Bill de Blasio is the first city councilor in ten years to take real vacation this summer. Against the advice of the media, he leaves with his family on Friday in Italy for ten days.
“It is perhaps one of the most irresponsible choices made by a political leader”, “it will not be pretty, and it will be expensive”. But what is happening in the “big apple”? A declaration of war? A black plague epidemic? No, the mayor of New York is simply taking a 10-day vacation with his wife and two children in Italy. Their departure is scheduled for July 18, with the program visiting the ancestral villages of his grandparents, Rome, Venice and Naples. So why such a rampage in the American press? Because Bill de Blasio will be absent during the strike which promises to be “nightmarish” of the Long Island Rail Road, the largest national railway, from July 20, two days after the departure of Blasio’s family.
But New Yorkers rest assured, there are at least four reasons why the mayor can allow himself to be absent from his post for a few days without worry.
● If this strike takes place, it risks being a “crisis”, alarm the American dailies. Nearly “89% of the population of Long Island will have few options to go to work,” predicts Newsweek. However, the movement starting on a Sunday, there will be few employees, moreover during school holidays. Ferries will be set up to facilitate transport. De Blasio remains optimistic, moreover, that these reinforcements will only be useful if the union leaders fail to reach an agreement on employee salaries, health plans, and pension plans in the coming days.
● Even on vacation in the sun with the family, de Blasio will continue to work. Between a stroll through Spaccanapoli, the oldest district of Naples, and a visit to St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, the mayor will visit several Italian counterparts, and government officials. He will be accompanied during his trip by three aides, with daily telephone meetings scheduled with the first deputy mayor, Anthony Shorris, who will be in charge of day-to-day operations in the American metropolis.
● According to former New York mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner, “there’s never a good time to go on vacation”. True, but it is better to leave during a transport strike than during a “monstrous” blizzard in 2010, as did the Republican Governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, who went to Disney World in Florida. Michael Bloomberg, in control of the city at the time, was in Bermuda during the storm, when all prevention systems had failed.
● Family comes first, family first. Most Americans follow this saying to the letter: “Returning to Italy this summer will be a homecoming for our family,” Chirlane McCray, the mayor’s wife, said in a statement. This trip will also be the last of the de Blasio, before the 16-year-old eldest son leaves for university at the start of the school year. “He has the right to be absent. Being away isn’t a big deal, said Joseph Mercurio, an unaffiliated political consultant. Modern technology keeps him in touch. Bad media coverage would be unfair. ”
The mayor’s team stressed that the heads of the New York emergency response unit will be in town. The mayor can also, in an emergency, shorten his stay if necessary.
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