Here’s the thing about running for elected office of any kind, from dog catcher in a podunk town to mayor of New York: you will always deal with insane people, no matter what. The larger the population though, the more there are. Case in point? A caller on Wednesday night to NY1’s The Call, a call-in show to talk about the news going on in New York, said she met Bill de Blasio and asked him to implement stop-and-frisk only in Manhattan. Does she use the phrase “those people”? Hell yes she does.
The caller, Joan from the Upper West Side, explained how upon meeting Bill de Blasio on the street, she told him that she was active in liberal politics, against stop-and-frisk generally, but asked de Blasio to keep it in Manhattan. Her reasoning? “You can’t expect us to live by the same rules we dictate to other people, for heaven’s sake,” before going on to say “Manhattan is special. Let’s put it this way: we are New York. Brooklyn and Queens and Staten Island, I don’t even like talking about those kinds of places.”
So uh, you tell us. Actual deluded old biddie from the UWS or brilliant piece of satire attempting to tar the Quinn campaign, who Joan says she’s voting for at the end of the video? It’s kind of impossible to tell. And even though the idea of a person like this voting is terrifying, it’s also hilarious to think she really exists and really believes all of this. If you can’t listen to this at work (do whatever you can to), her monologue, in response to “Are you excited about a Mayor de Blasio?” is below:
“No. I was at first, because of this stop-and-frisk, which I’m totally against. But when I saw him on the street with his entourage, I went up to him and I told him how involved I was with liberal politics and I said to him, “You’re not gonna end stop-and-frisk in Manhattan right? Just in Staten Island and Brooklyn and Queens, I’m still up in the air about the Bronx.’ And he said ‘Why should I have it in Manhattan?’ And I said ‘You can’t expect us to live by the same rules we dictate to other people, for heaven’s sake. Just because people like me are against stop-and-frisk in places like Brooklyn and Queens and Staten Island doesn’t mean we don’t want it not to continue in Manhattan. I mean, Manhattan is special. Let’s put it this way: we are New York. Brooklyn and Queens and Staten Island, I don’t even like talking about those kinds of places.’ … Affordable housing, I mean, New Yorkers accept that in the Bronx, but you don’t want those people living around you. Of course, I would be the first to say anyone from Brooklyn or Queens and Staten Island would be prejudiced for that. I mean, I’m not a hypocrite.”
View Comments (8)
Woooow This is only funny if people that aren't bigots decide to pay attention and vote.
"Joan" is aware that "affordable housing" exists on Manhattan island, right?
I'm sure that there are many people on Staten Island who would be insulted and furious to be associated with "those people". :)
P.S. I bet "Joan" didn't realize that John Schiumo himself is from Staten Island.
The "those people" she was referring to were hipsters. I cross the street any time I see a narrow-assed jean-clad, scruffy faced, tattoo'd, urchin coming the other way, lest I get hit over the head with a Timbuktu messenger bag. Those things hurt, especially if there's a Powerbook in them.
I don't think the hipster invasion has hit Staten Island yet...unless it's someone living at home with one's parents. ;)
Gene, that's such a hipster thing to say.
tim - you can take the hipster out of the hippie, but you can't take the (former) hippie out of the hipster. (Or something like that.)
This woman's comments reflect a significantly influential portion of the NYC body politic whether she's being satirical or not and her statements merit consideration for anyone who wants to understand or influence political policy in New York City.
i vote for satire. "I’m still up in the air about the Bronx." lmao. Anyway, what a motley crew for mayor. Guess it'll be de Blasio or Quinn. De Blasio gives me the creeps and Quinn is annoying.