The Mayor also said he did not think the incident suggested a failure by a mayoral panel that screens certain nominations.
Even so, a mayoral panel concluded in 1955 that only a million people could be moved from the worst danger zones within an hour.
Kenneth Lipper, a former deputy mayor, said the mayoral panel, which he heads, did not use private industry pay as a benchmark.
Last June, all but three of 15 members of a mayoral panel concluded that commercial rent regulations were unnecessary.
A mayoral panel weighs changes to the Macy's parade.
The 1997 accident, however, led to the appointment of a mayoral panel, which evaluated the safety of the balloons.
He also asked state officials to meet with the mayoral panel.
In addition, a special mayoral investigative panel is looking into improprieties in the schools.
One of those practices, called for by a mayoral panel, was to have 50 to 60 handlers on each major balloon.
The mayoral panel, in a report on Aug. 30, said the boycott was not racially biased.