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NYC To Get Real-Time Snow Plow Tracker... Eventually
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jan 4, 2012
Modified Jan 4, 2012
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Jan 4, 2012
Modified Jan 4, 2012
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Last year on this date, we were still wading through the mess that was the Boxing Day Blizzard of 2010—aka Blizzageddon. The city was feeding us excuses for their failure to clean up the snow, due to things like "equipment glitches" and a possible "sanitation slowdown" and "Bloomberg is incompetent." But the city has vowed to not let things get out of hand during the next snowstorm—and to that end, Bloomberg told reporters the administration is planning to launch a website that lets people track plows in real-time via GPS. “We have a whole plan. We will get to it quickly,” Bloomberg said. Wait a minute...that's exactly what the Cylons said!
The system would be similar to one just launched in Chicago, ChicagoShovels.org, which allows the public "to track the progress of City snow plows and make snow removal efforts more transparent.” The Chicago site took months of preparation to build—and there's no indication when the NYC one might be online, let alone how much the project will cost.
Bloomberg also cautioned that the website won't actually help make snow removal any more efficient: "I don’t know that it necessarily improves our ability to plow,” the mayor said. “We have the routes, and we are going to do it. But it does let you see where plows went and when they went there.” But enough questioning and criticizing Bloomberg, people—can't you see his plan is ALREADY working? "Our best thing so far is my strategy so far. Look outside—streets are clean, no snow,” he said. That's right: Bloomberg is basically Weather Wizard now.
Tagged
blizzageddon
blizzard 2010
bloomberg
mayor bloomberg
snow
snow plow
snow plow tracker
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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