Thursday, December 30, 2010

Was it intentional?


From the NY Post:

Selfish Sanitation Department bosses from the snow-slammed outer boroughs ordered their drivers to snarl the blizzard cleanup to protest budget cuts -- a disastrous move that turned streets into a minefield for emergency-services vehicles, The Post has learned.

Miles of roads stretching from as north as Whitestone, Queens, to the south shore of Staten Island still remained treacherously unplowed last night because of the shameless job action, several sources and a city lawmaker said, which was over a raft of demotions, attrition and budget cuts.

"They sent a message to the rest of the city that these particular labor issues are more important," said City Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Queens), who was visited yesterday by a group of guilt-ridden sanitation workers who confessed the shameless plot.

Halloran said he met with three plow workers from the Sanitation Department -- and two Department of Transportation supervisors who were on loan -- at his office after he was flooded with irate calls from constituents.

The snitches "didn't want to be identified because they were afraid of retaliation," Halloran said. "They were told [by supervisors] to take off routes [and] not do the plowing of some of the major arteries in a timely manner. They were told to make the mayor pay for the layoffs, the reductions in rank for the supervisors, shrinking the rolls of the rank-and-file."

New York's Strongest used a variety of tactics to drag out the plowing process -- and pad overtime checks -- which included keeping plows slightly higher than the roadways and skipping over streets along their routes, the sources said.

The snow-removal snitches said they were told to keep their plows off most streets and to wait for orders before attacking the accumulating piles of snow.

They said crews normally would have been more aggressive in com bating a fierce, fast-moving blizzard like the one that barreled in on Sunday and blew out the next morning.

The workers said the work slowdown was the result of growing hostility between the mayor and the workers responsible for clearing the snow.

Sources said budget cuts were also at the heart of poor planning for the blizzard last weekend. The city broke from its usual routine and did not call in a full complement on Saturday for snow preparations in order to save on added overtime that would have had to be paid for them to work on Christmas Day.

The result was an absolute collapse of New York's once-vaunted systems of clearing the streets and keeping mass transit moving under the weight of 20 inches of snow.

59 comments:

Anonymous said...

If those orders went out I think "criminally neglegent homicide" charges are in order. Those idiots caused the death of more than one person and I think its time to set an example of what can and can't be done. Let's draw the line right now. Remember PATCO.

Anonymous said...

i called this yesterday in another post, but i was just called knucklehead for doing so.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Doesn't matter. It is still Bloombucks' fault for poor leadership. If sanitation workers HATE and don't respect the boss, means the boss sucks and isn't doing his job.

Currently teachers are being treated like sh#@. Many are not putting their all in the job. Sad, but true.

Lesson learned:
Treat your employees like garbage, they will treat you(and sadly the public) like garbage in return by not doing their job.

And for those of you who want to blame UNIONS, know this: When city workers are paid as much as private sector employees, then I'll accept the "blame the unions" game.

Jerry Rotondi said...

It really doesn't matter who perpetrated the dangerous slow response involving snow removal...the sanitation bosses or il cappo di tutti cappi...Michael R. Bloomberg.

Mayor Mike is the CEO...commander in chief (thief) of N.Y.C. Inc. and the buck stops there!

He has been ineffective in dealing with New York City's portion of the financial meltdown and is now revealed as being incompetent in dealing with the big freeze!

This diminutive self proclaimed "financial wizard" can't deal with a simple urban blizzard.

Too bad this weather incident didn't occur before the election.

Emperor Bloomberg would have never seen his 3rd term!

Anonymous said...

Really, is this story any surprise? Is it any surprise too that the Post is complicit in doing damage control for the Mayor?

Our 'veteran' Sanitation Commissioner Doherty should have seen this job action coming a mile away. Any cynical moron that knows how NY city government really works could have seen that the Sanitationmen were pissed at the budget cuts and would pull these shenanigans the first opportunity they could.

If this is true, the union should share the blame (and the NY Post will gleefully point the finger), but ultimately this catastrophe resulted from a FAILURE OF MANAGEMENT. The buck stops at Doherty's, Goldsmith's and Bloomberg's desk, not at the feet of a few ticked off garbagemen. The jackholes at City Hall could have made a declaration of a snow emergency much earlier which would have probably alleviated the problems this job action (which was likely not as pervasive as the antiunion NY Post reports) created.

Anonymous said...

"Mayor Halloran"

You heard it here first.

Anonymous said...

The Irish/Italian strangle hold of civil service jobs has to end. They use discrimination tactics/nepotism to ensure that their children and relatives stay in positions of power throughout the years.

Queens Crapper said...

I don't know if you've looked at the makeup of the civil servants in this city lately, but Irish/Italian is not what the majority of them are.

Sorry to break it to you. Keep posting the same shit, though, it's entertaining because of how stupid it is.

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry but I don't buy this story.

1) It comes from the NYPost. A paper that blames unions for everything.

1a) The Post is owned by Bloomturds fellow billionaire.

2) Dan Halloran is a City Councilman. These people are partners in crime with Bloomturd.

3) You really think a councilman would protect anyone but his biggest backers interest?

4) Anyone that didn't see the DSNY union guys getting thrown under the bus needs to wake up. Next up will be the MTA guys.

5) When the sanmen are on standby....At the first flake of snow they lay down salt and then plow later on. That didn't happened for this storm. The DSNY union guys don't decide a course of attack...the higher ups do.

This is all a cover up by our politicians to deflect the anger away from them.

Anonymous said...

"The Irish/Italian strangle hold of civil service jobs has to end. They use discrimination tactics/nepotism to ensure that their children and relatives stay in positions of power throughout the years."

Really? Did I jump in a time machine to the 50s-60s.SMH

Anonymous said...

"The Irish/Italian strangle hold of civil service jobs has to end."..... Are you serious? I didn't know Lucky Luciano was still around. Get off your high horse and take a gander at what's really going on and who is really running the city. It hasn't been Irish/Italian dominated or ran in over 30 years. Moron.

Anonymous said...

Of course the sanitation union did this. The unions f-d us up. They're the one's that are supposed to be driving the rigs. The mayor an't do a thing if the unions don't want to work. I'd fire all of them.

Deke DaSilva said...

When city workers are paid as much as private sector employees, then I'll accept the "blame the unions" game.

What planet are you residing on?

There are a LOT of people out of work right now, the official unemployment rate is 9.3%, but the actual rate is higher.

Do you even bother reading the headlines or pay attention to the news?

Oh, that's right, I forgot. You have a protected job, you don't have to worry about "the real world"!

Anonymous said...

If the allegations reported in the Post, a newspaper best used to wrap dead fish & other garbage are substantiated, a Grand Jury should be impanelled to investigate the situation. If in fact the CIs who reported the situation to Councilmember Halloran are correct, indictments should issue promptly from said Grand Jury who would have to vote "a true bill" for that to happen. Lindsay had 1969-Bloomie has 2010!

Anonymous said...

Lindsay had 1969, but remember that he was reelected after that snowstorm.

Amy4549 said...

I really have to address this with Queens Teacher.
Exactly what private sector employees are you talking about. The ones that make more than teachers? Please identify them for me because many private sector employees that I know do not earn what a NYC teacher with a few years of experience does. Factor in the hours (yes they put in more hours than teachers), the cost to them for benefits (health insurance and retirement etc) and they are not in your league. I will never say that teachers don't work hard, that they don't deserve to be compensated and that the city doesn't treat them very well. But private sector means more than Wall Street. And if a private sector employee doesn't like his boss and stages a slow down he's out of work. If a private sector employee is told that he is losing vacation days and is getting a15% pay cut and he doesn’t like it, he is shown the door. Not protected. So please, if you are condoning any civil servant for slowing down because they don't like the way they are treated I suggest that they try getting one of those high paying private sector jobs that you think are out there and see how long they last. Please keep in mind that this is not a fight. It is a statement about responsibility. If the post article is true, and that remains to be seen, employees who have chosen to do a certain job – public or private – and don’t do it by staging a slow down should be fired.

Anonymous said...

I love how Bloomberg has effectively directed the attention away from his inability to handle this storm. Now the focus is on the Working man once again. While if there is some truth to the rumor than there needs to be repricutions. However, Who is in Charge here? The buck stops with the boss, Bloomberg.

You had OEM, DOT, DOS, and several others yet it is the fault of those that work for a living.

The Billionaires are doing everything possible to further destroy all unions in this city, more billions for them. Sanitation workers are Working Class people, you know the ones that pay most of the taxes and get the least amount of service. Blame the workers, kill the unions, God Bless America? Not after all the union busting is complete.

Alfredo

Anonymous said...

Of course if the Rupert Murdoch-owned New York Post says it it MUST be true.

Deke DaSilva said...

Amy4549 said...

Couldn't have said it better myself!

Amen to that!

The Billionaires are doing everything possible to further destroy all unions in this city, more billions for them.

Really? Other than Bloomturd, can you provide us with some other names in this alleged billionaires cabal?

Anonymous said...

Halloran for Mayor, Hey you never know. My question to you is: IF He had a meeting with DOT and DOS workers yesterday, what was the result? Oh wait , he didnt answer that part?

I am having a meeting to discuss the unfair treatment of children workers. What? why do you want to know the outcome, does it not suffice that I "held" a meeting?
What more do you want from me and my office staff? Answers?

Sounds like Padavan toward the end.

As for the Public sector debate: Teachers, after a few years of teaching get small raises, after they complete a Masters Degree, and then at least 30 some odd credits above Masters, which in effect is another Masters Degree. TWO MASTERS DEGREES, A MINIMUM OF 6 YEARS EXPERIENCE FOR WHAT? 55,000 A YEAR. Yes they have a decent medical package, and please don't talk pension, they contribute to their pension, TIER 1 is long gone, only a small few remaining. They work what 186 days a year while the private sector employee works on average what? 250 days? Ok , show me a private sector job where before the employee can get hired they have bo pay what? $800.00 between exams, and application fees? Then jump through hoops, wait on line like cattle at the DOE. wait for the State to finally review your application, then approve it. Wait for the City to administer the exams in some God Forsaken place, score the exams, get you the results, clear your fingerprints, and mind you there is a fee for every exam, as well as the fingerprinting fee, the State application fee as well as the City licensing fees. Oh yes and you have to go downtown Brooklyn somewhere to be examined by some 100 year old doctor, to say you are fit to work. HE/SHE IS NOT FIT TO WORK.

While if there was a job action it can not be condoned under a Blizzard condition. I only ask why was there no job action in Manhattan?

We must also ask ourselves why is their a law on the books that allows the City to NOT NEGOTIATE IN GOOD FAITH WITHOUT PENALTY, yet if the civil servants conduct any type of job action they are penalized to the point of destruction? Taylor law.

Let us not forget The Mayor is the Boss, he is responsible in the end. Where were his Managment skills? Why were not his managers able to cope with the situation? Why was Manhattan clear for the most part? Why is the media flipping the blame on the civil servant once again?

Policemen, Firemen, Sanitation, and Teachers, knew they would never become rich and or get bonuses for a job well done. They chose their profession in order to obtain security for their families and are now being villified for doing so. Shame on us all.

Anonymous said...

Of course, Murdoch, Ratner, and the ones that are unheard of have nothing to do with Bloomberg.

I wish I could say I had more names off the top of my head but unfortunately I am not one of them and can only name the ones that allow themselves to be seen.

Sorry Deke, if I can't give more names.

Alfredo

Anonymous said...

Posted Dec 27: Well City Council and the Mayor found someone to blame: the unions!

-----

Sure, its easy. In the Blackout you believed a batch of Albany and City Hall hacks when they told you they knew how to distribute energy better than Con Ed.

They will put the right spin on this blaming .... well something ... and when they do there will be a collective sigh of relief that a harmless culprit is blamed and you all can go back to sleep while the real bastards get off the hook .... again.

You will see - my words will be prophetic. They do this time and time again and you jerks fall for it everytime.

They play you all like a violin.

Anonymous said...

Hey, don't forget the kids that were pressed into service to manually clean school sidewalks (the Mayor called it fulfilling their 'community service' obligation) because he let go union personnel.

Maybe he can blame them to!

Anonymous said...

"Privatize sanitation."

In NYC? The mob loves hearing that kind of talk.

We'll be paying more for fewer services, fo' sure!

Anonymous said...

"Snitches" Hey moron you are a councilman now not a half ass cop you used to be. Get over yourself, call for hearings, investigate, give them whatever protection you would give any whistleblower, and get this done.

If in fact it was a union organized event,then let them pay. Let us not forget the Mayor should have been on top of this and never have allowed it to go past the first day. So for all inents and purpose, it is still his fault.

If we privatize sanitation and the "Mob" take it over, they can't it would go to the bigger Mobsters, those in bed with the politicians. Waste Management etc.

So don't worry if one doesnt fck us someone else will.

Welcome to Queens, Bastard step child of New York.

Anonymous said...

Queens is the bastard step child of NY because the people we elect don't have much horsepower under the hood, and let agencies like EDC beat us up while they primp (or should I say pimp) on the sidelines with yet another tiresome photo op with a bunch of clueless seniors or immigrant kids.

Anonymous said...

The guy in charge, Deputy Mayor of Operations Stephen Goldsmith, was away and did not show up for work till monday. This guy is Bloomturds hand picked union busting guy.

Anonymous said...

this explains what i saw tuesday afternoon about 3pm on 206st in bayside. i witcnessed a san truck come down my block with the plow up barely touching the top of the snow. my neighbor & i looked at each other not knowing what to think.

Anonymous said...

closed hosipitals = black outs = snow removal issues = EDC = Willets Point = elected officials entitlement

Anonymous said...

the d.o.s. employee operating his yellow plow at 203 street north, from northern blvd to the l.i.r.r. on tuesday at 10:pm should be fired .

he did not use his plow shovel at all.we were still stuck in our driveways in Bayside. when he left.....

i agree with the comments of those of the 206 st. homeowner. this was a municipal union scam on taxpayers.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm.... thats interesting. There IS a thread that all are connected.

The 3rd Termers at City Hall and City Council are all the blame.

Anonymous said...

its soooo funny seeing the parkside hacks on this blog spinning the union blame.

Anonymous said...

Halloran is full of shit.

No way would sanitation guys rat on each other. What is he a priest? They came to "confess"?

Story is phony. Our boy is trying to help Bloomshit repair image. Isn't that right Mr. Councilmember?

Anonymous said...

Halloran is full of shit.

No way would sanitation guys rat on each other. What is he a priest? They came to "confess"?

Story is phony. Our boy is trying to help Bloomshit repair image. Isn't that right Mr. Councilmember?

THEY DIDN'T JUST SHOW UP HE ANNOUNCED THE MEETING THAT MORNING.
FUNNY HOW THE ARTICLE MAKES IT SOUND LIKE THEY JUST SHOWED UP.

ANOTHER PHONEY POLITICIAN KISSING QUINN AND BLOOMBERGS ASS.

What is he a priest? They came to "confess"?
THEY MUST BE PAGAN. HAHAHAHAHA

Helen said...

There's no harm in investigating this debacle especially since it resulted in the deaths of innocent people. This wouldn't be the first time Big Labor's held NYC hostage. Anyone else remember the Transit Strike of 2005?

Anonymous said...

"The Irish/Italian strangle hold of civil service jobs has to end. They use discrimination tactics/nepotism to ensure that their children and relatives stay in positions of power throughout the years."

As an italian-american, I concur with the above quote. These public sector trolls have been getting away with murder for years and the fact that they have a government job should and does not entitle these fools to be obnoxious, arrogant and downright smug, which I might add, many of them are. And some of them happen to be relatives of mine. Just because you passed a silly government exam does not mean you're a freaking genius! They wear their jobs on their sleeves for goodness sake and won't let you forget it.

As for Mayor Bloomberg, he is a mental weakling who has caved in to union demands for eons. It's so late in the game now to act tough. Rudy Giuliani, he is not.

Joe said...

Fire them all then re-hire the workers without the union crooks and bosses.
Without the union thief's sucking 1/2 the money nobody would have to be laid off.
I was in an IATSE member, those racketeers stole almost 35% of my pay and tripled the cost of a productions.
I remember working in the Beacon theater and being told to "take a 2 hour nap" way up in the balcony.
Unions are nothing but crooks & shy-larks all of them.

georgetheatheist said...

Demure birds?

Anonymous said...

Godspeed Comrades.

Anonymous said...

Fuck Bloomberg and the rest of the pig "aristocracy" in this corrupt city. This is all lies spun from his ass to place blame away from his criminal ass.

THERE WAS NO PROTEST. THERE WAS NO CONSPIRACY.

You can blame his cutbacks for this and his total ineptness of balancing a budget and steering tax money to private interests and not taking care of us, the citizens of this city.

Long live the native New York working classes who have more balls than anyone in this country.

Anonymous said...

"Fire them all then re-hire the workers without the union crooks and bosses.
Without the union thief's sucking 1/2 the money nobody would have to be laid off."


You're a fucking asshole.

Anonymous said...

Halloran is fulla shit !
Manhattan had no problems it was broom clean

Anonymous said...

read the comments of the homeowners who observed the d.o.s. employees driving their plow down the snow covered side streets,without touching the snow!!!!!!

the taxpayers who observed this crime are the citizen's who are "ratting" this sinful group out.

the "masters of deceit" are loading this site with disinformation to confuse the people ignorant of this crime.

a Bayside victim,who had a travel problem getting to the Post Office to mail his property tax to the finance dept.,which probably contributes to the d.o.s.employee's salary, for his stolen time to "shovel the snow".
these slackers should be traced and fired. homeowners should anon inform their N.Y.C.D.O.I AND GET THE CROOKED EXTORTIONISTS OUT OF THE SYSTEM NOW.

Anonymous said...

Oh yeah... the unions really showed Bloomberg who's boss... by plowing his street to the blacktop. Then a couple of the "snitches" "confessed" how "guilt ridden" they were about everything. Excuse me, but I have a dead fish that needs to be wrapped.

But hey, you know if people really wanted their street to be plowed, why didn't they just hire someone from the private sector to do it? Isn't that what all you anti-government types believe?

Anonymous said...

omg, I can't believe half the crap I'm reading here. How can you people believe this was a deliberate attempt by DSNY to get back at Bloomberg? If they wanted to get back at him, they would have slowed up in Manhattan. Do you think Bloomberg cares if Queens is plowed? As long as his block & Times Square is clean, he's satisfied.

Susan said...

If this is true, I hope they realize that they ruined lives and caused some deaths.

Anonymous said...

While there might be something to some sort of Union slowdown for there are too many similar stories of people seeing plows lifted. We must wait for the investigation which I am sure will show that if there was some sort of slow down it was not as widespread as the Mayor wants us to believe. Please be reminded that the drivers get orders from someplace, we need to find out what those order were and from whom they came.

We can not blame the workers just yet. Remember most of them live in the areas that were abandoned. Would they leave their families and neighbors in such a dangerous position?

Again I ask why is there a law on the books that allows the City Government the ability to either not negotiate at all, or not negotiate in good faith. Yet when a Union does any type of "Job Action" they are penalized to the point of destruction?

Also let us be reminded that the ultimate responsibility lays with the Mayor and his team, including OEM!. Especially in times of Emergency. Marty Markowitz said it best, when he said it is all their faults, all the elected officials, even those who have no immediate duties when it comes to snow removal. Well said, they are entrusted to represent the people and do for the people they represent.

I truly believe this is mostly a spin job to deflect the responsibility.

Although I do not agree with him on many issues, Councilman Halloran was once again on top of this Emergency, and kept his constituants informed, and his offices open till very late if not 24 -7. Thank you Councilman, for a job well done.

Alfredo

Anonymous said...

HEY DEKE HERE IS SOME NAME DROPPING FOR YOU

IS DAVID RATNER RELATED TO BRUCE?

YOU KNOW WHO DAVID IS?

Anonymous said...

Houligan...(LOL) I mean Halloran for mayor?

You jest!

I think he'll soon be dodging a scandal!

And a lot of his constituents seem to be in agreement that he hasn't done shit for his district!

Anonymous said...

I don't like the mayor, but seriously, some you act like sanitation employees do not know how to shovel fucking snow without daddy Bloomberg's "leadership".

Should the mayor give the DSNY and unions a warm glass of milk and tell them a bed story as well? WTF.

When your given a job that your paid to do, than do it.


When I see elderly people struggle through the street and mothers with there babies trying to cross the street through mounds of snow, I don't expect the Bloomturd with a shovel...I expect the DSNY to get there jobs done. If they don't like there jobs, than go get retrained and do something else.

Anonymous said...

Now now Halloran has not done anything for the community he represents,and this is true. But Shyte how many times have we seen him on the news. He is a good reporter updating people and all. Hell he even gets sanitation employees to confess their sins to him. He never does tell what the outcome is to his "meetings".

I heard on this site that he was in Bulgaria on a Lecture tour. On what? How to have an affair with his subordinates? Did he really criticize the Ambassador to Bulgaria? What was he lecturing on?

Anyone know about this trip to Bulgaria? Details please.

Who was he having this alleged affair with? Maybe if he wasnt so "busy" he would be able to get things done in his district.

Somebody should FOIL his emails.

I also heard through some people in Whitestone that a piece of property being held by developers just got something like a 60% tax break, any truth to that? That would be fckd up considering we all got an increase in Bayside.

Does anyone know what he his doing about the BCTA, and they wanting to go to CB 11?

Does anyone know of anything he has actualy accomplished other than get on TV, and promote himself?

Malba Gardener said...

Yes, the old CYO / Whitestone Jewels property just got a 50% tax break. We asked the Councilman to look into it, he stated he sent a letter to Dept. of Finance, he also informed us he was having a meeting with DOF and would bring it up then. To date we have recieved no information on the matter, and this was over a month ago.

Yes, a 50 % tax break, mine and my neighbors taxes also went up.

Anonymous said...

The answer to a LOT of the problems - Undo President KENNEDY's executive order allowing Federal Unions, and pass a law like some states outlawing unions by Sate and Govt workers. The 'companies' they work for have a monopoly, so you can't go to a second source when the unions hijack the the company

Anonymous said...

"When city workers are paid as much as private sector employees, then I'll accept the "blame the unions" game."

Often, union jobs allow union members not to have to pay for health care benefits and pensions that private sector employees have to pay. Why is tenure such an issue that the teacher's unions fought tooth and nail over?

Granted being a teacher is a thankless job but try a private sector job where some companies have yearly layoffs right at the end of the year.

Anonymous said...

"Doesn't matter. It is still Bloombucks' fault for poor leadership. If sanitation workers HATE and don't respect the boss, means the boss sucks and isn't doing his job."

I had teachers that bought their own chalk because the Board of Ed couldn't even keep supplies available for teachers. BUT they don't have an attitude likes yours. They still did their job.

You don't like your boss so you do a lousy job? I'm sure your students and their parents love your attitude.

Blame Bloomberg for everything. No personal accountability.

Anonymous said...

Sorry to inform you but teachers are being abused. And the UFT is looking the other way.

Many teachers now look at it as "just a job". Huge contrast to pre-Bloomberg days. Teachers should be passionate about their work. How can you be passionate when your bosses write you up for stuff you didn't do?

And of course I'm doing my job. Just trying to lay low so I don't become my principal's next victim.

Anonymous said...

The founder of facebook Mark Zuckerberg said:

" It just strikes me as this huge issue that teaching isn't respected or compensated in our society for the economic value that it's actually producing for society"
Kind of says it all.
Nice to see someone still values the craft.

There are those of us out there that support the good teachers in te system.

Let us not allow ourselves to deflect the topic on this post. The storm and lack of response to the outer boros, not bashing those that are on the front lines of our future.

Alfredo

Anonymous said...

I'm still scratching my head on the idea that we are mixing conversations about well educated and underappreciated teachers who are endowed with the mission of preparing our country's youth with people that pick up trash and shovel snow for a living. DSNY employees are well compensated for what they do yet whine like little bitches and run to their union daddies to console them. But I do agree that teachers are being disenfranchised. And if you're a DSNY employee who doesn't like my comment, than you should have done better in your education and found a better job. Last night I drove by a ton of your colleagues sitting in their parked trucks and doing nothing but racking up overtime.