It feels like writing about
anything other than the
coronavirus or COVID-19
is futile. So, let me share some
thoughts on it, especially as
the manager of a supermarket
during this time.
One of my customers
said something that helps
explain the current run on
grocery shelves creating
anxiety for many.
She said, “I am not sure
why I am shopping but I feel
I have to because everyone
else is.” Indeed, others have
often made similar comments.
Here’s the thing, unlike
9-11 or Superstorm Sandy,
transportation and production
lines remain.
Therefore, the delivery of
product to stores continues
uninterrupted. Of course,
there are some exceptions
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Bob Capano
like hand sanitizer and Clorox
and even toilet paper are
COURIER L 34 IFE, MARCH 20-26, 2020
OPINION
Coronavirus, and the frightening
perception of shortage
wipes, but food basics
still being delivered. However,
because people are
panicked, they are buying
as much as possible the moment
items are restocked,
creating the perception that
there is a shortage on everything.
If we just buy what we
normally would for a few
days or the week, shelves
would be stocked on most
items and relieve the stress
caused by seeing drastic
shortages.
My wife joked the other
day about how come it
seems that I always have a
job involved in the crisis.
During Sandy in 2012, I was
the District Chief of Staff to
former Congressman Bob
Turner. He represented
some of the hardest hit areas
of the storm including
the Rockaway’s in Queens,
and Sheepshead Bay and
Gerritsen Beach here in
Brooklyn.
I still remember in the
immediate aftermath touring
these areas with Turner
and other officials.
In fact, I was with the
Congressman in the car
when he received a call from
President Obama traveling
on Air Force One to get an
update on conditions on the
ground.
Today’s crisis is less defined,
and therefore is scarier
to many. There are more
unknowns.
After 9-11 we knew the
enemy and took them on directly.
After Sandy, we knew
we had to hunker down and
rebuild. But with the coronavirus,
its effects on our
normal life are more massive.
Now, we can’t even go to a
bar and blow off steam with
our fellow New Yorkers.
It all seems like we are
living through a movie or
book, never thinking something
like this could really
happen. Now, our grandchildren
will be reading
in the history books about
these days.
We pray that those pages
say it was a short-lived crisis,
where New Yorkers and
Americans bound together
and came back stronger and
more united, and ended the
recent toxicity in our politics.
Bob Capano has worked
for Brooklyn Republican and
Democrat elected officials,
and has been an adjunct political
science professor for
over 15 years. Follow him on
twitter @bobcapano.
On our current crisis, and putting
perspective on past crises
Back in 2002, Andrew
Cuomo ran for governor
in the only unsuccessful
political campaign
of his career so far. Before
dropping out, he criticized
then-Governor George Pataki’s
handling of 9-11. “There
was a leader in 9/11,” Cuomo
said, “It was Rudy Giuliani.
George Pataki stood behind
the leader; he held the leader’s
coat.”
In this current crisis,
Governor Cuomo is standing
behind nobody. Meanwhile,
Mayor Bill de Blasio
at times seems less useful
than a coat-rack.
As has been widely noted,
Cuomo thrives in a crisis.
A former tow-truck operator,
he regularly personally
supervises the clearing of
upstate highways during
blizzards, for example. Reclusive
much of the time,
when things are at their
worst, he makes himself
more visible to New York
City residents.
Meanwhile, de Blasio
has reportedly clashed with
his Department of Health
staff, dragged his heels on
responding quickly to the
crisis, privately threatened
library cuts when the libraries
contemplated closing
without his say-so, and
infamously went to the Park
Slope YMCA to work out
amid the outbreak. (De Blasio
seems to love the Park
Slope Y so far beyond rational
understanding that
I think when he’s done as
mayor in 2022 he should
take a job there.)
Of course, this outbreak
is a different sort of crisis
than 9-11, so it’s easier for
Cuomo to demand control
than it was for Pataki. The
damage of 9-11 was confined
to a few locations in New
York, D.C., and Pennsylvania.
Coronavirus is not just
across the state — with an
initial cluster concentrated
in Westchester County —
but it is global. Most importantly,
New York City had
the support of the federal
government during 9-11,
whereas now we assuredly
do not.
De Blasio has been disappointing
but Trump has
been a disaster. He presides
over the worst failure of the
federal government to protect
its citizens in any of our
lifetimes. He fired the pandemic
response team at the
National Security Council
two years ago and he is continuing
to deny reality and
play racist politics as you
read these words.
History will judge him
poorly, but time also gives
us perspective on past crises.
I don’t believe Giuliani
was a hero of 9-11. He was
out on the streets of this
city only because his command
bunker ultimately collapsed.
Rudy’s the only person
in history to insist on
putting a command bunker
140 feet in the sky. Firefighters
in the towers were unable
to hear the evacuation
order because of faulty new
radios, caused by a multibillion
dollar contract with
Nextel that Mayor Giuliani
insisted on.
So it’s not enough to be
out in front during a crisis.
Politicians ought to be held
responsible for the planning
failures that cause the crisis.
Nick Rizzo is a Democratic
District Leader representing
the 50th Assembly
District and a political consultant
who lives in Greenpoint.
Follow him on Twitter
at @NickRizzo.
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RIZZDOM
Nick Rizzo