New York mayor, Michael Bloomberg, was caught deriding the increasing homelessness in his city. The New York Post, on Saturday, reported that Mayor Bloomberg seems to want to avoid responsibility for the city's staggering increase in homelessness under his watch, by blaming a 30-year-old law signed by then-mayor, Ed Koch.
“You can arrive in your private jet at Kennedy Airport, take a private limousine and go straight to the shelter system, walk in the door, and we’ve got to give you shelter,” said Bloomberg, during his weekly radio show, according to The New York Post.
Bloomberg went on to say:
“That’s what the law is. I didn’t write the law.”
Though the billionaire mayor may be correct regarding the law and the fact that he did not implement it, he still cannot avoid the reality that homelessness has dramatically gone up under his watch.
The Coalition for the Homeless released a report earlier this month, "State of the Homeless 2013", which points out that "the New York City shelter system surpassed 50,000 people for the first time since modern homelessness emerged three decades ago."
[Report on the city's homeless problems - video] - PressTV.com
It appears that the mayor is more concerned with how much soda New Yorkers consume than how many find jobs and make their way out of a burgeoning homeless system.
The Coalition for the Homeless goes on to say:
"In total the homeless shelter population under Mayor Bloomberg has risen by a staggering 61 percent and the number of homeless families has increased 73 percent. During Mayor Bloomberg’s tenure, New York City homelessness has increased both in absolute numbers and at a higher rate than under Mayors Koch, Dinkins, or Giuliani. And recent Federal data show that New York City homelessness has increasingly become a driving force in the wider national homelessness crisis, particularly among children and families."
Patrick Markee, of the Coalition for the Homeless, took offense to the mayor's dismissive tone:
“It’s pretty ludicrous to claim that there are people flying in private jets and taking private limos to the shelter system,” he says.
Later adding:
“He didn’t seem to want to take responsibility for the fact that there are more than 50,000 people sleeping in city shelters, including 21,000 children.”
John Liu, who is the City Comptroller also objected to the mayor's take on the issue:
“Only an out-of-touch mayor who travels by private jet and limo would make such a tone-deaf wisecrack about a homeless crisis that has only worsened under his careless watch,” he says.
Bloomberg, whose net worth is listed at $27 billion, has been in office since 2001.
The mayor, however, blames the increase on the fact that it is difficult to move people out of the system, citing that a program which was designed to provide only temporary housing subsidies was tossed out.
“That program went away. So we’re having trouble moving people out of the shelter system,” says Bloomberg.
The mayor does admit, however, that though it may be easy for people to get into the system, very few - if any - are making it out.
“The good news is there’s fewer people coming in, but there’s nobody going out the door on the other side.”
The question now for New Yorkers is, "Why not?"
Where have the all the jobs gone? Have they disappeared along with the large soft-drinks?
According to the New York State Department of Labor, New York City's unemployment rate is almost 9%.
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Albert's Einstein Insight of the Day:
Adding lettuce to a sandwich makes a difference.
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