New Yorkers should feel scared as they watch Los Angeles neighborhoods obliterated by fire. Gotham could be the victim of the exact same kind of dysfunctional one-party government that puts woke priorities ahead of disaster-readiness.
On Tuesday, Gov. Kathy Hochul blamed climate change — and corporate greed! — for the devastation in Los Angeles. Never mind that California Democrats ignored humdrum tasks, like keeping fire hydrants operating, and prioritized endangered fish and plants over humans and their homes.
In her State of the State message, Hochul assured New Yorkers she was fighting to prevent wildfires, droughts, floods and blizzards — by rushing the state toward zero emissions.
As if that would disaster-proof New York. Crazy.
Hochul’s obliviousness to the nuts and bolts of disaster-readiness is Red Flag No. 1, warning New Yorkers they’re in trouble if a natural or manmade disaster strikes.
Red Flag No. 2: State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s repeated warnings that New York City officials charged with disaster preparedness — specifically, for severe weather — aren’t doing their jobs either.
On Jan. 2, DiNapoli cautioned that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Bridges & Tunnels division has failed to carry out the inspections and maintenance of the flood doors installed after Hurricane Sandy struck in 2012.
The doors are intended to seal off the tunnels from flood waters, but auditors found broken gasket seals, which would allow water to seep into the Queens-Midtown and Brooklyn-Battery tunnels. Scary.
“It’s not matter of if but of when,” said DiNapoli of another massive storm like Sandy, which caused the deaths of 44 city residents and damaged or destroyed 69,000 homes.
He warned in a 2022 report: “The city needs to be ready,” but so far there is “inadequate coordination.”
That’s the job of the New York City Emergency Management Agency, but DiNapoli finds its poor performance “very concerning.”
In the case of severe weather and flooding, the city needs evacuation plans, but he found that NYCEMA’s plans for maritime evacuations and neighborhood-by-neighborhood evacuations hadn’t been updated or assessed since 2013.
DiNapoli also showed that a majority of heavy storm-control equipment might not be repaired and ready to roll.
Are jobs like that too mundane for the lefty pols running the city?
That was one of the problems in LA, where 100 pieces of fire equipment, including 75 tanker trucks, were sitting waiting for repairs.
Mayor Adams says “the threats to New York are constantly evolving—from climate change to cyber security to a global pandemic, and we must be ready on multiple fronts.”
The types of possible disasters are numerous, but certain basics are required.
Start with adequate staffing of uniformed services.
Red Flag No. 3 is that the NYPD’s headcount is the lowest in more than three decades.
Adams pledged in November to bring on 1,600 cops in 2025, but they’re proving impossible to recruit.
Blame laws passed by the ultra-left City Council and state legislature that tie the hands of cops and coddle criminals.
Emergency Medical Services, a part of the FDNY that is key to rescuing people during storms and other crises, has fewer ambulances in service than in 2021, making anyone needing help wait longer — already an estimated 1 minute 9 seconds longer.
Oren Barzilay, union president at EMS, complains city pols are more concerned with diversity, equity and inclusion than paying EMS staff, who make a deplorable $18.99 an hour to respond to cardiac arrests, falls and other injuries.
Red Flag No. 4 is the lackadaisical approach New York’s Democratic leaders showed on June 28, 2023, when Canadian forest fires caused air quality in the city to plunge to an historic low, sending people with respiratory issues to the ER.
Adams and Hochul had been warned but did nothing to prepare the public.
EMS boss Zach Iscol admits the city doesn’t have an “off-the-shelf-plan” for a smoke emergency. That’s ridiculous after the smoke devastation following 9/11.
Los Angeles voters literally have been burned by Democratic one-party rule. Even the Hollywood elite are turning their backs on once-favored pols who were too enthralled with left-wing causes to keep the city safe.
New Yorkers should heed the lesson. The Democratic establishment is leaving this city vulnerable.
When you go to the polls next November to choose a mayor and City Council members, vote as if your lives and homes depend on it.
Betsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant governor of New York.
