on Staten Island. Her neighborhood was spared the brunt of Hurricane Sandy's wrath, but Krakoff is well aware of the devastation wrought on Staten Island and elsewhere, and she's part of a growing number of New Yorkers who feel the Marathon should be postponed. She writes:

I cannot start a 26.2 mile run in Staten Island—people are missing, stranded, in need of resources. Brooklyn and Queens have equal devastation. Parts of Manhattan are without electricity, water, major hospitals are closed. The Bronx too has its own challenges. Today I will volunteer at a city evacuation shelter. Sunday morning I will catch the marathon bus to Staten Island. Not planning to run. Plan to volunteer instead and gather resources (extra clothes, bottles of water, food from runners at the start). Let's not waste resources and attention on a foot race. Who is with me?

read the rest

Notable comment from previous post on Mayor Bloomberg's retreat from reality......

in which I asked the question, "Is Mayor Bloomberg certifiable?"

 Mayor Bloomberg marches in "gay pride" parade - has message for Americans...

"New York is a place where you can do whatever you want to do," Mayor Michael Bloomberg declared before he joined the Fifth Avenue parade at noon.

He said he had a message for the rest of America: "The government should get out of your personal life."  source

You can do wherever you want to do unless it includes salting your food or buying a 32oz soda.  

Comment from Mark at Libertas et Memoria:

A classic example of the puritanical strain within modern liberalism. Certain lifestyle choices (mostly sexual) are to be honored and respected, but other lifestyle choices (like having a Big Gulp) are not. The idea that the Left wants people to be free in their personal decisions is, of course, complete balderdash. They are as moralistic as any southern evangelical preacher. The difference is what they consider to be acceptable within the sphere of proper conduct. Eat too much fried food? That's bad. Have multiple sexual partners and/or lots of illegitimate children? Who am I to judge...Of course, what this is all really about is class paternalism. The elites approve of sexual license, so that is no longer a vice. What they don't approve of anymore is Big Gulps. So, the Big Gulps get banned, and gay marriage gets enshrined as a constitutional right. You like fried food and Big Gulps? You are obviously from some backwater place like Idaho or Queens, NY and should be put in your place. Now, go put on your rainbow pride sticker and vote for Obama like you are supposed to.

 Bravo, Mark!