Bill de Blasio is being hit from all sides of the political spectrum for his multiple failures as a mayor, from forcing small children to brave a blizzard to the fact that no one in City Hall seems to know what they are supposed to be doing. On Friday, the New York Post caught de Blasio committing a cardinal sin of the city: jaywalking.
The shocking revelation that de Blasio crossed a street during a green light was published Friday morning, complete with multiple blurry images of the mayor crossing the street and exclusive video proof.
The shocking details: “Mayor de Blasio and his security detail crossed a Brooklyn street against the light Friday on his way to his morning workout – just a day after his SUV blew through two stop signs and was speeding in Queens.” The video shows de Blasio holding a mid-aughts style flip phone and dressed in gym clothing, followed by staff crossing the street, indeed “ignoring the orange hand on the traffic signal that clearly warns pedestrians not to cross.”
Despite being caught red-handed doing… something significantly less objectionable than imposing an unnecessary tax to fund a program Albany already promised it would take care of, de Blasio managed to turn the otherwise glib moment into an indictment of the way he does business. The paper notes that de Blasio personally directed any questions about his jaywalking or his car’s speeding Thursday to the NYPD: “They can tell you about the security protocols that the drivers observe.” He then excused himself to continue his walk to the gym.
While de Blasio gave a seemingly innocent direction for the journalists, the NYPD appeared to have been instructed not to answer any questions, “even though the mayor directed questions be referred to the department.”
De Blasio invited this level of criticism earlier this week by launching a campaign to lower speed limits and target taxi cabs as perennial traffic law violators. The day after announcing the new safe driving law, his own car was caught speeding and running through stop signs with no legitimate explanation.
The New York Post has been at the forefront of the attacks on de Blasio. The Post broke the story about outrage from Upper East Side residents last month when de Blasio did not send snow crews over to clean up the wealthy neighborhood and has run scathing columns on de Blasio’s apparent inability to lead. Just last week, columnist Bob McManus described de Blasio’s management style as “stumbling around like a drunk.“
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