Mike's wakeup call
She rings mayor at home for help
BY MICHAEL SAUL
DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU
Got a beef with the city? Want the boss' attention? Just call Mayor Mike - at home.
"I called at 10:15 and somebody said, 'Hi. Hello.' And I said, 'That sounds like Mayor Bloomberg,'" said Sheila Powsner, recounting her Monday night call to Bloomberg's upper East Side townhouse.
"I said, 'Mayor Bloomberg, I'm sorry to be calling you at such a late hour, but I have a problem with my aunt,'" said Powsner, a Brooklyn teacher.
Bloomberg, who is seeking reelection this fall, mentioned the call at a news conference yesterday. "I appreciate if you don't call me late at night - I can't really do anything then. But in an emergency, I work for the people, and that's part of the job," the mayor said.
Powsner called the mayor on behalf of her 94-year-old aunt, Dottie Wollner, whose housing plight was chronicled in the Daily News last week.
Wollner, who has lived in Williams Plaza in Williamsburg since 1963, switched apartments several years ago to tend to her sister, Minnie. Although Minnie died, Wollner - who also has health problems - wants to stay in Minnie's apartment.
The Housing Authority asked Wollner to vacate her sister's apartment by July 16. Now the mayor has asked housing officials to let Wollner stay. The vacate order has been suspended while the agency looks into the matter.
"I'm very grateful that The News was the first to help us," Wollner said, adding that it was "amazing to have a mayor that you can get through to. He has a lot of ... compassion."
So where do you find the mayor's home number?
"It's in the phone book," Bloomberg said. "That's the place you get it."
Originally published on July 13, 2005
 |
|
|
