The most frustrating part of Bill de Blasio’s mea culpa about the “botched” plow job on the Upper East Side after the snowstorm was that by apologizing, the mayor was privileging the wealthy UES over the city’s other snowbound neighborhoods. He played right into the New York Post’s weather class warfare non-narrative, despite the fact that every single neighborhood in the five boroughs got blanketed — that’s what happens in a snowstorm — and not all were plowed by Tuesday’s end.
Now, some hard evidence that it lack of resources, or poor management across the board — not some “eat the rich” mentality — that led to slippery streets on the UES. According to DNAinfo, some Staten Island streets were still unsafe to drive by Thursday, two days after the storm started. Vito Turso, a spokesman for the city’s sanitation department, said that all roads were plowed by Wednesday, and that frigid temperatures were to blame for the condition of Staten Island’s streets. “The rock salt is not as effective when you get below 15 degrees,” he said. “There isn’t much you can do beyond going out there again, trying to plow and re-salting. You need to have some moderating temperatures in order for the rock salt to work.”
(Photo: Andy Cross)
