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| Photo: Wall Street Journal |
After becoming the focus of intense controversy and divide- the organizers of the New York City Marathon have decided to cancel the race. The decision made 2 days before the race and after days of race officials and Mayor Bloomberg vowing it would take place. Many runners are upset the decision hadn't been made earlier and were already in town preparing for the race. They streamed into get their race bibs for souvenirs. A group of runners had even formed a facebook page to protest the race and organize people to volunteer instead of run.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg came out in support of the race just hours before the turnaround was announced. This marathon brings more than 300-million dollars into city businesses and many say the city needed this race as a sign that New York city will move on. The mayor had said that few city resources would be used for the race and that much more power and transportation would be on line by race day but media outlets pointed out that last year 1-thousand police officers were used in last year's race. Others were saying that the generators and supplies that were being used in the race should be sent to hard hit areas.
Most can agree- there are no winners here. The people of New York are still dealing with unimaginable loss and destruction. The city is missing out on key income. The runners are not running a race they have spent months training for. The race must figure out how to compensate up to 47-thousand runners. It's sad all around.
1 comment:
The love of sport is great and I truly understand the frustration and upset the athletes may have but I do not think that the race should have been scheduled after the storm. There are millions of people suffering and facing the unimaginable. The sick, elderly and the children. To see the stacks of supplies for the race and the hunger on the faces of those who are in the storm ravaged areas of NY which one should have the supplies????? The help is needed now the race can always be run later...There for the grace of God go all of us. The mayor should have cancelled as soon as he saw the damage that the storm created. I don't think that even the perception of lack of care for the suffering should have been allowed to show it's face.
Phyllis M. Coviello
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