To summarize it took 78 hours, 12 trained and licensed city employees, 10 pieces of heavy duty equipment, 3 different city departments DSNY, NYPD and DOT to start cleaning 20 plus inches of snow on 45th Street between 14th & 15th avenue but wait they did not finish they just started.
A 911 call came in around 6 p.m. Monday from 135 Ocean Parkway in Kensington, Brooklyn, where Joel Grossman, 73, was complaining of stomach pain. “He was very much alive, and we knew he needed help,” said a neighbor, Judith Friedman, who was with Mr. Grossman. “It was very difficult for us to explain to him how bad the weather was because he was in such pain, so we didn’t want to make him feel worse.”
About an hour later, dispatchers were told that Mr. Grossman was now unconscious. At 7:47 p.m., the Fire Department said, its ambulance arrived, although Ms. Friedman said the first to arrive was Hatzolah, the private ambulance service.
In any case, it was too late. About five minutes before the ambulance arrived, she said, “He keeled over, fell off of the couch and died.”
I know many of you are frustrated with the inadequate response to the storm in Kensington. We have communicated the following information to OEM, DSNY and the Mayor's Office:
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While the plows have allegedly "hit" all streets according to the Mayor, most of the neighborhood of Kensington is inadequately plowed. This is unacceptable!
Kensington must be addressed this afternoon.
My staff spent the morning walking around the neighborhood and most streets, including major E-W streets still have 3 inches of packed, uneven snow on them! Pictures of Ditmas Ave, Ave C and E 8th street are attached as an example.
Streets that need attention are:***the major E-W streets of the neighborhood, most notably->Ave C->Ditmas->Cortelyou->Ave FWe have repeatedly pointed out to DSNY and OEM that these streets needed attention throughout the cleanup and they have not been addressed.
***All N-S streets that are parallel to McDonald and Coney Island Ave (except Ocean parkway), which includes:-> E9, E8, E7, E6, E5, E4, & E3 (all from Caton to Ave F)-> The one block of E2 (between Cortelyou & Ave C) that the vehicle described below is stuck at.
Abandoned vehicles that need to be removed are at the following locations:National Grid truck on Ave C @ E 8th streetGrayish minivan at Ditmas & E 8th streetGreen jeep van on E 2nd Street between Cortelyou and Ave C
Please keep my office informed about what progress has been made.
WE ARE ASKING EVERYONE TO PLEASE REFRAIN FROM PARKING THEIR CARS ON THE SAFETY MEDIAN ON OCEAN PARKWAY, IT HAS BECOME A SAFETY ISSUE. WE WILL BE RE-LOCATING ALL VEHICLES TO OTHER LOCATIONS WITHOUT SUMMONSES OR FINES. IF YOU NEED ASSISTANCE IN LOCATING YOUR VEHICLE PLEASE CONTACT THE 66TH PRECINCT AT 718-851-5611. WE WISH YOU ALL A VERY HEALTHY AND HAPPY NEW YEAR
Dear Neighbor-
Thank you for submitting your snow removal issue to our office. It's quite frustrating that the storm clean up is taking so long and it's been a trying couple days for everyone.
However, we will be reviewing your submission and sending street clearing issues to the Department of Sanitation and other issues to the appropriate agencies.
We would also like to share the following information about time frames for snow removal, as many of you have inquired about them.
We cannot obtain time frames for specific streets, but our understanding of the time frame given the extent of work today is that many side streets will be cleared tonight and tomorrow, with the hope that the bulk of the side streets will be reached by tomorrow evening. However, we cannot guarantee that this will be the case, as there clearly is a lot of work to do and this was an extraordinarily large snowstorm.
For street crossings that are blocked for pedestrians by mounds of snow, our understanding is that this is a lower priority for the Department of Sanitation behind ensuring emergency vehicle access to all streets but that they are responsible for making street crossings passable for pedestrians after plowing them.
There is a very long wait for a tow for abandoned vehicles. Abandoned cars on major streets will get a higher priority. We are unclear when MTA buses that are stuck will be moved.
Please follow up with us tomorrow mid-morning using our webform at www.bradlander.com/snow to report any updates so we can tell how many issues have been resolved.
Michael Freedman-Schnapp
Office of Councilmember Brad Lander
Director of Policy