Staten Island residents frustrated with NYC's snow removal take matters into their own hands
Some fed-up Staten Island residents have resorted to digging themselves out on streets that remained covered in snow two days after a blizzard walloped the city.
To the sanitation department's credit, they have made progress on Staten Island over the last 24 hours, but response hasn't been fast enough for everyone.
"I'm just trying to help"
Staten Island resident Jerry Matias plowed his West Brighton neighborhood Wednesday using his own Bobcat from his construction job.
"I'm just trying to help. We all need the parking spots, and the city's not coming any time soon here," he said.
Neighbor Elizabeth Kenworthy said she was grateful she was finally free after being blocked in by nearly 30 inches.
"Snow in, cold, wondering when they were gonna come out," she said.
Neighbor Michael Riccardi said DSNY should have plowed the street, not his own neighbor.
When asked if he had a message for City Hall and Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Riccardi said, "Do your job."
Hundreds of DSNY workers deployed to Staten Island
Following fierce criticism about snow removal on Staten Island, City Hall said it deployed 700 sanitation workers to the borough Tuesday night, hauling away 87 truckloads of snow.
The sanitation commissioner put out a video of their efforts, saying, "Staten Island is not the forgotten borough. Our department is putting in tireless 12-hour shifts to make sure roads are cleared and traffic can move safely again."
Mamdani said more than 1,400 New Yorkers signed up to be paid snow shovelers across the city on Tuesday alone.
"These snow shovelers have been able to clear more than 16,000 crosswalks, about 4,166 hydrants, and close to 7,000 bus stops," he said.
Their efforts have made a significant dent on Staten Island; blocks that were buried Tuesday showed blacktop Wednesday.
Borough president blasts governor
Borough President Vito Fossella also blasted New York Gov. Kathy Hochul for deploying state resources to Massachusetts to help with their snow removal instead of her own backyard.
"We had kids who had to go to school. They couldn't go because the roads were in bad shape," Fossella said in a video posted to social media. "Did anyone not think to send help here to help those families and kids get to school in a safe way?"
A spokesperson for the governor said in a statement:
"Governor Hochul's top priority is keeping New Yorkers safe which is why she pre-deployed the National Guard, equipment and agency personnel to the New York City area prior to this week's blizzard. Throughout the duration of the storm, New York State remained in constant communication with New York City, as well as all other impacted areas, to help facilities any resource requests needed to keep our communities safe. The State responded to multiple request for assistance from New York City throughout the storm -- National Guard helped transport healthcare workers to two hospitals on Staten Island -- and there are currently no unmet requests for assistance from New York City. In the event additional requests come in, the State is fully prepared to support them."
The Staten Island borough president said City Hall has agreed to meet with him to identify where things could have gone better after the blizzard and strategize how to best prepare and respond to future storms.
