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MTA CEO Lhota Apologizes To Bloomberg For Calling Him An "Idiot"
By
Jen Chung
Published Nov 9, 2012
Modified Nov 9, 2012
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MTA Photos
By
Jen Chung
Published Nov 9, 2012
Modified Nov 9, 2012
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MTA CEO and Chairman Joe Lhota has been working non-stop to get mass transit back up and running ever since Hurricane Sandy flooded tunnels and stations. So he was pretty pissed off when Mayor Bloomberg said at an October 30th press conference that it would take the MTA "four or five days" to get service and tunnels back. In fact, Lhota has been really pissed with Bloomberg's other assessments, and the NY Times reported that he referred to Bloomberg as "an idiot."
Here's the excerpt from the NY Times article:
On Thursday morning, inside his office, Mr. Lhota checked his BlackBerry often, hoping for an update on the L train. Moments later, he placed a call to Howard B. Glaser, Mr. Cuomo’s director of state operations, whom he wanted to brief on the Queens-Midtown Tunnel.
The tunnel could open Friday, he told Mr. Glaser, remarking that Mr. Bloomberg, “like an idiot,” had predicted publicly that the tunnel might open over the weekend. “He’s making it up,” he said, after a brief hail of profanity in which Mr. Lhota wondered aloud who, exactly, Mr. Bloomberg had been talking to.
Also, Bloomberg's guess about subway service was incorrect, since the MTA started putting subways back online after a few days.
Anyway, Lhota feels really bad that the paper of record caught him badmouthing the mayor, so he apologized, according to the mayor's spokesperson.
Tagged
hurricane sandy
idiot
joe lhota
mass transit
mayor bloomberg
MTA
queens midtown tunnel
subway
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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