Going in ’stile
Blaz & Chuck ride rails in push for funds
MAYOR DE Blasio’s move to draw attention to the importance of mass transit funding began with a chauffeured ride to the subway in a gas-guzzling SUV — and then it got really weird.
De Blasio met with Sen. Chuck Schumer Thursday morning for a Brooklyn to City Hall R train ride in honor of “Stand Up for Transportation Day,” a bipartisan push calling for Congress to fund infrastructure improvements.
The mayor was driven to Brooklyn by his NYPD detail, first stopping at the Park Slope Y where he works out, then meeting Schumer — who lives in the neighborhood — for a coffee at 7:30 a.m.
The two swiped and boarded the system at the Fourth Ave./Ninth St. stop, and promptly began lobbying commuters about the need for increased funding for transit, roads and bridges, according to a pool report.
The federal bill funding infrastructure improvements will expire on May 31 unless Congress acts.
As the ride continued, the two pols — who clearly crack each other up — began talking in mock Boston accents for “reasons unclear,” according to the pool report.
“Wicked fahh,” said de Blasio, who is from Massachusetts but claims he never picked up the state’s distinctive accent.
“Green Monstahhh,” Schumer said — a reference to a famous wall in Fenway Park, the Red Sox stadium.
De Blasio — again for reasons “not immediately clear” — then waxed on about the 1960s cartoon “Underdog.” “I loved ‘Underdog’ so much,” he said.
The morning ended on another surreal note. The normally tardy De Blasio began his press conference 10 minutes early.