Dear Chief Montgomery,
It has come to our attention that the Sanitation Department, in response to the attached picture, is claiming that one hour was spent on the East 35 st. block of Midwood – where Yeshiva Tiferes Yisroel is located – on Wednesday night and the snow is throwback from shovelers. Respectfully sir, this in itself is a deeply troubling response.
I personally drove down this block (E.35 st) on Thursday morning with my SUV and the street is a disaster with massive craters of ice and snow. Sure there is throwback but throwback cannot create treacherous conditions like this. This is a total disregard and insult to the community not to mention a very dangerous safety situation for the over 800 students who attend this institution and their parents who drive them to school.
Despite repeated requests over the past 4 days for this block (and others in our neighborhood) to be plowed, we cannot and will not accept finger pointing against those who threw back snow into the street to clear their cars and sidewalks. It is at best a weak argument and one the city has exacerbated with threats of enforcement against unshoveled walkways and snowed in cars.
Chief, we are law abiding citizens who do not ask for nor expect special treatment. We simply ask for…..
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17 Responses
Im not there, so I dont know.
But I would say, everyone got snow. Are you saying the city bedavka is neglecting one street because of the Yeshiva? Are you sure you know what you are talking about?
Consider you may have a bit of a martyr complex? Ive seen it a few times.
Ill bet the department is inundated with calls and complaints, so dont take it to heart. Why do you feel they are out to get you?
no, I believe what he is saying is that the city isn’t even ‘goreis’ the yeshiva and the 800 student it serves. EVERYBODY knows that had the public schools been in session, everything would’ve been plowed in a more timely fashion. While that may not be expected, not plowing in front of such an institution (and many others like them) is a slap in the face to the community which does many ‘extra curricular activities’ (hatzola, shomrim, cahveirim….) and keeps thousands of kids out of public schools eventhough we fund them (and pays taxes).
-BTW ‘kol haposel bmumo posel’ so maybe you should see about your own ‘martyr complex’.
bloomberg has a history of doing things against the Jewish community lets start with just a few things he did
1)BIKE LANES
2)HE STOPPED SCHOOL VOUCHER
3) THE SNOW NOW
HE IS NOT LOOKING ON OUR SIDE AS HE IS DOING FOR OTHERS HE IS A DISGRACE IN THIS NEED TO BE SAID ONCE IN FOR ALL
silly to say so,
there are 1000 of blocks, and b’cus the rareness of snow, we don’t have some Pentagon designed only to run the snow system,with spies on every block…
so why should you always be complaining for nonsense?
There we go again…
“Consider you may have a bit of a martyr complex?”
What kind of nasty remark is that?????
YEAH – A YESHIVA DOES NEED IT MORE THAN JUST YOUR HOUSE.
…or maybe this will turn into another forum to make fun of another Yeshiva.
I agree. Pinhas has an opened minded approach, We have to give the sanitation dept. the benefit of a doubt here, they work so hard, and are often unappreciated.
“We have to give the sanitation dept. the benefit of a doubt here, they work so hard, and are often unappreciated.” .!! I live in the center of Midwood on one of the only 2 way thru streets. since yesterday I saw 4 trucks with plows go down my block, ALL WITH THE PLOWS A FOOT OFF THE GROUND. It is the end of day FOUR- AFTER the blizzard stopped- & another vehicle got stuck in the snow on my bloch jhust 15 minutes ago. needless to say, the street is barely passable one way only, & earlier I saw a school bus back up off my block because there was a line of cars coming @ it in the opposite direction.
shev142- you agree with Pinhas?! he starts his comment with “I’m not there, so I don’t know.” But we do, because we’re living it!!
My son has been in this Yeshiva for several years, and every time that there was a snow storm this block was one of the last to be plowed. It did not matter whether or not there was public school or not. Every time there is a snow storm, I dread driving down that block because it is never plowed. I am amazed that the people living on that block have to go throught this year after year.
(..2 way thru streets among many dead ends)
Each Sanitation District and the corresponding Community Board develop a snow plan before the onset of winter assigning priorities. A high priority, of course, is a major thoroughfare such as Ocean or Nostrand Avenues. The next level are streets that have fire stations, bus routes, subway stations, schools and other community facilities. The yeshiva administration should take up the matter with their Community Board.
In the past the plows have worked the streets in the order of priority, but not this year. As much as I distrust the NY Post, everything I’ve seen throughout Brooklyn this week seems to give credibility to their report of sabotage.
This has been an issue for the longest time on that block! The Traffic cops and Sanitation police are the quickest responders – even Hatzalah can’t keep up with their response time – when it comes to ticketing these parents for double parking or dropping off their kids when alternate street parking regulations kick in! They do NOT like the Yeshiva! It’s an indisputable fact! Besides, this particular area hasn’t seen normal plowing ever! Ave. L, which has a bus line running on it, rarely gets plowed though after this storm it is plowed. East 35th street is a super wide street and in is unconscionable that it doesn’t get plowed adequately. There are 800 children PLUS parents and busses who are imperilled by the gross neglect of the snow removal system in that area.
Erm, saywhat?
I spent an hour and half last night clearing out the front area by my Yeshiva with a shovel (and a water bottle to help me stay hydrated).
Instead of making a massive chillul hashem, why not get shovels and clear the street yourselves? I appreciate the fact that the city has plows and did not necessarily use them as necessary, but that does not change the fact there were probably shovels in the houses along the block. I’m sure many neighbors would have loaned them to bochurim for a half hour to clear the block.
What did they do before plows? What I did – pick up a shovel and get digging!
My street saw its first plow on Tuesday Night (I saw it go down). Before it went down the street was completely impassable to cars or SUV’s due to the high piles of snow. One garbage truck with a snow plow in the front went down the street (Tuesday Night) pretty quick and when it was finished the street was pretty much clear. I am having trouble believing the inadequate plowing was due to their equipment not being able to push the snow. On my parents block the first snow plow that went down the street did not push the snow to the side, instead they had the plow down a little and compacted the snow, who knows why they did not plow it the first time.
I am not sure anyone is making a chillul hashem trying to understand why the response to this storm seems so incompetent. Perhaps everyone is wrong and the plans and plowing all worked the way they were supposed to, just this storm was too overwhelming. In any case we pay taxes and have a right to understand why the response was not adequate.
P.s. perhaps we would be better served if every traffic cop who shows up in our neighborhoods every erev shabbos and erev yom tov to give out tickets and to generally harass the population (i.e. stopping cars on busy streets and blocking traffic for extended periods of time in order to give out tickets), should have been given a shovel or snow plow to clean up the snow. As far as I am aware they are the most proactive force our dear government has ever given us (and yes I am being sarcastic).
Reply to #13,
We’re talking about the street! The Yeshiva did their sidewalks! The streets! This is all about the streets! And East 35 is 3x as wide as any other street! And the entire block, from Ave. L to Ave. K!!!
I think the answer from sanitation is stupid. Whether they spent an hour or 20 hrs the fact is that the street needs to be cleaned. I think had sanitation said, ok, when we have it another plow will come by people may have gone easier on them.
Btw. As of friday morning, what does the street look like? Has anything changed?
#14 and #15, respectively – Erm, saywhat?
#14 – It is indeed true that “In any case we pay taxes and have a right to understand why the response was not adequate.” However, why is this article asking only about the Yeshiva? It seems that we have some sort of superiority complex. Get over it. The Yeshiva is no more a victim than the rest of the city (depending on who’s story you believe about the sanitation workers). As far as police officers and shovels, they should have been distributing the said shovels to YOU so YOU could get out of your chair and help. I repeat, what did they do before plows?
(I’ll mention the mashal which describes a simple man who visits a foreign city and sees how they operate when a fire breaks out. Someone started trumpeting and everyone started bringing water. The man returned to his city and when a fire broke out, he started trumpeting. The people in his village didn’t know what the trumpeting signified and so the fire destroyed a large part of the village.
To take the mashal out of context:
You folks are like the “foreigner turned trumpeter” in the story. You make noise but don’t bring the water. Please, cut it out. Shovel yourself, LIKE I DID and then complain.)
#15 – I know that the Yeshiva did their sidewalks. However, when the street is so necessary for parents and school busses to drive down, the yeshiva should take responsibility for it. If you could’ve improved the situation and you didn’t then you can’t complain. How difficult is it for every person who walks down that block to take a shovel for FIVE minuts and clear a few feet of the street. A few hours later it would have been clear. (Please stop shouting. 😀 )
Good Shabbos to all.