DAY EIGHTY-FIVE:Dec. 4:
It’s an astonishing 58 degrees tonight, at 10 o’clock. And tomorrow, the fifth day of December, will, they say, break all records, with temperatures reaching into the mid-70s. It’s lovely weather, to be sure, but as my neighbor said this evening, “Has God got it in for us in New York, or what?” Such questions of theology or fate are common foci of conversation in post-9/11 New York. My colleague, Jerry, told me today that he returned from a long vacation in Spain on September 9, logged onto his computer and discovered somebody had sent him a virus. His entire hard drive and all his files were destroyed -- turned into gibberish. His brother-in-law, a computer expert, took the computer and worked on it for several days. Around September 13 he managed to retrieve some of Jerry’s Email messages, one of which told him to be at a meeting at 9am, September 11, World Trade Center, on a high floor. Because of the computer virus, Jerry missed his meeting – and lives to tell the tale.
As it turns out fate had nothing to do with Michael Bloomberg’s recent victory in the mayoral race. According to documents filed, as required, Monday afternoon with the Board of Elections, billionaire Bloomberg spent nearly $68,968,185 of his own money on the campaign, making it the most expensive self-financed political campaign in U.S. history. In the final five weeks of the race he spent $28 million — double the $14 million spent by his Democratic rival, Mark Green, during the entire campaign.
“It’s an astronomical number,” Rachel Leon, executive director of the public interest group Common Cause, told AP today. “It breaks all previous records that we know of.” Calculating this out, Bloomberg spent more than $92 per potential voter, or $300 per person who actually cast a ballot for him.
Tonight the Mayor-Elect is revving up his personal jet, planning to fly tomorrow to Israel to show the country his support. Tentatively scheduled to fly with him are New York Gov. George Pataki and current Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
The politicos have plenty to keep them busy here on the home front, however. Pataki says the state’s revenue shortfall, which he blames on September 11 and economic crises since, could be up to $3 billion for the state fiscal year that ends March 31. For the next fiscal year, the shortfall could be as much as $6 billion, he warned. The state’s current budget is worth more than $83 billion.
The battle to push Congress to send billions of dollars to the city for reconstruction heated up today. The city’s largest labor union, the AFL-CIO, started running TV commercials denouncing Congress. The ad says:
“When the terror struck, Americans opened their hearts to New Yorkers. But now as the holidays approach, these survivors face a new kind of terror, of bills they can’t pay and health insurance they can’t afford. Call Congress and tell them words are not enough……..extend unemployment and health benefits today.”
Down at Ground Zero today workers were busy trying to figure out how to safely pump out thousands of gallons of freon gas, located inside a cooling unit that is now buried deeply underground. The trick is to capture the gas without having it set afire by the ongoing underground inferno. And without letting it be released into the atmosphere, contributing to the ozone hole. The US Postal system and tens of thousands of mail recipients face a similar conundrum: how to open letters that may have been cross-contaminated in the Hamilton, New Jersey postal distribution center when the anthrax-laced envelopes to U.S. Senators passed through the facility. And the FBI is still trying to figure out how to open the still-sealed envelope that was sent to Sen. Patrick Leahy. They want to examine it for evidence, but do so without killing themselves or contaminating the entire FBI laboratory.
Clear around the world, in southern Australia, firefighters have come up with an ingenious way to demonstrate solidarity with their fallen New York comrades. The have dressed hundreds of stuffed to koala bears in tiny police uniforms, and are shipping them as Christmas presents to the children of firefighters who perished in the World Trade Center on September 11. Given how warm it is in this town solidarity with a southern hemisphere city might make uncanny sense.
Be well. Stay safe. Stand defiant.
Laurie Garrett
