Pot & Groundhogs



Do you and your wife smoke pot in Gracie Mansion?  Will you miss having the chance to kill Staten Island Chuck again?  Those were two unusual questions posed to Mayor de Blasio during a press conference this afternoon.  The press conference was held to announce a reversal of the current City policy prohibiting student possession of cell phones in public schools, with the Q&A also focusing on the continuing NYPD/PBA-de Blasio friction.  These other moments addressed some less weighty questions:

Marijuana:

A reporter asked an unusual question of the mayor:

Staten Island Chuck:

During last year’s Staten Island Zoo Groundhog Day ceremony Staten Island Chuck escaped the mayor’s clutches and leapt to the ground.  Chuck (actually a female substitute named Charlotte) died a week or so later, reportedly from internal injuries suffered in that leap.  The zoo is now considering changing the Groundhog Day event to eliminate any mayoral handling of the subject groundhog.  Here’s the mayor’s reaction: