Public Employee Press

Union members dig out city despite mayor's blunders.

City blows blizzard

Were you absent or late during the storm? - See Union to city: Shovel your 2010 snow policy.



By DIANE S. WILLIAMS

One of the worst blizzards in recent memory buried New York City Dec. 26 with 20 inches of snow, whipped on by gale-force winds. Workers and residents asking why the city's response failed to meet the challenge learned of a glaring leadership lapse Jan. 10 at a City Council inquiry: Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Deputy Mayor for Operations Stephen Goldsmith were not even in the city.

Their failure to call a snow emergency to order nonemergency vehicles off the roads as the blizzard approached or to observe how the storm was paralyzing traffic, transit and emergency vehicles resulted in many residents being stranded at home for three days and contributed to the loss of two lives. The clean-up cost $20 million, and lost work and commerce cost New Yorkers many times that.

From Dec. 26-28, the outer boroughs were at a standstill, and resentment boiled over among residents in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and the Bronx. Bloomberg's inadequate response drew comparisons to the 1969 snowstorm that buried the career of then-Mayor John Lindsay.

"During the monumental blizzard, DC 37's everyday heroes joined Sanitation Dept. Crews in the biggest cleanup in decades. Their tremendous effort got New York City moving again," said Executive Director Lillian Roberts.

As City Custodians and their Supervisors in DC 37 Locals 1597 and 1797 shoveled and salted sidewalks, 40 members of Local 376 and their Supervisors in Local 1322 drove 20 pieces of heavy equipment from upstate Kingston to plow. Local 924 Laborers cleared driveways so ambulances, doctors and Local 420 hospital workers could care for patients.

Parks workers in Locals 1505 and Climbers and Pruners in Local 1506 worked with Parks Supervisors in Local 1508 to clear sidewalks and remove dangerous icy boughs as Local 983 members ran Parks ploughs and Police Dept. tow trucks.

Local 1455 members cleared city parkign lots, and Local 1320's Sewage Treatment Workers and Supervisors worked around the clock to keep snowmelt from inundating sewage facilities and polluting waterways.

An army of Local 1549 members made their way to 911 and 311 call centers, some walking miles through the storm, to answer over 100,000 emergency calls in 48 hours. Although many ambulances were stuck in deep snow for up to eight hours, Emergency Medical Services crews in Locals 2507 and 3621 risked their own safety to save lives and prevent a greater tragedy.