This summer, Mayor Bloomberg's office had something to say about the IRS' decision to recognize same-sex marriages, so they issued a press release. The mayor's voice also chimed in on a new EPA measure to cut carbon pollution, and lauded the FDA's decision to ban trans-fats. Just six hours after an NYPD traffic agent was fatally struck by a truck in Midtown yesterday, the mayor offered the city's condolences in a release. Yet nearly ten hours after a Metro-North train derailed in the Bronx, killing at least four New Yorkers and injuring dozens more, the city's chief executive has issued two tweets on the incident and hasn't visited the site of the crash.
Governor Cuomo, the Fire Commissioner Sal Cassano, NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly, and many other government officials visited the site of the derailment today and briefed members of the press. Mayor-elect de Blasio also issued a statement, saying he had contacted Commissioner Kelly about the tragedy.
Mayor Bloomberg's spokesman Marc LaVorgna explained his boss' absence to the Post by pointing out that the derailment involved a Metro-North train, thus making it a state issue. “It’s an MTA scene so it was appropriate for the governor to be the lead official,” LaVorgna said.
LaVorgna has not responded to our request to elaborate on why the mayor hasn't issued a full release, or the mayor's whereabouts. The last event on the mayor's public schedule was the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade at 10 a.m. on Thursday. Friday was not a city holiday. The mayor's pretaped radio address aired earlier today.
Naturally, the administration's silence isn't likely to tamp down speculation that Bloomberg could have spent the days after Thanksgiving in a considerably warmer locale, or locales.
Mayor Bloomberg leaves office in exactly one month.
