Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz was so concerned about missing Mayor Bloomberg’s press conference today on aiding Haitian earthquake victims that he used blaring lights and sirens to get to it.
“I have no shame,” Markowitz said afterwards.
“I thought this press conference was important. It was called at the last minute and I was at the other end of Brooklyn. This was appropriate.”
But Markowitz played only a minor role at the event, held inside the Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, which has a large Haitian-American population.
He was one of dozen speakers and had the floor for just a couple of minutes.
It was Markowitz’s bad luck that his SUV bears the distinctive Brooklyn Beep’s license plate and happened to scream past a van loaded with reporters from City Hall also headed to the same event.
“You don’t know what other elected officials used their it (lights and sirens),” said Markowitz. “I’m sorry I went past the press van. My luck.”
Mayor Bloomberg cracked down on the use of lights and sirens under his control in 2004 after Deputy Mayor Carol Robles Roman was caught using them to commute from The Bronx.
But the mayor refused to criticize Markowitz– who crossed party lines to endorse him last year.
“I didn’t see Marty Markowitz drive today,” said the mayor. “You’ll have to talk to him. He’s the borough president of Brooklyn and I’m sure his office would be happy to take calls at Borough Hall. If you don’t have the telephone number I’m sure Stu (press secretary Stu
Loeser) would be happy to get it for you.”