In A Fog

You had one job, Mayor:

Habitually tardy Mayor Bill de Blasio arrived so late to the 13th anniversary ceremony of the crash of Flight 587 that he missed a bell ringing marking the exact time of the tragedy.

And in a bizarre twist, the mayor blamed being 20 minutes late on his boat being stuck in the dense fog that rolled over the city Wednesday morning.

“Mayor de Blasio traveled to the ceremony by boat this morning and the boat was delayed due to heavy fog,” a statement from the mayor’s office said. “The Mayor regrets missing the tolling of the bell, but was glad to have an opportunity to mark this solemn day with the families of those lost on Flight 587, who have the continued support of this administration.”

No word on whether any of the family members got a hug from the mayor . . .

It’s Big Thinking, That’s True, But Thinking Big Is What We New Yorkers Have Done Throughout Our History

When your mayoralty is one giant campaign, especially if it’s one giant campaign, then it’s not long before people start noticing the vapidity therein:

Politicians love ribbon-cutting ceremonies, so they cook up schemes for capital improvements like the 35-community-parks initiative. But New York City has nearly 2,000 parks, and their maintenance isn’t glamorous — it’s hard to summon the news media to show clean public toilets or pulled weeds — and the Parks Department sorely lacks enough full-time gardeners, plumbers and security guards.

That’s something that the mayor needs to address. Instead, he used the community parks announcement to score cheap political points, which critics rightly jumped on.

The mayor chastised his predecessor, Michael R. Bloomberg, for favoring marquee parks and ignoring ones in underserved neighborhoods, prompting Veronica White, a former parks commissioner under Mr. Bloomberg, to note that the Bloomberg administration poured $5 billion in capital investments into parks, most of which were in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island. Mr. Bloomberg also added 850 acres of parkland to the five boroughs, she pointed out.

And it was Mr. Bloomberg who, before leaving office, set aside $80 million of the $130 million in Mayor de Blasio’s plan for those same neighborhood parks.

The Chris Christie Of New York City

No “Stronger Than The Storm” earworms yet, but there’s still a lot of mayoralty to go:

The mayor is meddling with the content produced by NYC TV, the city’s official television network, an insider told The Post, treating the taxpayer-funded station like a campaign arm and insisting it feature his friends.

[. . .]

“It’s all mayor,” said Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, who wants other officials and professionals to have input. “Nobody pays any attention to this. There’s no real oversight. They can kind of do what they want.”

Bloomberg also used the programming to promote his leadership, but de Blasio treats it like a campaign ad, the source claimed.

“He milks it like crazy,” the insider said. “It seems like he’s still running.”

In Other Words, Low-Information Voting Is Tragedy Plus Time

Re-election strategy revealed — given enough time, people will forget all the stupid shit you do and vote for you anyway:

Mr. de Blasio has been eager to shift attention away from Ms. Noerdlinger’s personal issues, rebuking reporters for inquiring about the matter. His aides say they are convinced that interest in the issue will fade and be forgotten by the time Mr. de Blasio faces re-election in 2017.

If You’ll Be My Bodyguard I Can Be Your Long Lost Pal

Although lacking management experience, he has a nimble mind and is versed in city [government]:

In a brief speech at the police lunch, an unfazed de Blasio played up his Italian heritage, which he shared with many in the crowd.

“I am so appreciative for what you do to represent the Italian-American community. . . . This is what our great-grandparents, our grandparents dreamed of,” he said.

But his attempt at building bridges wasn’t all that successful.

When he asked who agreed with him that the NYPD was the “finest police force anywhere,” he was met with only halfhearted hurrahs — no one stood up, whooped or hollered in agreement.

The biggest applause came when de Blasio singled out Office of Emergency Management Commissioner Joseph Esposito, a former NYPD chief of department.

In contrast, the crowd clapped only minimally for Police Commissioner Bill Bratton when de Blasio called out his name.

The enthusiasm for Esposito wasn’t lost on de Blasio.

“It’s good to see people didn’t forget Joe Esposito,” he said dryly.