Did N.Y. Leaders Leave Residents Unprepared for the Air Quality Crisis?
Rebecca Bratspies, the director of the Center for Urban Environmental Reform at the City University of New York School of Law, said that masks were distributed too late, after the worst air quality conditions had passed.
She said that she had been watching reports about the wildfires in Canada since last weekend and the city should have been better prepared.
“When the mayor says there’s no game plan for this — of course there is,” said Ms. Bratspies, who serves on the city’s Environmental Justice Advisory Board.
Mr. Adams strenuously defended the city’s response and said that officials were doing their best to respond to a new and unpredictable threat.
“What we should really try to prevent doing is to give any indication that this administration did not proactively respond and did not move in the right direction to let New Yorkers know,” Mr. Adams told reporters on Wednesday morning.
By Thursday, the mayor’s tone became more strident. He asked reporters if he should also be prepared if a “meteor fell to the planet Earth.” (The White House does have a plan for a meteor strike.)
“So if you want to play — ‘Why didn’t you know every problem that this is going to create’? — that’s up to you,” the mayor said. “I know how well this team responded.”
Source: The New York Times
