NYC Plays Blame Game over Blizzard Response
FILE - In this Sept. 23, 2011 file image originally released by AARP, from left, Emilio Estevez, Ramon Estevez, Martin Sheen and Charlie Sheen pose at the premiere of Emilio's film, "The Way," as part of AARP's Festival For Grown Ups at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. Martin Sheen admits to guilt about how his offspring were affected, in earlier years, by the alcoholism that bedeviled him and by his consuming career ambitions. If he had it to do over again he wouldn't have had four children, he says, he would have had eight: "For how do we know ourselves but through our children?" (AP Photo/AARP, Doug Van Sant) / Doug Van Sant
NEW YORK - The city Sanitation Department met its goal of plowing every street at least once by Thursday morning, a spokesman said as city officials fight back against criticism of what some perceived as their sluggish response to the post-Christmas blizzard that dropped 20 inches of snow on the area.
The department is investigating some calls about streets that people say weren't covered, said spokesman Keith Mellis. In some cases, it could be that drivers who dug out their cars left behind mounds of snow and then "it looks like the street hasn't been plowed at all," he said.
Not all the streets are completely clear but they were passable, Mellis said, adding that sanitation crews would continue to plow throughout the day and put snow melters around the city to clear the towering piles of snow created by the plows.
Report: Disgruntled Workers Slowed NYC Cleanup
The unplowed streets and abandoned cars during and after the storm hampered the city's emergency response system, which dealt with a staggering number of calls, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg suggested Wednesday that New Yorkers themselves shared some of the blame.
"We asked the public to do two things," Bloomberg said. "Don't call 911 unless it was a serious emergency ... and don't drive.
"Unfortunately, too many people didn't listen."
New York City operators fielded 49,478 calls to 911 on Monday, the day after the storm. That total was the sixth highest in any day since the city began keeping statistics. There were 38,000 calls Tuesday. Some of the calls came from the same location, but it's not clear how many.
Many of the calls were not for emergencies, and plows couldn't clear the way for ambulances because streets were clogged with abandoned vehicles.
"Your car stuck in the middle of the road made things worse," Bloomberg said.
In some instances, it took hours to respond to requests for help.
The FDNY said additional ambulances were on the road and extra firefighters were working, but it wasn't enough to handle the call load, which was backlogged by 1,300 at one point.
Among the calls was a Brooklyn woman who called 911 several times on Monday to report she was in labor. She delivered a baby that was unconscious and later pronounced dead.
Initially, dispatchers assigned the call a low priority because the expectant mother hadn't reported that either she or the baby were in distress, and her delivery was not believed to be imminent. Dispatchers called back several times to check in on the woman, and when a call came in that the newborn was unconscious, the priority was upgraded and EMS workers responded 12 minutes later. The infant was pronounced dead at a hospital. The medical examiner will determine a cause of death.
In another case, Laura Freeman's 75-year-old mother died while waiting three hours for an ambulance to reach their Queens home.
"They said 'It was stuck down the block. We had to come walking down a block and a half with our equipment. I'm so sorry.' And I don't blame them," Freeman told WABC.
On Wednesday, as stories began to surface about people who may have suffered serious medical problems while waiting for ambulances, the mayor was his most apologetic, without actually apologizing.
"We did not do as good a job as we wanted to do or as the city has a right to expect, and there's no question - we are an administration that has been built on accountability," he said. "When it works, it works and we take credit, and when it doesn't work, we stand up there and say, `OK, we did it. We'll try to find out what went wrong."'
The fire department trains firefighters and emergency medical services workers on driving in all types of weather. Firefighters put shovels and salt aboard engines to help clear roads and snow chains to plow through snowy streets.
But ambulances can't be outfitted with snow chains because it would damage the vehicles. Plus, ambulance drivers are trained to try to get as close to the emergency as possible, because they carry heavy gear - and sometimes heavy patients.
Most of the calls with long wait times were not emergencies. The FDNY ranks emergencies and responds based on need, so a lesser emergency would be shelved until there was time to respond.
Bloomberg already has directed Skip Funk, the new citywide director of emergency communications, to look at why the communications and dispatching system failed.
"I'm extremely dissatisfied with the way our emergency response systems performed," he said Wednesday during a news conference in the Bronx.
He said he was especially disturbed by reports that ambulances had gotten stuck trying to drive through deep snow.
"Could we do a better job? We're going to try and find out. Could our ambulances have taken different routes? We're looking at that. Perhaps they could have stayed further away and walked to the places rather than try and get down the secondary roads."
At New York's airports, there's finally hope for stranded passengers. Most flights are now on time but airlines can't find seats for the overflow of all those displaced travelers, reports CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller.
© 2010 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. The department is investigating some calls about streets that people say weren't covered, said spokesman Keith Mellis. In some cases, it could be that drivers who dug out their cars left behind mounds of snow and then "it looks like the street hasn't been plowed at all," he said.
Not all the streets are completely clear but they were passable, Mellis said, adding that sanitation crews would continue to plow throughout the day and put snow melters around the city to clear the towering piles of snow created by the plows.
Report: Disgruntled Workers Slowed NYC Cleanup
The unplowed streets and abandoned cars during and after the storm hampered the city's emergency response system, which dealt with a staggering number of calls, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg suggested Wednesday that New Yorkers themselves shared some of the blame.
"We asked the public to do two things," Bloomberg said. "Don't call 911 unless it was a serious emergency ... and don't drive.
"Unfortunately, too many people didn't listen."
New York City operators fielded 49,478 calls to 911 on Monday, the day after the storm. That total was the sixth highest in any day since the city began keeping statistics. There were 38,000 calls Tuesday. Some of the calls came from the same location, but it's not clear how many.
Many of the calls were not for emergencies, and plows couldn't clear the way for ambulances because streets were clogged with abandoned vehicles.
"Your car stuck in the middle of the road made things worse," Bloomberg said.
In some instances, it took hours to respond to requests for help.
The FDNY said additional ambulances were on the road and extra firefighters were working, but it wasn't enough to handle the call load, which was backlogged by 1,300 at one point.
Among the calls was a Brooklyn woman who called 911 several times on Monday to report she was in labor. She delivered a baby that was unconscious and later pronounced dead.
Initially, dispatchers assigned the call a low priority because the expectant mother hadn't reported that either she or the baby were in distress, and her delivery was not believed to be imminent. Dispatchers called back several times to check in on the woman, and when a call came in that the newborn was unconscious, the priority was upgraded and EMS workers responded 12 minutes later. The infant was pronounced dead at a hospital. The medical examiner will determine a cause of death.
In another case, Laura Freeman's 75-year-old mother died while waiting three hours for an ambulance to reach their Queens home.
"They said 'It was stuck down the block. We had to come walking down a block and a half with our equipment. I'm so sorry.' And I don't blame them," Freeman told WABC.
On Wednesday, as stories began to surface about people who may have suffered serious medical problems while waiting for ambulances, the mayor was his most apologetic, without actually apologizing.
"We did not do as good a job as we wanted to do or as the city has a right to expect, and there's no question - we are an administration that has been built on accountability," he said. "When it works, it works and we take credit, and when it doesn't work, we stand up there and say, `OK, we did it. We'll try to find out what went wrong."'
The fire department trains firefighters and emergency medical services workers on driving in all types of weather. Firefighters put shovels and salt aboard engines to help clear roads and snow chains to plow through snowy streets.
But ambulances can't be outfitted with snow chains because it would damage the vehicles. Plus, ambulance drivers are trained to try to get as close to the emergency as possible, because they carry heavy gear - and sometimes heavy patients.
Most of the calls with long wait times were not emergencies. The FDNY ranks emergencies and responds based on need, so a lesser emergency would be shelved until there was time to respond.
Bloomberg already has directed Skip Funk, the new citywide director of emergency communications, to look at why the communications and dispatching system failed.
"I'm extremely dissatisfied with the way our emergency response systems performed," he said Wednesday during a news conference in the Bronx.
He said he was especially disturbed by reports that ambulances had gotten stuck trying to drive through deep snow.
"Could we do a better job? We're going to try and find out. Could our ambulances have taken different routes? We're looking at that. Perhaps they could have stayed further away and walked to the places rather than try and get down the secondary roads."
At New York's airports, there's finally hope for stranded passengers. Most flights are now on time but airlines can't find seats for the overflow of all those displaced travelers, reports CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller.
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2. Bloomberg cuts basic services, then blames his own people.
3. 722 million scam by Bloomberg cronys for a pet project to 'privitize' city time keeping. Fraud charges currently pending, see: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/nyregion/16citytime.html
4. Bloomberg croneys, like David Doctroff, make millions in backroom deals and playing a revolving door with Bloomberg LLP, but Bloomberg unable to deal with city workers.
5. Millions of dollars allocated to NYE celebration with special VIP areas for Bloomberg sycophants, regular people stand out in the cold.
6. New Yorkers pay high taxes, including special tax for city residents. NYC commuters face sky high bus, subway, tolls - and see money skimmed off the top for other purposes.
7. Bloomberg sycophants go on the attack and smear victims and city workers rather than tell the truth.
Heck of a job Bloomie !
Everybody wants the best emergency services in the world, but nobody wants to pay the taxes to maintain it.
...And everyone is an expert with full, exact knowledge of what happened and why. Instantly.
Wish I were that smart!
How about a thank you for public employees - fire, police, paramedics, waste removal, and other public employees who by and large are not overpaid.
These public employees are not overpaid like those Bloomberg cronys enriching themselves at public expense through self-dealing transactions and other scams.
Look carefully at the Bloomberg administration and you will see a snake pit of corruption and self-dealing.
For example, check out the $722 million dollar citytime scam, which was an attempt to 'privitize' NYC time keeping. Fraud charges for Bloomberg cronys are pending: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/nyregion/16citytime.html
How about a thanks to city workers who work all hours and every day of the year -- sometimes at significant personal risk.
Smaller efficient governement is needed.
This was done by the union in retaliation to members being laid off and benefits being cut towards its members. Evidently they felt that this was appropriate although the union's leadership denies this.
I would demand that the union provide the routes in which it was assigned for the snow disaster. If they cannot show you a plan or if it was not followed then those workers should be disciplined up to fired.
Maybe these workers have forgotten that there are thousands of people with CDL licenses out there out of work that would love to have a job to take care of their families! I have no remorse for these clowns as when they do this type of work they are getting "Double/Triple" time as my Dad did this in Philly when he worked for the Water Department. He used to take a large jug of coffee, plenty of sandwiches and enjoyed doing it!
I don't know why so many people have issues with city, state and federal workers. They are working in legitimate jobs and had to go through the same process as everyone else in order to get hired. I'm sure when you went for whatever job you have, you wanted the best deal you could get in regards to benefits , why shouldn't these employees have that same opportunity? Some of you people listen to all the noise from people who want to break unions and hate government just because but unless you work for a city, state or Federal Government you have no clue.
How would you feel if you were told that you had to take a mandatory six days off without pay ? I would think you would feel rather upset knowing that you have to sacrifice all the while listening to people who don't even have a clue about what they are talking about vilify you and the job you are doing.
Government jobs vary and are essential in the running of any city, state or country. There are a variety of different jobs and a variety of pay and benefits for those jobs. Just like any other job you have slackers and people who are incompetent. That is human nature and occurs in any job across the board. It really angers me listening to people whine and complain about city, state and Federal Workers and are the first ones advocating that they be the ones sacrifice. Then, you people are also the first ones to complain when your city, state or country doesn't run properly.