NEW YORK: With people in storm-ravaged areas still shivering without electricity and the death toll in New York City alone at 39, many New Yorkers were repelled by the prospect of exhausted police officers being assigned to protect the New York City Marathon.

They recoiled at the thought of storm victims being evicted from hotels to make room for people coming into town for the race. And they resented the sight of big generators humming along at the finish-line tents in Central Park while many neighborhoods still lack power.

The New York City Marathon was expected to draw about 20,000 international runners close to half of the participants who continued to arrive Friday. They crowded the marathon expo, which was criticized after the heavy metal song "Rock You Like a Hurricane" was among the background music.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he hoped to lift spirits and unite the stricken city when he decided to press ahead with this weekend's marathon. Instead, the move became a source of division Friday, with some New Yorkers even some runners saying this is not the time for a road race.

They complained that holding the event just six days after Superstorm Sandy would be insensitive and tie up precious resources when many people are still suffering.

The marathon's start is in Staten Island, the hardest hit part of the city, with at least 19 dead.

Joan Wacks, whose Staten Island waterfront condo was swamped with 4 feet (1.2 meters) of water, predicted authorities will still be recovering bodies when the estimated 40,000 runners from around the world hit the streets for the 26.2-mile race Sunday, and she called the mayor "tone deaf."

"If there are any resources being put toward the marathon, that's wrong. I'm sorry, that's wrong," she said.

At a news conference, Bloomberg said New York "has to show that we are here and we are going to recover" and "give people something to cheer about in what's been a very dismal week for a lot of people."

"You have to keep going and doing things," he said, "and you can grieve, you can cry and you can laugh all at the same time. That's what human beings are good at."

Noting that street lights should be back on in Manhattan by midnight Friday and parts of the transit system are up and running again, he gave assurances that the race would not take away police officers and other resources needed in the recovery.

He also pointed out that his predecessor, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, went ahead with the marathon two months after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that felled the World Trade Center, and "it pulled people together."

But in a sign of the how the political mood was turning against Bloomberg, City Comptroller John Liu, an elected official who is considered a likely candidate for mayor next year, reversed course. Liu warned that it has become clear that holding the marathon this weekend would "compromise the city's ability to protect and provide for the residents most affected by the hurricane."

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer called for a postponement, saying New Yorkers "deserve nothing less than to know that the entire government is focused solely on returning the City and their region back to normalcy. And City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said pressing ahead "is not a decision I would have made."