Bloomberg says Nadler's call for a probe of the Zuccotti Park clearing is 'ridiculous'
A night at Zuccotti Park. Man Bartlett via flickr
1:43 pm Dec. 8, 20112
Mayor Michael Bloomberg thinks Representative Jerrold Nadler's call for a federal probe into the NYPD's conduct in clearing the Occupy Wall Street demonstrators from Zuccotti Park is "ridiculous."
Asked about it at a press conference in Brooklyn today, Bloomberg said Nadler, whose district includes Zuccotti Park, should focus his efforts elsewhere.
"If he would spend more time getting us homeland security money, maybe he'd make the streets safer," Bloomberg said. "If he could get us more federal moneys, maybe we could make our schools better and we wouldn't have some of the things that people are protesting against."
Bloomberg went on to reiterate his support for the First Amendment, but said it didn't include a right to sleep in parks.
UPDATE: A Nadler spokesman emailed me this response from the congressman:
"Perhaps the Mayor should review his own past comments lauding my success in securing needed federal funds for our city – from the $20 billion post-9/11 monies to the Zadroga Act to critical transportation funding – before spewing nonsense and so wildly contradicting himself. He should also have a heart-to-heart chat with the many congressional Republicans who he has actively supported, to urge them to stop starving the programs critical to our cities and to desist from further destroying the economy for the middle class. As the Mayor should well know, it is precisely my job – as the ranking member on the House Judiciary’s Constitution Subcommittee – to ensure that the constitutional rights of all Americans are respected, and it is precisely the job of the U.S. Department of Justice to ensure that alleged violations of those rights are investigated, and that federal civil rights laws are vigorously enforced. It is the Mayor’s job, I might point out, to ensure that the police department, under his command, obeys the laws and respects the rights of all New Yorkers."
King Bloomberg is blind to the civil liberties violations he and his army perpetuate daily. It's gotten to the point he can't tell the difference. He wants to steamroller over anyone in his way and say he's gettin' the job done. Sir, it's time for you and your army leader to go away to the same place that Dick Cheney and others like you swap war stories of how you "got the job done".
I am sharing my personal experience on how great the mayor's "own army" (his word's. not mine.) has done in protecting NYers rights. On the 11/17 protest, 2 days after the raid I decided to attend. I am not an occupier, I am a 46 year old NY woman, and business owner who believes in the message. The call was for 7am but I was running late. At 7:30 I was walking down Bway and there was a caravan of vans with 6-8 riot geared NYPD deep in each. I kid you not - there must have been 40 of these vans slowly heading in the same direction as I was. It looked more like a sci-fi movie where NY is being attacked by aliens rather then a protest of less then 1000 demonstrators. I pulled out my iphone to film it because it was such an unreal site. At the same time I noticed a young man in his 20s pull out his camera as well which had a professional lens. Less then a minute later the caravan stopped and 4 to 5 NYPD riot cops jumped out on Bway & Nassau St and threw the young man against the wooden wall protecting the construction site there. You heard his head hit the wall. Startled I turned around, saw what they were doing, heard them shouting What Are You Photographing us For? Who Do You Work With? and similar questions. Since I was guilty of doing the exact same thing, my heart pounded and I took off. I was scared to death and will never feel safe around the NYPD again as a result. I am certain I escaped given the fact I was a woman in her 40s walking alone - I could have been their mothers or aunts probably, and my Iphone 3 was certainly not anywhere near the camera this young man was using. In fact after all was said and done my photos were awful so they did have nothing to worry about with me, but to this day I worry about what happen to the man jumped for taking the photos. When I got home I called 311 who connected me to Internal Affairs. After I gave a breif replay I was given a case # and told they would look into it. I said that's it? "What do you want us to do about it? We are already there" was the answer I got and then I was promptly hung up on. My story pales compared to others I have seen on video or in published photos but the mayor dismissing these reports in addition to the racist facebook posts by officers at the West Indian Parade shows a serious issue with our police dept. I suppose with the mayor considering the NYPD his personal army and not the city's police dept - his only concerns are his personal interests but as long as our taxes pay for the dept they have to look out for the rest of the city legally as well. Daily Mr Bloomberg is showing his real colors and it isn't pretty. Too bad we don't have recall elections similar to other states.