Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Inferior equipment cause of snow snafu?


From the Daily News:

They are sanitationmen and - as a whole - they've been portrayed as abominable snowmen responsible for the lousy cleanup after the Blizzard of 2010.

But five of them who work out of the Brooklyn District 11 garage - known as BK 11 - want the world to hear the "real" story.

"We were short 400 men and we had crappy equipment," said a guy we'll call Strongest No. 1, because the sanitmen don't want their names in the paper.

"Forty fewer guys in BK 11 alone than in 2006," he said, noting there are 125 workers left in BK 11, which is based on Bay 41st St.

"And Bloomberg didn't declare an emergency right away," Strongest No. 2 piped up.

Strongest No. 3 stirred his coffee and said, "Listen, most of us live right here in Bensonhurst. We couldn't get our own cars out. We walked hip-deep in snow to work that Sunday."

"My block couldn't get plowed," Strongest No. 4 said. "You think I want my family snowed in? There were abandoned cars all over the gutter. How could you plow?"

"BK 11 has about 50 trucks," Strongest No. 5 said. "About 25 got stuck. Know why? Inferior snow chains. They'd snap as soon as you tried to get traction."

"The chains kept pulling the tires off my rims," Strongest No. 1 said, displaying a phone photo of his crippled truck, a rear tire missing from the rim. "This is 2011, and the city can't buy chains as good as they got 20 years ago?"

"Are you kiddin' me," Strongest No. 4 roared, slapping the table. "We don't care about management on a good day, never mind during a blizzard. We know how to do this better than anybody in the world. We just didn't have enough men, the right equipment and the political leadership we needed."


Video courtesy of Sunnyside Post.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

And that I believe. Remember the dead firemen because they saved $$$ on ropes?

For want of a nail the horse was lost,
for want of a horse the rider was lost,
for want of a rider, the battle was lost
for want of a battle the kingdom was lost,
for want of a nail.

Anonymous said...

They need to find out what kind of chains the truckers up on the North Slope of Alska use to get back & forth to Deadhorse!!

Mayor Mike said...

Hey Schmuckeroos!!! Forgot all about the City Time scandal because of the snowstorm? Ah life is good.

Snake Plissskin said...

In a desperate effort to support the real estate industry the mayor and city council are gutting the infrastructure, staffing, and services.

Since you morons mechanically send them back to office in a Roman triumph of 80% of the vote there is not a whole hell you can do about it.

This will blow over. As one politican said to me once, most people don't remember what they had for dinner last Thursday.

That summorizes their attitude towards you pretty nicely, don't you think?

Anonymous said...

Inferior equipment-- the Unions, right? Screwing New Yorkers for centuries.

Anonymous said...

Blah, blah, blah, it's a poor craftsman who blames his tools. It's the singer not the song.

Mayor Mike said...

It's the singer not the song.

I couldn't agree more. I expected to make tons of money for my song "Urine The Money" (it's a pisser) but I couldn't find the right talent. See? I can agree with some QC posters. Just tryin' to repair my image...


PS When I was told about the need for snow blowers, I totally misunderstood. Oopsy. Anyone have a tissue?

Mayor Mike said...

Or a tiny spoon?

Anonymous said...

Please, a poor craftsman blames his tools because he is a craftsman working with tools he has selected and purchased.

The City is responsible for outfitting the chains and other devices used by the sanitation department, so unless you expect the sanitation workers to buy this stuff themselves, that nonsense won't fly.

Joe said...

I saw some rats darting across the track crossing in Little Neck today.
They were HUGHE and running from some garbage and a screaming woman in a driveway on 39th road !!!
Not Gray---BROWN and Big like footballs with pink tails !!

Anonymous said...

I have no doubt the equipment is poor but that doesn't explain why when the plows finally came to my street in bayside a day after the snow, they plowed part of the street and then sat for an hour, came around the block and then sat for another hour at the corner, and so on all day long. Nice job. Not only overtime but an hour break every time you go up the block. And there were no abandoned cars and the plows weren't broken. Can you say slowdown?

Anonymous said...

"The City is responsible for outfitting the chains and other devices used by the sanitation department, so unless you expect the sanitation workers to buy this stuff themselves, that nonsense won't fly."

And just who do you think selects the chains and other devices? Sanitation Supervisors that's who. Talk about nonsense

Anonymous said...

your busted,confess your evil deed.

Anonymous said...

And just who do you think selects the chains and other devices? Sanitation Supervisors that's who. Talk about nonsense


Where do you get your ideas??? Sanitation Supervisors are NOT in charge of buying/ selecting equipment. They answer to the mayors office

Anonymous said...

Then it's not the Supervisors. I meant it only in the broadest sense of "their bosses" regardless of what purchasing department handles it.

The larger point is that an independent contractor like a car mechanic or carpenter buys his own tools and can be held to account.

If someone else buys them, hands them to you and says work with what you are handed, the quality of the tools is material.

I worked in City Offices where the supplies were so bad, we just bought our own, something not so easily done when the "supplies" are heavy equipment.

Anonymous said...

It's our INFERIOR mayor who is to blame for this snafu.

He is at the top of the chain of command and the buck stops there!

Can you imagine, for a moment, what would happen to an incompetent general who continually misjudges his options in the field and winds up losing thousands of troops?

He'd get busted all the way down down to buck-private...if he didn't wind up facing a court marshal...then dishonorably discharged!

In the business world things would move at an even faster pace.

Bloomberg would be fired immediately and be replaced the very next week!

That's what he himself would do in his own company...and has!

It's up to all you city council members to FIRE THE BASTARD!

Anonymous said...

Many of those abandoned cars were not ticketed.........where were all the traffic agents hiding?????