There is a huge thing going on in cable news right now. And it’s pissing me off.
First, let’s all agree that 20″ of snow is not the end of humanity. Quit calling it “Snowpocalypse.” What are we going to call it when we get 22” of snow? Let’s save the apocalypse references for when the shit really hits the fan.
People on Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN are all praising Newark, NJ mayor Cory Booker for taking care of business during the blizzard over the weekend, and decrying New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg as a “plutocrat” who doesn’t care about the little people.
Bloomberg has a history of fighting labor unions, lobbying for less control and lower taxes for the Wall Street elite, and even changing the rules of term limits so he can remain mayor. I’m not here to defend him on any of those shenanigans, but let’s look at the plain old numbers about this storm.
According to NOAA, New York and Newark both got about 20″ of snow. That’s a lot of snow. Especially on overcrowded urban streets where buildings and cars line every block. There’s just nowhere to push the snow. Then there are the facts. I got all these numbers from a Wolfram-Alpha comparison.
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New York
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Newark
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Area
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303 sq. mi.
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23 sq. mi.
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Population
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8,300,000
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279,000
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Population Density
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27k ppl/mi^2
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11.7k ppl/mi^2
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Counties
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5
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1
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Now, I’d like just one cable news talking-head to explain to me how Bloomberg is supposed to deal with the situation the way Cory Booker did when Bloomberg has 14 times the area, 32 times the population, and 5 counties separated by dozens of bridges and tunnels? Add on top of that the nation’s busiest city bus system, the country’s largest subway system, two major airports, and the fact that we’re on an island.
Again, I’m not defending Bloomberg, or trying to say that Mayor Booker is not doing well. I happen to think Cory Booker is one of the best mayors in the country right now. I’m just trying to figure out how people who consider themselves “the news” can be so irresponsible with the ACTUAL facts. It’s easy to go out on the streets and get 10 seconds of video of Booker pushing a car out of the snow, and 10 seconds of video of a pissed-off New Yorker. Try going out there and actually doing a story. You know, with facts and stuff.
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