Mayor de Blasio: 'More could have been done' on Upper East Side snow

[hrmjustin]

NEW YORK (WABC) -- Mayor Bill de Blasio is responding to criticism over his handling of the second major storm of his administration.

City residents were critical of the mayor after some city streets were plowed numerous times while others were not.

Mayor de Blasio released a statement Wednesday afternoon saying, "After hearing concerns about street conditions on the Upper East Side, I headed to the area to survey the streets for myself, and to hear from residents directly. While the overall storm response across the city was well-executed, after inspecting the area and listening to concerns from residents earlier today, I determined more could have been done to serve the Upper East Side. I have instructed the Commissioner of the Department of Sanitation to double-down on cleanup efforts on the Upper East Side, and as a result, 30 vehicles and nearly 40 sanitation workers have been deployed to the area to finish the cleanup. Our crews will remain on the streets around the clock until the roadways are clear in every neighborhood, in every borough, across New York City."

That will be welcome news for residents there. On 93rd Street off of 3rd Avenue wheels on several cars were seen spinning in the snow covered streets, nearly 17 hours after the snow stopped falling.

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local/new_york&id=9403792

[hrmjustin]

1. Now they know how the outer boroughs feel.

[itsrobert]

2. This Eastside?

[hrmjustin]

3. Yes!

[Smarmie Doofus]

4. Uh-oh. The only 2 council districts in the entire city that voted against diBlasio....

...were on the UES.

Is this our Bridge-ghazi-gate??


(I'm kidding, btw.)

[hrmjustin]

5. lol they will have to deal with it.

[gaspee]

6. They're so used to

Getting their asses kissed and their streets done first that when they have to wait like everyone else does, the bitch and moan. They are the same people who don't want to pay taxes for things like snow removal.

My city has one section that is MUCH wealthier than the rest of the city. Their section always gets plowed first. Funny how that works.

[yeoman6987]

7. How was it done before?

I don't understand why they changed the status quo. This Mayor is being looked at closely and anything he does is going to be magnified. I don't think snow removal is a big deal but for those who are used to having their streets cleaned for years and suddenly it changes with the New Mayor is not necessarily a good thing. We need this Mayor to get through some great things and any distractions does not do any good. I can just hear the Republicans saying, "See the Democrats are just as bad as Republicans with regards to emergency preparations"…..remember Bush and Katrina?

[hrmjustin]

8. It used to be Manhattan was clear in hours and the rest of the city had to wait for days.

Now the equipment is distributed equally between all boroughs.

[yeoman6987]

9. Sounds fair enough

I think he should have had a press conference yesterday to explain this change in policy. It would have saved him many news headlines.

[hrmjustin]

10. He did. The reason the area was not plowed was there was too much traffic.

[yeoman6987]

11. That is great

I think he will do great things for New York City.

[hrmjustin]

12. I hope so as well.