Talk about a snow job!
A representative for Mayor Bloomberg shrugged the city’s inaction during last month’s blizzard, telling a group of Southern Brooklyn residents that “the milk has been spilt and we can’t cry over it.”
“What we have to do is make sure the milk truck doesn’t break down in the future,” Bloomberg community liaison Sam Pierre told members of the 69th Precinct Community Council in Canarsie on Jan. 25.
His comments curdled in the ears of those who heard.
“People died during that snowstorm,” said an astounded Hazel King. “You can’t bring them back. People were dying and we had to go it alone.”
King, a resident of E. 91st Street between Avenues K and L who said she and some neighbors were forced to shovel out their street themselves because plows didn’t show up, found Pierre’s comments as flippant as Mayor Bloomberg’s when the blizzard brought Brooklyn’s usually bustling streets to a grinding halt.
“He’s arrogant,” King said. “And when people came to him complaining about all the snow, he was hostile.”
King didn’t see a sanitation truck on her block until a full day after the Dec. 26 blizzard dumped nearly two feet of snow on the city. The rest of southern Brooklyn suffered the same fate, with some communities being left unplowed for days.
At the same time, several tragedies unfolded: In Crown Heights, a pregnant woman was forced to give birth in an apartment building lobby, only to have the baby die in front of her when it took snowbound paramedics 10 hours to arrive. Over in Sunset Park, a woman whose elderly father died during the snowstorm had to keep vigil over his corpse for a full day because the city’s Medical Examiner couldn’t get to her home to remove the body.
Residents of Canarsie and surrounding communities survived the snowstorm mostly unscathed as they relied on each other to not only dig out their driveways and sidewalks, but their streets so they could buy groceries and get to work.
The city ultimately dug Southern Brooklyn out, but not before Mayor Bloomberg went on an apology tour through the area, including a trip to Fillmore Street in nearby Marine Park, where he brought cheesecake to resident Leah Posy and those who helped dig out elderly neighbor Mary Lyons.
The hearing has since been rescheduled to Feb. 9. City officials said the hearing will be held at Marine Park Junior High School, 1925 Stuart Street, beginning at 6 pm.