With some tough lessons in hand from the record-breaking storm and cold snap that hit the city in the first month of his tenure, Mayor Mamdani said Saturday he has begun mobilizing plowing, street cleaning operations and homeless outreach in preparation for the weekend nor’easter that’s expected to bring blizzardlike conditions to the city.
“We hold ourselves to the highest standards, and that means we are never satisfied with what we are delivering to New Yorkers,” Mamdani said at the Spring St. salt shed in Hudson Square on Saturday as he prepares the city for a second major snowstorm in a month. “We have to push ourselves.”
During the last storm, which came ahead of a historic cold snap, Mamdani came under fire on several fronts. Eighteen New Yorkers died outside amid questions about the mayor’s decision to end Adams-era homeless encampment sweeps. Garbage piled up on city streets. Many bus stops were blocked days after the storm ended.
“When we look at this blizzard that is coming to NYC … we are looking to utilize every tool that was successful last time around and utilize new tools as well,” the mayor said Saturday.
According to the latest forecasts, the city was expected to receive between 13 and 17 inches of snow and possibly up to 20 inches in some areas, Mamdani said. The snowfall numbers are expected to be “6 inches more” than what fell in late January before freezing over during an unprecedented cold snap.
“Combined with daytime temperatures, this snowfall will melt, then refreeze, causing dangerously icy sidewalks and streets,” Mamdani said about Sunday’s storm, encouraging people to stay at home through the storm if they can.
A decision on whether city public schools will close Monday would be made Sunday afternoon, Mamdani said.
The newest tools this time around will be activating plowing and snow cleaning equipment earlier “than we’ve ever seen precedent for,” Mamdani said.
The city Sanitation Department — which will have 2,600 employees working 12-hour shifts starting Sunday — will also be assisted by 1,000 “emergency snow shovelers” who will be cleaning sidewalks, intersections and bus stops. During the last storm, only a few hundred emergency snow shovelers were available, Mamdani said.
When it comes to finding shelter for the homeless when the storm hits, the city began its “Code Blue” operations at 4 p.m. on Saturday, more than 12 hours before the first snowflakes were expected to fall.
Outreach workers will be working 24/7 to encourage people to go to shelters, warming shelters or warming buses that will be available to them.
“We needed to have a multiplicity of options, because the same person who was resistant to get into a warming bus may be willing to go to a warming center,” Mamdani said.
While outreach workers will be hitting homeless encampments throughout the city, encouraging people to go to shelters during the storm, the city will not be tearing down the makeshift shanties the homeless have built before Sunday’s storm, Mamdani said.
“Our focus over the course of this storm will not be physical infrastucture, it will be on people,” he said. “There will be no cleanups for this storm as we use every tool we have to connect with homeless New Yorkers.”
Mamdani faced fierce backlash for ending the homeless encampment sweeps days into his term, ahead of the freezing-cold stretch in January and February when several homeless New Yorkers died while out in the cold.
There’s no indication that any of them were living in encampments when they perished, according to the administration.
The Mayor announced Wednesday that he will be reinstituting the encampment sweeps, but have the Department of Homeless Services lead the efforts, instead of the Police Department.
Outreach workers will give people living in encampments a week’s notice, then conduct daily outreach every day that week, attempting to get the homeless people into shelters or more permanent housing solutions, the mayor said. On the seventh day, Sanitation Department workers will clear people’s setups, kicking them out, Mamdani said.
The mayor hopes that the early mobilization will be an asset in clearing streets and protecting homeless New Yorkers through the storm. He’s also hoping for a little help from Mother Nature.
“The prior storm was followed by one of the most sustained spells of cold weather the city has ever seen,” Mamdani said.
This time around, temperatures are expected to jump to the 40s and 50s by midweek.
“That will be incredibly helpful going forward,” he said.
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