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Know-It-All Mayor B Gets Huffy Over School Buses
By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 8, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 8, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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In the imbroglio known as Mid-Year School Bus Re-Routing Hell, Mayor Bloomberg has recently half-heartedly apologized to inconveniencing thousands of children and parents (let's not even touch educators who have to deal with students who are arriving 45 minutes late), claiming the silver lining is savings for the Department of Education.
But clearly Bloomberg's tolerance for school bus related talk is wearing thin, given his response to a reporter's question that started "The public advocate and council members are complaining" about the consulting firm that suggested the school bus cuts:
"You're quoting people who have no experience in doing anything, so I don't quite know how to answer it. Nobody is going to be able to satisfy everybody, and if those people who haven't done anything in terms of management think that they know what to do, they should apply for jobs and we'll be happy to do it."
The Mayor defended the consultants, Alvarez & Marsal, but you have to wonder if the city's Department of Education did enough due dilgence - Saturday's NY Times article about the re-routed school buses in the St. Louis that A&M oversaw sounds terrible. Also, A&M was given the $16 million job to work with the DOE in a no-bid deal.
Mayor Bloomberg said that parents should call 311, but parents who are calling aren't getting any help (see this comment). Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum says to "scrap the plan": "Making young children navigate six or eight lanes of traffic to get to school, or expecting them to take three city buses, is as dangerous as it is absurd."
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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