Mayor Mike Bloomberg enjoys a cold one like any other New Yorker. And like any other New Yorker, he's bewildered by the city's ban on drinking in the park.
"I never understood why we don't let you drink in the park," Bloomberg told Community Newspaper Groups, a chain of weeklies owned by News Corp., which also owns the Post. "I mean, you go to watch the Philharmonic, you can't have a bottle of wine."
Asked about Brooklynite Kimber VanRy's legal battle over a ticket he received for drinking a beer on the stoop of his Prospect Heights home, the mayor seemed to simultaneously express sympathy for the thirsty man's plight while making a backhanded plea for understanding.
"Keep in mind we don't pay people that do these jobs an enormous amount," he said of the agents who write tickets. "We try to get the best people we can for what we can afford. It's easy to second guess [them]."
If only Mayor Bloomberg had the juice to do something about all of these restrictive laws.