People before money, marathons

At the eleventh hour, amid a groundswell of public outrage, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg cancelled the annual New York City Marathon.

Sandy made landfall around 9 p.m. on Monday, October 29. On Tuesday, October 30, it began to leave. By Wednesday, October 31, it was dissipating over Pennsylvania. But in its wake it left death, destruction and disaster.

While newscasts covered, in depth, the destruction of the New Jersey coast, the loss of power to lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, nothing was reported about the destruction of Staten Island. Not until Friday, according to reports from residents, did help come.

A lack of communication may have been partly to blame. Phones didn't work, radio communications didn't work. The ferry wasn't running and the bridge was closed. But nevertheless, Staten Island was an obvious area of concern. Or should have been.

Once news reports came out early Thursday about the level of destruction on Staten Island, everyone was aware. Of the 40 some-odd deaths in New York, half were on Staten Island.

Residents had no shelter, no food, no water. Nightly temperatures were dropping. They were cold and needed help.

And yet, Bloomberg still made his announcement about the marathon on Friday.

No wonder there was outrage. And not just from island residents.

Bloomberg, called the wealthiest man in New York, is a businessman. And he has done well for NYC as such. His choice to go ahead with the marathon was a business choice for the most part.

Completely ignoring Staten Island, where the race was to begin, and Brooklyn, he defended his decision, saying electricity was expected to be restored to all of Manhattan by race day, and police officer resources who were used to direct traffic in areas without power would no longer be needed. Only limited resources from the Sanitation Department would be utilized. He said the race would be good for business and help generate a tax base. All sound business reasoning ... with apparent disregard for the human element.

Thank goodness New Yorkers did not disregard it.

And although some runners complained about the short notice and thought the race should have gone on because they had trained for it, more than 1,300 donned their running clothes, lined up for backpacks stuffed with emergency supplies and ran their own marathon ... to Staten Island.

They passed out supplies, grabbed gloves and shovels and rakes and pitched in to help residents clean up what was left of their homes, their neighborhoods, their lives.

These runners, and everyone else who went to help, are how New York should hope the world views it. As a city willing to put aside personal (or financial) interests and extend a hand to its fellow man.

A city where humanity and compassion comes before anything else.