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NYC Sanitation Department Still Catching Up After ‘Historic’ Month of Snow
By
Stephen Nessen
Published Feb 22, 2021
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Jen Chung / Gothamist
By
Stephen Nessen
Published Feb 22, 2021
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While the streets have been mostly cleared of snow and slush, remnants of the past few snowfalls can still be found blocking bus stops, bike lanes, curb cuts, and in front of many vacant businesses. Recycling is piling up on curbs, and residents are getting fed up.
This is making it onerous for anyone not in a motor vehicle to get around some parts of the city.
“Our crews are working across the city during one of the most challenging months in history,” Joshua Goodman, a spokesperson for the Department of Sanitation, wrote in an email to Gothamist/WNYC.
Challenging, but some New Yorkers are running out of patience.
“For the last two weeks the only snow removal we’re getting is for cars, and that doesn’t help pedestrians, and bus riders, and people with disabilities, and seniors,” said Christine Berthet, co-chair of the transportation committee of Manhattan Community Board 4.
Berthet’s district includes Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen. She’s put out a survey to gauge what members of her district think about the condition of the sidewalk to hone in on the main problems.
Goodman said residents could help out the city’s snow clearing effort by calling 311 if they see a problem area.
“One of the biggest issues we have with long-term work on those locations after multiple snowfalls is what’s called ‘throw out.’ This is when we clear it, but then someone clearing off their car or sidewalk puts snow back,” Goodman wrote.
“Calling 311 is very helpful because we wouldn’t necessarily know to come back and do it a second time if no one told us. It’s also why it is illegal for residents to put snow back there — although of course it does happen.”
Berthet noted that when she has called 311, an operator told her she has to wait 96 hours after the snowfall to file any complaints about unshoveled snow.
Christopher Robbins / Gothamist
According to 311 guidance, complaints about property owners, schools or bus shelters not cleared can be made four hours after snow stops falling. Complaints about medians, pedestrian underpasses and overpasses, and crosswalks can be made 72 hours after the snow stops.
“With less traffic than usual and less economic activity, seeing all this focus on the roadway, it’s kind of shocking, while pedestrians and bus riders have to be in the roadway in order to get on the bus,” Berthet said.
Alternate side parking was back in effect on Monday, but rather than street sweeping, the Sanitation Department said it is using the time to clear remaining snow from city streets.
“It reflects mis-balanced priorities,” said Councilman Mark Levine, who represents Upper Manhattan and sits on the council’s transportation committee.
Levine said the system of calling 311 when an owner has not shoveled their property also falls short because so many stores are vacant right now.
“The city can’t entirely wash its hands of clearing snow from sidewalks. The idea that fines will be a solution is not, in practice, enough. The city has to have capacity to clear sidewalks,” he said.
While the city has 100 small tractors for clearing sidewalks, bike lanes and other places larger plows cannot reach, Levine said the city should get more.
The Department of Sanitation said it also systematically making the rounds, picking up trash and recycling that has piled up.
“We just can’t do both at the same time – it’s literally the same people who pick up trash and who plow the streets, and there is no way to do both at once. Hopefully the weather stays calm for a bit so we can get totally caught up,” Goodman wrote.
Tagged
snow
accessibility
sanitation department
Stephen Nessen
Stephen Nessen covers transportation. Since 2008 he has reported on everything from Occupy Wall Street, the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site, Hurricane Sandy, to Trump’s campaign for president. His transportation reporting has taken him everywhere from the MTA’s secret Rail Control Center to the gleaming subways of Seoul. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
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