Mayor Bloomberg's office issued a 15-point action plan to right the wrongs from the blizzard two weeks ago. As you can read below, some New Yorkers don't seem too impressed. Will tomorrow's storm cripple the five boroughs? No. City Hall won't be slow to the game again. After all, Bloomberg is still looking for a legacy. And it won't be the ban on salt...

If you want to read the report for yourself, you can find it on NYC.gov.

Top members of the Bloomberg administration are apologizing for their poor response to the blizzard two weeks ago. The Deputy Mayor for Operations, along with the Sanitation, Transportation, Fire and Emergency Management Commissioners, acknowledged the decision not to declare a snow emergency hampered the ability to manage the fast-moving storm.

Mayor Bloomberg's office also released a 15-point action plan to address several problems in the emergency response. The solutions include improving the methods of communicating with plow drivers, testing out a new type of snow chains for ambulance tires, and streamlining the process for deploying equipment.

The City is also planning to improve the process of declaring emergencies, hire additional laborers and private contractors, and communicate with New Yorkers in need. Do these ideas sound good to you?

Are you satisfied with the ideas presented by the City today? Did you get the answers you were looking for at today's hearings? Do you trust Mayor Bloomberg and his team will implement these changes effectively?

Send your thoughts using the link above.

Regarding those new GPS devices going on ploughs so Hizzoner can monitor their progress from his IPad, is there any reason why we couldn't get a couple of those devices on his private jets so we could monitor HIS progress from OUR IPads?

Ellie - Turtle Bay

I WAS WATCHING THE BLIZZARD HEARINGS TODAY. WHAT A FARCE. I THINK THESE PEOPLE WERE TELLING THE COUNCIL MEMBERS WHAT THEY WANTED TO HEAR. NON OF THESE PEOPLE WERE READY FOR THIS PAST SNOWSTORM, AND THEY WERE WARNED PLENTY OF TIME AHEAD THAT IT WAS COMING. THE CITY WAS NOT PREPARED, NO ORGANIZATION, MASS CONFUSION. MAYOR BLOOMBERG AND HIS DEPUTY MAYOR BOTH OUT OF TOWN, WHOSE RUNNING THE SHOW IN THIS CITY. IT WILL BE INTERESTING TO SEE HOW THESE PEOPLE HANDLE THE NEXT SNOWSTORM WHICH IS TUESDAY NITE INTO WEDNESDAY.

EDNA

On the streets that the deaths occurred were there cars stuck in the snow that the trucks couldnt plow.

Charles

John,

Yes, these are good ideas that should have been implemented long time ago. Instead of doing all this politicking with the Cathie black appointment, they should have been following the weather more closely. More with less doesn't always work.

Jeanne
Flushing, NY

the council did a fantastic job today, I watched from the beginning to the end. The union heads are now talking and they too are telling it like it is. What a disgrace Bloomberg's cronies are. Shame on all of them.

Thank You,
Dorothy from Richmond, Staten Island

Hi John,

No none of it seems good. Why is it that they all don't know what to do by now. The thing is that they all got caught with their pants down and by that I mean that they were all away for the holiday. Where is Bloomberg? SHAME ON ALL OF THEM AND THEY SHOULD ALL LOOSE THEIR JOBS. MANY MANY CHIEFS AND NOT ENOUGH INDIANS. SO MUCH FOR THIRDS TERMS AS FAR AS ALL OF THEM ARE CONCERNED. THEY HAVE JERKED OUR CHAINS ONCE AGAIN.

maxxiee
mp

I’m sorry this happen to those affected, I live in the Kips Bay, and the snowfall here can't compare from other boroughs, I hail from Park Slope Brooklyn, and I know the snow over there as well as the other areas outside Manhattan when the big storm comes around. It takes plenty balling out from the majority in order for the ball to get rolling by the members of the Bloomberg administration when New Yorkers get really pissed, that’s good they got told off, I'm glad, no favors is done here, and now they come up with plans and ideas when this was their own oversight that this happen, this wakeup call should enlighten them next time around.

Anna
Kips Bay

Quite frankly I see smoke and mirrors as a diversionary tactic and this may worsen the response next time. counting the days till hes out.

JS
Flushing

Why not rehire all the men they laid off and then there would be no need to pay private contractors and/or laborers. Bloomberg is always quick to lay off but it comes back to bite him in the end.

Jessica
Arden Heights, Staten Island

The deputy mayor must submit his resignation! No one was watching the shop. This resulted in death and mayhem While the Emperor said "let them drink hot chocolate!" It's the first step

DW Qns

I don't decide whether to drive in a "BLIZZARD" based on whether or not someone calls it a snow emergency. I decided that the conditions were such that I should not put myself and others at risk by driving my car. I didn't drive my car for a week. It was 6 days after the "BLIZZARD" until my street was plowed and my car was buried when the plows did arrive.

I had to take cabs to work for 2 days. One day I would have taken a bus home, but, no busses came to the stop for an hour and so I took a cab. Sometimes you have to make your own "snow emergency" and stay safe.

Kathy from Throggs Neck da bronx

This only means one thing in the SNOW EMERGENCY the mayor/ governor drop the ball. It was their responsibility to make the announcement to the people that all non essential personnel stay home. That way the people would not have been struggling out in the blizzard trying to go to work. Furthermore, there would not have been all those cars stuck on the road because no one would be trying to drive once they got the word to stay home. Therefore, THEY ARE THE ONE'S TO BLAME oh that's right they were busy somewhere else.

Retretta

Hello, my two cents..

Not sure about the technical aspect, but why not attach a "V" plow to a single firetruck at each firehouse? The truck could then conceivably clean some of the snow on a otherwise impassible side street to enable the other trucks to get closer to an emergency. This truck wouldn't be used to plow streets normally done by the Sanit Dept. It only to be used in emergency situations when SDNY hasn't plowed yet.

Joe

LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT, CHIEF PERRUGIA DID EVERYTHING IN HIS POWER TO ASSIST AND ASSESS DURING THIS FIASCO CAUSED BY THE INEPTITUDES OF THE POWERS THAT BE, AND HE ALONE GETS DEMOTED. PERRUGIA SHOVELED AMBULANCES OUT OF SNOW BANKS AND CONTINUED TO ASSIST AT VARIOUS LEVELS. THEY SHOULD MAKE A MONUMENT OUT OF SNOW IN THE LIKENESS OF MT RUSHMORE. INSTEAD OF PRESIDENTS, THEY COULD USE THE LIKENESS OF COMMISSIONERS SADIK- KHAN, CASSANO, DOHERTY , O.E.M. BRUNO AND BLOOMBERG.

THEY COULD CALL IT MT. DON'T RUSH ANYMORE.

JOE, BAY TERRACE

John,

Hearing of the Mayor’s 15 point plan, I was reminded of an appearance on a late night TV show of a crackpot running for President. He had to be allowed to speak because of the Fairness Doctrine in effect at the time.

Dressed as Uncle Sam, he came on stage and said there are 3 points to his campaign.. “Point 1, bomb Russia. Point 2, bomb China and Point 3, bomb Cuba.”

An audience member yelled out, “If you take off that hat, you’ll find another point.”

That pretty much describes the Bloomberg Administration, including Sadik-Khan from whom we have heard nothing, by the way, about the snowjob. Pointy heads under their hats.

Maybe if Sadik-Kahn hadn’t narrowed so many streets with her bike-lanes, plowing would have been easier.

Joe
Port Richmond, SI

Every non official vehicle stock in a snow emergency road should be tow and ticketed for obstructing the road in an emergency. People should have more common sense and know better.

Gilbert the superintendent

As a resident on 79th Street in Queens, I can attest that secondary streets were not cleared until WEDNESDAY MORNING! It's obvious from today's hearing that Commissioner Joe Bruno of the OEM failed to "manage the emergency". He is the source of the systemic failure that resulted in a "Day After Tomorrow" scenario. Bruno should've been the first to be sacked!

John
Jackson Heights

How did the city ever do it right before this 15 point action plan? If this is what it takes for this Mayor to do the right thing then I hope that everyone is singing from the same song book.

Peace, Nick
Hell's K.

Dear NY1 -

I want to hear people just come out and say it: Billionaire Bloomberg's Bureaucratic Boondoggle. This mayor is fleecing the city in the interest of privatization, menialization, and structured unaccountability. Are we going to stand for futher cuts and degradation of vital city services? It's time for the citizens of NYC to demand Bloomberg's resignation.

Julie
Manhattan

Hello, I watched the city council hearings almost the entire day and It seems no one had figured that the sanitation department ,which works very hard for the public, must have had most of their work force in manhattan to clean up for New Years Eve festivities.This is what our mayor likes to do,Bring in revenue to the city at any expense to the people of the boro's of New York.

Thank You,
Joseph

The hearing today by the city council just shows the truth about the Bloomberg Administration's lack of thought for the people of New York City. They acted like an elementary class playing dodge ball, drop and run. It is clear no one was in control and that they all should be fined with suspension. Bloomberg himself should have been grilled by the city council with the others. No matter what they do now makes little difference from what has occurred. I point my finger at Bloomberg, I'd prefer to see him impeached. I don't trust politicians that publicly lie and finger point, we need people who can actually do the job.

Richard
Hamilton Heights

Joe Bruno has to go!! He has no idea what he is doing at OEM. When I was detailed to OEM I made many of the recommendations that are listed in the city's 15 point plan while I worked on the city's Hurricane Preparedness Plans. Bruno would not admit that his agency had any of these deficiencies. My biggest complaint was that OEM could not manage itself no less any citywide interagency plans. He showed his true colors during this snow blizzard, He must GO!!! The city needs a real Emergency Manager in charge, OEM is lacking real Emergency Managers it is made up of inexperienced workers under federal grants, it needs a 100% overhaul!!

Anonymous

Thanks for letting people express their thoughts.

I would like to acknowledge that the Bloomberg administration failed to deal with one day of snow storm, as if it was out of the ordinary for a snow to hit the Northeast during winter, and also of his failed response to this incompetency. First Bloomberg told us that all is fine, soon after he admitted that things could have been better, only to blame the workers last, and the department of sanitation. The only one that has no responsibility is the mayor himself, who's great in shifting it to others, but never to admit being wrong, not even when appointing a school chancellor with no credentials, as part of a revolving door with the publishing industry.

Yariv
Astoria

I Really Hope The Sanitation Crew Does A Better Job In These Snow Storm And Hopefully They Would Do A Better Job On Tuesday Night Till Wednesday Afternoon.

Edgar

I love it when a boss who's screwed up uses the word "we" to try and deflect criticism.

Note to Deputy mayor Goldsmith: "we" didn't screw up the snow response, you did.
"We" didn't fail to declare a snow emergency, you did. "We" didn't layoff 500 sanitation workers, helping to cripple snow removal efforts, you did. And nothing prevents this from happening again, because none of the recommendations requires that you, the mayor, or deputy mayor Patricia Harris remain in the city to coordinate emergency response in the future.

Deputy mayor Goldsmith should do the honorable thing, and resign.

Pete from Manhattan

It was said that city management is like a TORNADO

Lots of destruction at the bottom and it sucks at the top

Best most accurate summary of the entire meeting

Ken
West side manhattan

Did anyone explain why the head of the EMS was demoted, when his agency had nothing to you with cleaning the streets?

Doug
West Village

This was the first real test of the mayor's leadership. He failed. Imagine how he would have handled 911.

JOHN FROM ASTORIA.

I love ny1 coverage I think today hearing was all show not enough, city workers,etc knew the questions, the mayor was absent, & citizens died, leaders all show & no bite, the public would have better questions

Bloomberg is a coward..he loves to stand on his soap box and criticize, Albany, Washington D.C., Governor Patterson, and President Obama. But where was he today when he should have been taking the heat for the terrible response to the last snow storm in which people died? He was M.I.A.. He has thrown everybody but, Rosa Parks under the bus for his administrations screw-up! Time to fall on your own sword emperor Bloomberg!!

Charles - Chelsea

I listened to the hearings and still don't know: who was in charge of the city, much less the snow clean-up that weekend? Howard Wolfson?

Maria from Morningside Hts.

Due to his incompetency dealing with the snow situation, Commissioner Doherty should resign or at least be demoted. There's no excuse for the pathetic job he did and he dressed unprofessionally during earlier press conferences.

Brian from Rego Park, NY

Hats off to the Sanitation union leader and the heads of EMT, EMS and the other agencies. They are the only ones who gave honest , forthright answers. It's a shame the commissioners and deputy mayor didn't stick around to hear it.

Also where was the mayor ?????

Shanta from Briarwood.

Pick up trucks with plows were used in the town of Oyster Bay and were very effective. The city should look at a better way to get around and have better communication with city agencies as a whole. The City was crippled by mother nature and shows how really vulnerable we really are. The city council I feel did a good job and brought this to surface. Hope round two with mother nature is a better success.

Mike
Bayside.

The fact is this "hearing" is symptomatic of a larger problem that has been plaguing not only the city but the country at large. The problem of irresponsibility on the part of those that call the shots because frankly, they are not the ones inconvenienced by their own screw ups! And those that are inconvenienced seem either unable or unwilling to take real action with respect to holding these people accountable. Our democratic processes seem to be running like a poorly oiled machine and everyone is looking at everyone else like: "Who is going to fix it?" and no one knows how. The snow storm fail is just a localized example of this.

-Richard from Brownsville Brooklyn

Due to the storm, there was no garbage collection last Monday on our block in Whitestone, Queens. Today is garbage collection day, but no sign of sanitation truck. Will the truck come before the storm tomorrow? We are running out of room for garbage.

Sam

It is confusing to grasp whether Sanitation had more staff less staff or the same deployment they have had in the past. Question to San Man union boss :how many members paying dues on Jan 1, 2010 How many Dec 25, 2010. Commissioner How many San Man deployed Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 of Feb storm How many Dec 26 Dec 27 Dec 28?

Ed
Bronx

I watched some of the hearings today and instead of hearing specific information on what actually went down minute by minute there was lots of apologizing from people who clearly will not be held accountable. The head of ems probably could have explained this better but i guess he was'nt close enough to the mayor to be kept around or does'nt wear suits as fancy as sanitation commissioner.

Tj
clinton hill

Why did the City Council not zero in on the failure of the '911' system? Why wasn't the 'Emergency Broadcast System' utilized to advise citizens that '911' and '311' were severely overloaded? Why wasn't the Health Commissioner/Chief Medical Examiner required to testify to the collection of data on morbidity/mortality directly related to the botched response. People died because Government failed! Plain and simple.

The only casualty so far has been a demotion to the EMS Chief, caught up in financial/vendor irregularities not related to the blizzard. Kudos to the Councilman who challenged Goldsmith and OEM Chief Bruno to fall on the sword.

Erik
Brooklyn North EMS*911 Paramedic

What a sad shame that these people have lost track with their SERVICE to the people of this city. They don't live here, they live in their own privileged lives. I am concerned about this new storm. What are they going to do NOW!

Samantha

How about rating Bloomberg & staff incompetent & 'reassigning' them to a rubber room to file papers & make copies?

Anonymous

Hi. I am from south ozone park 11419 will there be school this week, tue.wed.and thur,?

karishma

Lets face it; Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith tried to do it on the cheap and it was a total failure. What will happen when we are struck again by terrorists? Will Goldsmith apologize again after he fails again? He has be sent back to Indy before any other New Yorkers get hurt.

Paul
Jamaica

This is all crap. DSNY shut down on the Mayor because he hacked the staff in his budget cut crap. There were little or NO salt spreaders early on in this storm. No preventive measures were taken with this storm but Time Square was spotless for the big bash. You couldt even tell it snows in Time Square. The mayor is to blame for sure

Dennis
Westerleigh, SI

It sad that the mayor is passing the buck, everyone(ALL Commishes) are responsible to him, and it is all on Mike Bloomberg. Today Alternate side is in effect and in brooklyn is still full of snow, where can you move your cars to.

Lamont, Brooklyn

Why shovel bike lanes when ambulances are stuck?

Is that a proper use of limited resources?

How about saving lives? Or is recreation more important to Janet?

Ken
West side manhattan.

In his own testimony he says that the emergency was to be managed by a Unified Command. Here is a definition of unified command:

In Incident Command System, a Unified Command is one way to carry out command in which responding agencies and/or jurisdictions with responsibility for the incident share incident management.

A Unified Command may be needed for incidents involving:
Multiple jurisdictions.
A single jurisdiction with multiple agencies sharing responsibility.
Multiple jurisdictions with multi-agency involvement.

If a Unified Command is needed, Incident Commanders representing agencies or jurisdictions that share responsibility for the incident manage the response from a single Incident Command Post. A Unified Command allows agencies with different legal, geographic, and functional authorities and responsibilities to work together effectively without affecting individual agency authority, responsibility, or accountability. Under a Unified Command, a single, coordinated Incident Action Plan will direct all activities. The Incident Commanders will supervise a single Command and General Staff organization and speak with one voice.

Clearly Joe Bruno did not establish this Unified Command he should be the head to roll!!

Anonymous

My name is Steven from Staten island. The fact that the mayor decided to make these future improvements does not impress me because what would we have to sacrifice in order to have more funds available for these improvements. I would also Like to say that during a less severe storm they were more prepared.. I agree with Rosanne from staten island when she said where were the plows.. I was stuck for 5 days on my block in the new dorp area..

Mayor Blumburg is the coach and its a damn shame the players today took the blame today!

Chris
G. Kills, Staten Island

The only thing that has changed is the new deputy mayor Goldsmith. Commissioner John Doherty has over fifty plus years of flawless snow fighting experience. He and his Department are certainly not the problem nor have they ever been. If Bloomberg and Goldsmith want to run the City as a business and save money, they have the blood on their hands when lives are lost. Get rid of Goldsmith...NYC is not Indianapolis.

Today's City Council hearing appears intended to move us further away from what the real root causes were. If the City was proactive in clearing the snow as it was coming down, you wouldn't have had Sanitation trucks and EMS stuck in two feet of snow.

Steve from Staten Island

I wonder if Bloomberg would have kept schools open during the blizzard if it wasn't for the vacation. Will he do the right thing and close schools Wednesday early in morning to keep our children safe from being trapped on school buses during the upcoming storm. After all we new Yorkers have heard it will be bad late Tues. night into Wednesday morning. Let's hope he has learned from the blizzard. Keep the children safe from being trapped on buses like commuters in December's storm

Tony in Bayside

Where were the plows???? Plows don’t operate themselves. Where were the workers? Why doesn’t anyone ask how many Sanitation workers were laid off? It’s obvious that there was a lack of personnel. Other city agency workers were forced to come back from vacation to go help Sanitation, and believe it or not, those workers weren’t even paid time and a half for coming back to work. The Mayor is solely to blame. Not those, who in the past, always did a wonderful job.

Arnyce, Harlem

I actually sat through some of the blizzard hearing today and came away with the impression that unless someone is actually in-charge and responsible, we may have a repeat performance of this snow mess.

George
LeFrak City

Let's face it he did not call a snow emergency. So workers were not mandated to stay for overtime. Its about the budget. I guess we should get used to it . Great example of less goverment the tea party love.

Lenny
staten island.

My name is juan and I work for EMS. The real problem was sanitation and our cheap mayor did not want to pay double time and a half for the plows to make routes for emergency vehicles to have a clear path to serve the public. The mayor is only concerned with manhattan (mid town ) all the other boros had to suffer. With 3 days plus of warnings the city couldn't get their act together? The mayor has to go!!!!!!!!!

the mayor did not want 2 sign off on the overtime. Or the deputy mayor . Sanitation workers get triple time plus paid day off. Its all bullcrap. And 400 layoff of provisoinal workers . I drove home in the blizzard from jersy.

Joe from ridgewood queens

Any truth to rumor that Goldfard directed Sanitation Dept not to bring in as many workers as Sanitation wanted to bring in on Dec 26 and to wait until Dec 27 after midnight in order to save triple OT pay?

Joan
Bronx

JOE BURNO NEEDS TO BE FIRED HE SHOULD HAVE DECLARED A STATE OF EMERANCY PEOPLE DIED BECAUSE OF HIM AND BLUMBERG. IF A STATE OF EMERGANCY WAS CALLED THEY COULD HAVE SENT IN THE NATIONAL GUARD LIKE IN 1996.ONLY THE UNION GUYS SPOKE THE TRUTH

ELLEN FROM NEW LANE STATEN ISLAND

Where was the Sanitation Supervisors Union? That would have told us what really happen.

vj from manhattan

snow emergency or not its common sense for sanitation, ems and mta to put chains on their vehicles and to be ready round the clock. snow emergency or not the city officials and their workers knew a blizzard was on its way...its bloombergs fault for taking "personal" time during a crisis and others for not following protocol that has been followed in past snow storms...if they've been able to handle it before the protocol should already be known and in place

Landa from Inwood

Bloomy is a business-man @ 1 million$ an inch (of snow removal for nyc), he let some melt before action was taken.

Mike from Woodside

I can't believe what this council meeting turned into such a witch hunt. Yes, could it have been handled much better outside of Manhattan. Yes, it should have been declared and emergency. It was a blizzard and even NYC can be brought to it's knees.

Leslie from Manhattan.

Bloomberg has once again proved that he couldn't care less about the people in this city. All the people who voted for him, particularly after he overturned term limits, should stop complaining. You get the government you voted for.

- Andrea , Queens -

I am wondering what happened to common sense? I watched the entire session today - and not one of the participants looked outside their windows during the storm. If only they used their common sense, (which apparently is not that common), they would look outside and make adjustments to their policies and procedures, and see that they needed to do everything possible to start clearing snow. And not wait for a 4pm meeting, and 8pm conference call, and weather service. Why is this so difficult???

Another note: Why hasn't anyone discussed the problem of the garbage? I still do not understand why it has taken days to clear the garbage.

Thanks
Roman

There were no plows seen during the snowstorm, and now there are no garbage trucks either. The Upper West Side and Upper East Side is awash in garbage-the garbage is stacked up in 8 foot walls that go 16 to 20 feet. There has not been one pick-up at my building on Central Park West and 96 Street and many other nearby buildings since before Christmas. The rats come at night and rip the bags and garbage is strewn all over. It sits outside our rear door and is beginning to block entrance and egress. The snow response was abysmal-but garbage collection or lack there of is worse. The crisis continues. Something is very, very wrong. I'm soon to call the Heath Department.

Susan
Upper West Side

The primary union president not at the city council hearing was J.Mannion on advise of his lawyer.Nespoli L831 really should be retired.These guys seem like rejects from J.Gotti wanna be school.The snow accumulated because DSNY did not perform their duties,salting or plowing! NY DOI. will have the answers at end of the month?

Michael
19 yr. ds.supervisor

I STILL HAVE YET TO HEAR OR SEE ANYONE COVER THE STORY OF ALL THE EXCESSIVE DAMAGES DONE TO PRIVATE & PUBLIC PROPERTY DUE TO THE FACT THAT WHEN THESE IDIOTS LET ALL THE SNOW PILE UP,THEY COULD NOT DISTINGUISH FROM WHERE THE ROAD ENDED TO THE BEGINNING OF A CURB OR SIDEWALK.MY PROPERTY WAS EXTENSIVELY DAMAGED WHEN THESE PLOWS (3 DAYS LATER) DECIDED TO FINALLY CLEAN UP THE MESS THEY LET ACCUMULATE.THEY DESTROYED MY SIDEWALK,THE CURB & LAWN!...EVEN A STOP SIGN IN FRONT OF MY NEIGHBORS HOUSE!...THIS IS ABSURD!

THANK YOU & GOD BLESS!
MIKE

I am appalled that these hearings even took place. Who says, that they even tried to dug the public out? Look at any street in Queens or Brooklyn!! There are still blocks of ice that never melt and have yet to be removed!! We are expecting another storm on Wednesday, What you do think these streets are going to look like then????? The storm of last week has been over for a week. What happened to the clean up since then? I live in Queens and was digging out the nite of the storm well into three four days after!!! How is the city going to clean up this mess? Maybe we should have them get out in a storm and clear the streets, maybe they will realize just how hard is to clean a NYC STREET.

Brenda

I live in Forest Hills Queens.

Dec 28th Tuesday evening the sanitation plows had driven down the secondary streets with their plows up. Infact the sanitation truck had got stuck briefly.

My Street was not plowed until wednesday Dec 29th 4:30pm I had interacted with the driver of the front loader twice that wednesday. At 9am he drove around a stranded car with the excuse that he couldn't plow because he may risk damaging the vehicle. The front loader plow clearly had enough room to drive around the car, why would you not to be able plow around it?

after shoveling my car from the street parking, as the same driver of the front loader passed the street with it the plow down, he yelled out to me " Good Job!" as he plowed my car back in.!!!

Tomas

The decision to begin calling for ASP regulations this week shows out how of touch Bloomberg is with his constituents in the outer boroughs. On one side of my street, there are giant mounds of ice and snow that are taking up at least 3 parking spaces. There are giant mounts like this all over my neighborhood in Queens. Given that ASP was in effect today, and there was no way for the street to be SWEPT, why weren't there plows out there breaking up the ice and snow and carting them away? As long as that side of the street had to be cleared of cars anyway, why not send out the plows instead of the street sweepers?

Anonymous

I watched the hearing off and on today and like most everybody was totally disgusted. It is irrelevant how fast the snow came or how windy it was. The important point is that once the snow stopped, the plows should have been out clearing the roads. During the past 15 years that I have lived in Middle Village, Queens, I have always heard the unmistakable scrapping sound of the plows working all day and night. This past storm, there was an eerie silence. The first plow came down my block Tuesday at 2 AM, but a neighbor who was out noticed that the plow was lifted several feet off the ground. Obviously this did not help the situation. After many phone calls to my local politicians and the Department of Sanitation, we got the street plowed on Wednesday at 5 PM (3 full days after the snow had stopped).

Lee
Middle Village, NY

I have heard a lot of discussion of the seeming priority given to Manhattan street clearance during the snow storm. That may be true, but as a resident of Washington Heights in Manhattan, I can tell you that this area's side streets were neglected as well. The street I live on was plowed for the first time on Tuesday night, December 28, at about 11:30pm. I realize that was earlier than numerous other secondary streets in other boroughs, but it is obvious the snow clearance in this storm was not up to par.

Having grown up in Iowa, I know what the word "blizzard" means. That word should ALWAYS trigger a declaration of Snow Emergency -- before the snow begins. It is just common sense. The public needs to be educated as well. Blizzard means stay home if you don't have to go out. It means don't drive your car unless you know that the streets you will travel have been cleared. And it means be prepared for surprises if you do go out.

Corinne

My Cousin is john peruggia the former EMS chief he was replace last week and blamed for not having the ambulance ready for the storm he is a great chief and been working for EMS for 28 years and was a chief I can say there is no corruption in his back round let's face it this administration should not even be in there

Frank NYC

Bloomerg should fly to Moscow take few tips from Putin how to keep streets plowed and keep traffic moving.

Levani

Many residents of the outer boroughs are assuming that Manhattan had more attention from plows during the snow storm, but this is simply not true. If you live in Manhattan, you know that there were so many MTA buses stuck in the unplowed streets and avenues of Manhattan. My wife and I personally saw five buses stuck in the snow just walking to Central Park, not to mention hundreds of cars abandoned. The sacks of recycling refuse has still not been picked up in many neighborhoods in Manhattan to this very moment, two weeks later.

Kenneth
Upper East Side, Manhattan