Buses, Ambulances Stuck In Unplowed NY Streets

NEW YORK — Hundreds of buses and dozens of ambulances are stuck in the snow all over New York City and slowing the city's progress clearing snow-filled streets.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the city has struggled to tow and dig out the marooned vehicles.

Officials said too many people went out in their cars while the storm was raging.

Emergency responders also had a backlog of 911 calls. The fire department says it was their busiest day in recent memory, apart from the Sept. 11 attack.

The city is still coming back to life after Sunday's 20-inch snowstorm shut down the airports and crippled mass transit. Some flights resumed on Tuesday.

Comments

[Roland19]

12:58 PM on 12/29/2010

You'd think with the amount of money raised by NYC, they'd be able to allocate enough of it for snow removal and emergency services, wouldn't you?

[tcny]

10:00 AM on 12/29/2010

Mike Bloomberg lives on E. 79th Street on the well-to-do Upper East Side of Manhattan.

I live on 79th Street in New Utrecht, a working-class neighborhood in Brooklyn.

Care to guess who's street hasn't seen a snowplow yet?

[MrBadExample]

07:48 AM on 12/29/2010

Update from the People's Republic of Brooklyn--

There is still no subway service on the B/Q line. No word on why, no word on when it comes back. This is a train line for some 100,000 people who now have to WALK (since there's no bus service) at least a mile to another train that may or may not be working. And again, no other transit working either--abandoned cars on nearly every street, huge piles of snow in the center of roadways.I live on the only through-street in my area (there's a train-track between Avenue H & I) and there hasn't been a plow down it yet.

Rumors being reported are that the Department of Sanitation has broken equipment (cutting costs on maintenance) and depends on freelancers with plows and trucks to fill in the gaps. This being a holiday week, those freelancers are not available. There's also a rumor of a work slowdown--i've seen sanitation trucks passing with their plow-blades up.

if Bloomberg wants to be president, this is the death knell of THAT particular dream. His answers at news conferences come down to 'I already told you, shut up'. I suspect something is broken and Bloomberg is hoping local media don't figure it out--a major f***up at Sanitation, a collapsed track on the subways in Brooklyn, a job action by Sanitation or the FDNY. A minimum of three people dead because ambulances and firetrucks couldn't get to emergencies.

[shaftytim]

02:33 AM on 12/29/2010

BLOOMBERG'S KATRINA YO!!!

-shaftytim

[BlackYowe]

02:28 AM on 12/29/2010

God help NYC if there was a really big event like 9/11 again with Bloomberg at the helm he would fold.

[bar1ed]

11:38 PM on 12/28/2010

Impeachment, Recall, anything, this Mayor has to go NOW!

[MrBadExample]

07:43 PM on 12/28/2010

Update from the People's Republic of Brooklyn:

Ambulances are not going down side-streets around here--two of them got stuck earlier in the afternoon and were left for well over an hour. The main drag through Midwood (Avenue J) was stopped in both directions at 6 pm because trucks and SUV's had gotten stuck in snow drifts and no one could get around them.

There's been no attempt to shovel pedestrian areas like the crosswalks on Ocean Parkway (a six-lane highway). Pedestrians are having to stand in car-lanes to get across, and the car-lanes are too narrow to let two cars pass at the same time. NO BUSES RUNNING--I've seen three city buses stuck, and two of them were abandoned.

This wouldn't matter if the subways were running, but the subways aren't running--service hasn't been restored on the Q line as I write this, and the nearest subway is over a mile away  and really difficult to reach on foot. Bloomberg has been complaining about motorists, but with nothing else moving, it's hard to get too angry about them.

I've lived here since 1985, and there have been some huge and ugly snow-storms. But 48 hours out, I don't remember things being at this big of a stand-still.

[NYC777]

07:22 PM on 12/28/2010

There is nothing special about this snow storm...it is just lake many other storms that NYC has seen throughout years. Only difference is that, this time, there were no adequate measures taken to handle the situation . Most streets in of south Brooklyn are buried in snow. There is no way to get in or out.

Usually snow plows come out within ours to prevent snow pileup on streets, but not this time.
Apparently, workers union representing employees of sanitation department is on strike, but city government or media are not talking about it.

[jl4141]

05:26 PM on 12/28/2010

It's FDNY, HP, not NYFD. Give 'em some props.

[Mark Santeramo]

04:53 PM on 12/28/2010

I'll never understand why people call 911 if they aren't in immediate life/death danger or there is not a fire. Other than that, you should be fined for calling that number when not in a real emergency. It disgusts me at how "special" some people really think they are in comparison to the rest of the world; it's as though no one else exists and that everyone should stop what they are doing ot serve only them. It's a shame and unfortunately its also the direction this nation is headed. God forbid anyone take any personal responsibility for their own actions these days, i.e. stay in when its snowing or at least try to get yourself out first or, I dunno, DON'T CALL 911 WHEN YOUR STUCK IN SNOW. Some people are just always going to be self centered dirtbags, what can I say.

[KBES]

02:47 PM on 12/28/2010

This was because the Transit Authority let the buses run in a blizzard. Who was using a bus in a blizzard? Transit workers?

[Gretel1or2]

02:43 PM on 12/28/2010

This snow-rricane of 2010 is a BFD.

[demonic d 666]

02:20 PM on 12/28/2010

The only people that enjoyed this blizzard were the snowmen......and that was only after the snow blowers arrived.

[Daniel Miller]

02:03 PM on 12/28/2010

Next on the Bloomberg agenda...shut down firehouses!