New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has been the subject of criticism, including from the state governor, for his absence during the giant blackout that briefly left part of Manhattan without power on Saturday. The shutdown, which came in the early evening, affected some 73,000 riders and plunged part of midwestern Manhattan into darkness, including several subway stations, Broadway theaters and parts of the Times Square lighted signs. .
Power gradually returned from 10 p.m. (0200 GMT Sunday), before being fully restored around midnight. Candidate for the Democratic nomination for the presidential election of 2020, Bill de Blasio was on Saturday campaigning in Iowa (central United States), where he had planned to spend the night.
Bill de Blasio criticized on social networks
Informed of the blackout, he first explained on CNN that he was waiting for more information to decide whether or not to return to New York. This hesitation earned him a first round of criticism on social networks.
Interviewed in turn on CNN, the governor of the State of New York Andrew Cuomo then implicated, in covert words, Bill de Blasio. “Mayors are important in situations like these and you have to be on site,” he said. Although both Democrats, Bill de Blasio and Andrew Cuomo don’t like each other and are regularly at odds with each other.
Arrived in New York on Saturday while the blackout was still in progress, the governor gave a press briefing as the power began to be restored.
The mayor finally decided on Saturday to return to New York urgently during the night. “The important thing is to hold the wheel, to make sure things get going and communicate,” he said on CNN on Sunday. “I was able to do all of this right away.”
“When you are a mayor, a governor, you have to travel for all kinds of reasons”, he defended.
“I have been (governor) for eight years,” noted Andrew Cuomo, and “I can count on my fingers the times I have left the state.”
“I think it’s important to be in a place where you can always respond,” he added, “but everyone is in control of their political decisions.”
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