Have you ever made a joke and someone yelled, “Too soon!” at you? That’s probably how the mayor of Seaside Heights, N.J., felt after he made a few comments regarding a local roller coaster.
Remember Hurricane/Superstorm/Frankenstorm Sandy?
Well, it cost New York about $32 billion in repairs and another $9 billion to prepare for the next major storm — whenever that may be.
“It’s common sense; it’s intelligent,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said regarding the total cost, according to the Huffington Post. “Why don’t you spend some money now to save money in the future? And that’s what prevention and mitigation is.”
All right, so the storm is a very big deal, and the damage is still very real.
Mayor Bill Akers recently talked about the iconic roller coaster in his town. It was knocked off the boardwalk and is now partially submerged underwater.
Akers said he would see if the Coast Guard would approve it to be left in the water, because he believed the coaster would make “a great tourist attraction.”
Would it? Would that make a great tourist attraction? Because it seems like a haunting reminder of a somewhat tragic event that ruined a lot of lives. That comment is not a super smart one to make when your community is hurting.
“Businessmen like Mike Mergott of Mad Mike’s Amusements said he is rebuilding because he is ‘one hundred per cent sure’ families want to come back,” according to an NBC affiliate in New York.
Some people who live in the area were only recently allowed to look at their homes and what damage they had endured.
Mayor Akers said it “was not the brightest comment.” There are plenty of leaders in the wake of Sandy who are much better examples.
“In the city, Bloomberg is asking federal lawmakers to put up nearly $10 billion to reimburse government agencies and private businesses,” according to the Huffington Post. “That would be additional funding on an expedited basis over the $5.4 billion in standard disaster aid that the city projects it will receive from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.”
He’s trying to find ways to not put the cost of the disaster entirely on the taxpayers or those in the city.
“While the impact of the storm will be felt for some time and the challenges are great, I am confident that the city will rebound and emerge stronger than ever,” Bloomberg wrote to the congressional delegation, according to the Huffington Post.
That sounds like how a mayor should behave in a time of crisis. Granted, Bloomberg has had a bit more experience with this kind of thing than Akers has encountered. That doesn’t give Akers carte blanche to be a douchebag.
Now, what Akers said is not groundbreaking or terrible or even too mean. But there’s no need for him to forget that the people he is supposed to take care of could still be in pain or hurting.
