Life after the Blizzard

Although the blizzard of 2010 is over, the record 20 inches of snow that NYC experienced is still having a significant impact, especially in our neighborhood.

Hell’s Kitchen still has a lot of industrial blocks. While some of these things have changed from their original purpose as a manufacturing plant of some type, they still tend to be extended storage buildings, shipping points or plants of other types.

That would normally mean that they may be operating on a somewhat limited schedule, but with a blizzard it tended to mean that NOBODY was working in these places.

So how does that affect us, you ask? After all, we’re not likely to need anything from those places.

Here’s why – everyone is responsible for clearing the sidewalk in front of their business. If they’re not open and don’t clear the sidewalk, you suddenly come to a 4 foot drift 50 feet long and have to figure out how to get around it.

This meant that while I was out wandering around I sometimes had to go a couple of blocks out of the way to try and get to my destination.

The other thing that has become increasingly important – in terms of looking where you’re going, at least – is that the curbside “lakes” of slush are getting both bigger and wetter. There are times that you have to walk several feet around where you’d normally try to cross because there’s no canoe available to carry you.

This is really, really important because those puddles are becoming more than boot-deep in places now, and they still have icebergs floating in them. Given that it could take a while to get home and change socks, keeping the ones you’re wearing is pretty important.

The other thing that’s fun to watch is how aggressive the pedestrians get toward the cars. In good weather, it’s pretty universal that pedestrians have the right of way in crosswalks. Those walk/don’t walk signs are sacrosanct, and you don’t go against them unless you’re absolutely sure that it’s clear.

But cars are stuck, there are fewer lanes available because of abandoned cars and snowbanks, so sometimes they stop in a crosswalk or keep going when pedestrians have the light.

Some people yell at the drivers. Some swear, which can be somewhat lyrical with a big-city accent. One whacked a car with his bag of stuff while doing all of these things, which was pretty entertaining to watch. Of course, the driver took little or no notice. There was no consideration given to stopping his vehicle.

Yesterday, I talked some about the services and the job they were doing. I thought they were doing pretty well, but the news programs and our dinner companions last night gave a different perspective. They’re absolutely blasting the local governments for failing to respond, and unlike a few years ago, they’re documenting their positions with photos and videos that they both post online and send to the television stations to be broadcast.

Probably the most damning pictures were the ones that someone took of a City yard, that showed DOZENS of vehicles with snowplows all parked in their barns and not being used. Suddenly, the claims that the cities couldn’t keep up with the snow were starting to ring hollow and it begins to look more like a decision not to act rather than an inability.

In NYC proper, the major streets and many of the side streets are open, but in the suburbs and residential neighborhoods many people still have snowbanks taller than a man that need navigation.

The forecasts are for increasingly warm weather, culminating with a high of 50 degrees on Saturday (just in time for the New Year’s crowd). The lows are supposed to warm up after today so they won’t go below freezing, so maybe the melt will continue at night as well.