In just two weeks, Mayor de Blasio’s “multi-agency task force” is to issue its much-awaited report on how to clean up Times Square. Or maybe not — since it hasn’t held a single meeting in the four weeks since the mayor announced it.
In fact, the task force — which de Blasio last month promised would “move very swiftly” — is holding its very first meeting today.
OK, it was an obvious gimmick from the start — de Blasio’s bid to seem to be doing something in the face of daily headlines about the topless women and aggressive Elmos plaguing the Crossroads of the World.
But this is a new record in laziness, even for Team de Blasio: Nobody even bothered to make sure the commission was at least pretending to be hard at work?
The mayor seems to think press releases are reality. Announce a program; doesn’t matter if it works. Announce a commission; doesn’t matter if it meets.
He got his press release: After a spate of urgent phone calls, de Blasio unveiled a list of prominent members of his task force, and released a long list of statements praising him for his “quick and decisive action.”
Ever since, members of the task force — theoretically co-chaired by Police Commissioner Bill Bratton and Planning Commission head Carl Weisbrod, though of course they haven’t had anything to really chair — reportedly have been scratching their heads, wondering what’s going on.
Happily, community leaders didn’t just sit back and wait for the mayor to get serious; they took matters into their own hands.
The Times Square Alliance convened its own meeting of business people and officials to discuss proposals the task force likely will just rubber-stamp.
Times Square’s festering problems will need some inventive solutions. But whatever gets done will be despite Bill de Blasio — not because of him.