New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, unbowed by the recent judicial smackdown of his stop-and-frisk program, is now openly musing about initiating a program to fingerprint public housing residents in an effort to deny criminals access to these buildings.
Apparently, he was just thinking out loud; there currently is no plan in the works to start fingerprinting residents of public housing. It does, however, reveal Bloomberg's paranoia/distaste of people who are currently experiencing hardship.
To justify his position, he cites the recent rejection of his stop-and-frisk program:
Bloomberg, speaking during his weekly appearance on WOR Radio, was musing that a court decision this week to limit the police tactic known as stop-and-frisk may make it more difficult for officers to protect New York City Housing Authority buildings.
Not surprisingly, Bloomberg's comments drew immediate responses from mayoral candidates:
Within an hour, mayoral hopeful Bill Thompson derided the fingerprinting idea as "disrespectful" and "disgraceful."
"Just like stop-and-frisk, this is another direct act of treating minorities like criminals," said Thompson, a former city comptroller, in a statement. "Mayor Bloomberg wants to make New Yorkers feel like prisoners in their own homes."
Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, who has moved to the top of Democratic primary polls, called Bloomberg "out of touch" and urged the mayor to instead install security cameras within the buildings, which house more than 400,000 people.
Critics were quick to point out that Bloomberg's musings are reminiscent of his proposal to require fingerprints from food stamp applicants, which was quickly quashed by Governor Cuomo.
More here:
http://www.newsday.com/...