De Blasio Delays Talking About Snow Response, Falls Short Of Apologizing For City's Shortcomings
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – After delaying a noon news conference to focus on progressive issues at a D.C. summit, Mayor de Blasio came out hours later and refused to offer any apologies for the city's handling of Thursday's snowstorm.
With delays stretching into Friday and and citywide failures too numerous to count, New Yorkers are demanding to know why the city was not prepared.
WEB EXTRA: Watch Mayor de Blasio's full press conference defending New York City's handling of Thursday's snowstorm
Instead of addressing those concerns at noon on Friday, the mayor pushed it back to 3 p.m.
What was on de Blasio's agenda instead of storm recovery? A 1:45 p.m. Skype call with the Harkin International Disability Employment Summit in Washington D.C. When the mayor finally addressed the media, flanked by several city commissioners, a frustrated de Blasio repeatedly blamed the city's poor response on a "perfect storm."
MORE: New Yorkers Left Stranded After Snowstorm Causes Widespread Issues With MTA Buses
"One to two inches... that's not a snowstorm any of us would be afraid of," de Blasio said as he continued to push much of the city's failures onto a late-breaking weather forecast.
When asked by reporters if he or the city owed stranded New Yorkers an apology, de Blasio refused. "That's just too convenient," the frustrated mayor argued. He then blasted the topic, saying it was unfair to blame city agencies for Thursday's issues.
De Blasio's commissioners followed suit, also offering no apologies for the failures across the five boroughs. Most notably, public schools chancellor Richard Carranza did not offer an apology to the father of a special needs student who was stuck on a school bus for over six hours Thursday.
"Perfect storm... it's unacceptable," Carranza simply replied.
New Yorkers have been sounding off on Twitter since the storm began.
Some users blasted City Hall's response to a storm that had been predicted for days, calling de Blasio "incompetent" and calling for the "unprepared" two-term mayor to "step down" as a result of the failure.
How can this happen? The storm was on the forecast for at least three days. @NYCMayor - you are incompetent. https://t.co/2Z6r4dEm2B
— Chris O'Connor ???????? (@chrisoaks2007) November 16, 2018
After the result of this snow storm @NYCMayor should #stepdown
— Victor Souid (@souidvictor) November 16, 2018
CBS2's Marcia Kramer asked de Blasio about the fierce backlash and calls for his resignation from residents impacted by the storm however, the mayor quickly cut off Kramer's question.
"I'm not going to dignify that," de Blasio said. The mayor then scolded CBS2's political reporter for asking such a tough question.
WEB EXTRA: New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson blasts the city's storm response
The mayor said he was calling for a full audit of the city's handling of Thursday's snowstorm however, refused to definitively say city agencies could have prevented the massive delays.
De Blasio always pushed back on the thought that warning New Yorkers as soon as the updated forecasts were issued could have helped the situation on roadways. The mayor even claimed New Yorkers would not have listened to warnings to stay inside.
"I don't think that people would take that with a straight face," the mayor alleged. "I don't think anyone would believe that."