Lights Out

The lights went out in the Bronx yesterday. They went out in Manhattan and Queens and Staten Island, too. The Mayor is telling everyone that this was just “a minor inconvenience.”

Of course, Michael Bloomberg wasn’t stuck on a train and he didn’t try and cross the street with no signals and he didn't have to walk home. “A minor inconvenience? Right…,” grumbled Jon from Highbridge.

We heard the same thing last year while a huge chunk of Queens sat with no power for more than a week. We’ll hear the same thing next week, next month and next year. Things like this are always a minor inconvenience for people like Bloomberg.

Those forced to live with the decisions of one more Mayor who has done nothing to improve the lives of the people in this city get a different view. They trudged out of sweltering subway tunnels and walked home so they wouldn’t miss the start of the Yankees game.

“I’ve got batteries in the radio,” Jon smiled. “A win tonight would make it all okay.”

A 4-to-0 loss is a minor inconvenience in a long baseball summer. The same can’t be said when the lights go out.