B'klyn Residents Next To Sound Off At Blizzard Hearing
NEW YORK (CBS 2) -- The City Council blizzard hearings move to Borough Hall Wednesday night to give Brooklyn residents a chance to vent over the mismanaged snow cleanup.
Last night, Staten Islanders took turns blasting the response to the Christmas weekend storm that paralyzed the City and dumped up to 30 inches on the borough.
Three weeks after the blizzard, there was still plenty of anger.
Frustrated residents told the City Council about the Christmas weekend snow job. A local pastor and his congregation said they're still buried some three-plus weeks later.
"I think it was shameless, shameless. That same snow turned to ice and the ice hasn't been removed," said Lloyd Land, pastor of the First United Christian Church in the Park Hill section of the borough.
"If this blizzard was not considered a snow emergency, then what constitutes a snow emergency?" said Rosanne Friscia of Castleton Corners.
"The best vehicles in the world can't get around a bus or a tractor trailer that's stuck across an intersection," business owner Steve Margarella said.
A sanitation department spokesman took notes and apologized for the response he called "not acceptable."
A study of 1,700 Staten Islanders shows:
* 83 percent didn't see a snowplow till midweek.
* 78 percent were unable to leave home.
* 67 percent couldn't get to work.
* 43 percent lost pay.
A representative from the city's Department of Sanitation was at the meeting, taking notes and giving yet another flat apology.
"The response was not acceptable. We are continuing to assess the storm and our response," Ignazio Terranova said.
Council Speaker Christine Quinn was among those blasting the city for what she called an epic failure.
"You shouldn't have had to endure the poor cleanup that you did, and you shouldn't have to come out tonight," Quinn said.
