Oh, Bill de Blasio, can you hear the chords of your career swansong striking in the near distance? Have you exercised so much temporary authority over your constituents that your head has swelled with the power? Or has the pressure of dealing with the Coronavirus pandemic plagued you to the point of paranoia? These are just some of the questions that come to mind when confronted with the New York City mayor’s response to COVID-19, and his newest threat to build fences to keep New Yorkers away from beaches.
With Memorial Day just around the corner, Democrat de Blasio announced he would not open the seashore; during a press conference on Sunday, May 17, he threatened to set up fences to make sure New Yorkers observed his social-distancing rules. “You want to walk along the beach or sit on the beach for a while -- fine,” he allowed. Then he added: “No swimming, no parties, no sports, no gatherings.”
The kicker:
“If people don’t get it right, if we start to see a lot of violation of those rules, up will come the fences closing off those beaches. No one wants that, but we’re ready to do it if that’s what it takes to keep people safe.”
Isn’t it ironic that the same person who considers President Donald Trump’s border wall “racist” and “inhumane,” because its purpose is to keep illegal immigrants, drug dealers, and sex traffickers from entering the United States, is the same man who wants to build fences to keep his constituents from their public beaches?
Several weeks ago, on March 18, de Blasio told the Today Show’s Savannah Guthrie, “There are American military officers right now still building a wall at the southern border when all they should be doing domestically is addressing Coronavirus.”
As Liberty Nation’s Leesa K. Donner pointed out, building the wall is a matter of COVID security:
“Stacked coffins, crematoriums running on an industrial scale, and overflowing morgues reveal an entirely different story than Mexican government officials have been peddling about the Coronavirus in Mexico City. The actual death toll in the capital city ‘is five times the published figure,’ according to a Sky News investigative report. Could this grisly truth be the reason for ramping up construction on the southern border wall?”
De Blasio’s about-face from just a couple of months ago is enough to make anyone’s head spin. He told his residents that the virus “should not stop you from going to Chinatown and going out to eat,” and two weeks after New York had its first recorded case, he said, “We want people to go about their lives.” Now, if New Yorkers can’t behave, the Big Apple’s daddy will build those fences.
Where is the mayor going to find the money to pay for said barriers? De Blasio has predicted a $6.6 billion drop in revenue beginning in June due to the pandemic. But he hasn’t cut back on spending and has instead boosted payroll $2 million by promoting and hiring approximately ten people. For instance, at $160,000 salary, Ashley Ross-Teel was brought aboard as City Hall’s chief content officer, and Joshua Goodman, spokesperson for ThriveNYC, got a lovely $45,000 raise.
The city is currently under a hiring freeze, and many believe these new additions and changes could have waited until a more appropriate time. Fellow Democrat City Councilman Robert Holden said “we see nothing but high-paying hirings and promotions.”
LN’s Sarah Cowgill sums up de Blasio’s handling of his constituents and the pandemic rather well:
“De Blasio appears to be out of his depth -- making rash decisions after knee-jerk reactions to COVID-19 scares. Granted, his city is currently a petri dish of disease, and extra precautions are a good idea. However, the social-distancing guidelines can’t be shoehorned into every situation. No one-size-fits-all solution works for folks violating personal space.”
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Read more from Kelli Ballard.
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