Mayor: Returning Squeegee Men Will Be Wiped Away

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is shrugging off a report that the squeegee men have returned to the streets of New York.

Most folks consider them a nuisance. They come ambling up to your car and start wiping down your windshield, whether you want them to or not. Then they demand money for the “service,” which frequently leaves cloudy, murky streaks and your windshield dirtier than when they began.

They were a regular sight to those coming out of the tunnels as recently as the 1990s, until Mayor Rudy Giuliani did away with them.

Now, squeegee men have reportedly been making their way into stalled Times Square traffic.

Bloomberg isn’t especially concerned.

“Well, every few years, the squeegee guys come back,” Bloomberg said. “I think the last one was about 2008 and if you read the dramatic story, ‘the squeegee guys are gonna take over the city’ and, of course, they did not.”

Bloomberg added they will not this time either.

“The police department has a lot to do, but we’re not walking away from squeegee guys when they rear their heads, or however you’d phrase it, with their bucket and sponge, we respond appropriately,” said Bloomberg.