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As NY Post Builds on Snow Removal Slowdown Story, NYT Calls It All 'Rumored'

By Tom Blumer | December 31, 2010 | 20:07

A  A
Tom Blumer's picture

The dictionary says that a rumor is:
- a story or statement in general circulation without confirmation or certainty as to facts.
- gossip; hearsay

The dictionaries in use at the offices of the New York Times must include the following backup definition: "Any set of facts and/or allegations reported by the New York Post."

After yesterday's blockbuster report ("Sanitation Department's slow snow cleanup was a budget protest") Reporters at the Post piled on today, so to speak, with additional news relating to the snow removal slowdown in which New York City's unionized sanitation workers allegedly engaged:

Sanitation workers targeted specific neighborhoods

 

There was a method to their madness.

 

The selfish Sanitation bosses who sabotaged the blizzard cleanup to fire a salvo at City Hall targeted politically connected and well-heeled neighborhoods in Queens and Brooklyn to get their twisted message across loud and clear, The Post has learned.

 

Their motives emerged yesterday as the city's Department of Investigation admitted it began a probe earlier this week after hearing rumblings of a coordinated job action.

 

Sources told The Post several neighborhoods were on the workers' hit list -- including Borough Park and Dyker Heights in Brooklyn and Middle Village in Queens -- because residents there have more money and their politicians carry big sticks.

 

"It was more targeted than people actually think," said a labor source. "Borough Park was specifically targeted [because of] . . . its ability to sort of gin up the p.r. machine."

 

The plan worked. Residents of those neighborhoods -- who, after three days, were still trying to dig out their cars -- are apoplectic.

 

... The revelation came as:
* A Queens baby was brain dead last night after poorly plowed roads hampered efforts to rescue him.
* Sources said Sanitation bosses issued verbal directives during the clean-up to give priority to streets near the homes of agency heads and other city bigwigs.
* ... Even as streets in the outer boroughs waited for a single plow to arrive, crews were clearing bicycle lanes on the Upper West Side.

Yesterday (covered at NewsBusters; at BizzyBlog), the Times played defense for the Mayor and the union and relayed gratuitous shots at private contractors who weren't there to help primarily because the city didn't ask for it quickly enough. Today, the Times decided that it would be a great idea to produce a glowing report on the city's sanitation commissioner, and to dismiss what the Post has reported as "rumored" -- without having the guts to name where these so-called rumors were reported, or even originated (bolds are mine):

For City’s Sanitation Chief, Fighting Snow and Taking Heat

 

... Since the snow stopped falling on Monday morning, local politicians have competed to see who could condemn his department most harshly, with the City Council scheduling hearings to investigate what went wrong. Hours after Mr. Doherty got his car out of the snow (the story indicates that Doherty had to hire "two men with shovels" to dig out his own stuck vehicle --Ed.), Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said he was “extremely dissatisfied” with the cleanup effort and vowed to conduct a review of his own — with Mr. Doherty at his side. Newspapers have railed against Mr. Doherty’s street crews and published photographs of his well-plowed block on Staten Island.

 

“I keep waiting for the picture to be in the paper with the goat’s horns sticking out of my head, like I’m the goat of the storm,” Mr. Doherty said. “We got a black eye. I think my reputation, and the reputation of the department, has been seriously tarnished.”

 

... Mr. Doherty said it was too soon to tell why so many streets remained unplowed days after the snow ended. Faulty equipment, insufficient training and poor communication are all possibilities.

 

He vowed to investigate whether the rank-and-file deliberately slowed down work to protest budget cuts, as has been rumored, but said he doubted it.

 

“The only time you’re going to be a hero in this department is when there’s a snowstorm,” he said. “This is the battle we have to win. It didn’t work out.”

 

“We’ve got to go out there and work hard and get our reputation back,” he added.

I'd be more impressed if Mr. Doherty didn't seem to be giving hints of a pre-ordained conclusion even before the investigation begins.

As to the Times, there was a period in the history of journalism when reporters, their editors, and publishers would be upset about being scooped on a big story like this. The Times's behavior during the past two days would seem to indicate that journalism is something the paper no longer practices, and that it really hasn't been doing so for a long, long time.

Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.

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Comments

Resume Enhancer

Submitted by Caringwhiteguy on Fri, 12/31/2010 - 8:36pm.

One more feather in Bloomberg's cap. 

Since when has the inability to manage a crisis been a disqualifier for becoming President of the USA?  For the answer please contact BH Obama, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Kailua, HI.

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Rumor, NYT?

Submitted by CommanderTaya on Fri, 12/31/2010 - 8:41pm.

An innocent infant is dead.  There are no answers, just accountability, please.

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The infant may have died

Submitted by Dan The Man 2 on Fri, 12/31/2010 - 10:15pm.

The infant may have died anyways, this is nothing more than sensationalism.

Nuke em til they glow; then shoot em in the dark
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Dan, read your own post*

Submitted by cajun2 on Fri, 12/31/2010 - 10:42pm.

But your post is as offensive as Satchmo's "incest is ok as long as its consensual".

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Explain why my post is

Submitted by Dan The Man 2 on Sat, 01/01/2011 - 12:29am.

Explain why my post is offensive.  People die all the time for all sorts of reasons.  I am right that this is for sensationalism.  Saying this infant died because the ambulance did not get there on time is like saying I saved jobs.

If you live in an area that is prone to snow and bad snowstorms like this one then of course the law of averages says bad things will happen.  If you live in a city like NO that is prone to flooding and problems then things happen.  Sensationalism to sell something.

Cant help if you are perturbed by this.

Nuke em til they glow; then shoot em in the dark
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Dan, as I said in the other

Submitted by motherbelt on Fri, 12/31/2010 - 11:45pm.

Dan, as I said in the other thread, when Bloomberg said even if an ambulance gets there, there's no guarantee that they'll be able to do what needs to be done:

Maybe not, but not getting there makes it certain that what needs to be done won't be.



 
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His chance at life was decided for him

Submitted by TerryWest on Sat, 01/01/2011 - 3:21pm.

As of yesterday the infant was still on life support, perhaps we should ask the ambulance driver and EMS workers who carried and ran with the infant on foot to the emergency rm after they got stuck in the snow if they felt his life could have been saved     http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/local_news/queens/baby-brain-dead-after-ny-snow-hampers-medics-dpgonc-ncx-20101231 
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Three-month-old Addison

Submitted by Dan The Man 2 on Sun, 01/02/2011 - 12:42am.

Three-month-old Addison Reynoso lost consciousness in Queens yesterday afternoon, due to a respiratory infection

It seems that the kid lost consciousness due to a respiratory infection?  Sounds like the kid had big problems in the first place.  What had the parents done to combat teh infection and then they let a babysitter look after him.  How long was he unconscious before the sitter noticed it?  The father was trying to revive the baby, was he trained in CPR?  Basically the baby might have been brain dead anyways before the medics reached him.

There are many unanswered questions.

Like I said originally this story is sensationalism designed to make Bloomberg look villainous.  Perhaps he is and perhaps not.

The bottom line is we should look into and ask questions, otherwise we will fall for the line.

Nuke em til they glow; then shoot em in the dark
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an innocent child is dead,

Submitted by countryfirst on Fri, 12/31/2010 - 9:25pm.

an innocent child is dead, the emergency people could not get the ambulance there, so theywalked the child to the hospital, now the child us brain dead and his parents are having to take him off life support, and the elderley person kept calling 911 every hour because  he had a bleeding ulcer, they could not get to him he died, the unions and bloomberg have blood on their hands,I hope the families, sue them all, and they should be charged

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Take heart 1st

Submitted by Boudin on Fri, 12/31/2010 - 9:43pm.

By next week the media will be telling us we should cave to the union to make sure this kind of situation never happens again,,,,,,, watch and see if I aint right.

Seek Truth, Defend Liberty
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Sounds like an attempt to

Submitted by bkeyser on Fri, 12/31/2010 - 9:29pm.

Sounds like an attempt to sway a potential jury.

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well Bk*

Submitted by cajun2 on Fri, 12/31/2010 - 10:51pm.

Let's hope the jury is not filled with 12 liberals who believe the UNIONS were just protecting themselves over the life of a child.

Over a thousand people died during Katrina and Bush  was blamed and was crucified. How many people had to die in NY before it became a REAL story? Is one child not enough?

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Misplaced\

Submitted by motherbelt on Fri, 12/31/2010 - 11:43pm.

Misplaced\

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Old Grey Lady Scooped ...

Submitted by LibertyAtStake on Sat, 01/01/2011 - 12:00am.

...and in a snit.  Oh yeah - the unionist bastards who gave the orders had better be tried for manslaughter.

 

http://libertyatstake.blogspot.com/

"Because the Only Good Progressive is a Failed Progressive"

d(^_^)b http://libertyatstake.blogspot.com/ “Because the Only Good Progressive is a Failed Progressive”
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NYT doing what any good

Submitted by Tjexcite on Sat, 01/01/2011 - 12:07am.

NYT doing what any good member of the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda does.  Why go out to prove that something is not what it looks like but just call it a rumor and attack those who do.

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Time to Hang it up, NYT

Submitted by Tenebrous on Sat, 01/01/2011 - 9:22am.

Admit it. You were scooped and playing the old "that's not news fit to print" old woman in high dugeon just doesn't work anymore; all that statist and Pali propaganda don't leave much space for real news, do they? I can't wait until the NYT goes out of business.

---- Let us all eviscerate the trolls and fill their carcasses with bile and venom.
Visions and Principles blog
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It's been rumored....

Submitted by CobraMan on Sat, 01/01/2011 - 12:42pm.

It's been rumored that there was a large winter storm that paralyzed much of the East Coast this last week...

The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution

Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court

Or Anwar al-Awlaki.

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rumor - Unions - home grown terrorist

Submitted by TerryWest on Sat, 01/01/2011 - 3:41pm.

clearly there is some back alley gathering going with the New York Times playing PR agent to decide and clean up this horrific act and deem it rumored nonsense.

This should be taken out of the city's hands and although I'm rolling eyes when I say this knowing the out come will be that it was still rumored nonsense it should be The United States Attorney General 's case to investigate, it was an act of home terrorism and intentional sabatoge. 
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tell that to the guy

Submitted by wizardjr on Sat, 01/01/2011 - 4:18pm.

who is up to his ears in "rumor"

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new york's union death panels

Submitted by Pharmer on Mon, 01/03/2011 - 11:34am.

Very few of the deaths by "natural" causes, caused by the slowdown of snow removal will be reported in the news.

http://themorningafter.us/new-yorks-union-death-panel/

It's usual for a marked reduction of hospital visits during times when the roads are snow covered.   Snow doesn't stop the chest pain, strokes, diabetic keto-acidosis, childbirths, and other medical emergencies.

They just don't make it to the hospital.

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