On Cheap Symbolism

June 2017: “During a regularly scheduled radio appearance on WNYC recently, Mayor de Blasio implied that he would not be baited into the ‘cheap symbolism’ of taking mass transit to the gym, and that caravan-style mobility was, in effect, his right” (“Mayor de Blasio’s Symbolism, Plastic-Wrapped in Arrogance”).

July 2017: “Homeless booted from subways so de Blasio could have ‘clean’ ride”:

Mayor Bill de Blasio ventured into the city’s decrepit subway system Sunday — but didn’t have to face the foul-smelling and often crazy vagrants whom ordinary New Yorkers are forced to contend with every day.That’s because police were ordered to roust all the homeless people from two stations ahead of the mayor’s four-stop press event as he rode from his Park Slope gym to his new re-election headquarters in downtown Brooklyn, law enforcement sources told The Post.

The rank and file had until 11 a.m. to prepare the Fourth Avenue/Ninth Street and Jay Street/MetroTech F train stations for the mayor’s brief, underground publicity stunt, sources said.

One source characterized the directive — contained in an email from the NYPD’s Transit Bureau — as instructing cops to “make sure nobody’s hanging out” so that the stations “looked nice.”

Another source said the mayor’s office notified police brass of his schedule ahead of time “with the expectation that the subway stations would be free and clear of homeless people.”