For some people in New York, the only story today — still — is the blackout.
Eric Gioia, whose week has been fairly consumed with servicing his beleaguered constituents in Western Queens and the media, says he spent the morning walking around his district in Woodside and Sunnyside and “didn’t speak to one person” who had their power fully restored.
Interestingly, despite the excruciating way that the problem is playing out – it may have claimed its first fatality over the weekend – the issue of who to blame has remained scrupulously un-politicized.
The criticism so far from Queens Democrats has largely spared Mike Bloomberg, who first played down the problem, and has since taken a soft line on Con Ed.
Here’s Gioia’s assessment of the mayor’s performance, for example: “I’m happy he’s in Queens everyday now, which is a good thing. The past few days the city has responded really strongly. But it’s clear that he response was inadequate and slow at first. I blame Con Ed for that. Con Ed deceived each of us into believing this was not as serious as it was.”
— Josh Benson