- Title: Mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa wants to vote with his cat and save NYC
- Date: 2nd November 2021
- Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (NOVEMBER 2, 2021) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS OF MAYORAL CANDIDATE, CURTIS SLIWA, HOLDING CAT, GIZMO, AND WALKING TO POLLING SITE AT FRANK MCCOURT HIGH SCHOOL SLIWA AT MICROPHONE STAND (SOUNDBITE) (English) MAYORAL CANDIDATE, CURTIS SLIWA, SAYING: "When the healthcare workers crawled into the belly of the beast every day to save people, didn't have the proper equipment, our government didn't prepare them, nor the masks. And they did that every day as essential workers and then sometimes brought the disease to themselves, killing them, making them seriously ill, and bringing it back to their families. Many of them have been fired. Likewise, police officers, firefighters, sanitation workers. So on this day, which is so important, obviously, to the future of New York City with the election of a new mayor, I really think it pales in comparison to what we've done to these heroes who've been turned into zeros." SLIWA SPEAKING, HOLDING GIZMO (SOUNDBITE) (English) MAYORAL CANDIDATE, CURTIS SLIWA, SAYING: "Gizmo was on the kill list. Thank God my wife was able to see Gizmo because Gizmo was to have been euthanized, destroyed, as a result of having a fungus that had rendered Gizmo incapable of seeing, almost like to the point, 'I'm falling, I can't get up.' And they were prepared to euthanize to destroy. Nancy, like a lot of other rescuers, a lot of heroic men and women out there who go unrecognized, who rush to these animal care and control shelters and save these animals. But it's not enough because they only keep them for 72 hours. And in 72 hours, even Governor Hochul could not issue a reprieve to save Gizmo or any of the cats and dogs and animals. So I know a lot of people have laughed at me, oh, you're quite eccentric or crazy to have 17 rescue cats in a 328-square-foot apartment right here in the Upper West Side. But as Gandhi said, go ahead, laugh at Gandhi. Gandhi said a society that does not treat its animals well will not treat its human beings well. And we can see that as emotionally disturbed persons and homeless people have been kicked to the curb. They are living in our parks, they are living in our subways, they're living in our streets, in inhumane conditions. And that's the other key platform that ain't happening. I'm compassionate. I'm caring. We're going to rescue the emotionally disturbed and the homeless and the dogs, cats, and animals who get slaughtered." (SOUNDBITE) (English) MAYORAL CANDIDATE, CURTIS SLIWA, SAYING: "I have to hang up the beret, no longer be wearing the beret, in fact, I got to get used to this (taking off beret). I got to grow some hair because that's part of the reason that I always wear the red beret. So actually becoming mayor and saving New York City is more important than wearing this red beret, far more important than wearing this red beret." WORKER TELLING SLIWA HE CAN'T BRING THE CAT INSIDE, SLIWA HANDING CAT TO SOMEONE VARIOUS OF SLIWA INSIDE POLLING SITE, AT VOTING BOOTH SLIWA'S BALLOT JAMMING THE SCANNING MACHINE VARIOUS OF VOTERS AND POLL WORKERS INSIDE THE POLLING SITE (SOUNDBITE) (English) VOTER, MOLLY MODEL, SAYING: "After a long bout of someone who I don't necessarily always agree with and by always, I mean, almost never agree with, I agree with everything that Eric Adams has done." (SOUNDBITE) (English) VOTER, JUAN RESTREPO, SAYING: "I voted for Eric Adams for mayor. I think Curtis Sliwa's in there right now. I think he lives in this neighborhood. I don't resonate with his politics. I do resonate with the fact that he owns a lot of cats. I think that's very human. But like, I'm looking for somebody who stands for the issues that I stand for, and I think Eric Adams talks a lot about making streets safer for people biking. Curtis Sliwa talks about ripping up bike lanes. Eric Adams, I really resonate with his story about being obese and working through all of that and picking up a healthier lifestyle, I think it speaks a lot to his character as a person. So hopefully he can bring those values to the city as well." (SOUNDBITE) (English) VOTER, RUTH BIENSKOCK, SAYING: "I voted for Eric Adams. I would have preferred a woman in the position but at this point, it's light over dark, fight for democracy, so we do whatever we have to do to maintain that." SIGN READING (English): "VOTE HERE" (SOUNDBITE) (English) VOTER, RUTH BIENSKOCK, SAYING: "We have people on the sides of the streets like broken TVs and microwaves. They're not taken care of the way they should be. And a whole bunch of other stuff. And don't even get me started on scaffolding." VOTERS WALKING OUT OF POLLING SITE EXTERIOR OF POLLING SITE
- Embargoed: 16th November 2021 18:51
- Keywords: Curtis Sliwa Gizmo New York cat election mayor
- Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- City: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Government/Politics,United States,Elections/Voting
- Reuters ID: LVA001F1WPF0N
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: New York City Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa showed up at his Upper West Side polling station Tuesday (November 2) morning to cast his vote while holding one of his 17 cats in his arms, Gizmo. Sliwa's left arm was in a sling after he was recently hit by a taxi.
Sliwa said if he became the next New York City mayor, he would roll back mandates on city workers who refuse to get vaccinated and "rescue the emotionally disturbed and the homeless and the dogs, cats, and animals who get slaughtered."
Sliwa founded the Guardian Angels civilian patrol and ran on a "law-and-order" platform.
The candidate took off his famed red beret, part of the Guardian Angels uniform, and said, "Actually becoming mayor and saving New York City is more important than wearing this red beret, far more important than wearing this red beret."
Democratic mayor candidate and Brooklyn borough president since 2014, Eric Adams, a former police captain, is expected to become the city's second Black mayor unless Sliwa can pull off a shocking upset.
The winner will take over in January from Democrat Bill de Blasio, mayor for the last eight years. He will be tasked with overseeing the largest U.S. city's nascent recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and will also confront several deep challenges, including a spike in shootings, persistent wealth inequality, a troubled public-school system, and a lack of affordable housing.
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