The NY Post is reporting what many New Yorker’s were suspecting all along. Bosses in the NYC Sanitation Department ordered their workers to cause the havoc witnessed in the Bloomberg-Blizzard.
The NY Post Exclusive report:
Selfish Sanitation Department bosses from the snow-slammed outer boroughs ordered their drivers to snarl the blizzard cleanup to protest budget cuts — a disastrous move that turned streets into a minefield for emergency-services vehicles, The Post has learned.
Miles of roads stretching from as north as Whitestone, Queens, to the south shore of Staten Island still remained treacherously unplowed last night because of the shameless job action, several sources and a city lawmaker said, which was over a raft of demotions, attrition and budget cuts.
“They sent a message to the rest of the city that these particular labor issues are more important,” said City Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Queens), who was visited yesterday by a group of guilt-ridden sanitation workers who confessed the shameless plot.
Halloran said he met with three plow workers from the Sanitation Department — and two Department of Transportation supervisors who were on loan — at his office after he was flooded with irate calls from constituents.
The snitches “didn’t want to be identified because they were afraid of retaliation,” Halloran said. “They were told [by supervisors] to take off routes [and] not do the plowing of some of the major arteries in a timely manner. They were told to make the mayor pay for the layoffs, the reductions in rank for the supervisors, shrinking the rolls of the rank-and-file.”
New York’s Strongest used a variety of tactics to drag out the plowing process — and pad overtime checks — which included keeping plows slightly higher than the roadways and skipping over streets along their routes, the sources said.
The snow-removal snitches said they were told to keep their plows off most streets and to wait for orders before attacking the accumulating piles of snow.
They said crews normally would have been more aggressive in com bating a fierce, fast-moving bliz zard like the one that barreled in on Sunday and blew out the next morning.
The workers said the work slowdown was the result of growing hostility between the mayor and the workers responsible for clearing the snow.
In the last two years, the agency’s workforce has been slashed by 400 trash haulers and supervisors — down from 6,300 — because of the city’s budget crisis. And, effective tomorrow, 100 department supervisors are to be demoted and their salaries slashed as an added cost-saving move.
Sources said budget cuts were also at the heart of poor planning for the blizzard last weekend. The city broke from its usual routine and did not call in a full complement on Saturday for snow preparations in order to save on added overtime that would have had to be paid for them to work on Christmas Day.
The result was an absolute collapse of New York’s once-vaunted systems of clearing the streets and keeping mass transit moving under the weight of 20 inches of snow.
The Sanitation Department last night denied there was a concerted effort to slow snow removal.
“There are no organized or wildcat actions being taken by the sanitation workers or the supervisors,” said spokesman Matthew Lipani.
Joseph Mannion, president of the union that represents agency supervisors, said talk of a slowdown “is hogwash.” But he admitted there is “resentment out there” toward Mayor Bloomberg and his administration because of budget cuts.
His counterpart at the rank-and-file’s union, Harry Nespoli, has also denied there is a job action, though he admitted his guys are working lucrative 14-hour shifts.
Bloomberg spokesman Stu Loeser said only: “We would hope this is not the case.”
But multiple Sanitation Department sources told The Post yesterday that angry plow drivers have only been clearing streets assigned to them even if that means they have to drive through snowed-in roads with their plows raised.
And they are keeping their plow blades unusually high, making it necessary for them to have to run extra passes, adding time and extra pay.
One mechanic said some drivers are purposely smashing plows and salt spreaders to further stall the cleanup effort.
Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty promised that every street will have been plowed by 7 this morning, but then he offered this hedge: “Will somebody find a street that I missed? Maybe.”
Bloomberg and Doherty also offered a series of excuses for the failed response to the blizzard. They blamed residents for shoveling snow into streets that had already been plowed and for tying up 911 with non-emergency calls.
“This was a failure in the operations and ultimately, as the mayor tells us very often, the buck stops with him,” said Councilman Vincent Ignizio (R-SI).
(Source: NY Post)
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22 Responses
New Yorkers are mostly made of the same stuff: the Police, Sanitation etc. etc. etc. etc… – not the simple and streight folks.
Many blocks in Kensington still not cleared – streets seem to have been cleared at random. Urgh! Frustrating…..
If substantiated I would like to see jail time handed down to those responsible for bringing this city to this state of misery, besides the avoidable deaths that have resulted.
So, who tipped the sanitation workers this holiday season?
Nice try from Bloomberg. If it was true, that they did it to learn him a lesson, why did they clean his street the first? Why did they clean his street at all. If it was what Bloomberg is trying to sell us, they would clean our streets but not the streets of the city hall, Bloomberg’s street, Etc. Its BS, don’t buy it
They should not only fire the workers but also the trucks as well. So when the court will order to compensate them and give them there job back the city will say there is no job for them.
Two plows came down my street last night, but they only made believe that they were plowing. Usually my driveway gets plowed in. This time not a drop.
At the same time, I recently learned, the unions are trying to unionize additional titles at another agency.
I think it’s very believable. I saw a truck stuck in the middle of a block, while the street was unplowed until there. How did he get there? I think it was on purpose. Throughout monday and most of tuesday it was impossible to get from one avenue to the next. Any excuse wouldn’t help once we see that in Manhattan and the Bronx they managed to clear it up.
What I don’t understand is, why the mayor is giving lame excuses. Is he perhaps embarrassed that they were able to do him in?
This is a total outrage! Plowing the streets as quickly as possible is a matter of Pikuach Nefashos. Those who participated in this scandal should be charged with homicide.
Who ever believes this garbage is… Yes the workers r upset but like someone else here said, they wld not have cleaned manhattan first!! Y is long island manhattan and other places done and not brooklyn and bornx… Bec they were ordered by the city!!! Bloomberg ordered this mess! No one else!! He got himself dug out and that’s all that mattered to him!! And now he sees what he did in hindsight so he is trying to save himself!!
It is time to privatize the Sanitation dept.
The bottom line is that government and anyone associated with equals corruption. We have a neighbor whose job is getting tickets,such as moving violations dismissed. Lo and behold a huge snow plow showed up at the block yesterday and cleared up to and around his house only, so that he could move his car out. Once done with clearing what he wanted done he waved them goodbye and the rest of the block is still snowed in. Yes, this is in Boro Park and the person considers himself Shomrei Torah U’Mitzvos.
Yes, the rest of the block has not been done yet.
My street got “plowed”. Sure. I just see huge wheels marks from the trucks in the snow.
That’s it.
“Any excuse wouldn’t help once we see that in Manhattan and the Bronx they managed to clear it up.”
That is simply not true. Major avenues in Manhattan were not cleared like they normally would. speak to people who work in midtown manhattan. The sanitation workers really did a half a job, at best.
A sanitation truck was seen going down Avenue L (between
Nostrand and Flatbush Ave) with his plow UPSIDE DOWN, doing
nothing!!!
Even if the above is true, it’s still the mayors problem!
He should’ve called in the national guard or figured out something else. For a mayor to come out and say that it’s not so bad, while millions of people and business are stranded is unforgivable.
The mayor will fire a few sanitation execs and stupid new yorkers well exonerate him.
This morning at about 5 a.m. I heard a plow.
I got up at 6:30 and looked outside expecting to see at least a relatively clear street.
I had to look twice, because on first look it looked the same as the night before, i.e. about 6-8 inches down the middle of the street.
On second look, I saw it was now about “only” 3-4 inches!
Is this some kind of a joke?!?!
I have posted before but it was not post on line
I have plowed in the past. When you plow the rear wheels pass over where it already has been plowed. I notice on the video that sanitation trucks were stock in snow. If you don’t plow your front axle where the plow attaches gets hung up. The pictures show there is snow under the entire truck=purposely going into snow without plowing to GET STUCK. Get paid and do nothing and sleep. Results these drives all should be FIRED.
In my worst dreams, I never suspected that there was deliberate sabotage on behalf of those entrusted to clear the city’s roads.
The government unions are our misfortune. City workers no longer respond to anyone: not to the mayor, not to the public, and not to elementary decency.
Don’t worry about the unions the SEIU has people in the white house to protect the lazy, crooked bums. I remember hearing about 15 years back;. it would be cheaper for New York to hire private sanitation trucks [read mafia] than to use the city workers. RESULT STILL TRUE
Put them in JAIL!!!