As snow drifts remain piled high in most of the city, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is receiving harsh criticism from one time allies who are dismayed at the city's clean-up efforts after the blizzard.
Yesterday, Brooklyn City Councilman David Greenfield, who Bloomberg endorsed in his election bid last year, even sending some of his political troops to help with get-out-the-vote efforts, appeared on a Jewish radio show and blasted the snow-removal.
"This could easily be the beginning of the end of Mayor Bloomberg's political career. It's such a big deal. And I am telling this as somebody who has always had a good relationship with the mayor and who has always worked well with him," Greenfield said. "This is a mayor who prides himself on saying the buck stops by him. And at the end of the day the buck does stop by him. We are going to hold him responsible. He is on notice. He better fix this or we are going to hold him personally accountable."
Queens councilman Eric Ulrich, who helped the mayor secure the backing of the Queens Republican Party and who was sworn in by Bloomberg when he won his seat in 2009, said the Mayor telling New Yorkers to go see a Broadway show was "like Marie Antoinette saying, 'Let the people eat cake.'
"I supported the mayor for a third term because I thought he was the best choice. I thought he was a good manager. Now I am starting to have doubts. You can't manage a snowstorm after Christmas? I think people are starting to question his leadership ability," Ulrich added.
The comments come as the city still has not returned to normalcy more than 24 hours after the last flakes fell. The MTA does not yet have buses running at full capacity, many trains are still experiencing delays and New Yorkers throughout the city are saying that their streets have not been plowed.
The mayor will brief the press later this morning on the city's response to the blizzard.
