Sometimes when you’re a big city mayor, dealing with a major emergency requires being hands on. Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark, N.J., is known for just that attitude.
In April, he rescued a woman from a burning building on his street despite police trying to hold him back. During Hurricane Sandy, Booker was once again hands on Monday night as wind and rain lashed the city.
The Rachel Maddow Show reported that when Booker received a tweet telling him a transformer had exploded at Riverview Court Projects, he replied:
We’ll alert PSEG and emerg. crews. I’m 5mins from you and will do a driveby.
Then, when told on Twitter that homeless people were stranded beneath an underpass, Booker responded:
I’ll head down now to take a look with emerg. personnel.
Then:
Just left. We were able to convince and transport 32 homeless brothers and sisters to shelter. Booker joined Maddow to talk about how New Jersey’s biggest city is handling Sandy, warning that many residents could be at risk if there’s a power outage “Remember, when power goes out, you have a lot of desperate situations, people who rely on power for their medical conditions, elderly who rely on power as well,” he said. But he noted that he’s seen “people pulling together, Americans pulling together and being there for each other,” adding: “So many things have inspired me and me proud to be a part of this community and this country.” “This goes beyond partisan politics,” Booker said.
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