In what he called a “massive effort,” Mayor Bloomberg said today that the blizzard clean-up across the city continues — assuring New Yorkers that the Sanitation Department is “working long and hard” to plow streets in the outer boroughs.
“It’s a bad situation,” he said during a news conference this morning in Brooklyn, one of the hardest hit parts of the city.
A testy Bloomberg defended the city’s response and called on New Yorkers to “be patient” — trying to reassure New Yorkers, especially those in the outer boroughs, that plows will clear streets over the next 24 hours.
“I’m angry, too,” he said when asked that residents are upset with the city’s clean-up effort.
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Bloomberg said 2,000 Sanitation workers — aided by 1700 plows and salt-spreaders — were dealing with the “massive effort.”
“This storm is not like any other,” he said.
Bloomberg said the biggest obstacle has been removing abandoned cars that are blocking roadways. He said digging out ambulances, buses and fire trucks was a priority and that more private tow-trucks operators are needed to handle the job.
“If you live on a tertiary road, you’re not happy,” he said, noting that main drags and secondary roads have been plowed.
“We are trying to get to every street as fast as we can, as safely as we can,” Bloomberg added.
Asked if he had any regrets about the way the city handled the storm’s aftermath, Bloomberg sarcastically responded, “I regret everything in the world.”
Bloomberg said too many people abandoned their vehicles when the storm first hit on Sunday morning and that 911 was deluged with calls that were not real emergencies.
“So far, the NYPD and authorized tow trucks have removed approximately 1,000 vehicles from the Van Wyck, Gowanus and Cross Bronx Expressways alone. We know that many streets still have not been plowed — and I saw that myself … when I was visiting small businesses in the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island,” said Bloomberg.
City officials said there is no evidence that Sanitation workers were purposely slowing the clean-up effort as part of a union job action.
The storm was New York City’s sixth-worst since record-keeping began in 1869, said Adrienne Leptich, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
A February 2006 storm dropped 26.9 inches of snow on Central Park, breaking the previous record, set in 1947, by half an inch.
This morning, New Yorkers braved the snow for a second straight day as commuters this morning attempted to go to work following the weekend’s big blizzard.
While the city was still digging out of the paralyzing snow, delays continued to plague buses and subways as more people attempted to get to work.
Buses have been stranded since Sunday as the city tries to plow streets after 20 inches fell between Sunday night and Monday morning. Some 300 buses remain stranded in the snow.
The MTA also said all subway lines were experiencing delays or service changes this afternoon. Service remains suspended on the B and Q lines in both directions.
Both the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North were running limited service today as commuters east and north of the city attempted to get into Manhattan. The LIRR was closed Monday, while Metro-North resumed service Monday afternoon.
New Jersey Transit trains to Penn Station was fully restored today, while NJ Transit’s bus service resumed this morning. Bus service had been suspended Monday after the Port Authority Bus Terminal was closed.
After spending two days tossing and turning on airport floors, thousands of bleary-eyed travelers spent this morning boarding flights as the airlines try and schedule flights that had been delayed out of Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark airports.
LaGuardia and Kennedy began to receive inbound flights on Monday night, while Newark began receiving inbound flights early this morning.