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Bloomberg To Homeless Children: Blame God, Praise Me
By
John Del Signore
Published Dec 17, 2013
Modified Dec 17, 2013
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By
John Del Signore
Published Dec 17, 2013
Modified Dec 17, 2013
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At one of his final press conferences today, Mayor Bloomberg was asked for his reaction to the NY Times' very long and very heavy story about the plight of homeless youths in the city he's ruled lo these many years. Bloomberg, a self-made billionaire with a tendency to delight bloggers with deliciously tone-deaf comments about the plight of the poor, did not disappoint. Politicker reports that the Mayor, referring to Dasani, the article's central figure, said:
Her family situation is extremely atypical. The article implied that all people are treated this way, or all have the same problems and that just is not true. The average homeless family spends less than two years in shelter and has some employment history; this family did not. This is a sad situation and we’re certainly going to continue to try to help the parents to achieve stability and independence.”
It’s fair to say that New York City has done more than any city to help the homeless and we should be very proud of that.
A recent federal study found that New York now has the largest homeless population of any city in the nation (followed by LA), with 64,060 homeless individuals reported last year, a 13% increase. During the Bloomberg administration, new rules were enacted making it tougher for those in need to enter the city's shelter system, a mandate that New York state's highest appellate court struck down last month.
But despite that setback for Bloomberg, he argues that it's never been better to be poor in NYC: "People forget what it was like a dozen years ago. Now today in New York City, the taxpayers provide those families in need with subsidized health care, childcare, job training, shelter, counseling and placement services and temporary cash assistance."
In case you missed the point about how lucky homeless New Yorkers are, Bloomberg went on, asking, "Should we stop there? No, not at all. But if you are poor and homeless you’d be better off in New York City than anyplace else." And if anybody wants to assign blame, they should look to Bloomberg's far-less-wealthy spiritual boss. "[Dasani] was dealt a bad hand. I don’t know quite why. That’s just the way God works. Sometimes some of us are lucky and some of us are not."
Isn't it weird how some people always seem to get dealt the worst hands? God's such a shady card shark!
Tagged
bloomberg
homeless
homelessness
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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