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as this -- to distract attention away from all the critically important work that is being done to recover from the storm."
• The decision quickly drew praise from some of the same officials who had slammed the marathon schedule hours earlier. The mayor made a "sensitive and prudent decision that will allow the attention of this city to remain focused on its recovery," said Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.
• But for Eddie Kleydman, motioning toward huge piles of ruined furniture in his Staten Island street, the mayor's last-minute change of heart wasn't enough.
• "He's worried about the marathon. I'm worried about getting power," Kleydman said. "So he called it off. He has to come here and help us clean."
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AP News in Brief
With marathon flap, NYC mayor tries for inspiration but ends up offending storm-stricken city
• NEW YORK (AP) -- Mayor Michael Bloomberg tried to sell the New York City Marathon as a symbolic victory for the city after a devastating storm, invoking two of the biggest symbols of them all -- Rudy Giuliani and 9/11.
• The former mayor, Bloomberg said, made the right decision by holding the marathon less than two months after the 2001 terror attacks: "It pulled people together, and we have to find some ways to express ourselves and show our solidarity with each other."
• Then, he kept talking.
• "You have to keep going and doing things, and you can grieve, you can cry and you can laugh all at the same time," he said.
• And once again, the city cringed, hearing another false note that renewed familiar criticism that New York's billionaire businessman mayor is tone-deaf to suffering in a crisis. By the time the mayor changed course three hours later Friday and called off the world's largest marathon, he had already offended a passel of flood-weary New Yorkers.
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Superstorm Sandy was cruel to NYC's elderly; most drowned alone after refusing to evacuate
• NEW YORK (AP) -- Even with her Coney Island apartment squarely in the path of Superstorm Sandy, Loraine Gore was staying put. At age 90, she said, she had (Continued on page 36)
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