Ferrer: Mayor Stymied Attempt To Show Disparity in Park Upkeep

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The New York Sun

The Democratic mayoral nominee, Fernando Ferrer, chose a Harlem ball field yesterday to talk about neighborhood disparities in park upkeep, but when he arrived, the spot looked pretty clean, with few traces of litter to point to as a sign of city neglect.


The Ferrer campaign said one of its staffers spotted a work crew “coincidentally” tidying the park shortly before the Democrat arrived at his 1 p.m. news conference.


The allegation is that Mayor Bloomberg somehow deployed the crew to undermine his opponent’s message.


The Bloomberg campaign called the notion “preposterous,” and a spokesman from the city Department of Parks and Recreation, Warner Johnston, said the park is one of seven in the vicinity that is cleaned daily by a roving crew of 10 members.


“This was a routine cleaning of this park. It’s done every day,” Mr. Johnston said. “There was no coordination with the Bloomberg campaign or with City Hall.”


According to the Ferrer campaign, the park is ranked one of the worst for upkeep in the city.


A spokeswoman for Mr. Ferrer, Christy Setzer, issued a statement that said: “A last-minute makeover attempt doesn’t make up for years of neglect.” She said a cleanup crew also “coincidentally” swooped in the day before just prior to a similar news conference Mr. Ferrer held in front of the B and C train station at 135th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue.


A spokesman for Mr. Bloomberg, Stuart Loeser, pointed out that the mayor doesn’t oversee the subways or the agency charged with cleaning them.


“Maybe they don’t understand this, but they were standing on an uptown track after rush hour,” Mr. Loeser said. “The downtown track was littered with coffee cups and newspapers and the things you would expect to see on a subway platform after rush hour. They stood on the uptown track, which had probably been cleaned overnight.”


The campaign bickering is just part of the narrative that is defining the final days leading up the November 8 election, which many expect Mr. Bloomberg to win in a blowout. Public opinion polls have shown him with a 30-point lead.


As the clock ticks down, however, both Messrs. Ferrer and Bloomberg have picked up the pace of their campaigning and intensified their get-out the-vote operations.


Yesterday, they packed their schedules with rallies, policy announcements, and visits to senior centers.


The chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Howard Dean, joined Mr. Ferrer for a rally at City College, where the candidate criticized Mr. Bloomberg for rising tuition at the school and for trying to cut scholarships.


Mr. Bloomberg again cast himself as a problem solver and criticized his opponent for “complaining,” a theme he rolled out in earnest at the last scheduled face-to-face mayoral debate Tuesday night.


“My opponent spends his time pointing out problems,” Mr. Bloomberg told reporters yesterday. “My focus has been on coming up with solutions.”


Mr. Bloomberg, who also visited a Chinatown senior center yesterday, vowed not to stop campaigning at full intensity until the polls are closed on Election Day. He said he was not taking anything for granted.


“The polls aren’t what count here,” he said. “It’s what’s done on November 8, and there are an awful lot of people who lost elections because the polls said they were ahead and they didn’t take the opportunities that they have to point out the real choices.”


The New York Sun

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