Sleep Tight

New York City’s Mayor Bloomberg said that in the event of a transit strike he would spend the night on a cot on the floor of the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) in Brooklyn, and last night he did just that.

The original OEM offices were located on a secure floor in 7 World Trade Center, and were forced to relocate after that building collapsed in 2001. The OEM Charter gives the Mayor all necessary legal authority to handle “threats from natural hazards and natural disasters, power and other public service outages, labor unrest… explosions… transportation and transit incidents… acts of terrorism…”

The Mayor’s Brooklyn sleepover builds on public statements made by him and his office that suggests the strikers are putting the city at risk for terrorism. In his press conference today, Bloomberg said that “We can't let inconveniences, as massive as they are, stop our economy… or jeopardize public safety.” This comes on the heels of a similar remark by the City Corporation Counsel, (the lawyer for the MTA against the union) , Michael Cardozo, “A strike would pose enormous risks to the city and impose serious economic losses…”

Bloomberg’s inability to govern without reference to terror is too blatant to be manipulation. It is something closer to desperation. The willy-nilly use of terrorism by any and all to foreclose serious discussion isn’t just a cheap debating tactic, it’s also the sign of a bad conscience permeating official rhetoric. Lacking any serious political ideas or persuasive arguments, Bloomberg and Co. roll out the war on terror to paper over their visionless rule. Deep down, Mike, we know even you don't buy it.