On Oct. 14th Mayor De Blasio was picked up by a police helicopter that landed in a Prospect Park ballfield. The Mayor was supposed land by police helicopter in Harlem River Park during an Aug. 9 little league game but balked after fuming parents threatened to expose the stunt on social media.
City-Wide
Mayor de Blasio shut down a Little League baseball game in a Harlem park for more than an hour in August so police could ready a field for his helicopter, The Post has learned.
The chopper landing was then abruptly canceled after an angry dad started griping to cops about the intrusion, threatening to post pictures of the mayoral interruption on social media, a source said.
The extended seventh-inning stretch got underway at Harlem River Park during an Aug. 9 Little League game when the NYPD cleared the diamond of two under-14 teams, one dad told The Post.
The cops “basically told everybody to get off the field,” the dad said.
“The mayor wants to land his helicopter here,” he recalled police telling him. And when he griped to the officers they sympathized.
“They said it’s absolutely ridiculous and that I should file a complaint,” said the dad, who didn’t want his name printed for fear of retribution.
Another angry dad confirmed the story. De Blasio was slated to deliver remarks at Gracie Mansion at 7 pm that evening and visited an injured firefighter at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx earlier that day. He had nothing else on his public schedule.
The guy feels he’s so entitled to do whatever he wants.” Police said he was taking the whirlybird from the Bronx because traffic was backed up, the dad recalled.
“It’s ridiculous,” he fumed. “The guy feels he’s so entitled to do whatever he wants.” Another dad confirmed that police said it was de Blasio who was supposed to land on the field.
“I wanted to see my son playing,” he said, griping, “We should have been home an hour earlier.”
A former cop familiar with the situation told The Post police “were not happy” about having to arrange for de Blasio’s park landing.
The mayor’s office refused to comment on the aborted chopper ride, instead referring questions to the NYPD.
“The security and transportation of the mayor are determined by the NYPD,” said Deputy Commissioner John Miller.
“We do not discuss the specifics of security.”
That was the same canned statement the department issued less than two weeks ago after The Post reported de Blasio had been picked up by a chopper landed in a Prospect Park ballfield.
De Blasio dodged questions on that flight Wednesday, refusing to say whether or not he was making political calls on Friday, Oct. 14, the day of the Park Slope flight.
“We’ve done every form of disclosure we have to and we follow exactly the rules,” he said.
When pressed about having to use a chopper becuase he was in a rush after making political or campaign calls, he said: “I’ve just said all I’m going to say about it.”
De Blasio and his administration have also kept relatively quiet on why he used a police chopper to whisk him and wife Chirlane out to last month’s presidential debate on Long Island.
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De Blasio’s helicopter shut down a Little League game
New York Post - October 26, 2016 - By Michael Gartland
The recent use of the a park as a landing spot for public official's copters in not new. I can remember in the 1960's the Presidential helicoptet (Marine One and its escorts) landing on the sheep meadow when President Lyndon Johnson attended the funeral of Cardinal Spellman @ St Patricks Csthederal. In the1990's once then President George H. W. Busch was supposed to land on the Great Lawn in Central Park. I believe that this landing was cancelled to weather conditions. About 2001 then NYS Governor Ptaki's
ReplyDeleteState police copter landed on the Isham Ballfield in Inwood Hill Park, when the Governor was "Principal For A Day" @ a local school.
Perhaps there needs to be better communication between the protective / logistical people of public officials and the appropriate offices in the Parks Dept. to avoid inconveniencing people who have been issued oermits.