Photo: CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP / Getty Images
Staten Island residents are still struggling to dig out from a historic blizzard that dumped nearly 30 inches of snow on parts of the borough, with narrow streets slowing cleanup efforts and another round of snow looming in the forecast.
According to SILive.com, Mayor Zohran Mamdani opened a press briefing on Tuesday by acknowledging that parts of Staten Island had seen record 24-hour snowfall totals. He promised additional resources to speed up the cleanup, but admitted the borough still has a long way to go.
"We are aware that narrow, hilly streets and tight corners on Staten Island were some of the areas hardest hit by the storm," the mayor said. "DSNY will be working throughout the day and the evening to clear snow and make roads passable."
The mayor said the city deployed more than 200 additional personnel to Staten Island on Tuesday, bringing the total to 500. The Sanitation Department also added hundreds of pieces of equipment, including contracted private plows, to speed things up.
Despite those efforts, frustration is running high among residents who say plows have not returned to their blocks since the storm's peak. A Sanitation Department spokesperson clarified that the mayor's claim that 99.2% of Staten Island roadways had been plowed referred to passes made from the start of the storm — not post-storm clearing.
NYC Sanitation Commissioner Javier Lojan described just how tough the job has been. "It is a snow hauling operation that I've never seen in my 27-year career," he said. "We addressed many of these areas throughout the night across Staten Island, and we are continuing this work today and into tonight. This is slow, difficult work, and some of these hilly and narrow streets will take hours to clear."
Lojan explained that space — or the lack of it — is at the heart of the problem. "When we're plowing the street, we're plowing it to the right, so that snow has to go somewhere. If that snow has no room to go, it creates challenges," he said.
PIX11 reported that the city has 2,600 sanitation workers on 12-hour shifts, and has hired 1,214 emergency snow workers — triple earlier staffing levels — to shovel corners, bus stops, and pedestrian pathways. Officials credited a $30-an-hour pay increase and a streamlined hiring process for the surge in available workers. By Tuesday afternoon, crews had cleared 7,398 crosswalks and 3,366 bus stops across the city.
The city is also leaning on technology this year, using GPS and hourly tracking data to monitor plowing progress and move personnel and equipment to wherever they are needed most across more than 6,000 miles of streets.
City Emergency Management Commissioner Christina Farrell confirmed that plowing and snow removal operations are focused on Staten Island, along with city school properties.
Mayor Mamdani also defended his decision to keep schools open Tuesday (February 24), saying most schools weren't equipped for remote learning so soon after midwinter break. "Our public schools hold a purpose beyond providing a designated place for kids to learn," the mayor said. "They are critical to the health and wellness of nearly 900,000 children across our city."
Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels said nearly 8,000 faculty members helped prepare buildings for students, and that 63.3% of students returned to school on Tuesday.
Garbage collection is set to resume Wednesday evening, though officials say pickup routes are unlikely to return to normal until next week. Residents with problem areas on their blocks are urged to report them to 311, where Emergency Management officials are actively reviewing submissions.
With another round of snow in the forecast, residents and city crews alike are bracing for the possibility that cleanup efforts could be set back before the borough is fully clear.
Photo Credit: Getty Images