Albany’s Dem mayor whizzed off to a ritzy Martha’s Vineyard junket the day after a local firefighter and another government worker had to be airlifted to the hospital following a massive explosion at a city facility.
Critics raged that newly minted Mayor Dorcey Applyrs was more than 200 miles away in the posh sunny locale within 24 hours of Albany Fire Battalion Chief Wayne Brennan and 20-year city employee Anthony Hughes being flown in critical condition for emergency treatment after a gas pump at the city site exploded.
Applyrs glammed it up in a snazzy red jumpsuit and aviator shades for the event, which was sponsored by the Association for Enterprise Opportunity, an industry group, according to photos posted to Instagram.
“I think it’s a poor showing, particularly for a relatively new mayor, to not be there,” said state Sen. George Borrello (R-Chautauqua), a former county executive.
Borrello said that when a blaze leveled part of the upstate village of Faulkner in 2017, he was immediately on scene and present.
“I wasn’t going to leave at that moment,” he said.
“You need to be there and be a leader.”
It was only as the sun was setting amid the hobnobbing on Martha’s Vineyard that Applyrs’ office even released a statement extending her “deepest sympathies” for the two city employees.
“Today our focus is on the two members of our city family who were injured,” the mayor said in the release.
She finally addressed Albany media in a press conference three days after the incident, after dodging local reporters.
“The mayor has been in contact with both victims’ families, and the safety of the city’s workforce remains her top priority,” mayoral rep Zipporah Hommel told The Post, saying Applyrs went to the scene immediately after the incident and was in “consistent communication” with city officials.
“Mayor Applyrs joined her fellow mayors to shed light on the economic burden local municipalities have been forced to bear in the midst of a nationwide affordability crisis, rising healthcare costs, and increasing need for supportive services, affecting economic mobility for cities across the country,” the representative said of the Martha’s Vineyard jaunt.
“She will continue to utilize her national network as the City of Albany works towards long-term financial stability.”
State Assemblywoman Jodi Giglio (R-Suffolk) said she intends to demand answers from Applyrs when the mayor inevitably begs the legislature for help plugging her city’s rapidly expanding budget deficit again next year.
“For the mayor to leave for Martha’s Vineyard the day after the explosion is a disgrace to the city workforce and the emergency services workers,” Gilgio said.
“Disrespecting a man who gave his life to the city sends a message, not a good one. She should be with the family and figuring out why this explosion happened.
“I wouldn’t sleep, vacation or be anywhere else but in City Hall after this incident,” the state senator said.
David Laska, a spokesman for the state Republican Party, condemned Applyrs response as tone-deaf to the working class.
“Whether it’s [Gov.] Kathy Hochul’s affordability crisis, the rise of Zohran Mamdani’s radical socialists or explosions that injure public servants, Democrats have turned their backs on us,” Laska said.
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