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As the blizzard of 2010 dumped 20 inches on New York City, paralyzing public transportation, flooding the subways, and leaving EMT workers stranded in the snow, those first responded to were the wealthiest. No surprise here.
On Facebook, posters have posted pictures of areas in Bed-Stuy, Bushwick, and other neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens, all untouched by snow plows. As of today, four days after the blizzard first hit, cars remain buried under drifts, the streets are empty of footprints, and trash trucks, ambulances, or any city services have apparently blown away in the wind.
The upper East Side is clean as a whistle as snow plows and crews ready 42nd St for New Year's festivities. It brings to mind people in the Ninth Ward waving white flags as their families drowned in attics as rescue and city workers rushed towards the French Quarter -- mostly to save the structures.
A newborn baby died in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, after it took emergency responders 10 hours to respond to the mother's 911 call on Monday. A Queens woman was forced to wait for three hours for first responders after calling 911 on behalf of her mother who was having trouble breathing on Monday morning, according to the Daily News. Her mother, Yvonne Freeman, 75, was dead by the time emergency workers were able to reach her home. A stroke victim had to be carried by emergency personnel and police officers because they could not drive through the streets. By the time they reached the hospital she was brain dead.
But Mayor Michael Bloomberg's block on E. 79th Street between Fifth and Madison Ave. was clear by Monday.
Why New Yorkers continue to think Mayor Bloomberg serves any other interests other than business and the wealthy perplexes me. Bloomberg's response to the criticism: "We did not do as good a job as we wanted to do or as the city has a right to expect," he said during a press conference in the South Bronx yesterday.
New York has seen bigger snowstorms that have not left the city crippled. The largest snowstorm New York City ever experienced was in 2006, 26.9 inches, and it did not stop public transportation systems.
City workers say Bloomberg's recent budget cuts have decreased manpower and allowed for this dysfunction.
In contrast, in equally cash-strapped Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Cory Booker has been responding via Twitter to residents who have not been plowed. Pictures show him running out of his own house with a shovel -- at least giving Newark residents the idea that they have his ear. Check the video below of him shoveling snow during the snow storms earlier this year.
Meanwhile in New York, as people die, and remain stranded, including my own mother who is stuck at my sister's house in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, without her heart medication, Bloomberg offers excuses at various press conferences and goes home to a cleanly plowed street.
Comments: (14)
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By: Brenda A on 12/30/2010 12:24PM
Congrats to Mayor Booker!!!!! Where there is a will there is a way.
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By: chris on 12/30/2010 4:19PM
I am a New Yorker, this snow is nothing from what we always had. The X generation need to get off their butts and go shovel some snow and help the city. Who do they think is working their next door neighbor, the borough of Manhattan always was cleaned first. Nothing has changed, only new immigrants who do not understand our politics. So if you want the snow to be removed off your car and street, get a shovel.
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By: ADMR on 12/31/2010 4:46AM
AMEN...All CLEAR.....No Surprise Here...HAPPY NEW YEAR My APPLES!
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By: CHESSE on 12/30/2010 5:17PM
So now we know how it goes and will be ready with some shovels and a group of neighbors,friends,people from church,etc. when the next storm comes in. Or we can sit back and complain.
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By: ADMR on 12/31/2010 4:49AM
Please Don't Complain Says Ms NEXT...FANtastic!
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By: Pink on 12/30/2010 7:39PM
Why are people trippin" on nature...SNOW?? So the city comes to a stand still...so what...it's not the end of the world. People are inconvenienced for a minute..again..so what. People complain too much these days about jack. As far as New York's budget; most cities in the country have had to cut their budgets...it's the sign of the times.
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By: ADMR on 12/31/2010 4:51AM
SUCCESS = Intelligence Says Mother Nature! (-:
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By: john johnson on 12/30/2010 8:17PM
.........i'm only guessing the folks above me already had their streets plowed. talk when you understand whats really going on and nothing different! public servants serve the needs of the taxpayers so its THEIR responsibility to plow the gotdam street when they are supposed to. i bet people are estatic about all that overtime these guys got for congegating together while blocks are STILL unplowed! i get it, manhattan comes first because of municipalities and gridlock concerns, but this NEVER stopped all the streets in other boroughs from being plowed in a timely fashion.perhaps we should throw bloomberg and doureghty in front of a snow plow.
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By: CAMILLE GLADDEN on 12/30/2010 8:36PM
After reading some of the comments, I will agree that New Yorkers are complainers. We get a snow blizzard and we panic, as if the earth is falling. There have been many extremely fatal incidents that have occurred worldwide, some of which is beyond our control. There have been many extremely fatal incidents, that happen within the United States. Take for instance, "Katrina", these people are still struggling, with many loved ones loss. Give me a break, stop complaining New Yorkers and get a life. Shove up the damn snow and keep on living....
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By: J.C.B on 12/31/2010 12:12AM
I agree with John Johnson(?name), taxpayers for for all streets to be taken care of. It's been 4 days so if they (plowers) have to work around the clock, so be it.
Now, as a Ny'r, I say if you don't like the snow (because you know it's coming at some point) MOVE! South perhaps! lol Florida is nice this time of year!
I live in Atlanta now and find it funny when stuff shut down for a few inches of snow here, and at times we're colder here than NY (surrounded by mountains) but it's nice and there's a lot of northerners here. So as Bob Barber used to say..."COME OOOOOON DOWN!!" LOL
(as for the people that lost their love ones, that's sad, they have my prayers for healing)
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