October 21, 2005
As Wilma prepares to slam into the Caribbean and Florida, it seems the New York Post has discovered the city's hurricane plan is from the "dark ages". Quelle surprise—The city's hurricane-evacuation plan is so outdated, it lists Rudy Giuliani as the mayor of New York and Bell Atlantic as the city's telephone provider, according to documents reviewed by The Post.
We must be grateful to Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, because he subpoenaed the documents from the city's Office of Emergency Management. But chaos at our local level is mirrored on the national level; Ringelmatz is still in shock from yesterday's extraordinary article by Dana Milbank in the Washington Post, quoting Col. Larry Wilkerson that if a major nuclear disaster or pandemic struck, the Cheney-Rumsfeld cabal has created such chaos and dysfunction at top levels of government that the United States could not react quickly or effectively enough. Wilkerson: "[Y]ou are going to see the ineptitude of this government in a way that'll take you back to the Declaration of Independence." That's chilling news from a military man, who is also a staunch supporter of the first President Bush. Ringelmatz also looks forward to the new book by Bruce Bartlett, who worked for Bush père, and was fired by his think tank this week because of his book, titled Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy.
Anyhow, back to our local level: "The plan is clearly not only dysfunctional, it is out of touch with reality," Brodsky said after reviewing the hundreds of pages of documents. "If a serious hurricane hits, people in hospitals, nursing homes and other health-related facilities are in real trouble, and the city knows it."
Sigh. Will the taxpayers demand more accountability from government? Good thing an election is 2-1/2 weeks away. Surely Mayor Bloomberg can buy himself a better plan.
Tags:
bush, disaster plan, homeland security, hurricane, oem
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Posted on 10/21/2005
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October 09, 2005
A police car from the 32nd precinct at the intersection of Spring Street and Sixth Avenue aroused our suspicion. Sure, the city is on high alert, but the 32nd precinct is at 250 West 135th Street, quite a distance away. (Ringelmatz and his female companion visiting from Switzerland had just dined at Peep on Prince Street, and were walking south.) Two burly officers got out of the squad car, and seemed to head towards the subway entrance. The officers instead walked to a large black roller suitcase—the sort that's far too big for the overhead compartment on an airplane, but obnoxious passengers insist they must carry on anyhow—and examined it. One officer then jumped on it, much to our surprise. Ringelmatz then slyly said: "So it's OK? We can move on?"
The officer just as slyly replied, "If it wasn't OK, I wouldn't be here right now." We all burst out into laughter.
Tags:
alert, nypd, subway, suitcase, suspicious
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Posted on 10/9/2005
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October 07, 2005
You must question the timing of it, especially when Washington raises the red flags--sorry, the code yellow flags--underplaying the story that got overplayed here. With cops everywhere visible in force today, with police car lights flashing outside subway stations all over Manhattan, with Bloomberg skipping last night's absurd political-theater debate at the Apollo, you have to question the timing. The debate was really amateur night, with more than enough silly yes/no questions posed to Ferer and Ognibene ("Do you own an iPod?").
But was this intelligence really 'actionable', really requiring a massive police presence on this day before a major holiday weekend? A credible threat emanating from Iraq, where big talkers are a dime a dozen? An alleged baby-stroller bomb or briefcase bomb? Although anything is plausible in 2005, and while Ringelmatz hasn't got a clue, it sure raises the ugly spectres of last year's presidential election and those orange alerts. Ringelmatz heard one caller on the Brian Lehrer Show this morning speak of George Orwell's 1984 but wonders if the present doublespeak isn't more evocative of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World instead....especially considering how many of us are doped up on dopamine or ignoring the news in order to stay sane or stay safe. Or how many of us did not ride the subway today? Ringelmatz rode six stretches, one on the A train with two ladies obviously just arrived from the Philippines with enormous suitcases--and not one passenger batted an eyelash, not even the one reading the Post's screaming cover story. Probably none of the passengers read the transcript of Bush's "major address" on terrorism yesterday either. All we really know is that somewhere three men have been detained.
Tags:
bloomberg, ferrer, mayor, nypd, security, subway
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Posted on 10/7/2005
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