Friday, December 30, 2011

Queens doesn't have enough snowplows


From the Daily News:

A year ago, a huge winter storm rocked the five boroughs. Then came the storm after the storm: complaints that the Sanitation Department did a terrible job of snow removal.

But nothing startling came out of high-profile City Council hearings. The errors were, it turned out, mostly procedural; the city subsequently announced a solid, 15-point policy to be sure it doesn’t happen again.

One complaint, however, persists. Many people insisted that Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Staten Island were shortchanged. I for one can tell you that the department’s performance in Manhattan in cleaning up after the big storm also left plenty to be desired — but that, of course, is no consolation to all the people in the “outer boroughs,” who were buried under a couple of feet of snow for days.

Well, is it true that the borough where the most business is done and the tourists visit gets special treatment? I’ve tried, along with some of my Columbia students, to run the numbers. Here is what I found.

For example, Queens has 38% of the city’s street mileage while Manhattan has but 8%. Yet despite having five times more mileage than Manhattan, it has only twice as many sanitation trucks. Queens may have the right number of trucks for picking up refuse, but when it comes to fighting a snowstorm, it may be a few candy canes short of a holiday party.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

But it's certainly getting enough "snow jobs" from its shady politicians!

i.e.
Halloran, Koo, Stavisky, Ackerman, etc.

YAWN....the list goes on.

Then the sanitation department has to deal with the "road apples" they leave behind.

Isn't the Democratic Dictatorship of Queens a real Liu-Liu?

Anonymous said...

I grew up in Rosedale and in the 60s, after very bad storms, we never got plowed.
I remember one year someone collected money to bribe the sanitation guys to come down from Merrick road and plow our neighborhood.

Anonymous said...

You name it, Queens is shortchanged. And don't blame Manhattan or the mayor.

Your elected officials, top to bottom support everything that they are doing as 100,000 are added to Queens - and nothing will change as you elect them over and over again.

Think about it. Why should it?

Anonymous said...

this has always been the way--you'd slog through the streets and get on the train(they used to run more trains on the el to keep the tracks clear) and when you hit your manhattan destination it was a winter wonderland with the streets and sidewalks open and passable. Sidewalks due to the supers and doormen and of course the streets due the sanitation dept.

Anonymous said...

Your elected officials, top to bottom support everything that they are doing as 100,000 are added to Queens - and nothing will change as you elect them over and over again.
---------------------------------------------

Most of THEM are plowed in the first place.

Anonymous said...

This year friend of mine were giving out free snow cones at the Little Neck Memorial day parade. (you can give stuff away without a permit)
People and kids were lining up for them
Someone from Bloombergs bunch sent the cops to dump all the blocks ice down the storm drain. It was that or get the whole cart and grinder confiscated.
The Mayor midget was afraid he'd get snowballs thrown at him like Lindsay.

Ms. Tsouris said...

It IS the mayor's fault. He doesn't even know Queens exists. After the tornado back in September 2010, there was a tremendous amount of damage in my neighborhood in northeast Bayside. Neither the mayor nor any of his courtesans appeared in the borough to see the damage for themselves. We aren't a corporation or a hedge fund, so he could care less. He's in charge, not our local politicians. They should step up to the plate. Their problem is that they see their positions as entitlements, not a job to do for the citizens that elected them. The mayor is the head of the city, and he should oversee all. After all, he's in charge of education and look at what a bang up job he's doing to our school system. Blame him!!! Give us more snow plows!!

Anonymous said...

um, Ms Touris, as some of us recall, that mayor is there because your elected officials thought he was doing such a great job, they overturned your REPEATED desire for term limits - so ... as he is a creation of them, you beef is ... with them.