By COLlive reporter
Leave it to Mayor Bill de Blasio to come up with a ludicrous explanation as to why shuls and small businesses in New York City can’t reopen while adhering to physical distance and health guidelines.
During a press briefing at City Hall on Tuesday, de Blasio was asked the following question by a reporter of the Hamodia newspaper:
“Good morning, Mr. Mayor, I wanted to ask very quickly since essential workers are allowed to be out during the curfew, if the Uber’s and trains and taxis will be allowed to run? My main question is this, why recommended that protesters stay home, for others in the city, even forced gathering bans, not recommendations.
“The retail store owners have been closed for two months. It was experiencing financial ruins, been banned from opening a store. People from attending houses of worship, our regular part of life, have been banned from doing so with more than ten people. Now you’ve expressed solidarity with this particular protest cause, is that why it’s been given dispensation to disregard epidemic guidelines?
“I know you were asked about this yesterday and you said there’s such pain and anger and you don’t want people to hear that as you’re not hearing their concerns. What about the retail store owner facing imminent financial ruin or the religious person who cannot in the house of worship? What about their pain and anger? So Mr. Mayor, are we in a pandemic or not? And do we have one set of rules of protestors and another for everyone else? Thank you.”
The Mayor answered: “I’m going to tell you that anyone who thinks there’s different rules for different people, again, is not trying very hard to see the reality. And I’m just not going to hold back. If you guys want to really work hard to miss the reality, be my guest, but everyday New Yorkers can see what’s going on. We’re in the middle of a national crisis, a deep-seated national crisis. There is no comparison. I’m sorry, I do feel for the store owners. I really do. I know a lot of store owners and I’m so happy that on Monday, we’re going to start to open up the minute we thought we could give relief.”
He then added, “When you see a nation, an entire nation simultaneously grappling with an extraordinary crisis seeded in 400 years of American racism. I’m sorry. That is not the same question, as the understandably aggrieved store owner, or the devout religious person who wants to go back to services.
“This is something that’s not about which side of the spectrum you’re on. It’s about a deep, deep American crisis, we have never seen anything quite like what we’ve seen in the last few days. This is a powerful, painful historical moment. So now I have eyes to see – we’re not going to treat it like it’s just any other day, we’re not going to treat it. Like why are people outside the bars and not notice that all of America is grappling simultaneously with a horrible crisis? Sorry guys, there’s a world outside New York City. So we’re dealing with this.
“I want to turn the page as quickly as possible, but we’re not going to ignore the reality. Monday, we restart, and that relief is coming for those small business owners very quickly – on Monday, they can do curbside pickup. They can do pickup at the stores. That’s going to start to relief – if we do things right, notwithstanding, I’m worried again about the health impact here, but it’s only been a few days.”
VIDEO:
In a public letter to Governor Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday, Assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein and Councilman Kalman Yeger urged the immediate and unrestricted reopening of the State of New York on behalf of their constituents.
Eichenstein represents the 48th Assembly District which includes Borough Park and Midwood, while Yeger represents the 44th Council District which includes Borough Park, Midwood, Bensonhurst, Gravesend and Kensington. Both heard calls by small business owners to allow their operation.
“Most small business owners get it. They are aware of the need to be safe, even while going about their business,” they wrote, noting that New York’s rate of Covid-19 infection is at its lowest since the outbreak began.
What is more, they said in reference to the protest over the death of George Floyd, “the lockdown may not have formally ended, but the calls for mass peaceful marching without any regard for social-distancing have rendered a continued lockdown at this point ludicrous.”
“Governor, it is now time to reopen New York,” they wrote. “It is time to bring us back to as normal as we can achieve. You must allow our small businesses to rebuild, to the extent still possible; our children to resume their growth and education; our society to flourish once again.
“New Yorkers are unemployed, broke, anxious and emotionally drained. We need an infusion of hope, a burst of energy, a restoration of normalcy. Our neighbors need their lives back fully and completely. We need to heal. The only way for any of this to happen is to allow for an unmitigated reopening. Now is the time to revitalize and restore New York’s greatness; to restart the economic engine that once fueled the nation.”
Video: Different rules for different people
Shameful day & night for our beloved city. Mothers & children evicted from parks in Williamsburg during daylight hours while Manhattan burns after dark. Yes Mr. Mayor a tale of two cities is the sad reality. pic.twitter.com/8IRfJrzsRf
— Chaskel Bennett (@ChaskelBennett) June 2, 2020
Its just beyond sick to watch that hypocrite. He sounds so out of touch with reality
Someone should educate De Blasio about the thousands of years of persecution that Jews have faced.
200+ years of the Jews being slaves in Egypt!!!! And also the slavery during the Holocaust — I dare say THAT was EVEN worse than slavery in the U.S.: Not that slavery in the U.S. was ever good — not one bit of course, r”l. But it was never the goal of U.S. slave owners to annihilate all slaves! However, during the Holocaust, total annihilation of the Jews was the goal, r”l.
but also Haman, Amalek, the inquisition, Crusades, terrorist attacks. In every generation. But we are still the Chosen nation, and Hashem is constantly taking care of us. In this way we can understand them better, we know what it means to be persecuted. MOSHIACH NOW.
Even Californias Governor Gruesome Newsom started curbside weekend ago with double NYS population!
The kids should just chant Michael Floyd in the park and the police won’t kick them out
“My message to the Black community, and all communities, is this simple: the time for warnings has passed. I have instructed the NYPD to proceed immediately to summons or even arrest those who gather in large groups. This is about stopping this disease and saving lives. Period.”
Anyone else find this disturbingly hilarious?
He forgot that he made protesting illegal against the constitution when people were making protests to reopen the small business
why the silence of the so-called leaders
Why allow them to be exposed to corona while making sure other minorities do not get sick?
It’s for reasons like this that it’s so important to vote!
is de blasio
Its a conflict of interest for Deblasio to determine how to deal with the riots considering that his own kids are attending so he should step down and allow a neutral party to take over.
A national analysis done by a Harvard professional concludes that it is 18 times more likely for police officer to be shot by a black guy then a black guy be shot by a police officer!
Concludes – America is NOT racist! FACT!!
Mayor Bill De Blasio just announced small businesses can open in NYCC provided that a new second entrance is created to the store through the window and all purchases must be 100% off due to infection through handling money.
The mayor is not an idiot. He is an ideologue. He is on the side of the rioters and looter not on our side.
And since we don’t vote, this is what happens.
we need to vote for people who will help us like chaim deutsch
He would be able impeached
an impeachment campaign http://chng.it/ng7cfTcZ29
Jimmy Walker, mayor of NYC in 1930s, was forced to resign by the governor at the time. It is possible to be done. Not that i think it should be done. He may be a bad mayor but not a criminal and as for his corona policies i think the vast majority of NYers support them.
The WHOLE frum world knows this man is incompetent. Why cant the FRUM world unite; and all vote for a NORMAL Mayor? Its Astonishing only 795,679 voted for Deblasio, Yes that number is CORRECT. If we got every Frum person to the ballot, its MORE then that…. we can put in a competent person! DB wants this Mess! He HATES business! Maybe the WHOLE frum world should ask Don JR. to run and we all back him. He is not the best but he will win, because he will go the gutters and beat the next phony liberal Mayor…. Yes I wish… Read more »
There will be even more anti Semitic then they’ll know we did it? Or maybe I’m wrong?
To paraphrase DeBlasio:
“When you see a city, an entire city simultaneously grappling with an extraordinary crisis seeded in thousands of years of government tyranny. I’m sorry. The understandably aggrieved store owner or the devout religious person who wants to go back to services has every right to complain about the double standard.
“This is something that’s not about which side of the spectrum you’re on. It’s about a deep, deep economic crisis, we have never seen anything quite like what we’ve seen in the past couple of few months. This is a powerful, painful historical moment…”
de Blasio, which is not even his real name (he changed it) does not deserve to be Mayor. He is a loser. Vote him out.
next time this happens, get all the kids to surround the cops,10 deep
This is what happens when you don’t vote, you have a communist idiot as your mayor
What is everyone getting so upset for? He simply cares about us so much, that he wants us to stay indoors as not to get infected! LOL!
Curtis Sliwa has what it takes to be an excellent mayor for NYC.
IF he cared about the Frum community at all then he would have made the same speech for us, “but they have suffered religious persecution for thousands of years so we will allow prayer” thats all he had to say. But he is a brown shirt for the left, and exceptions must be made for the causes that he deems worthy and all others can be tossed to the side. Also , 400 years of slavery – so what? corona virus doesn’t care , it will spread no matter the injustice. so in short NY, what will you do with… Read more »
Whoever takes his place could be worse. De Blasio did not capitulate to those who are against metzitzeh b’peh.
In this case, he is correct. You can’t compare cold blooded MURDER (following 400 years of oppression) to financial ruin. The protests need to continue (hopefully safely but even if not) until there’s at least minimal justice of all four officers charged and imprisoned. In other cases, he is wrong. He is wrong for singling out the Jewish community, encouraging disproportionate force, and not adequately standing up for us. We need to find a way to fight this and all attacks against us, to defend ourselves, but right now, with the black community crying out from such a fresh and… Read more »
Take your “400 years of oppression” and stick it you-know-where. As other posters have commented, we Jews have faced oppression and cold-blooded murder for five times as long, but you don’t see us rioting and looting and burning. The Irish have been oppressed by the English for twice as long as the blacks have, and they’ve finally learned to be civilized. It’s tiring to hear the ongoing nattering about black slavery and about how the United States alone is culpable, as if other races and ethnicities haven’t been enslaved throughout history, as though the blacks themselves didn’t keep slaves in… Read more »
I hope you’re joking
We never did belong here