Close Stay up-to-date with
Observer.com Newsletters
Sign up for Observer Newsletters!
RSS Feed
The New York Observer

Bloomberg to Industry: 'First Comes Safety, and Then We Can Talk About the Rest'

View Story On One Page View Story On One Page Print This Story Print This Story Share This Story Share This Story
June 2, 2008 | 12:09 p.m

The Daily News and The Times over the weekend ran stories about Mayor Bloomberg's responsibility regarding the Friday crane collapse on the Upper East Side that killed two people. (Brownstoner has analysis on the stories here.) Fairly or not, some blamed the mayor for the collapse, the second fatal one in barely two months.

Mr. Bloomberg was on his live weekly show on WOR when news of the collapse broke. His initial reaction reveals a man who will not take any guff about what one can only assume will be tighter oversight of construction sites in the near future:

I don’t care how much the industry says, ‘Oh, you’re slowing down our construction job.’ First comes safety, and then we can talk about the rest. I don’t need any developer or union leader or anybody else telling me about the consequences of slowing things down. Nobody wants this economy to grow more than me; but we’re not going to kill people.

Post a Comment The Discussion
Post a Comment
Not a registered user? Register here.
Don't have an Observer.com account? You can use your Facebook account instead.