Remembering the lives of Sandy victims "To host the New York City Marathon in the middle of what is complete devastation and a crisis in parts of this city is just wrong," said City Councilman Domenic Recchia, whose south Brooklyn district includes Coney Island and other areas that suffered heavy damage.
The decision by Mayor Michael Bloomberg to hold the marathon as scheduled Sunday, less than a week after Sandy came ashore, is dividing New Yorkers and runners alike.
Sandy can't stop marathon man's emotional quest
Bloomberg brushed aside criticism Thursday that the marathon will direct crucial resources away from recovery efforts, saying electricity will be restored by race day, thus freeing up police who are currently manning intersections where the traffic signals and electricity have gone out.
Race Director Mary Wittenberg said organizers are hiring private buses to take runners to and from the marathon, rather than straining resources better used elsewhere.
"This city is a city where we have to go on," Bloomberg said Wednesday.
Recchia said people in Coney Island and the neighborhoods of Sea Gate and Brighton Beach can't move on yet because they have no food, water, or electricity. Residents on Staten Island pleaded Wednesday for gas, food, and clothes. One lady standing outside damaged homes said she had eaten one slice of pizza in the past two days.
Recchia and other critics are suggesting that marathon runners and race volunteers turn their focus instead to handing out food and water to storm victims.
"I understand you've all trained and worked hard, but let's face it: At the end of the race when you ran a 'sub four-hour' or a 'record best' race, someone in OUR city could have used you for a few hours," Brooklyn resident Tim McGuire wrote on Facebook. "50,000 runners or whatever? One-fifth of that would do a lot of good putting in that time elsewhere ... and trust me, the accomplishment would mean more in the long run anyway."
Holding the race so soon after the storm is "a slap in the face to all the people who have lost so much," wrote Denice Calautti on Facebook.
"Let's worry about the actual residents first before we worry about the marathon," wrote Facebook user Jamie Gregory. "The marathon is only going to create extra chaos that is not needed at this time. The city has been through enough. Give them time to get back on their feet."
One Staten Island hotel owner said his rooms would be open to New Yorkers displaced by the storm first, before accommodating runners from out of town.
"We're planning to make sure that the people that are here and our neighbors that have no place to go have a place to stay here," said Richard Nicotra, owner of Hilton Garden Inn and Hampton Inn Suites on the west end of the island.
Nicotra said he has spoken with marathon organizers and agreed to offering a ballroom to house some runners.
"We're not saying to cancel the marathon, but maybe they could have postponed it," he said.
Matt McInerney, manager of The Running Company, a runner's apparel store on New York's Upper East Side, said his customers have mixed feelings about the race going ahead. One of his customers was registered to run but decided not to, thinking things won't be managed well enough this soon after the storm, McInerney said.
But the marathon has the potential to lift the city's spirits, he said. It has an atmosphere unlike any other event in the city, filled with energy and excitement as spectators watch the runners speed by.
"It will definitely be a good way to get the city excited again," McInerney said.
New York after Sandy: A tale of two cities
Olympic marathoner and former New York City Marathon champion Paula Radcliffe echoed his comments on Twitter this week, saying the city needs "the solidarity, the lift, and the economic boost that Marathon Sunday brings to NYC."
Said Tony Ruiz, a running coach with the Central Park Track Club, "The ramifications of not having the race would be very severe and possibly hurt the city even more, and certainly hurt economically."
The race is also an important fundraiser for hundreds of charities who recruit runners to raise funds, and they stand to lose their pledged donations if the runners can't take part in the race, said Lee Silverman, president of JackRabbit Sports, a running gear retailer that works with many of those charities every year.
Marathon organizers said one major benefit to holding the race now is to publicize the relief effort and encourage the public to donate. Wittenberg likened it to a telethon.
"We often talk about the marathon as the triumph of the human spirit," Wittenberg told CNN. "I think this shows the triumph of the New York City-area spirit, and that's the message. You can help, show people you can help, and this city will rebound. It will be as vital and as vibrant as ever."
New York Road Runners, which puts on the marathon every year, said it is donating $1 million to the Hurricane Sandy Relief Fund and encouraged others to donate as well.
On Facebook, Kevin Ghim said many of his friends and teammates are running and raising money for the New York City Red Cross.
"I plan to run for raising awareness and money for my city as well, where previously would've just run for personal gains," he wrote.
The race winds through New York's five boroughs, starting in Staten Island, where at least 19 people died in the storm. The damage there is so severe that Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and FEMA Deputy Administrator Richard Serino plan to head there Friday.
U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm, who represents Staten Island and Brooklyn, said the city has its priorities wrong.
"We're still pulling bodies out of the water and the mayor is worried about marathon runners and returning to life as normal," Grimm said in a statement. "The Verrazano Bridge should be used for getting fuel and food in to Staten Island, not getting runners out. Police resources would be best allocated to prevent looting and in rescue and recovery operations."
Wilson, however -- who still plans to have his annual viewing party at the bar along 1st Avenue -- says it doesn't have to be one or the other.
"I don't see it as a big disrespect to the victims or anything like that," he said. "I think it's something that everybody will benefit from and enjoy. I think we need it."
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Commuters pack into a train on Thursday, November 1, in New York City. Limited public transit has returned to the city, where 14 of 23 subway lines are running. 
Commuters ride the subway. Public transit is operating in New York City, but travel times are long, up to five hours in some cases. 
A police officer directs passengers waiting on Thursday to board city buses into Manhattan at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. About 4,000 buses are replacing the subway lines still closed by Superstorm Sandy damage. 
Thousands of people wait to board city buses into Manhattan, and some subway lines remain underwater. Getting water out of the tunnels is "one of the main orders of business right now," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday. 
A police officer directs traffic entering the Brooklyn Queens Expressway into Manhattan. 
A police officer checks cars entering the Brooklyn Queens Expressway to confirm that they have three occupants before allowing them to cross into Manhattan on Thursday. Limited public transit has returned to New York, and most major bridges have reopened. However, vehicles must have three occupants to pass. 
Parts of lower Manhattan are still without electricty on Thursday. Superstorm Sandy, which made landfall along the New Jersey shore on Monday, October 29, left much of the Eastern Seaboard without power, including much of Manhattan south of 34th Street. 
Residents of New York City's East Village enjoy a bonfire on Wednesday, October 31. 
East Village residents charge their phones with power from a generator on Wednesday. 
Traffic snarls in New York City on Wednesday. Residents and businesses across the Eastern Seaboard are attempting to return to their daily lives in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. 
A Caring Foundation worker hands out food to residents of the heavily damaged Rockaway section of Queens on Wednesday. 
Water floods streets in the Rockaway section of Queens on Wednesday. 
Traders stand outside of the New York Stock Exchange in New York on Wednesday. Stocks advanced as U.S. equity markets resumed trading for the first time this week after the storm. 
A man surveys damage on Wednesday, October 31, in the Rockaway neighborhood of Queens, New York, where the historic boardwalk was washed away during Superstorm Sandy. 
Residents walk with their belongings through the Rockaway section of Queens on Wednesday. 
The remains of homes burned down in Rockaway are seen Wednesday, a day after an inferno spread across the flooded neighborhood. 
Firefighters continued to survey the damage in Rockaway on Wednesday. At least 80 homes were destroyed. 
People wait for buses on Sixth Avenue in New York on Wednesday as New Yorkers cope with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. 
People attempt to squish into a crowded bus on First Avenue in New York on Wednesday. 
Con Edison crew members work on a steam pipe on First Avenue on Wednesday. 
The foundations to the historic Rockaway boardwalk in Brooklyn are all that remain after it was washed away Wednesday during Hurricane Sandy. 
People walk to work Wednesday on a normally busy street near the New York Stock Exchange. 
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday after it had been closed for two days. 
Commuters arrive in Manhattan by ferry from Jersey City, New Jersey, on its first day back in business after Sandy. 
CNN iReporter Jordan Shapiro captured this view of the Williamsburg Bridge in New York at 11 p.m. on Tuesday, October 30. Half of the bridge and Brooklyn is lit, while the Manhattan side and the surrounding part of the island remain shrouded in darkness. 
A subway station and escalator sit underwater in New York on Tuesday. 
Much of the New York City skyline sits in darkness Tuesday evening after damage from Superstorm Sandy knocked out power. About 6.9 million customers are without power in 15 states and the District of Columbia, according to figures compiled by CNN from power companies. 
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, center, views the damage Tuesday in the Breezy Point neighborhood of Queens, where a fire broke out during Superstorm Sandy and destroyed at least 80 homes. 
A resident looks through the debris of his destroyed home in Breezy Point, Queens, on Tuesday. 
Burned-out vehicles and destroyed homes line a street in Breezy Point, located on the western end of the Rockaway peninsula in New York. 
A fire continues to burn Tuesday in the remains of a structure that was destroyed by the Breezy Point blaze. 
A New York City man hands a dog to first responders while being evacuated on Tuesday. 
A bartender at the International Bar in the East Village neighborhood of New York City makes drinks in the dark on Tuesday as electricity remains out for many in the city. 
Water floods the Plaza Shops in New York, in the wake of Superstorm Sandy, on Tuesday, October 30. 
Con Edison employees monitor the drainage of water being pumped out of Seven World Trade Center in the Financial District of New York on Tuesday. 
Onlookers watch a construction crane dangling from a $1.5 billion luxury high-rise after collapsing in high winds. 
The construction crane dangles from a high-rise in midtown Manhattan. 
Ramiro Arcos clears debris from a storm drain in the Financial District of New York after Sandy swept through the city. 
A couple walks in the rain Tuesday, with the East River and the Lower Manhattan skyline as a backdrop. 
The Manhattan skyline remains dark after much of the city lost electricity in the storm. 
Cars float in a flooded below-street-level parking area in the Financial District on Tuesday. 
People take a Tuesday morning walk on the Brooklyn Bridge, which remains closed to traffic after the city awakened to the storm damage. 
A car sits crushed by a tree in the Financial District on Tuesday. 
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