Blog has pics of NYC streets. One is Bloomberg's street. One is in Brooklyn. Plus stuck snow plow

[madfloridian]

Fred Klonsky's education blog has some great stuff about the snowy streets of NYC.

Two days ago he compared Bloomberg's street with that of his own daughter's street in Flatbush.

The two worlds of Bloomberg

He shows Bloomberg's block the morning after the blizzard.



He shows his daughter's street in Flatbush.



His latest post is called And the snow plow remains.

Late last night a front loader came down the street. They got about three houses down, but were just mounding the snow in front of them. An argument broke out between the two city workers and then they left.

This morning a plow came down but got stuck in the snow. Talking to the driver, he explained that he had told his boss that his truck couldn’t plow through this snow. But the boss told him to do it anyway.

He got stuck. So they called a tow truck. It got stuck.

Then they called another front loader. They tied a chain between the front loader and the tow truck and they got the tow truck out.

But the snow plow remains.

And I notice he links to the Andy Borowitz tweet I had heard about.

@BorowitzReport Mayor Bloomberg: "People should do what I do: have their servants carry them over the snow." about 12 hours ago via web

[Smarmie Doofus]

1. Is he privatizing snow removal/plowing?

I'm quite serious.

There was talk on my car radio the night of the storm that there was a shortage and the city had put out a call for "licensed" plows to assist.

I was concentrating on finding a parking space so I really wasn't paying attention but in the banter between the news people one of them said he couldn't remember the city ever issuing such an appeal to *private* trucks.

[madfloridian]

4. I would not be surprised at all.

[BklynThirtyThree]

2. Buried under in Flatbush

Snow removal is moving at a snail's pace here. B & Q lines also out of commission for most of last 4 days. I hope this comes back to haunt Bloomberg.

[madfloridian]

3. Sounds like he's getting flak for it.

I read several things today that made it seem that way.

[Yavin4]

16. Bloomie Is Getting Hammered Here Locally

He would not win re-election for mayor if he could run again.

[madfloridian]

21. Glad to hear that.

I am afraid that is what our new governor plans to do....cut back on everything people need in the way of public services.

[Rhiannon12866]

6. Sorry that you're having such an awful time...

Hopefully, the temps will rise and the stuff will start melting, that's what's predicted, anyway. I'm an hour north of Albany and a lot of it's melted already, but we didn't get hit nearly as hard as places to the south... x(

Welcome to DU, BklynThirtyThree! We're glad to have you with us! And hope that life gets back to normal for you real soon... :hi:

[mahina]

7. Welcome to DU

Aloha.

[RandySF]

5. Didn't this kind of thing ruin a Chicago mayor's career?

[keopeli]

11. It ruined Seattle Mayor Nichols' career.

[madfloridian]

22. I hope it has an effect on Bloomberg.

I really do.

[Hannah Bell]

8. Personnel cuts. His street plowed, but not the streets around hospitals.

The city had over 1,700 plowing vehicles from the city’s Sanitation Department in operation, but because of budget cuts, the department’s staff levels are at their lowest level since 1998.

Streets in New York City are classified as primary, secondary and tertiary for plowing priority.

Apparently, though, there is a fourth category that comes before the other three: those streets that house major businesses or especially wealthy and powerful residents.

In some areas of the wealthiest borough, Manhattan, the center of the tourist industry and home to hundreds of multi-millionaires and billionaires, streets were cleared early on, sometimes within hours of the snowfall.

In Manhattan’s affluent Upper East Side neighborhood, streets with the residences of billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his recent choice for schools chancellor, the wealthy businesswoman Cathleen Black, were plowed in short order.

In sharp contrast to this, even central arteries in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island were untouched 24 hours after the snowfall.

One exception in Staten Island was the street where Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty lives, which was cleared on Monday while neighboring streets went unplowed.

Hospitals were short-staffed because of the transportation difficulties, and many hospital premises received no priority in plowing.

WNYC News reported that “as of Tuesday afternoon, the streets surrounding Jamaica Hospital in Queens were still not plowed, despite several calls to city officials, making it impossible for ambulances or private vehicles to approach the hospital.”

Ole Paderson, vice president of public affairs at the hospital, said, “You’d think that hospitals would be high on the list for getting plowed—but that’s not the case apparently. There’s no place to put the ambulances. Staff and doctors can’t even get in.”

At least two deaths resulted directly from the collapse of emergency medical services, that of an elderly woman in Queens and a newborn baby in Brooklyn.

In Corona, Queens, 75-year-old Yvonne Freeman died because her daughter was unable to reach a 911 operator in a system that was deluged with calls on Monday night. A neighbor performed CPR, but even when 911 was finally reached, it took Emergency Medical Services 1 hour and 45 minutes to get though unplowed streets.

In Crown Heights, Brooklyn, a baby died on Monday evening when Emergency Medical Services were able to reach a young mother as she went into labor 10 hours after a 911 call. Few of Crown Height’s streets had been plowed.

Car accidents in the city during and after the storm killed at least five people. The inability of emergency responders to help is thought to have been a factor in at least some of the deaths.

Hard-to-control fires also struck areas of the city. On Sunday night, a five-alarm fire raged through the top floor of a six-story Queens apartment building, injuring three residents and four firefighters. Firefighters said they had difficulty reaching the fire because of abandoned vehicles and uncleared roads. Crews worked for more than three hours before bringing the fire under control. The blaze displaced 100 families.

The reaction of the Bloomberg to the snow crisis showed his contempt—and that of the super-wealthy social layer he represents—for the millions who were stranded or denied necessary services.

“The world has not come to an end,” he said at a press conference. “The city is going fine. Broadway shows were full last night. There are lots of tourists here enjoying themselves. I think the message is that the city goes on.”

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/dec2010/snow-d30.shtml

ONE LAW FOR THE PEONS, NO LAW FOR THE RICH.

[madfloridian]

19. Thanks for that....very enlightening.

"At least two deaths resulted directly from the collapse of emergency medical services, that of an elderly woman in Queens and a newborn baby in Brooklyn.

In Corona, Queens, 75-year-old Yvonne Freeman died because her daughter was unable to reach a 911 operator in a system that was deluged with calls on Monday night. A neighbor performed CPR, but even when 911 was finally reached, it took Emergency Medical Services 1 hour and 45 minutes to get though unplowed streets.

In Crown Heights, Brooklyn, a baby died on Monday evening when Emergency Medical Services were able to reach a young mother as she went into labor 10 hours after a 911 call. Few of Crown Height’s streets had been plowed."

That's awful.

[CoachPreston]

9. Thanks for sharing

Thanks for sharing .....

[Le Taz Hot]

10. Welcome to DU

:hi:

[BklynThirtyThree]

12. Thanks everyone!

I'm a long-time lurker (since '04) and really enjoy the articles & comments posted here. Looking forward to a healthy debate and exchange of ideas :)

[Le Taz Hot]

13. Did you just change your user name?

:wtf:

[dieselrevolver]

15. Hi Taz

Nope, this is a new account.

[Le Taz Hot]

17. Interesting. n/t

[Bluenorthwest]

14. The people of NYC keep electing Bloombergs and Rudys

And the city just keeps losing more of itself. It used to be magic, now it is just another big city.

[ellie]

18. Exactly!

Why do people keep voting for this reprobate? He is a fucking rich asshole scumbag who could give a shit about anyone else.

[cbdo2007]

20. Of course...one is a side street in the suburbs, one is in Manhattan with some of the busiest

roads in the country.

He's a blogger, what does he need to get out of his house for anyways? Bloomberg takes the subway to work so plowing his street would be pointless. That's like someone in Alexandria, VA getting mad about them plowing the roads around the white house before plowing his crappy side street.

Get over yourself man, YES the Mayor is more important than you.