As yet another snowstorm threatens to dump six to twelve inches upon our terrified city, the Times reveals some chilling new information: Deputy Mayor Steven Goldsmith, whose performance during the Tsnownami of 2010 has been widely criticized, has been bested by snow before. The time: January 1994. The city: Indianapolis, where Goldsmith was the mayor. Uninhabitable by normal New York standards, it was rendered even more uninhabitable when the White Menace paid a visit, coating it in a foot of the cold white stuff.
Then, the paper reports, a familiar scenario unfolded:
Mr. Goldsmith was in — of all places — New York, and unavailable for comment, while his city was struggling with the snow. But his administration opted not to declare a snow emergency, which would have prohibited parked cars on snow emergency routes.
Needless to say, Indiana residents were unsurprised to see the deputy mayor was absent during last week’s blizzard. “When I logged onto my Facebook page after the big New York snow,” a former Indiana politico told the paper, “a dozen or so of my Facebook friends had independently posted the New York Daily News column attributing the snow removal fiasco to Goldsmith’s poor management, along with comments like ‘Déjà vu all over again,’ ‘Yep — that’s our Stevie.’” Fascinating. Snow is clearly Goldsmith’s bête noire—or rather, his bête blanc. But why? Why is he never around when it occurs, and is strangely averse to picking it up? Is he afraid of the snow? Or is he in cahoots with it?? Developing.
Goldsmith’s Other Bad Snow Day [City Room/NYT]
