Paterson Calls For Snow Slowdown Probe


ALBANY – Outgoing Gov. David Paterson called this morning for a criminal investigation into allegations that a slowdown by budget-squeezed plow operators contributed to the city’s blizzard woes.

The NY Post reported today that a group of guilt-ridden sanitation workers confessed their protest plot to City Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Queens). The workers were fuming over recent job cuts and cutbacks, the councilman and other sources told The Post.

“This would be a very, very serious breach,” Paterson told WOR 710-AM on his, adding that it "would be better for there to be an investigation about the allegations." “I just think the whole thing would be outrageous, if it’s actually true.”

Miles of roads remained treacherously unplowed as of last night, days after the blizzard dumped nearly two feet of snow on the city. Paterson, who lives in Harlem, said the snarl has left New Yorkers “scratching their heads” since the city handled a similar storm so well last year.

“That always gives way to a lot of rumor and innuendo, which I think we should probably table until there are facts to back that up,” Paterson said. The governor, nonetheless, said any slowdown could be considered criminal.

“I would have to look through the criminal law to find exactly which one to prosecute people under,” Paterson said. “But criminality is a heightened sense of wrongdoing and there are examples of people whose lives were threatened severely.”

Paterson will hand over the Executive Mansion mansion to Gov.-elect Andrew Cuomo tomorrow night.

brendan.scott@nypost.com

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

They were too busy dragging equipment into cars:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_localnyc/20101228/ts_yblog_localnyc/out-of-control-city-tow-truck-destroys-parked-suv-on-brooklyn-street-video-shows

They definitely performed a slowdown. No other possibility exists.

The fools can collect garbage from every house in the city on an overnight basis. Plowing the roads with the same vehicles overnight can also be easily accomplished if you do not pick up the garbage.

They have more than enough equipment to do a simple plow of all streets in the city. They simply parked the trucks and didn't do it.

Vid was removed, here is another link. No accident, thats for sure!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CU9AoEKHi2Y

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1991 560 SEL / 185k miles
1992 750il / 17k miles - project car

Makes sense. I've always been quite surprised at just how well they can remove the snow in NYC. The news that we've been getting over the past few days has had me scratching my head....I just couldn't understand why our corporate office in Manhattan was so understaffed this week. (Some people just can't get to work because of the lack of cleanup)

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1982 300GD Carmine Red (DB3535) Cabriolet Parting Out
1990 300SEL Smoke Silver (Parting out)
1991 350SDL Blackberry Metallic (481)

"The thing is Bob, its not that I'm lazy...its that I just don't care."

........ahh, it's not rocket science. You put a plow on the front of every garbage truck...........suspend garbage pickups............fill the damn things with diesel fuel...............and drive them for 24 hours straight using massive overtime.

Done.

That brings up another point. The local news have been all over the stories of CT municipalities using up 20-25-30% of their snow removal budgets with this one storm. It's the first major snowfall of the year and we're only one month in. I guess it's all part of the shell game to keep the budget deficits down as much as they can.

As a business owner it certainly seems to be irresponsible to have so little budgeted for a season's worth of snow removal that one major snow event, this early in the season, already has the municipalities scrambling and hoping for a warmer, dryer winter from here on out. Although now that I think of it, I seem to remember these stories going back a couple years now.

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

For the main roads yes it's as simple as that.

However failures could be seen watching the Hartford DOT doing the 'trim work' (Sidewalks, making the one lane road back into two lanes etc etc) Over the past few days it has just made me face palm.... It should not take two hours to clean one small city street when there are no cars on it. I don't think it's the crews fault at all....I just don't think they are using the correct equipment for the job.

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1982 300GD Carmine Red (DB3535) Cabriolet Parting Out
1990 300SEL Smoke Silver (Parting out)
1991 350SDL Blackberry Metallic (481)

"The thing is Bob, its not that I'm lazy...its that I just don't care."

Well, let's analyze that statement. How many "major" snowfalls do we get up here? I recall a couple of years ago, I bought the snowblower, and it sat for two full seasons in a row with less than 6" snow for the entire season.

Last year was an aberration with three major hits.

So, when they claim they used up 25% of their budget with one major storm, I say they are right on the budgeting plan. If they get two more big hits, plus a couple of small ones, they are exactly on budget.

See how the news media has manipulated you...........without you even realizing it?

They were still bucketloading snow off our streets here yesterday, especially around the schools.

My grandfather always lamented that the prison was a better "neighbor" than the DMV. The town was never cleaner, more manicured and sidewalk snow removal was never quicker than it was with the inmates doing the work. Electrocutions were minimal so light dimming annoyances were rare.

The town employee issue with free inmate labor was to be expected. Then away went the prison and in came the DMV.

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

Major snow events, yes. But central CT averages 12 snow events per season (6 under 3", 4 in the 3-6" range and 2 over 6"). The trucks are running the same routes with the same frequency whether there's 2" or 6". Over that they're running more often and longer. We've got one 6"+ out of the way. Hopefully that remaining 75% gets us through the remaining 11 snow events.

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

I happened to be on Long Island over the weekend and drove through Manhattan on the way home to Virginia. I visited some people on the east side of mid-town and then drove to the Lincoln Tunnel with no problems. There was no street parking available, so I wound up paying $28 for two hours in a parking garage , but getting around town was no big deal. Traffic was light.

haha yes that would work very well wouldn't it It would also contribute to the punishment/discipline by having them work out in the cold doing manual labor. Everyone wins.


Yes it was the bucket loading that I observed (Although this thing looked more like a crabs claw) It just looked so darn cumbersome, pick up a distance of 3 feet of snow making a mess in the process, back up, put it into the truck, repeat. Each cycle was probably a good 3 minutes. No wonder it took so long to do one street.

Honestly....they need Unimogs with the proper snow clearing attachments. (It can't be that hard to put a shoot on the end of the snow thrower and drive a dumptruck next to it like you would with a harvester)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWUNZnNFxKc

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1982 300GD Carmine Red (DB3535) Cabriolet Parting Out
1990 300SEL Smoke Silver (Parting out)
1991 350SDL Blackberry Metallic (481)

"The thing is Bob, its not that I'm lazy...its that I just don't care."

Living in Augusta, Maine I saw some very efficient snow removal. A large plow truck or grader would plow both lanes into the center, then a dump truck would drive down one side, with a very large front end loader-mounted snowblower blowing the pile of snow into the back of the truck. Once it was full, the loader stopped, that truck drove off and the next one came up from behind the loader to be filled. Take the snow and dump it next to the river (since just dumping it in the river was so much more horrible than next to it), and continue until it's gone. A 6" storm wasn't enough to even delay school there. There were a couple times where we got a foot or more of heavy snow, and that took a little more time to clear, but not too bad. These guys in NY are just sucking up the OT.

Its NY- of course they are sucking up the OT!
The real OT comes when they start picking up the garbage after the snow removal.
After living there for 15 years I never did figure out why they dont suspend onstreet parking during snow storms. If you can afford a car in NY, you can afford a days worth of parking while the streets are cleared.

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95 E300D working out the kinks
77 300D, 227k, station car
83 300CD 370k, gone away
89 190E 2.6- 335k, no more
79 VW FI Bus- 145k miles, summer driver
59 VW Beetle ragtop- 175k miles
12 VW Jetta- 160k miles