Why Canceling the Marathon Was a Mistake
Opinion, By Jen Benepe
Umm excuse me everyone who objected to the Marathon, the Knicks held one of their big money games in the Garden last night, but I heard no chorus of objections.
There is a lot of hypocrisy in that. A Knicks game will do nothing for the city, bring no money to the hotels, nor help the city symbolically.
Sorry, but all the marathon naysayers are nothing but that, negative!
The critics were all over the place–especially the pols, who need to say something while everyone is suffering, among their thousands of emails sent to constituents, in an attempt to help yes, but also to make themselves look morally superior to everyone else in the hour of need.
Oh and the media! What a resounding chorus came from them, the billion-dollar empires who were sitting in warm, dry offices typing on their computers and pontificating their opinions to the nation at large about how immoral it was to hold the ING NYC Marathon!
Most of them returned home to their intact mansions where they feasted on big meals surrounded by family members, not one of them on the frontline helping bring food and water to the masses.
If we follow the line of reasoning that shut down one of the most symbolic and important events of the year–the diverting of resources–why don’t we just shut down the whole town in reverence to what has happened? Would that make sense instead of trying to move forward and rebuild not just the city, but also morale?
And are the cops really down in Staten Island right now, or Breezy Point passing out food and water? No they aren’t, no they weren’t and no they won’t be, Marathon or not.
The NYC Marathon brings thousands of visitors to the city every year. Now they are here, and they are pissed off.
Many of them spent thousands of dollars to get here, and what are they confronted with? A bunch of whiners who can’t see anyone having fun when they aren’t.
Here’s what we are missing out on without the marathon: over $350 MILLION dollars spent and going directly to people who live and work in the city, an amount estimated by the New York Road Runners (NYRR), which organizes the run through all five boroughs–oh and that’s a 2011 number.
In 2010, the more than 45,000 participants spent nearly $1,800 each during their visit to New York City, according to an economic analysis provided by AECOM.
Guess what? We’re not having fun either. We haven’t had electricity for almost 7 days now. No heat, hot water, no food–because there aren’t any stores open where we live and work! Also, no gas. We’re homeless and had to travel 100 miles to find a dry place to work and report from.
We have become homeless as all of the thousands of people who did so in our area. But, we would have loved to come see the marathon.
Ah, wouldn’t have that been refreshing! Watching athletic people running in cool weather, the cheers, the crowds! We would all have huddled around candlelit dinners (if there were any places left in town without electricity, which at this point looks like not.)
But let’s get down to brass tacks here. No one seems to mind that some billionaire dollar basketball game was held, in the name of capitalism last night. I didn’t hear any of those basketball stars offering up their salary for a night to help the homeless people in Staten Island, or Breezy Point.
Let’s get a grip on this total hypocrisy: Camelo Anthony who plays for the Knicks makes over 20 MILLION dollars a year. If he had given ONE WEEK of his salary last night, it would have paid to rebuild someone’s house out in Breezy Point. Wait, no! It would have paid for a new house somewhere else, away from the shore–about $385,000.
No instead, this is what the self-centered millionaire said about the plight of New Yorkers: “Over the last couple of days, we didn’t even know if this game was going to be played. Then before the game we look up and they say they canceled the Marathon, so it was like, we have to go out there and play,” Anthony said. “So today was something to give New York a couple hours of some peace. Come to the game, support us. We gave them a good show out there tonight, that’s the least that we can do.”
That’s the least they can do.
But let’s go ahead and cancel the marathon which would have brought millions of dollars to New York City businesses who are struggling to get back on their feet. Would have brought thousands of people here to see for themselves the destruction we sustained, and relay that back in eyewitness accounts back home. And would have helped people from outside the area to open their pocketbooks and help us.
Instead we have a bunch of pissed off runners who are going to go home and tell everyone what a piece of sh–t New York is because they canceled the marathon.
Enough said.
Below is a list of the Knicks’ salaries, totaling $74 million dollars in one year. And that’s just one team.
| New York Knicks Salaries Check the latest New York Knicks RumorsKey: Player Option / Team Option / Qualifying Offer / AmnestiedTea
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Jennifer: I’m mostly with you. Not knowing any better, I’d have decided and announced earlier in the week to move the race 2 or 3 weeks, in case recovery needed more time and resources. This would have allowed all parties to make appropriate plans. Though Bloomberg assured us that the race would not divert recovery resources, I would be concerned if, in the end, it worked out that way.
The City and the NYRRC needed to take into account whether it could support the race without hurting government or individual recovery efforts. The NYRRC also needed to consider whether its members were ready and willing to run and if the people of New York were truly, at the grass-roots, willing and able to host. Two concerns that should not have been touted by race supporters are loss of revenue and inconvenience to the racers. In the wake of the storm, the revenues would have been impacted anyway, sometimes. Talking money is just crass right now. Local needs trump visitor needs.
But I’m also concerned that the race was canceled due to demagoguery. In addition to the basketball game you described and all the entertainment businesses that are open, there’s a Giants game tomorrow at MetLife. 80,000 people will be coming to East Rutherford – 3 miles from flooded Moonachie, 7 miles from flooded Hoboken – by car. Burning gas (that’s rationed in New Jersey). Driving through and past devastated communities. It would be a safe bet that thousands of Staten Islanders will also be driving to the game, thousands more will watch the game at home or in bars. They will consume food and liquids, that could (conceivably) be diverted for recovery. Thousands of people are now driving across the Staten Island Expressway and Verrazano Bridge, within yards of where homes are destroyed, bodies being found, etc., yet individual drivers are not being asked “what’s the purpose of your trip?” But when it comes to a road race (aka, people using the roads, but not in cars), all that somehow matters. Comparing the results of searching Google or Twitter for “cancel giants” and “cancel marathon” is an eye opener. I’m dismayed that people who advocate for people who run, walk and bike didn’t pick up and call “bulls–t” on this duplicity.
It’s also galling to read others saying what runners and the NYRRC “should” do, in terms of aiding the recovery. Of course, they could pitch in, and thankfully, they are, but as far as I know, no other group has been told what they “should” do. It would have been very constructive had the runners run and helped the community, before or after the race. But once told that they are not welcome in Staten Island or on the streets of New York, because they will “tax” or “debilitate” the city, why would runners feel motivated to lend a hand? Friday’s Post’s front-page article about the NYRRC’s generators was also underhanded. These were private equipment. There was no indication that they would be appropriate for recovery purposes. There was no indication that anyone had asked for them or that the NYRRC had refused them, if asked. Yet this was clearly perceived by many as “generators diverted from rescue”. This meme was echoed on various Right-wing sites, like Breitbart.com, on Friday.
Staten Islanders may be rightfully peeved that a major event was planned in their borough (barely, by the way). There are reports that police and sanitation unions were unhappy. Bloomberg and the NYRRC should have had all parties in the room early and come to a decision that all parties who would actually work the marathon could support. But people not actually working the marathon, or materially impacted, should not have had a veto. Some victims just have a way of trying to force others to share in their grief in ways that aren’t constructive to the community as a whole. We saw this post 9/11, with various individuals and groups complicating everything from commemorations, to how the WTC site would be rebuilt to who is allowed to worship in lower Manhattan. When the ferryboat “Andrew Barbieri” crashed, some victims’ families wanted the boat scrapped, or at least renamed. (The memorial plaque on the boat is missing a victim’s name, because his father refused to allow it unless the boat was renamed.) There’s been much tragedy in the city and region this week, but there are also signs of life. As a community, we ought to err on the side of affirming life. Had the race been feasible, it would have been a great coming together for the city.
Thanks very much howardhall for stating the opinion which went very far beyond politicians and journalists. In walking through downtown, looking for cell reception or a shower, we met many people in the same situation as we, who agreed that it was inappropriate to hold the Marathon now. Anything I have heard on the radio from runners, though it’s not much, is that they completely understand why this needed to be done. Only they – and we – wish it had been done earlier. Another way of looking at it, cynical or not, is that the cancellation was not decided until most of the visitors had already arrived and spent much of the money they would have spent to be in the Marathon.
The wonderful thing about the Marathon is that it is a huge event, and covers the whole city. It also consumes huge city resources of police and transportation. A basketball game is of little consequence by comparison and the resources used are small.
Canceling was certainly the right decision. Too bad it came so late. I have loved the Marathon in past years and I will love it in the future. But, alas, not this year.
This from a reader who sent us an email:
I wish Bruce Springsteen and all those hollywood do-gooders with their phony concerts would JUST GO AWAY –do we need a concert after every disaster? FOR WHAT? is any so called money raised really going to make a difference? ..George Harrison’s concert for Bangladesh was great–that was 1971–but after that–enough of this crap.
GO AWAY BRUCE, BON-JOVI….INSTEAD OF WRITING crappy song lyrics write a check from your own money to help–I don’t need to hear your shitty concers and phony concerns.
All city resources should be focused on recovery…we don’t need feel good stuff right now diverting PUBLIC resources to hold a marathon.
Public resources BTW paid for by MY TAX dollars and yours…The Knicks game and Madison Square Gardern are private businesses and can do what they want–their games do not divert any major resources or public funds away from where it’s most needed..other than a small police detail one sees at each game…and The Garden has its own PRIVATE security.
You can’t always have big city-wide events go off as planned when a mess like this happens..as for any lost business or tax revenue the feds are going to give a lot of massive federal aid..so it’s a wash.
No-one wants to cheer runners when their own personal situation is one of darkenss, cold, hunger, no-gas, no shelter…
Maybe they could hold the marathon a month from now–when things are more normal..that’s what I would do.
Frank Shorter.
thanks for your thoughtful comments Howard
JB
I don’t want to get into a shouting match over this but as a resident of lower Manhattan who did not leave for warmer climes and who also experienced 9/11 first-hand I have to agree with the decision to cancel the marathon. This was not a simple power outage event. The basic infrastructure of the city was compromised and shown to be deficient. In some ways this event was more traumatic than 9/11 since we have no one to vent our anger and helplessness against – except perhaps ourselves. An NBA basketball game is a small event compared to the international scope of the marathon. And don’t kid yourself about the millions of dollars made by the very wealthy on the backs of the thousands of amateur athletes. Somebody is paying and benefitting from all those tv commercials, and it’s not our friends who are the runners. They have to pay to participate!
But the basic fact of the matter, to my mind, is that the people of the city and surrounding areas, especially including those of the Jersey shore, need our full attention. Running an event such as the marathon would only deflect our attention and energies from those who need it most. People need food, water, clothing and housing. Many lives were lost. The marathon starts in Staten Island and leaves! How symbolic. The marathon will be back next year. The lives of those devastated by Sandy will never return. They are forever lost and changed. Our power outages are mere inconveniences. Let’s put our thoughts and deeds where they will be most beneficial.