Mayor de Blasio once again refused Wednesday to say why he needed a taxpayer-funded chopper ride nearly two weeks ago as it emerged that wasn’t the first time one of his taxpayer-funded whirlybird trips ruffled New Yorkers’ feathers.
A Little League game at Harlem River Park was disrupted Aug. 9 as cops cleared the field for the mayor to land in an NYPD helicopter, a source told the Daily News.
“It was more annoying than anything else,” the source said.
De Blasio, returning to Gracie Mansion after visiting a firefighter injured in a Bronx blaze, wound up not landing at the field. “We have no idea if a Little League game was interrupted at some point to allow the mayor to meet with injured firefighters at the hospital,” said press secretary Eric Phillips.
De Blasio insisted he’s done “every form of disclosure” in the case of the mystery NYPD helicopter ride two weeks ago — which got him from Prospect Park to a speech in Queens in just a few minutes during rush hour .
“We follow exactly the rules as I’ve talked about for any form of transportation,” he said.
Asked if he was making campaign calls at the Park Slope restaurant Bar Toto — which serves as his office away from City Hall on Fridays — he said curtly, “Just said all I’m going to say about it.”
The mayor — in only his second media availability before the entire City Hall press corps since the helicopter incident 12 days ago — did give some details about his difficulties finding time for campaigning with his busy day job.
“We try and find a way to carve out time. It’s not always easy,” he said.
Although he has taken heat for going to the gym in the late morning during the work week, de Blasio said he’s up around 6 a.m.
Of being mayor, he said, “It begins in the morning, and ends in the night, and it never goes away.”
