Yes! I just saw that Mayor Bloomberg decided to cancel the NYC Marathon after all.
For the life of me, I could not figure out why the marathon was happening anyway. In life’s hierarchy of needs, doesn’t food, water, gas, shelter, medical care, and electricity come before MARATHON for God’s sake?
I know what he said – that it would raise money for resources and boost morale. Seriously? All current resources need to go to recovery, not to putting on a marathon. And as far as morale goes – in an area that is broken and grieving, maybe it’s okay to have a few days of climbing out, recovering and making sense of all of this. It’s only been a few days! We know New York bounces back, and it will again with or without the marathon.
So, good job Mayor Bloomberg, although be it ridiculously late. Who could think about a marathon in the midst of this anyway?
Queens, NY
New York City Subway Station – 22 hours ago
Staten Island Borough – 9 hours ago – where many people have still not received any assistance
How to Help
Jennie from In Jennie’s Kitchen (she lives in NYC), gave some excellent resources if you would like to know how you can help victims of Hurricane Sandy – these are some alternatives to the Red Cross (which is also obviously an option) and some are grass roots focused. Find them HERE.
I know people who traveled to NYC for the marathon. I do think it would have been a tough call whether to go or not knowing that the race was happening. And, it stinks if you went to the effort to get there just to have it cancelled. Not the best for the runners, but I think better for the city overall.
As far as why the marathon was cancelled and not other events? I have no clue. Maybe the resources the marathon would utilize (police, etc.) were far greater than for other events. Also, the condition of the streets and the sheer logistics of transferring 30,000+ people to the start might have something to do with it.
How about you? Do you think it was the right decision to call off the marathon?
SUAR
