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Bloomberg: Leave BP Alone! And The Empire State Building!
By
John Del Signore
Published Jun 11, 2010
Modified Jun 12, 2010
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By
John Del Signore
Published Jun 11, 2010
Modified Jun 12, 2010
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You know, instead of running around blaming BP, maybe everyone should just take a deep breath and remember that BP didn't intend to cause the worst oil spill in history. As Mayor Bloomberg pointed out in his weekly radio address this morning, "The guy that runs BP didn't exactly go down there and blow up the well." So he says it's a little premature that "we're going after the heads of some of these companies... If you want him to fix it and they're the only ones with the expertise, I think I might wait to look, assign blame. There's got to be somebody that's culpable in everything. C'mon." In other words, if we all tried being a little nicer to BP, maybe they'd plug the damn leak.
The CEO of BP has taken some heat for his various contemptible comments, such as the infamous May 18th remark, "I think the environmental impact of this disaster is likely to be very, very modest." But now is the time to stand by our CEOs and remember that since they don't really personally do anything besides issue orders, they're not the ones to blame! Bloomberg also continued his Ayn Randian riff during the address, wading into the controversy over the Empire State Building's refusal to honor Mother Teresa in lights.
"It's a private company that owns the building, and I guess they've got to make their decision as to what they want to do," says Bloomberg. "You can have a policy against doing people, or yes, always doing people or whatever. I'm sympathetic that you can't do it for everybody. I don't want to make this any more controversial than it is. I think the building management's got to listen to the public and make their own decisions."
But the Post's Steve Cuozzo thinks Empire State Building operator Anthony Malkin should reconsider: "You can see why he's reluctant to light up the top in blue and white for the night of Mother T's birthday: Giving in could invite a deluge of demands for commemorative lighting—if Mother Teresa, why not Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard?" As it stands now, all those who want their Mother Teresa lights will just have to settle for Brooklyn Borough Hall. Alternatively, City Council speaker Christine Quinn is encouraging New Yorkers to protest by purchasing battery-operated candlesticks and placing them in their windows on Mother Teresa's 100th birthday which Malkin calls "a great way for people to show their own feelings."
Tagged
bloomberg
BP
ceo hayward
empire state building
esb
mayor bloomberg
oil spill
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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