By Jill Colvin and Jim Scott
DNAinfo Staff
MANHATTAN — Mayor Michael Bloomberg ended the weather emergency Wednesday morning as workers were out in force clearing roadways after yet another fresh batch of snow.
The snow began to fall lightly just after 8 p.m. on Tuesday before picking up intensity after midnight. Central Park had 9.1 inches of new snow by the time the storm moved out after 6 a.m. on Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.
Manhattan residents were grateful the city didn't get blasted with as much snow as they did in December when a blizzard crippled the city.
"I heard it was only going to be 10 inches of snow — not like last time," said Roland Rodriguez, 45, who was shoveling the sidewalk on West 53rd Street. "I'm relieved."
The city had 2,400 sanitation workers, 365 salt spreaders and 1,700 plows out on the streets, Bloomberg said at a press conference Wednesday.
All streets should be plowed at least once by mid-day, "and then we’ll go back again and again," he said.
"Our goal for this storm was not merely to get back to business as usual," the mayor told reporters at the Office of Emergency Management. "Our goal was to deploy a more effective snow response operation than ever, more aggressive and more accountable based on the lessons that we learned from the last storm, and that’s what we’ve done."
Many residents thought the city met that goal.
"They did a much better job this time, said Inwood resident Sarah Johnson, 32, of the city's snow removal. "The streets are plowed, my sidewalk was clear. I think they got caught off guard last time."
The fast-moving nor'easter moved out of the New York City area by the morning rush hour leading the NWS to cancel its winter storm warning at 9 a.m.
The Department of Education announced at 5 a.m. that all city public schools would remain open despite the snow. Public schools in the city have only closed 6 times since 1978, including twice last year.
Washington Heights mom Susan Gerner, 44, was upset the city schools stayed open.
"It’s dangerous out there," she said. "Even with all the plowing the sidewalks are still slick. I kept my daughter home today regardless. She can afford a day off to sled in the park."
Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Cathie Black defended the decision Wednesday morning, saying that keeping schools open was better than forcing parents to scramble for childcare or take the day off.
"The last thing we want to do is close schools," Black said.
Bloomberg declared a weather emergency late Tuesday as the storm bore down on the Big Apple.
"It's going to be a difficult, difficult rush hour," Bloomberg said at the time.
He credited the emergency declaration for helping to keep cars off the street.
Traffic was lighter than normal overnight and only 30 cars were towed — about the same number as any other night, he said.
"It was a very different dynamic when the plows arrived at the streets [this time]," he said, comparing the city's response to the Dec. 26 blizzard. "The plows did not have to contend with buses and trucks and cars struck in the middle of the streets."
In addition to the Sanitation Department crews,the city also had more than 100 pieces of equipment from the Department of Transportation and Parks Department.
For the first time ever, they also had 106 private contractors on hand to clear tertiary streets, the mayor said. Nearly 200 laborers worked to shovel out bus stops and crosswalks overnight and another 1,000 laborers would work through the day, Bloomberg said.
Alternate side parking regulations were suspended on Wednesday and Thursday. Parking meters were suspended on Wednesday but would resume on Thursday.
Bloomberg reported that the city's emergency response fared much better than the last storm.
There was no 911 backlog, call volume was more or less normal, and response times were "only slightly higher" than a typical day, he said.
311, however, saw a massive uptick, with a whopping 155,000 calls as of 9 a.m., mostly inquiring about schools, garbage collection and alternate side parking.
In fact, the hour between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. was 311's busiest ever, with 45,000 calls.
The city subways are running on a regular schedule, according to the MTA website. City buses are also up and running, the MTA said.
MTA Chairman Jay Walder said New Yorkers could expect normal service during the evening commute.
Some straphangers said there weren't any subway delays in the morning but getting into the stations was tricky.
"Fine, except for unshoveled stairs @ Dyckman A. I may have missed sliding down only 2 or 3 steps. Nothing wounded but my pride," user jkpenny said via Twitter in response to a question about how her commute went on Wednesday.
The snarls also affected Metro-North which was running on a Sunday schedule. The Waterbury and Danbury branches had been suspended because of the snow. And New Jersey Transit was running with 10 to 15 minute delays possible system wide.
Long Island Railroad was expecting to run a mostly normal evening rush hour after experiencing "extremely limited service" and delays on most lines during the morning hours. Some evening trains could be canceled and train service east of Speonk on the Montauk Branch and east of Ronkonkoma on the Main Line to Greenport would remain suspended until the tracks could be cleared. The LIRR canceled 23 Westbound trains during the morning rush, according to the MTA website.
"Our primary concern is really the areas where the storm has hit really hard," Walder said.
Once city plows have finished their work here, Bloomberg said he would offer help to areas of Long Island, including Suffolk County, which were harder hit by the storm.
Problems around the area continued; Amtrak was suspended in both directions between New York and Boston because of overhead wire damage, according to the railroad's website.
The area's major airports canceled hundreds of flights because of the storm. LaGuardia Airport canceled 675 flights, Kennedy Airport 300 and Newark Liberty 440, WCBS-TV reported.
Alternate side parking, parking meters and garbage collection have been suspended. Alternate side will also be suspended on Thursday.
The Sanitation department came under fire for its poor performance during the blizzard that walloped the city with 20 inches of snow on Dec. 26. The city did not declare a state of emergency and streets remained unplowed for days after buses and cars became stuck in the roadways.
The snow wasn't nearly as bad this time around.
"This is a little, not as bad [as the blizzard]," said Carlos Felix, 34. "The streets are better."
Weather behind the storm would be sunny but cold and windy on Wednesday, forecasters said. And the snow wouldn't be melting anytime soon as daytime temperatures would stay below freezing through Saturday, according to AccuWeather.
