Krugman: Bloomberg’s Katrina

[ProSense]

Bloomberg’s Katrina

Michael Bloomberg has long been an object of affection from Very Serious People: he’s supposedly non-ideological, competent, able to transcend partisan divisions with a single bound. There’s a recurrent fantasy about a Bloomberg third-party candidacy that will Save America.

But he just faced a major test of crisis management — and it’s been a Brownie-you’re-doing-a-heck-of-a-job moment.

I was wondering why NYC’s storm response was such a mess; it turns out that the city administration basically refused to take the warnings seriously, long after anyone watching the Weather Channel knew that a blizzard was coming.

We have yet to find out exactly why. But this was a major fail.

From the NYT piece Krugman links to:

<...>

At 3:58 a.m. on Christmas Day, the National Weather Service upgraded its alert about the snow headed to New York City, issuing a winter storm watch. By 3:55 p.m., it had declared a formal blizzard warning, a rare degree of alarm. But city officials opted not to declare a snow emergency — a significant mobilization that would have, among other things, aided initial snow plowing efforts.

<...>

By 4 p.m. Sunday, several inches of snow had accumulated when Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg made a plea for help at his first news conference about the escalating storm: he asked people with heavy equipment and other kinds of towing machinery to call the city’s 311 line to register for work. A full day had gone by since the blizzard warning had been issued.

This week, as Mr. Bloomberg conceded that the city’s response to the blizzard had been inadequate, many theories, in both shouts and whispers, have been offered to explain the shortcomings: the Sanitation Department had undergone staffing cuts; the ferocity of the snowfall and the power of the accompanying winds had presented extraordinary challenges to the city’s snow plows; angry sanitation workers had sabotaged the efforts; city residents had ignored common sense and wound up stranding their cars in streets across the five boroughs.

On Wednesday, the mayor and his commissioners pledged to get at the truth. Once the streets have been cleared, they said, all aspects of the response will be analyzed, and changes, if necessary, will be made.

<...>

Unbelievable.

[robcon]

1. Krugman "We have yet to find out exactly why. But this was a major fail."

We've found out that at least some of the sanitation workers were in a slowdown.

Maybe Krugman should have waited for the facts to come out.

[snagglepuss]

3. That is bullshit. Provide credible source that workers were in a slowdown. nt

[TomClash]

5. Where did you obtain this info? nt

[WI_DEM]

8. could you provide a link to verify the claim that "we've found out"...workers were in a slowdown.

I'm not saying your wrong if you have read or heard that but would like to have something to substantiate the claim.

[bullwinkle428]

9. Fox News has an absolutely CRACK investigative reporting team!

Geez...didn't you already know that? ;)

[tularetom]

2. You want services? Gotta be willing to pay for 'em

You want "smaller government"? OK, but don't bitch when the snow piles up in front of your house.

Maybe Reagan was wrong. Maybe those people from the government really were here to help.

Why spend tax dollars removing snow anyway - it's just going to melt.

[TomClash]

4. Excuse me

We do pay for them. I pay every kind of tax known to man in NYC and I'm happy to do it if the people of the City of New York get extensive quality services. Usually they do.

This time the tourists and the Manhattan elite got adequate snow removal services. Everyone else in the City you got screwed royally.

[tularetom]

6. The "you" was generic

Meant for those who want "small government" and "lower taxes" until they finally catch on that government is the only institution in our society that can accomplish some of the things they need (like plowing the streets). Sounds to me like you realize that already.

Allocation of government services to the rich and powerful at the expense of everybody else is a separate matter. Mr. Bloomberg does need to be castigated for his elitist approach to snow removal for sure and I hope it embarrasses the crap out of him.

[TomClash]

7. Cool

I read too fast.

[Jennicut]

10. Well, New Haven is STILL digging out some snow but Bloomberg could have handled it better.

Nothing beats the Nor'easter in 2000 on I-84. Tractor trailers stalled for miles in the snow and the whole state of CT at a standstill. My husband spent 8 hours on the highway trying to get home.