{"id":95060,"date":"2020-10-22T12:53:17","date_gmt":"2020-10-22T09:53:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/de-blasio-goes-for-aimless-strolls-as-city-struggles-to-get-by\/"},"modified":"2020-10-22T12:53:17","modified_gmt":"2020-10-22T09:53:17","slug":"de-blasio-goes-for-aimless-strolls-as-city-struggles-to-get-by","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/de-blasio-goes-for-aimless-strolls-as-city-struggles-to-get-by\/","title":{"rendered":"#De Blasio goes for aimless strolls as city struggles to get by"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#De Blasio goes for aimless strolls as city struggles to get by<\/strong>”
\n<\/p>\n

\n The coronavirus is still gripping the city, a fiscal meltdown looms and New York has been rocked this year by civil unrest, but instead of stepping up, Mayor Bill de Blasio has been stepping out.<\/p>\n

Hizzoner has taken to regularly walking off the job \u2014 literally \u2014 in the middle of his workday for meandering, sometimes hour-plus jaunts, general<\/a>ly in his old Brooklyn neighborhood, while the city remains in crisis, The Post has learned.<\/span><\/p>\n

The mayor\u2019s latest regimen of distractions \u2014 which comes after he temporarily swore off his well-documented Park Slope YMCA workouts when COVID-19 shut down all gyms \u2014 also includes morning constitutionals running into the start of his daily press briefings, according to city sources familiar with his routine.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the height of arrogance,\u201d said one insider, who noted that the aimless walks have been commonplace for months. \u201cWhile the city is falling apart, he is \u2026 walking in the park with his head in the clouds.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wonder if he ever heard of Nero,\u201d the source added, referring to the Roman emperor said to have fiddled while his city burned.<\/p>\n

On Monday, The Post took in what the sources said is a typical day in de Blasio\u2019s new normal.<\/p>\n

Shortly after 9:45 a.m., the mayor was spotted \u2014 dressed for the day in a white button-down, blue slacks, a baseball cap and a blue medical mask \u2014 arriving at the South Street Seaport, where sources said he regularly shows up for walks before his consistently late press briefings.<\/span><\/p>\n

Under the watchful eye of a security detail, he took a lap around Pier 17, earphones shutting out the world around him as he strolled.<\/p>\n

De Blasio circled onto Fulton Street and took a phone call, as an onlooker who recognized his lanky, 6-foot-5 frame was overheard saying to a pal, \u201cThat was the mayor. He\u2019s got nothing better to do?\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

De Blasio continued by foot to City Hall, strolling through the front door at 10:14 a.m. \u2014 14 minutes after his daily press briefing was scheduled to begin.<\/span><\/p>\n

The presser didn\u2019t ultimately begin until 10:37 a.m., a delay increasingly common of late for the already deadline-challenged mayor.<\/p>\n

After putting in a few hours at City Hall, the restless mayor travel<\/a>ed, again by motorcade, to Park Slope, arriving in his old neighborhood around 2:10 p.m.<\/p>\n

He grabbed a croissant at a local coffee shop and nibbled on it as he walked to Prospect Park, heading into the green space at 2:37 p.m.<\/p>\n

De Blasio spent the next hour and six minutes strolling through the park, again with earphones in, occasionally glancing down at a sheaf of papers in his hands as he walked.<\/p>\n

He did not converse with his security detail, nor was he stopped by fellow park-goers, though he did take some steps to keep to himself \u2014 at one point opting to veer onto a side path rife with manure from horses stabled nearby rather than take the more peopled main route.<\/span><\/p>\n

The mayor finally left the park at 3:43 p.m., returning to his detail of cars.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, he app<\/a>arently skipped his morning constitutional near Pier 17. The mayor\u2019s security detail was on site and confronted a Post reporter there, after which the mayor did not show up. However an area security guard, and Post sources, vouched that he\u2019s become a regular.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cHe doesn\u2019t really stop to talk to people, and people know better than to go up to him because he has his security people all around him,\u201d said the guard, who declined to give a name.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe seems to like the quiet of the area, a good place to meditate before work.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the afternoon, however, de Blasio returned to Park Slope, and was spotted heading into Prospect Park at 2:48 p.m., flanked by a three-person security detail plus a staffer.<\/p>\n

Hizzoner gave the slip to a Post reporter at 3:35 p.m., at a point in the park approximately 20 minutes away from where he came in.<\/p>\n

He again appeared to skip the morning walk on Wednesday, but \u2014<\/span> following an afternoon meeting with Hasidic Jewish leaders in Brooklyn, according to a New York 1 reporter<\/a> \u2014 returned to Prospect Park.<\/span><\/p>\n

After sitting down for another pastry outside Muse coffee shop, de Blasio headed into the park to work off the calories.<\/p>\n

Again leafing through papers as he walked, de Blasio sank another 58 minutes into pounding the pavement miles away from City Hall, headphones in and not stopping to talk with anyone.<\/p>\n

De Blasio \u2014 who famously loves his workouts, perhaps a little too much \u2014 hardly lets the weekend slow him down, according to sources familiar with his routine.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Saturdays, he is frequently joined by First Lady Chirlane McCray for the Brooklyn walks, and on Sundays the mayor is known to often join staffers in a game<\/a> of softball, also in the borough, sources said.<\/p>\n

A City Hall spokesman laughed off the jaunts, insisting that de Blasio continues to work via phone, while noting that avoiding in-person meetings is good practice during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh the humanity, the Mayor is taking conference calls while walking in New York City!\u201d said press secretary Bill Neidhardt in faux outrage. \u201cTruly an outrage in a time when in-person meetings must be kept to a minimum.\u201d<\/p>\n

But a second source familiar with de Blasio\u2019s daily routines wasn\u2019t satisfied with the explanation.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe just doesn\u2019t care,\u201d a second city source told The Post. \u201cInstead of working harder during this pandemic, he is working less.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho thought that was possible?\u201d<\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Sam Raskin, Reuven Fenton and Aaron Feis<\/em>\n <\/div>\n