Okay – I know you label
someone as the “late and great,” you’re referring to a person who’s passed on –
someone who’s possibly leaving behind a legacy, of sorts, for their amazing
character and feats. It’s not always implied that if you’re “late”, you’re
“great,” but will that label ever be bestowed upon New York’s Mayor Bill de
Blasio – who’s notorious for showing up late, if at all, to dozens of events
he’s scheduled to attend?
First, my apologies. It’s
been a while since I’ve covered a slew of evening community meetings. When I DO cover meetings, I’m prompt and
waiting patiently for civic matters to begin. I wrote a column years ago on how
community meetings rarely start on time (“Meeting
Overkill” April 28, 2011). If they say it’s supposed to start at 7:30 p.m.,
you can wait from 7:45 until 8 p.m. for a politician to arrive and for everyone
to get settled and start talking business. An 8 p.m. meeting? If everyone’s
seated by exactly 8:15 and an important politician who’s making a speech is already
present, you’re in luck!
Yeah, it’s frustrating when
you’re on a newspaper deadline and a Tuesday night civic meeting has potential
to last until 10 p.m. but that’s part of the job – and starting the meetings
earlier – or on time – would be a real treat for those who don’t have all night
to spend at a meeting.
A lot of politicians are
“fashionably late” – especially when a civic organization is waiting for them
to arrive so they can get started. I understand if a politician is traveling
from another state – or even from one meeting to another and has to be at three
or four places in one night. What’s the mayor’s excuse – oh, that’s right he
has lots of them, including how “tired” he was from the night before.
Mr. Tardy de Blasio overslept
in November 2014 and was late to the memorial service for families who lost
loved ones in American Airlines Flight 587. Recently, he was 15 minutes late
to the St. Patrick’s Day Mass. The poor baby has problems sleeping…Isn’t taking
care of your nocturnal problems..um…NOT
the public’s problems? Let’s go back even
further– and this time to address how stubborn he is about attending certain
functions most electeds naturally attend. Our fabulous Mayor decided he didn’t
want to pay respects to the late former Bronx Congressman Herman Badillo last year. He
also consciously decided not to attend the city’s St. Patrick’s Day parade
because of its exclusion of those who have different sexual preferences. He
made himself clear and told the media – upfront – that he was “hired to
implement policy and not go to parades.”
So
why should he make an appearance at ANY parade AT ALL? Hey de Blasio, just stay
home and don’t worry about showing your face! After all, didn’t New Yorkers
vote for him because they want him involved in everything going on in this city?
Is
this guy even a team player? Or is he just assuming what most people already
know – that plenty of events don’t begin on time anyway, so why get there at a
reputable hour? Does he run late simply because he can? I guess he needs his
beauty rest after a long night of organizing…whatever city things he needs to delegate.
If
you ask me, he’s setting a bad example – not only for his children, but for New
Yorkers who voted for him. When it comes to memorials, ceremonies and school
events, you CAN’T oversleep! What kind of values does a person have if they
make excuses all the time? This was the job he was hired to do – and if he
can’t be there to DO IT, why should New Yorkers support him?
Come
on – if I came in to work late every day just because I overslept or didn’t get
a good night’s sleep, my boss would have a serious talk with me. I’m sure
others, working in high corporate positions, would be fired for not attending
company meetings “just because they don’t want to.”
Does
be Blasio really have a right to be late?
Let’s get real! The big deal
is that things get done and people are respected for DOING THEIR JOB – which
they can’t do efficiently unless they arrive at work ON TIME! It’s more than
just a professional call – what about the fact that those who practice good
timing have to wait on our Mayor? We’re talking about making thousands of people WAIT. Does this
Mayor of ours respect those who are waiting for him?
Personally, I never made
repeated excuses for arriving late to work. Maybe I should have went into work
an hour late the next day for every
hour I was kept waiting at the meetings the night before! Yes!
Okay…We all know it doesn’t
work that way! Being on time is part of the work grind, which our almighty mayor
doesn’t think he has to abide by. Well excuuuuuuuuse me!
I’m just going to hit
the snooze button and skip watching Hizzoner the next time he holds a press
conference…zzzzzzzzzz….
Unpublished as of 3/18/15
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