commutes that should take minutes are taking hours. kids cannot get to school. people are missing work. it s been four days now. you have to stop this. and he said this, specifically, as to why it might be happening. the mayor wrote this, quote, many members of the public indicated to me the port authority police officers are advising commuters in response to their complaints that this recent traffic debacle is the result of a decision that i as mayor recently made. according to the mayor, he says he found out even as the bridge lane shutdown was still in effect, he says that port authority police were telling people stuck in the traffic jam that the traffic jam was the mayor s fault and they should blame him. they should call him and complain. now, to be clear, the police officers from ft. lee, the ft. lee police department, they had no idea what was going on with the shutdown. remember, they were totally blindsided. they had no notice, no warning, no explanation. what we re talking a
quote, as motorist robert michel approached the single access lane to the bridge s tollbooths, an officer sought him out. quote, he kind of motioned to me. are you frustrated michel said the officer asked. what is going on? call the mayor s office to complain michel said the officer responded. it looks like many drivers did just that. quote, dozens of motorists telephoned either the borough s municipal offices or the ft. lee police department. what was significant and suspicious was the similarity of the message. the message got through to sokolich. so much that he wrote a panic letter to bill baroni when the closure spilled into day four. he wrote, quote, adding insult to injury, many members of the public have indicated to me that the port authority police officers are advising commuters in response to their complaints that this recent traffic debacle is the result of a decision that i as the mayor recently made.
to injury, many members of the public have indicated to me that the port authority police officers are advising commuters in response to their complaints that this recent traffic debacle is the result of a decision that i as the mayor recently made. let me go to matt katz at wnyc. this is what brings it home to me. after all the weeks of trying to figure out the politics, the hands-on role played by police officers who are not politicians carrying out a political vendetta. the misuse of authority here over police officers using them for some cheap political number here on the mayor, wittingly or not, these cops were basically playing like they were ward healers, local paws in a political army doing the dirty work of wildstein, kelly, and maybe the governor. we don t know. but this is terrible. this is cops are supposed to defend you and protect you and get you to where you want to go safely. and they do try to do that.
people are missing work. it s been four days now. you have to stop this. and he said this, specifically, as to why it might be happening. the mayor wrote this, quote, many members of the public indicated to me the port authority police officers are advising commuters in response to their complaints that this recent traffic debacle is the result of a decision that i as mayor recently made. according to the mayor, he says he found out even as the bridge lane shutdown was still in effect, he says that port authority police were telling people stuck in the traffic jam that the traffic jam was the mayor s fault and they should blame him. they should call him and complain. now, to be clear, the police officers from ft. lee, the ft. lee police department, they had no idea what was going on with the shutdown. remember, they were totally blindsided. they had no notice, no warning, no explanation. what we re talking about is not the ft. lee police department but the port authority police and app
commutes that should take minutes are taking hours. kids cannot get to school. people are missing work. it s been four days now. you have to stop this. and he said this, specifically, as to why it might be happening. the mayor wrote this, quote, many members of the public indicated to me the port authority police officers are advising commuters in response to their complaints that this recent traffic debacle is the result of a decision that i as mayor recently made. according to the mayor, he says he found out even as the bridge lane shutdown was still in effect, he says that port authority police were telling people stuck in the traffic jam that the traffic jam was the mayor s fault and they should blame him. they should call him and complain. now, to be clear, the police officers from ft. lee, the ft. lee police department, they had no idea what was going on with the shutdown. remember, they were totally blindsided. they had no notice, no warning, no explanation. what we re talking a