No doubt you’ve already seen the vid above, and it’s likely you’ve experienced in real life the hassles and, perhaps, destruction the blizzard caused. So the questions coming out of local blogs as well as the papers are: 1. Is this a case of straight-up class warfare, wherein Manhattan has been favored in terms of snow removal at the expense of outer boroughs such as Brooklyn? 2. Even if that’s true, isn’t that more or less business as usual? 3. At the most extreme end of the spectrum, can deaths be attributed to the fact that the city appears to have been unprepared for the blizzard? 4. And, finally, does Mayor Bloomberg deserve the bulk of the blame if one considers the city’s response lacking? Several City Councilpeople are definitely jumping on this bandwagon.


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

Leave a Reply

  1. pete- I agree it is a problem but it’s not my preferred choice of words- its what they are being called. I know who we are but if I said the “other boroughs” I doubt the Manhattanites would recognize it. After all that would imply to them they were only 1 of 5 boroughs- it might send them into culture shock.

  2. Good article, bfarwell.

    Exasperating (and exhausting) work for the crews.

    Doesn’t excuse overall command, leadership or the plan of attack, but it does give you some insight to how difficult the task is on a micro level.

  3. I read that too, babs. And I think that had a lot to do with the problem. I know the strom dropped a ton of snow very quickly- but it’s not unheard of- but this centralization to Manhattan is a long time [plan of Bloomberg’s, who really doesn’t care that much about the outer boroughs.

  4. I heard that usually in snow removal situation, each borough’s sanitation department operates more or less autonomously in terms of dispatching plows, sanders, salt spreaders, etc., but that this time, for the first time, all sanitation garages were to be given orders from Manhattan only. Because the people in Manhattan weren’t in touch with the situation anywhere but around them they had no idea how bad it was in other areas.

1 2 3 4 5 9