What a disaster: Ambulances unavailable. Trains stalled for hours. Streets unplowed. Fire trucks stuck in the snow. Buses canceled.
These were not mere “inconveniences” — as Mayor Bloomberg put it at one point — in the wake of Sunday’s widely, and accurately, predicted snowstorm; in some cases, they were potentially life-threatening foul-ups.
And to such an extent, you’ve just got to wonder if the response could have been better.
Yes, it was one of the worst storms in recent city history, dumping some 20 inches of snow, sometimes as fast as 3 inches an hour.
But let’s face it: The city had plenty of warning.
And yet, agencies — particularly the Department of Sanitation — were unable to meet the challenge.
That left far too many New Yorkers without critical services — from buses and subways to EMS crews.
The heart of the problem: insufficient plowing. Impassable streets meant canceled bus routes, ambulances unable to get through — even stuck fire trucks. Some medical calls went unanswered for hours (though high priorities got speedier attention). That’s just unacceptable.
Similarly, you’d think subways could’ve been running better.
Or that FBI agents would be brave enough to venture out. Instead, they declared a snow day, just as they did amid a snowstorm last year. At least this time, some of the higher-ups reportedly showed — which, we guess, is progress.
Make no mistake: There’s only so much that can be done in a whopper of a storm like this one.
And the city and the MTA did take steps to prepare.
Plows faced a sisyphean task in trying to keep up with the snowfall rate. Likewise, it’s no small feat to keep all of the subway’s 656 miles of track clear.
Plus, the storm produced a few positives: Kids got to play in Central Park, and Mayor Mike’s beloved bike lanes were (at least temporarily) obliterated.
But New Yorkers were left hanging yesterday. Lives were put at risk.
(You can be sure the lawsuits are already being prepared.)
The city needs to do better.
(Source: NY Post)
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7 Responses
I’ve seen better writing from 13 year olds
Perhaps a 13 year old is the only who made it in to the Posts office.
Something doesn’t add up here. Does the mayor think we are stupid. As posted earlier, there were sanitation workers sitting in snow plows as early as 12:00 p.m. Sunday here in Boro Park and Flatbush. As of now i have not seen one down my block. Yes, i pay taxes, prepaid quarterly and yet we had to pay someone to dig us out.
We heard reports of police calling Hatzolah to help them.
Well i guess we can change the phrase “the city never sleeps” to the “city was put to sleep”.
Another point, JASA is not delivering meals to the homebound, if you know someone who is dependent on such for food, bring them food and check to see all is in order!
King Mike does not care about the masses that live in the ghetto (outer boroughs) and their petty non educated complaints versus the educated elite./
Now he wants to fine home owners who haven’t shoveled! Do we the taxpaying homeowners, get to fine him, for not plowing the streets?
Next time , try Harder??? What does that mean. You cannot excuse yourself Mr Mayor and say SORRY. This was not to be believed. I was in the last 50 years many storms, and this was not the worst of them, but the cleanup has not even started here in Brooklyn. I called 311 last night and stayed on hold for 50 minutes and hung up after getting no response from a live operator. This morning I decided to try again 311 and to my surprise I again held on for 36 minutes getting only the recorded message that “Someone will be with you shortly”. It is now 12:50 PM and if I would have stayed on the line I probably would still be holding on,as I am now reading that 311 is not working. Mr Mayor you have to give us more than an apology but we must hear why our streets in Flatbush and Boro Park have still not plowed even once.There were 8 plows sitting on Ave P near Ocean Parkway at 10:00 AM on Sunday before the first snow flake came down. I haven’t seen any of them since then, It just makes no sense at all
As I sit here looking at my unplowed street and hope that I will not need an ambulance, an oxygen delivery, or any other medical assistance, I had an interesting thought. Had there been public school this week, would the streets have been plowed already? Mayor Mike wouldn’t dare take a chance on having schools closed two days in a row (and it looks like tomorrow won’t be much better). If public school had been in session, buses would have had to dig out, streets that surround public schools would have been plowed, and there would have been a more rapid response in the outlying boroughs. Our mayor, who broke existing law to run for a third term, should be impeached.