COMMON SENSE: Cuomo, Irene and Bloomberg

CUOMO AND IRENE

Possible the biggest spin surrounding Hurricane Irene was notthe winds. Governor Andrew Cuomo did an excellent job issuing pressreleases and holding press conferences. How the state actuallymanaged the situation is another matter all together.

New York City and its suburbs all have fairly large emergencyresponse mechanisms in place to deal with potentially catastrophicevents. The activation and implementation of the coastal evacuationplans is a good illustration. On the other hand, the smallercounties, especially the ones that consider the State Police theirprimary law enforcement agency, need a large state agency responseto keep people safe and protect property. The State EmergencyManagement Office (SEMO) is charge of coordination.

In the days before the storm, Governor Cuomo focused his effortsdownstate. By midday Saturday, it had become evident that the stormwould hit all the way up to Albany and beyond quite hard. At thispoint, Cuomo failed to call up additional National Guard troopsthat were readily available, a full call up of the State Police ora statewide mobilization of emergency response type agencies suchas DEC.

To be fair, there is a limit to what a governor can do undersuch conditions and he certainly was attempting to provideleadership. Nevertheless, his reported refusal to allow statecommissioners to participate in Bloomberg press conferences, hisobvious desire to upstage MTA Chairman Walder who was executingprotocalls in shutting down the MTA system, and the sincere butless than stellar response to storm-ravaged areas after Irene hitis a significant blemish on Andrew Cuomo’s tenure.

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In the category of what not to do when you are an electedofficial, I bring you the following. On the Sunday night shortlyafter Hurricane Irene passed the Albany/Troy area of New YorkState, Troy Mayor Tutunjian tweeted that the Poestenkill Dam whichprotects his city was in danger of breaking. It would causetremendous damage, he said.

The mayor took no other special action like ordering anevacuation. He simply sent out this tweet. Needless to say he couldhave caused a panic. Fortunately, the city and county emergencyoperations reported that the dam was under pressure, but thingswere under control at around the same time. This mayor, who isterm-limited and going out of office this year, is oneirresponsible guy.

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With school opening, it is a sure thing that the Department ofEducation’s controversial, new Sex Ed Curriculum will be the news.As you may have read, the curriculum — which is near impossiblefor parents to opt their children out of — will be taught in thelater part of middle school, beginning in the later sixth grade andincluding the seventh and eighth grades.

Many parents are certain to find the curriculum explicit anddisturbing. The curriculum demonstrates no concern for religioussensibilities. In addition, there are many professionals who do notbelieve it works.

It will be interesting to see how the Bloomberg administrationreacts. More and more, they seem less interested in listening todiverse opinions and primarily concerned about getting theirway.